Excerpt from THE GOD’S WIFE

Senmut quickly made his way to the lowest step on the dais, and got into the traditional seated position of a scribe. Sitting cross-legged on the floor would allow him to write for hours on end, in a semi-trance if necessary. He was close enough to the throne to hear the Pharaoh’s every word, yet far enough away to not be intrusive. his one tablet should do, since this was supposed to be mostly entertainment and not a judicial court. However, a quick glance to his right showed that a young scribe-apprentice already waited unobtrusively to the side with a stack of tablets, just in case it became necessary.

This was not his regular duty, and he hoped the royal scribe who normally sat here would soon recover from his illness. Senmut was the next highest-ranking scribe available, and tradition demanded he fill this role. Normally, he would have preferred to be back in his rooms working on his designs, but tonight was now very important to him. While his face maintained the sober mien of a scribe, inside he grinned. If Hati aroused the pharaoh’s lust even half as much as she had affected Senmut, her place would be assured in the palace.

And a full God’s Wife would be an addition to the palace the Pharaoh was unlikely to ignore. Senmut knew more than most about the sorcerous skills of the God’s Wives, as well as their absolute dedication to Egypt. While he had moved easily from architectural design classes to scripting and hieroglyphs, Hati had run from stillroom to dance class to cartography to other subjects he had no need to know about, and did not want to know. She had been at the temple since the tender age of three, and had taken classes all that time, stopping only once a ten-day for rest. Even on the many holidays throughout the year, Hati’s lessons had not stopped. She had gone out with her instructors, sometimes returning long after darkness had fallen, and looking as if she had a monstrous headache. He’d often wondered what she had been doing among the dancing crowds or in the temple. Even just before he’d left, when she’d still been pre-pubescent, her eyes had taken on that world-weary look of one who had seen too much. He’d decided then that he did not want to know what she had learned.

With great fanfare, and a priest proclaiming his many titles, the Pharaoh appeared with his vizier at his side, and processed to the dais. Tutmose II was not a handsome man, but he had great dignity. The Pharaoh’s skin was ravaged by dry, inflamed patches, which required the constant attendance of herbalists and masseurs to rub oils to ease the itch and manage the pain. Yet, through it all, Tutmose II maintained a cheerful attitude, the respect of all, and was well liked for his justice and diplomacy. None of his sisters had survived to adulthood to be wife to him, so he sought further a-field among his cousins and high nobility for spouses. So far, he’d only taken a few concubines and lesser wives for alliances, and none had given him children as yet. This was Hati’s big chance.

When the Pharaoh was comfortably situated, and the priest had finished announcing him, the court moved to the sides of the large audience chamber. There was quite a crowd today. Word had undoubtedly spread about this potential new wife for the Pharaoh. Everyone who had pretensions to court life was here, from the ambitious to the social. Even a few of the palace cats wandered about, playing with dangling belts or demanding attention. How unusual.

Now, in the back, appeared a small group of priestesses. To the murmurs of the crowd, they pulled a sledge with a large, supine statue of Ra into the center of the room. The God was laid out as if asleep, even to His head reclining on a sleeping headrest. On the other side of the throne, the vizier gasped, “Divine One! They will do the sacred dance of Isis awakening Ra for you! That is too erotic!”

“My heart can stand it, Keoset,” Tutmose murmured. “Can yours?”

“Ahem! No doubt, no doubt,” Keoset answered with good humor. “I am concerned only in that this dance is to arouse the very Gods themselves. Many men will be in discomfort tonight.” Then the vizier chuckled mercilessly.

“The God’s Wives had the good sense to warn me ahead of time that it would be advisable to have eunuch guards at this audience. At least our guardians will not be distracted,” Tutmose answered complacently. “And I took the hint and arranged for those whose services can be had for coin to join us at the feast after the dance. I am not so hard-hearted as that.”

‘Say that after you have seen Hati dance, Divine One,’ thought Senmut, as he needlessly smoothed his tablet to keep from looking too anticipatory. ‘If your privates are not as hard as that statue, then you are less feeling than it is.’