The other guard grumbled. “She blundered into the Horus Room and then took off. The prince wants her found. The other men are checking the women’s chambers. If you find her, bring her to the throne room immediately.”
“Of course,” Femi replied.
Sita listened as the footsteps faded.
Femi poked his head through the doorway. “We must be quick. The shortest path out of the palace is through the gardener’s entrance in the pleasure garden. Let’s go.”
Pulling the hood over her face, Sita reached for Femi’s hand and hurried with him toward the main hall. They were halfway through the shadowy chamber when two more guards approached. She and Femi dashed behind one of the columns,hearts hammering, and waited until they’d passed. Sita felt sick with fear, unable to breathe until they finally emerged from the palace and out into the cool, fragrant air of the pleasure garden.
The fishpond rippled with movement, reflecting a jagged moon. A stiff breeze ruffled Sita’s robes, bringing with it the scent of smoke and honey and wine. It rushed through the boughs of the sycamore tree, the sound hushed and urgent.
Shhh.
The time had come for her to leave him. To leave everything.
“Come with me,” Sita blurted. She hadn’t thought it through—she hadn’t thoughtanythingthrough—but she was terrified of being alone. “You’re not safe here. When Mery realizes I’m gone, he’ll think you helped me escape.”
Femi shook his head. “If I go with you, they’ll know that for certain. They’ll hunt us down like dogs, and I cannot protect you from that. But if I stay, I can throw them off the scent.
“As soon as you leave here, head south. Get out of the city as fast as you can. When they come for me, I’ll tell them you’d mentioned wanting to travel north to the delta by riverboat, but that I had no idea you’d intended to run away. They’ll spend hours searching all the boats at port, giving you time to get as far from here as possible.”
The plan made sense, and Sita was impressed that Femi had devised it so quickly. There was a problem with it, though.
“Your lies may convince the guards, but when they fail to find me, my brother will come for you. He’ll see right through the deception.” She took a deep, steadying breath. “He’ll torture you, Femi. He’ll bring you to the edge of death unless you tell him where I’ve gone.”
Femi’s expression didn’t change, as if he’d already reached the same conclusion. “Then you mustn’t tell me where you’re going, Sitamun. If I don’t know, I won’t have to lie to a future king.”
Sita stared at Femi, suddenly seeing him in a new light. He’d been a mere plaything to her, although she’d also come to see him as a friend. Still, though, she’d failed to notice his strength, his courage, his sense of honor.
Once again, her arrogance had blinded her to the truth. Femi may have been a lowly guard, but he had the heart of a commander.
“I don’t deserve your sacrifice. I have used you, been cold to you—if I’d only just left you alone, you’d never—”
“If you’d just left me alone,” Femi interrupted, “I never would have known what it is to love you. Even if it was only for a short while.”
The words pierced her like a knife. It was as she’d feared. “You can’t love me,” she protested. “Why would you love me?”
Femi smiled, a sad smile that nearly broke her. “You may not ever be queen of this kingdom, but you have always been mine. It would be an honor to die protecting you, Sitamun. I can think of no better way to leave this life.”
Sita threw her arms around his neck and kissed him, long and fierce, a kiss to last. When she pulled away, her cheeks were wet with tears.
“I will return,” she vowed. “I don’t know how, but I will find a way.”
Femi nodded and looked back toward the main hall, toward the sound of distant, shouted commands.
“We’re running out of time,” he said. “You have to go. Now.”
Sita followed his gaze, taking one last look at the palace. “I don’t even know who I am away from this place.”
“Then go and find out, my princess,” Femi said, his eyes roaming her face as if to memorize it.
With a solemn nod, Sita turned toward the gardener’s entrance.
“Goodbye,” Sita whispered, to Femi, to Nebet, to Kenna, to her mother, to the garden of her youth, to the only life she’d ever known.
She stepped across the dark threshold, and fled into the vast desert beyond.
26
