A Time to Seek by Tracy Higley

A Time to Seek by Tracy Higley

Author:Tracy Higley [Higley, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781737057901
Google: kRppzgEACAAJ
Amazon: 1737057905
Publisher: Stonewater Books
Published: 2021-04-13T05:00:00+00:00


Chapter Twenty-One

At Ay’s mistaken identity, I braced damp palms against my thighs.

The vizier stepped closer, squinted.

I swallowed and lifted my chin to meet his gaze.

“No, you are not her.”

“No.”

“Who are you?” He loomed over me, eyes roaming me from top to bottom.

I felt a distinct chill at the appraisal.

He grabbed my upper arm, digging his fingers into the flesh. “You are clearly foreign. Have you come from Mitanni to spy on our kingdom? You are too pale to be one of those wretched Nehesyw, worming your way into palace life.”

I tried to wrestle free, but he tightened his grip, then wrenched my arm behind my back, his face inches from mine.

“Where have you come from?” The question was a hiss in my face. “Answer me, woman!”

One of my escorts stepped forward. “She has been with the Great Royal Wife.”

I tossed him a look like a slap of my own.

“Ah, one of the child’s little friends, then?” Ay still sputtered into my face. “And tell me, what is her latest scheme?”

“I am a friend of Ahmose only, my lord.”

He frowned as though the claim were ludicrous.

“Anyone can claim connection to an ally. If you are truly a friend of Ahmose, then bring him to me. To explain your presence. Or find yourself treated like any Mitanni spy.”

He released my arm and thrust me backward.

“I—I do not know where he is—“

“Present yourself in the throne room with Ahmose two days hence, when I return from Karnak.”

He nodded to my escorts. “Watch her until then.”

The vizier glided away, smarmy and revolting.

I escaped to the courtyard and trailed trembling fingers along ferns and yellow lilies as I tried to get lost in the leafy center, well aware of the watching eyes of the vizier’s guards in the colonnade.

A murder plot. A queen’s life in danger. Suspected of spying. Was it time to return home? Ancient Egypt was once again more than I bargained for. Could I stay out of sight long enough to explore, to watch for the Egyptian Jack?

Sadly, since I’d used the already-sealed tomb door as my touchstone to travel here, there was no getting inside Tut-ankh-amun’s tomb until I returned home and watched it opened with Howard. Did I have a duty to learn more about the young king before returning home? Or should I cut my losses and escape to safety?

The encounter with Ay had shaken me more than I cared to admit.

Really, Sahara? After being stabbed yesterday?

But there was something different about Ay. Something very unlike the common thief who’d hurt me yesterday. Something… evil.

A movement at the edge of the courtyard caught my eye, and I stepped farther back into the green shadow of a lush palm tree.

A man idled at the other side, under a doorway lintel, his eyes scanning the courtyard. He hadn’t seen me.

A frond slapped my face. I batted it away to get a better look.

Jack.

My stomach twisted. I started forward, his name on my lips, but then stopped.

Too late. He had seen me.

I stepped from the plant and motioned him toward me.



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