Heretic of El Amarna

Chapter 29: Amenhotep

It irritated me that my lovely wife could possibly believe that I would love her less for bearing a girl instead of an heir. What sort of evil person would tell her such things and undermine her confidence so?

My mother, of course. She probably put all the other women up to it too. She never had liked Nefertiti. That gave her no call to verbally abuse my wife, but she seemed to believe it did, so I would have to set that particular misconception straight.

I stalked into my mother’s chambers, eyes flashing. “Why did you tell my wife that I would love her less if her child was not a boy?” I growled at my mother.

She stood up, turning to meet me, graceful and prepared as always. “She must be strong, my son… And she is not. If she cannot defend herself against the women at court, how can she expect to lead them?”

“So you admit that you have been stirring up the women at court to treat her so cruelly?”

She shrugged. “Decide that for yourself. Why do you not go ask them? Surely they will tell you.” She gave me an unconcerned glance. “What is the child’s gender, anyway?”

I clenched my fists. “How can you be so callous? This is my wife we’re talking about here… The woman I love. Mother, have some respect for her because like it or not, she is your Mistress, and…”

She cut me off with an imperious wave of her hand. “See… That is what I mean, Amenhotep. You leap to her defense at every slight, but she remains weak because she does not know how to defend herself. She will have my respect when she earns it.”

I glared at her. How dare she presume to decide when to show the Great Wife her submission and respect? I did not care who she was. Respect needed to be given where it was due. “Mother, I do not care if she has not earned it in your mind. She is the Great Wife, and you will treat her with the due respect.” I hissed.

She stared back at me, unmoving as her maids bustled about, cleaning up makeup and her various hairbrushes, which lay on the table in a neatly scattered fashion.

I stared back for a moment then turned on my heel. “If you cannot respect her, I will be forced to mete out punishment upon you.” I threw back over my shoulder as I exited the room.

Her comments were nettlesome to me. She was suggesting that my wife was not strong enough to handle this burden. But she was. I knew Nefertiti. She was strong. Strong enough.

This was the girl who made me take her along into the middle of the desert for the Aten’s sake! She practically made me take her and traveled across the desert barefooted with blisters and cuts all over her feet until we got to Abydos. What right did my mother have to say such things as she did? What grounds did she have for her accusations?

None whatsoever.

If this occurred again, I was going to punish her as her overlord and Pharoah. She was under my authority as ruler of Egypt whether she accepted it or not. And I would not stand by and allow her to disrespect either myself or my wife.

I walked through the halls of the palace, heading to the throne room where I had to listen to all the petitions laid before me for the remainder of the afternoon.

I sighed. I detested this part of my work. It was miserable. As much as I knew that the people mattered, I really didn’t want to listen to their complaints and arguments with each other. But listen I did because I was Pharoah.

***

When I finally escaped the throne room, I made a bee-line for Nefertiti’s rooms hoping that she and the baby would both be awake.

They were, and I smiled at them as I walked in, my heart soaring to see my young wife sitting on the bed cradling our baby daughter in her arms.

She looked up and gave me a purely radiant smile. That smile always melted my heart and made me wish I could bask in its warmth for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, duties often called me away from her.

“You are back so soon?” She murmured, rocking the baby back and forth in her arms.

I shrugged. “Not so soon. I had to spend the whole afternoon in the throne room listening to petitions. Mostly the priests complaining about the fact that I cut off funding to their temples so that it could go into the temples of the Aten.”

She smiled. “Naturally, they would whine about it.”

I held out my arms, sitting on the bed as I did. “Can I hold her?”

She nodded, settling the baby into my arms.

I stared down into the face of our tiny daughter, amazed at her fine features and tiny fingers and toes. She was so tiny and delicate.

She stared back at me, her dark black eyelashes framing eyes the same chocolate brown color of her mother’s. Clutching my pointer finger in her tiny fist, she gave me a wide-eyed, innocent stare as most babies did.

She didn’t cry or fuss. She just stared back at me. Observing me, understanding me, learning new things. Then she reached up a tiny hand to touch my cheek, eyes big and wide.

Nefertiti smiled at the two of us. “That is your father, Meritaten.”

Meritaten cooed, laughing when I smiled back at her.

I held her for a few more minutes before handing her back to Nefertiti and pulling them both into my arms, careful not to injure the baby.

Nefertiti and I stared down at Meritaten, and she stared back, reaching out her tiny baby fingers to grab onto Nefertiti’s dangling earrings. Like most babies, she tried to yank on them and pull them to her mouth, but Nefertiti firmly took her hands of the earrings.

Obviously, it would not be a good idea to give a newborn a swallowable item. They invariably stuck it into their mouth and – if not reached soon enough – could choke to death by swallowing it. Definitely not a good idea to let Meritaten play with the earrings.

I felt a deep, pervading calm sink into my being as I nestled Nefertiti and the baby against me, waving my fingers at the baby and laughing along with Nefertiti when she cooed and giggled. This was all I had ever wanted in my life.

The woman I loved at my side and our children in our arms or standing round us.

I never wanted the throne, but since it was the only way I could have Nefertiti, I took it up willingly. It was the price I paid for the happiness and contentment that my young wife brought me.