Page 122 of Conspirators' Kingdom

“I left such details up to the first scribe of my nome, Your Eternal Serenity,” she answered.

Khety was quiet, but only for a moment.

“Regardless, it was tainted by that criminal’s actions. It would please me if you would find something wondrous to replace it.”

“And what does the king of Maat find wondrous?” Taisiya asked.

Mereruka waited with his heart in his throat. It was good she hadn’t fallen into the trap of agreeing immediately to find such a thing for Khety, for she would have failed no matter the object. Mereruka’s hand on her thigh, he ran a soothing thumb along the gauzy gown that covered it.

“Dragon scales,” he answered. “The larger and more luminous, the better. Bring me dragon scales, and I will forgive you for not selecting the tribute yourself,” Khety said as he sat back in his seat, pleased at his little trap.

“How many would you like, and how large?” Taisiya asked. “I ask because I have never seen a living dragon or its scales for myself.”

Khety frowned. Taisiya had defeated his ploy once more.

“Fifty. As big as my head. And not a scratch on them,” he answered. “Serfka?”

“Yes?” Serfka asked.

“Where was it that our workmen were having trouble?”

Serfka’s eyes filled with pity and dread.

“Along the proposed route of the Ruby Sea canal. A number of feral dragons were reportedly roaming there.”

Mereruka kept his face neutral and his lips shut as he called Khety every filthy, vile name he knew in his mind. It was a gods-damned death sentence. It seemed the king felt rather liberal with them this day.

“There should be plenty of scales in the vicinity. Radjedef, you should escort the princess consort on her journey. We wouldn’t want her first experience with a dragon to be a tragic one. And Mereruka, you should join your wife. Naturally, a newlywed couple shouldn’t be separated.”

“Naturally,” Mereruka replied.

Khety was under the delusion that Mereruka and Taisiya’s lives were joined by the vows of their marriage. Aiming at Taisiya’s more fragile life was his blatant attempt to kill them both. Would anyone question his motives when he finally slew that hateful man?

“It would be my honour,” Radjedef replied.

Ah, and Radjedef would pay for his moment of conscience. Khety expected Radjedef to return with the good news that both Mereruka and Taisiya were tragically eaten, and going by Radjedef’s defeated expression, he well knew it. By the looks of everyone else present, they, too, suspected the purity of the king’s motives.

“I shall do my utmost to return with the dragon scales you desire.” Taisiya bowed her head.

“Then swear to it, Princess Consort. I have no patience for those who fail me.”

Mereruka’s heart nearly stopped. He couldn’t prevent her from swearing to it and keep up this ruse. Before he could open his mouth to object, Taisiya gripped his hand under the table.

“I so swear, Your Eternal Serenity.”

It was as good as a deal. Taisiya must have felt it too, her grip tightening a second later as the magic sank into her bones. Khety looked directly at Mereruka, triumph in his icy blue gaze and a smirk on his face.

“Best of luck.”

Chapter 47

“He’sgoingtotryto kill us,” Taisiya sighed as she slumped into her seat.

Seated on their barge, the soldiers were already hard at work, provisioning them for their lethal voyage. Khety had given them little time to prepare, insisting that they leave immediately. It would take a day or so to reach their destination. Then, it would likely be a wholesale slaughter, conveniently out of sight of the palace and general populace.

She declined the glass of wine Mereruka offered her. Just because she had been able to stand the sight of violence and bloodshed without throwing up didn’t mean she could stomach food or drink. The banquet feast, which had started off tense enough to cause indigestion, had become a veritable buffet of horrors. Wine had become blood raining down from the heavens; platters of meat, the gore-strewn courtyard. Even now, the sound of the servants scraping up the remains, the slap of rags on the stone floors erasing the stains, the memories alone made her gorge rise. Inkaef’s fall and the silencing of his bleating wouldn’t leave her mind. Another nightmare. Taisiya shivered.

Mereruka, face impassive, sat across from her and picked up his wine glass.

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