“What happened?”
Sita jumped—she hadn’t even heard her mother approach. Then again, the queen had a reputation for being the first to know everything, so Sita wasn’t that surprised to see her. Once, she’d overheard an official at a banquet say that Queen Bintanath painted little ears on the walls of every room, so she could listen in to any conversation she liked. Obviously, the queen’s ears had picked up the news about Maet.
“We were fowling on the river, and she fainted,” Sita explained. “She told me she’d been having some stomach pain, but other than that she seemed all right. Her mother was at the market on the other side of the city—I’ve sent a messenger to retrieve her.”
Now was not the time to mention the incident with thecrocodile, Sita decided. Her mother would have a hundred questions if she broughtthatup, and Sita was too tired to answer them. She’d sobered since Maet collapsed, but now that all the excitement of the voyage home had passed, she was left with a headache.
The queen sucked her teeth. “The king will be terribly upset when he finds out she’s ill,” she said, more to herself than to Sita. “Better not to tell him until we know more. I’ll see that his attendants don’t speak of it.” She made to leave but then saw something that made her stop abruptly. She sighed. “Ah, well. Too late.”
Sita turned to find the king lurching toward them, wraithlike without his thick makeup, trailing two desperate-looking attendants in his wake.
“A lion fetch that man,” the queen mumbled. “What does he think he’s doing? He should be in bed…”
“Where is she?” the king demanded, his eyes wild. “Where is my girl?” His gaze passed over Sita like she was a painting on the wall and alighted on the priests inside Maet’s bedchamber. The king blundered inside, unsteady on his feet.
Ineni, one of his attendants, hurried forward with an apologetic look. “I tried to stop him,” he said to the queen, “but Pharaoh wouldn’t hear of it.”
The physician-priests looked up from their work. “My king,” they chorused, bowing their heads.
Amunmose ignored them. He sat on the bed next to Maet, placing one skeletal hand on her arm. “Hello kitten,” he said, wheezing with exertion. “How are you feeling?”
“It hurts,” Maet whined. “I’m scared.”
The king patted her arm. “Well, I’m going to tell my friends here to make sure you get better right away, all right?” There was comfort in his voice, but an edge too.
The priest standing behind him flinched.
“What if, later on, after you’ve gotten some rest and seen your mother, I bring you a brand-new doll? I can send one of my fastest messengers to fetch one from the market, just for you. Would you like that?”
Maet nodded.
“And maybe a honey cake too?”
“I’m not hungry,” the girl said sadly.
“Oh, but you’ve always got room for a honey cake,” The king tickled the girl under her chin. “They’re our favorite. They make them special, just for us! I can share it with you, like always. And maybe your new dolly can have some honey cake too.”
Maet managed a weak smile.
Something clicked inside Sita’s mind.
But before she could think further on the conversation she’d overheard, her father struggled back to his feet and exited the room. Ineni rushed to assist, but the king waved him off, gesturing for the chief priest-physician to follow him into the corridor, leaving the other priests to finish attending to their patient. Sita moved aside, still listening.
The king demanded, “What is it? What ails her? And where is Montuhotep? He should be here.”
The priest wiped his brow with one hand. “Ah, I’m afraid Montuhotep was in council with the prince when we received news of Maet’s condition, so he tasked me to attend to her in his stead. Meryamun called on him with an urgent matter.”
Sita was surprised. She’d left Mery at the riverbank when they’d returned from the hunt, and he hadn’t said anything about a meeting. Although his behaviorhadbeen strange… She’d expected him to have been shaken after the crocodile attack, or at the very least, furious. But instead, he’d seemed almost elated. Calling for a private meeting with the king’s most trusted adviser, without consulting the king, was a brazen act. What could havedriven him to do such a thing?
Her father appeared equally confused by this development but didn’t seem to have the energy to pursue it.
“What ails her?” he repeated.
The priest cleared his throat. “We… don’t know yet. Maet is extremely weak and experiencing pain in her stomach and chest. She vomited shortly after waking and has refused to take food or any drink other than water.”
“Has the food on the ship been checked?”
“No one else has taken ill, my king, and everyone on the fowling expedition ate of the same provisions. In fact, it very much reminded me of… of…” He sounded as if there was something he was reluctant to say.
