May your heart be light.
A light heart was free of sin. Of guilt. Of shame.
She couldn’t know the weight of her father’s heart, but her own felt as heavy as a stone.
Without another word, Kenna turned on his heel for the door. Mery went to follow but stopped when Sita spoke up suddenly.
“May I have one more moment with you, Father?” she asked. “Alone?”
The king made a low sound. The visit had exhausted him.
Mery shot her a look.What are you doing?he mouthed.
She ignored him.
“I won’t be long,” she assured the king.
“Neither will I, Sitamun,” King Amunmose murmured. With a sigh, he waved Mery out.
Mery hesitated, eyes flitting from Sita to their father and back, before departing.
“If you aren’t satisfied with the Tashan prince,” her father said before she could begin, “surely your mother can find—”
“This is all my fault,” Sita blurted, the words rushing out like water from a burst dam. “I could have stopped this. I could have saved you, but I didn’t.”
Her father’s breathing had become more labored.
“It’s not your fault, child,” he wheezed. “Only the gods themselves could have—”
“No, you don’t understand,” she said.
This is your last chance.Unburden your heart before it’s too late.
Sita squeezed her eyes shut, a toxic mixture of love and hatred for her brother and her father swirling inside her. She’d do it, but she was too much of a coward to meet his eyes and see her betrayal break what was left of his spirit before he died.
She listened to the sound of her father’s breathing grow quiet as he waited for her to speak.
She kept her gaze trained on his hands and the golden ring he always wore.
“It was the honey cakes,” she finally said, her voice flat. “Mery has been poisoning them, and I knew about it.”
Her father didn’t gasp, didn’t cry out in horror. So she took a deep breath and told him everything.
When it was over, she felt empty. Lighter.
“I’m so sorry, Father,” Sita said into the silence, her voice a little stronger. She laid her hand on his—and found it cold. She glanced up at his face. “Can you ever forgive me?”
The king stared back at her, unblinking, his pupils dilated. Sita searched his expression, desperate for a hint of shock, horror, rage—anything.
But he was dead, and her chance at forgiveness had died with him.
How much did he hear?she wondered.All of it? None?
She’d never know.
The reign of King Amunmose III was over.
May he live forever in the West.
