Suzanne Robinson by Heart of the Falcon

Author:Heart of the Falcon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

8

Seth relinquished the reigns of the chariot to Khet. The boy gave an ecstatic whoop and urged the horses into a gallop. They raced down the avenue toward home, leaving the bearers and others of their party behind. Seth saw the deep rut long before they were upon it. He grasped one side of the chariot and braced his feet but said nothing to Khet. They hit the trough broadside. Khet hurtled over the front of the vehicle. His head nearly caught a blow from a rear hoof, but Seth seized his brother by the neck and pulled him back to safety. Pulling the horses to a walk, Seth let Khet lean back against him, his face pale, his eyes round.

“You will watch next time?” Seth asked sweetly.

“Y-yes. I don’t feel well.”

“Near-death has that effect. Breath deeply. I’ve got you. You aren’t going to fall.”

Khet clung to the chariot and inhaled.

“I said you had a great deal to learn about being a warrior.”

Khet whipped around to face Seth. “You knew I’d hit that hole. I could have gotten killed!”

“Not with me to catch you. You needed a lesson. Perhaps now you’ll admit it’s too soon to give up on your scribe’s lessons.”

Seth paused to listen to an epithet concerning himself and a hippopotamus. Khet stared ahead and refused to speak to his brother for the rest of the journey.

Khet’s stiff back and lifted chin filled Seth with remorse. He hadn’t meant to frighten the boy so. It was Anqet’s fault. She frustrated him so that his body and his heart screamed for relief from the tension. He had sought release by punishing his beloved Khet.

Back at the manor house, Seth had no chance to apologize. Khet jumped out of the chariot and charged inside. Seth followed at a slower pace but caught up with his brother in the entryway before the reception hall. Khet stood motionless with his arms stiff at his sides and his back to Seth. Voices came from the room beyond. Seth came up behind Khet and placed his hand on the boy’s shoulder Only one person evoked that expression of diffidence and anxiety. Seth gave his younger brother a quick hug of reassurance.

“Courage, Little Fire. He won’t stay long.”

Seth looked more closely at the boy. “It wasn’t your doing. He’s wrong to blame your mother’s death on you.”

Khet only hunched his shoulders. With the boy close at his side, Seth walked into the reception hall to greet his older brother. He paused after three steps into the room. Khet hesitated too. Sennefer, immaculate in pleats and gold-trimmed wig, stood beside a transformed Anqet.

The girl had worked devil’s magic. She had become mist and flame. Transparent white froth drifted about her body. Her neck, arms, and ankles gleamed with the crimson hue from ornaments of red jasper A band of thin sheet gold encircled her head like a diadem. Anqet lifted her head, and Seth took in the smooth, fragile slope of her forehead, the sinuous line of reddened lips.

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