THE GREAT LADY OF ALKION

CHAPTER 69

The door to the room was opened and Rashida entered the room only to find Meritaten sitting on the bed with her knees brought to her chest. Her hands were folded at the front of her knees. She raised her face to look at Rashida and looked down.
"Have you come here to laugh at my misfortune ?"
"Why would I laugh at you ? I may never have experienced pregnancy but I know that the pain of losing a child is unbearable. In addition to that, wouldn't that be my brother's child ?"
"How can the gods be this cruel towards me ? What did I do wrong to deserve this ?"
"You didn't deserve this. Your pregnancy was stable. I think that there is more than meets the eye."
" What do you mean ?" she asked as she sat up.
" You were perfectly fine during the feast. You came and gave me gifts. Some time later, you ended up losing your child. Don't you think that something is wrong ? What did Khafirin tell you ?"
"I have been mourning. I have neither gone to see anyone nor wanted to see anyone."
" Then try to remember what happened. Maybe you inhaled or had something that affected you."
"I had grapes and some bread," she began to recall." I then had pomegranate juice but I was still fine. I wanted more and that was when I asked Bennu to get me more. The kitchen had ran out so she brought me juice from Astrid. A while later, I began to.... "
"Began to what ?"
" Oh no. I began to feel pain after I drank the juice from Astrid. She must have poisoned it!"
" That's a brave accusation Meritaten. She is a royal princess and saying that could land you in trouble. You are lucky that I am the only one who heard that."
" I am sure of it. She is the one who poisoned me," Meritaten said as she began to cry." Why would she harm me that way ?" she shouted." We do not get along but why would she choose to harm my poor child instead of dealing with me ? Why bring an innocent child into this ? Why ? Why ? Why ? Smenkhhare and I are not close and she decided to break the only thing that could bind us together," she lamented as she placed her hands on her stomach.
" Meritaten," Rashida said as she placed her hand on her back.
" I am a bad mother and couldn't protect my baby."
"Don't blame yourself Meritaten," Rashida said as she began to tear up." I can't believe how vicious she is and she chose to harm your child. By harming my brother's child, she harmed me as well. I will walk with you on this journey Meritaten and avenge everything she has done to us."
"How dare she! I wish I didn't drink the juice and maybe my child would be here with me. I hate myself."
"This is not the time to hate yourself. It is time to get even and avenge your child. You must remember the one who harmed you."
Rashida stood up and went out of the room.
Immediately, Meritaten grabbed a shawl and ran to the great hall barging in.
She ran and knelt before Ramses as she cried.
"Please uphold justice for me my king. My child was harmed."
" Meritaten. What are you doing ?" this from Smenkhhare." Rise up."
He walked towards her and lifted her up by her hand.
" Our child was harmed Smenkhhare. I was poisoned," she said as she held his hands." I began to feel pain after taking juice brought to me  from Astrid. She harmed me."
" That is a brave accusation," Ramses said.
" Do not accuse my wife of something so preposterous," Seti said with anger burning in his eyes.
" What nonsense are you spouting ?" he whispered angrily.
" I am not. I swear that she poisoned me."
" Astrid would never do that," Thutmose said.
Khafirin entered the hall followed by Asenath. They bowed before Pharaoh.
" I have brought my findings concerning the miscarriage," he said.
"Go on," this from Ramses.
"Mighty Pharaoh, my father and I have discovered that Lady Meritaten was poisoned by mugwort."
"Mugwort ?" Ramses asked.
"Yes sovereign."
"Upon examining Lady Meritaten, I found out that that was the reason why she had pain before. I believe that she has been consuming it and it caused the loss of the child. I found traces of mugwort in the juice she was having on the night of the feast," Khafirin said.
"See," Meritaten said."I was poisoned! It was Astrid."
"Stop accusing Astrid of something that despicable," Seti said.
"Summon Astrid to the hall," Ramses said.

A little while later, Astrid walked in the hall. She bowed before Ramses and looked around.
"On the night of the feast, Meritaten says that she drank juice from you. She has said that you gave it to her maidservant who in turn served her. It turns out that the juice was poisoned with mugwort. I have summoned you for this reason. Say something about it."
" My lord, I indeed sent her some pomegranate juice since I had some left. I wouldn't have had a hand in it because I was drinking from the same jug. I have my husband, maidservant and Asenath to attest to that."
" She was having pomegranate juice my lord," Asenath said.
" She had it and I took a sip of it," Seti said.
" Why then did it turn out to have mugwort ? The juice was from you so you cannot escape suspicion."
" I won't deny that my lord but don't you think that I would be the fool here for sending her poisoned pomegranate juice ? If I was to commit such an evil, I would not do it openly. Do summon her maidservant and the butler who were there."
" Granted," Ramses said.
The butler and Bennu walked in and knelt before the royals. The butler told of how he told Bennu that there was no juice but it was being prepared in the kitchen. Bennu narrated her side of the story as well.
" From all their testimonies, it is clear that I had no hand in it. I gave the jug to her and she went to Meritaten to serve her. I wouldn't dare mess around with the life of a royal child."
" I don't believe you. Maybe the juice was poisoned by you when you heard Bennu asking for it and so you offered to give it to me. Everyone knows that you and I do not get along so you could try to harm me by killing my poor child,"Meritaten yelled.
Ramses stroked his beard as he thought about all that was being said.
"After hearing all you have to say, I don't think that Astrid had a hand at what happened. If anyone wants to commit such a heinous deed, they would hide it. Do not blame her for it Meritaten. I will uphold justice for you and the one who did that shall pay with their own lives."
"Your majesty is wise," Astrid bowed as she said that.
" She murdered my child," Meritaten screamed." Please punish her heavily my king. I am begging you," she began to weep."
"Let's go," Smenkhhare said as he pulled her out of the hall to their room where he shut the door behind him.
"Smenkhhare, she killed our child."
"I shall not hear another word from you. She is not capable of doing such evil. We will find out who did this to you and in the meantime you should rest."
"Are you not hurt at all by all of this ? Since we lost the child, I have not seen you looking sad about it. You even dare defend her. You are heartless," she said as she began to pound on his chest with her hands already clenched into fists.
He pushed her away and left immediately shutting the door behind him.
She hit the door as she shouted all manner of insults at him.
She sat on the floor feeling weak from all the crying.
"I shall never forgive this Astrid. Neither shall I forget," she said with her heart set on nothing but revenge.