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  “I’m not going to allow him to pick off my army and the citizens of Sariba one by one,” Kadesh said firmly.

  “It’s as we suspected,” the queen said. “Is it not? His letter says it plainly. Winner take all. Horeb is here not only to grab Sariba for his own but to conquer all the southern and western deserts and cities. He wants to rule and own everything.”

  “With Aliyah at his side as his queen,” I added. “They have plotted this together, just as you predicted, my queen.”

  “Tell me what you’ve learned about my sister,” the woman asked.

  “It’s not good. She anointed my older sister Leila as High Priestess and is keeping my little sister in captivity as the sacrifice to the Goddess tomorrow. Aliyah has gathered the citizens to her, and with war and death on their doorsteps they’re too frightened to defy divinity. Magicians are also here from Egypt with their sorcery and spells. Aliyah is convinced she has become the Goddess. I watched the ceremony myself.”

  “My younger sister is now the Goddess?” the queen said thoughtfully, an amused smile on her lips. “Aliyah is the real reason I’m here, Kadesh. After you and Jayden left Sheba, more information came by way of the mountain men in my hills.”

  “Basim and his soldiers,” I quickly told her. “They destroyed our wedding three nights ago and we nearly killed him. But he now fights for us.”

  The queen took a sudden breath of surprise. “And who managed that feat?”

  “Jayden did,” Asher interjected from across the room.

  I shook my head, embarrassed. “It’s a long story, my lady. So much has happened since we last talked.”

  “I also have the best spies in any kingdom. When I learned that Aliyah hired Basim’s men, I had to come. Which meant Kadesh hadn’t done the thing I’d most recommended.”

  A shiver ran along my spine in waves of unease.

  “Jayden, don’t play games with me. I suggested that Aliyah needed to be locked up or assassinated.”

  “Kadesh’s heart is so good he cannot think the worst of people,” I said before he could stop me. “He wanted to let Aliyah come to a change of heart on her own.”

  “I confess that I hoped Aliyah would change, too,” the queen told the room in solemn tones. “I held out hope—I still do because she’s my sister—but with the news of Basim I fear that Aliyah’s heart will never change. Now that she has elevated herself to Goddess, she’s more dangerous than ever.”

  “She’s more dangerous than Horeb,” I said, twisting my hands together.

  “Oh, my dear Jayden. The King of the Nephish is only an excuse, a distraction—a means to her ambitions. She has encouraged and mollified him and trumped up his ego, but she’s only using him. Aliyah plans to rule the lands from the Great Sea to the Irreantum Sea and to the eastern seas. And then she will set her sights on King Hammurabi of Babylon.”

  The inner room of the royal suite went silent at the soberness of the queen’s words and the uncertainty of the country’s future.

  “I can’t order her death without first seeing her and trying to change her mind,” the queen added. “But there is more to the story that I will tell you when we can both stand up without falling asleep. Come to my room tomorrow afternoon, Jayden. There’s one more reason why I’m here. A bittersweet reason that has to do with you.”

  Her words took me by surprise. “With me? What could that possibly be?”

  She eyed me knowingly. “Other than you are Kadesh’s betrothed and future queen?”

  Now it was my turn to blush under her steady gaze.

  “My bath awaits me now. And a fire for these ragged, scorpion-bitten clothes.” The queen met each person’s eye in the royal suite with her own dark, clear-eyed expression. “Aliyah is the one that needs to be stopped. And that is why I came. To try and stop her.”

  20

  I returned to my suite and was able to sleep for a few hours after all the excitement of the Queen of Sheba’s surprise appearance. Long fingers of sunlight crawled across the floor when I reached her guest suite the next afternoon. Anticipation gripped at my chest.

  A moment later, I was bowing before the queen. She was dazzlingly beautiful, even after the long, frantic journey. Her sleek dark hair was pulled up on either side of her head with pearled combs. Garnet earrings brushed against her neck. Her flowing dress was a deep magenta, the bodice sewn with stones of amethyst, carnelian, and topaz.

  “I wanted to see you, Jayden, before we go up to the temple because I think you need to understand more about Aliyah if you are to fight her. If we all are to fight her properly.”

  “Does Kadesh know what you’re about to tell me?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Our families have known each other for two generations. Kadesh’s parents and King Ephrem were friends with my parents. We have been allies for a long time to protect the Frankincense Trail. In fact, the rogue mountain men outside of Ma’rib work for me. Thus, I was disturbed by the news of Basim working for Horeb. At first, I thought about arresting them all and letting them hang for treason, but when I sent my city soldiers, they had disappeared from the mountains. Only their women and children were still there—reluctant to admit except under great pressure—that their men had crossed the eastern deserts toward Sariba.”

  “They were sent into the city to destroy our wedding,” I told her. “To instill fear. Until that night we didn’t know how terribly close they were. It was unsettling, to say the least. And Kadesh almost took the arrow that pierced Chemish.”

  “Horeb must have had spies that brought word of your pending marriage, and he had to stop it. For you are part of his and Aliyah’s plan.”

  “I’ve been well aware of that for a long time,” I said grimly. “I have wished many times that they would go off and find their own corner of the desert to rule and leave the rest of us alone. But I know that’s a foolish dream.”

  “Other than Babylon, Sariba has the most wealth, and its remote location makes it relatively safe.”

  “If Horeb succeeds, there will never be peace here again.”

  The queen pressed a hand against my arm. “Trust Kadesh. He has a plan. One that will temporarily devastate, but one that will work in the end. He will win this war with your help and confidence. Give it to him.”

  “I will,” I promised, realizing that I had shown my own doubts and fear too often.

  “You’re concerned that Kadesh shows too much empathy,” the queen said kindly. “That he wants to be loved and that will cause him to appear weaker than he should. But I have confidence that he will rule well and fairly, whether that’s kindness or an iron fist that needs to be meted out.”

  My face burned. She was exactly right. “Kadesh has refused to arrest Aliyah. That shows his compassion, his willingness to give someone the chance to change their ways.”

  “Except that my sister grows more powerful, more hateful.”

  “Where does her anger and this need to control come from?”

  The single lamp on the table next to her cast a column of light across the queen’s glossy black hair, the jewels twinkling while she clasped her hands in a pensive gesture.

  “I’m afraid it’s a torturous history. Aliyah and I have different mothers. My father loved my mother desperately. They married young—it was arranged, of course—but my mother was infatuated with him and wanted to marry him. I was born between several miscarriages. After several years the loss of her children turned my mother melancholy, prone to bouts of solitude. She began to push my father away.”

  I could hear the strain and sadness in the queen’s voice.

  “I was definitely closer to my father, and perhaps that didn’t help her mental state. It certainly caused her loneliness to grow more deeply. It’s difficult not to feel guilty. My mother’s suffering to bear children was like a betrayal on both our parts. My presence and affection wasn’t enough for her, so I ran to my father for comforts and attention and schooling. Which only caused my mother to withdraw even more, convinc
ed I didn’t love her.”

  I tightened my fist in my lap, afraid of what was coming.

  “One of my mother’s personal advisors paid her more attention than my father and I did. They grew closer. He was the only one able to bring her out of her dark moods. The only one who could make her laugh. I used to stare down from my bedroom window watching them walk and talk in the gardens. For months, I watched the subtle tenderness, the physical touches of affection, the small gifts of roses, or an extra sweet. I was only nine or ten and I wanted to stop it, but I had no idea how to bring her back to us. Of course, I felt guilty, as though it were my fault. Especially when she finally ran away to be with the man she had fallen in love with.”

  Impulsively, I reached out to take her cold fingers. “How terrible for your father.”

  “He was the king and she was his queen. To run away with another man couldn’t be tolerated. She was stripped of her crown. She chose exile rather than prison. In the middle of the night, she disappeared. Without saying good-bye.”

  “Did you ever learn where she went?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “I never saw her again and spent the rest of my childhood creating elaborate scenarios of her returning home to me. When I grew older I worried that my father had had her followed and killed so that she couldn’t bring shame upon him, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually believe it. Then he married a woman far removed from Sheba. The daughter of a prince from the city of Damascus. Miriam was kind but young. A year later, Aliyah was born. I doted on her. I loved her. She was the sister I’d always wanted. Aliyah helped me cope with my mother’s loss. But when she became older, it became apparent that Aliyah had a devious streak. She fought for her way, always wanted the best of everything, and then set her sights on gaining education and wealth. She was desperate to go to Babylon to study, so I finally sent her there to live with distant cousins, if only to stop our constant arguing. Then we learned that after her studies she came to Sariba to study as a priestess. A decision my father was not pleased with at all. He begged her to come home. He promised to meet her every demand. Her own mother couldn’t stand up to her and Aliyah was so spoiled that she showed disdain to her mother and my father.”

  “I heard a story about Aliyah and the death of the previous High Priestess,” I said.

  The queen nodded. “We did, too. When Aliyah finally came home, we found her cold and hard. Calculating. She charmed the household but she was quite ungenerous. When our father told her that I was to have the crown after his death, she screamed and ranted. She said terrible things about me and called my mother a whore for running off with another man. She was convinced that since her mother was currently married to the king she should inherit the throne, and not me at all. She began a campaign to turn Miriam against him. My father was torn between all three of us. It was not in his nature to conspire and accuse, and to withhold love by blackmail.”

  “But your father’s decree is law. And you were his oldest child and heir long before he married Miriam. Aliyah can’t argue with that. How could she hate you for that?”

  The queen gave a curt laugh. “With Aliyah she can argue for any reason at all. Only her opinions and desire matter. But something else happened that turned Aliyah against me even more, despite the day my father crowned me as co-regent when a sudden illness overcame him.”

  I frowned at her, confused as to what could have made the situation any worse.

  “You see, Aliyah was in love with my husband—my betrothed. We weren’t married yet, but Aliyah wanted everything that I had. My husband never returned her affections, but she accused him of it and tried to put a wedge between us so that I would leave him. She spun a story of how he had jilted her. Aliyah’s biggest weakness is her talent to weave an entire life made up of falsehoods.

  “When we married, she threatened terrible things: suicide, blackmail, all created by a thousand lies. She’s convinced that she has been dealt with wrongly, that her rightful inheritance has been stolen from her. When she left to return to Sariba to attend to her new role as High Priestess she told me that one day she would be the most powerful woman in all the world—and she would do anything to achieve it and demolish me in the process. Murder, blackmail, war, it doesn’t matter.”

  “And she has nearly succeeded,” I said, stunned by the queen’s story. “If Kadesh had stayed here and married her, he would probably be dead by now and she would rule Sariba.”

  “I’m convinced of it as well,” the queen agreed. “I’m sure she’s furious that you interfered with the merchant soldiers of Basim, bringing them to Sariba’s loyalty. Aliyah likes to think everyone around her is stupid and that she can outwit us. But I know her too well.”

  “You don’t know me that well, my sister,” Aliyah’s voice came from the doorway.

  I sucked in a breath and placed my teacup on the tray, missing it completely. The ceramic cup shattered on the floor, but I couldn’t take my eyes off Aliyah. She was attired in the richest pure white gown, her hair a glorious mane of ebony and gold dust. She’d come ready for the temple ceremonies that night. Somehow she’d learned that the queen was here. Did we have spies in the palace? The thought was not comforting.

  “How did you get into the palace?” I demanded. “Kadesh forbid you from coming here.”

  Aliyah swept into the room. “Just because the king can’t keep a tighter rein on his locked doors and guards, doesn’t mean I won’t take advantage of his weakness. Kadesh is so gullible and you’re an even bigger fool than my sister, Jayden. I’m the Goddess, or have you forgotten? A little spell, a whiff of herbal concoctions and the soldiers and guards become warm butter in my hands. They know their true queen, and they obey.”

  “Drugged citizens aren’t stalwart followers,” I shot back at her. “You can’t drug everyone.”

  “But I’ve got a plan. Which is more than I can say for you, desert girl. You are no match for me. And you, my dear sister,” Aliyah said with a laugh. “What delusions you have thinking you can come here to persuade me to a different path.”

  The Queen of Sheba came forward. I noticed how carefully she was trying not to get angry. “Aliyah, you know I care about you. What have you done to your heart that you can kill without impunity? To carry out sacrifices—”

  “That’s the whole point you continue to ignore,” Aliyah said. “The Goddess is my soul and that gives me all power. When we sacrifice something we love, the Goddess will bless her people.”

  “Your rule is one of fear, not love,” the queen said firmly. “Stop this war with Horeb before hundreds more die, including Horeb’s armies.”

  “Sariba’s army isn’t as strong as my new ally. It won’t be long before Horeb and I are united and rule not only Sariba but your land of Sheba as well as Babylon, Salem, and Damascus.”

  “It will take more than Egyptian magicians hypnotizing your potential subjects. There are powerful armies in all those lands, including the people of Philistia. You’ll need an army of a hundred thousand to claim their wealth and become their ruler.”

  Aliyah shook her head wearily. “I’ve heard it all so many times. From you. From our father. From Kadesh. Men are tiresome, especially royal men with egos as long and wide as the Nile. I only tolerate the Egyptians because they give me their magical knowledge and incantations; the methods to subdue.”

  “You will lead a lonely life,” the queen said, and I could hear genuine sadness in her voice.

  “And you, my sister,” Aliyah went on, “by coming here you signed your own death decree. You’ve double-crossed and stolen from me long enough. You stole Basim and the men of Sa’ba from me with Jayden’s interference. You thwart me at every turn! And now you will be punished.” In a low voice, she added, “I once told you that I would have your husband and Sheba one day. And today is that day.”

  Before the queen could utter another word, Aliyah brought forth a slender, glittering dagger from the folds of her gown and lunged.

  The queen put up her han
ds in defense and Aliyah’s knife sliced down her palms. Blood dripped in ugly red lines, and the queen fell back against the cushions of the couch. Disbelief flashed across her face followed by terror. She was unarmed and so was I. My weapons were back in my suite.

  I screamed for the servants, but they were no longer in the room.

  Aliyah’s features were ugly as she sliced at the queen’s dress, ripping it into shreds while the queen fought her off with wild hands, but Aliyah was taller and stronger, pinning her to the couch with her knees.

  Finally, I lifted a heavy ceramic pot from a table and launched myself toward Aliyah to smash it over her head. It crashed into large shards, and, even though she was dazed, she didn’t fall unconscious.

  I continued to scream for the guards while wrestling Aliyah for the knife.

  Booted feet finally came down the hall, and a guard shouted. Instantly, Aliyah stepped out of my reach, pocketed the bloody knife and raced through the door, disappearing in the opposite direction. As if she had turned to smoke, a sign of the sorceress she had become.

  I sank to my knees, shaking while the queen moaned from the shock of the attack. Then I jumped up and got linen and water to clean up her hands. The blood was overwhelming.

  “Do you need stitches?” I asked. “I’ll send for the physician.”

  “The cuts aren’t deep.”

  “I’ll help you bandage them.”

  I worked quickly, cutting linen and binding the fabric around her hands. “You’ll need some turmeric for infection and a sleeping draught to ease the pain so you can sleep.”

  The queen sat silently. We were both distressed by the sudden attack, but anger began to boil inside me.

  I noticed that the tea tray had been knocked over during the struggle. The liquid still warm, staining the carpet, seeping away as the queen’s life had almost done. I refused to see it as a bad omen.