The Heart of a King: The Desert Princess ; The Shepherdess ; The Daughter of the Nile ; The Queen of Sheba by Jill Eileen Smith

Author:Jill Eileen Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction;Christian fiction;Bible fiction;FIC042030;FIC042040;FIC027050
ISBN: 9781493417698
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group
Published: 2019-03-18T00:00:00+00:00

Ra had already begun his journey to the underworld by the time Siti’s father’s banquet was in mid-course. She sat in the midst of it beneath a white canopy, singled out as her sister had been during her wedding feast. Yet this was not a wedding feast as she had imagined it would be. The dais she sat upon and the gown she wore had been hastily chosen, for her father had made it clear that by nightfall she would be wed to Solomon. Not a week or two from now, with time enough to have new garments made. Tonight.

She kneaded the fine linen she wore beneath the sheer robe, wishing instead to sink her fingers into Abdukar’s soft fur. She should have insisted her cat accompany her here, but the noise of the banquet would have sent him fleeing. Akila’s presence at her back was strength enough, she told herself. But as she watched King Solomon dine with her father, she wondered. Quiet conversation appeared to move between them, but if there had been any trouble with negotiations of her nuptial requests, neither man exhibited any tension now.

Would Solomon keep the bargains he had made? How soon would a palace be built that she could call her own? She half argued with herself that she should have insisted she would not move to Jerusalem until the palace was completed, but such a building project could take years, and she knew deep down that her father could not afford to wait to make this alliance.

And King Solomon did not strike her as a terribly patient man.

She worried her lower lip at that thought, forcing her mind not to jump too far ahead to the evening’s final hours. The hour when Solomon would lead her to his gleaming tents across the plains on the edge of the Nile. How long would they wait to leave Egypt?

“Are you nervous, my lady?” Akila bent forward and whispered the words, but Siti still heard them above the din.

She nodded. “Yes. A little.” She glanced at the grand platform where Pharaoh’s tables spread out like the Nile itself, surrounded by courtiers, his taste testers standing at attention just behind him. “King Solomon looks relaxed. And pleased.” She leaned back and turned her head to look at her maid. “My father’s arrangements must have been to his liking.”

“I suspect you will be to his liking, my lady.” She smiled at Siti with that look she always gave when trying to convince her she was beautiful.

Compared to Salama, she never thought so.

“I guess I will find out soon enough.” Siti turned then, suddenly not interested in discussions with her maid or anyone else. She wanted to walk gracefully from this place and back to her rooms, throw off the accursed wig, and hold Abdukar in her arms. But she did not follow her desires or instincts.

The hours passed, though she could not complain that the entertainment bored her. The worst part was that Solomon did not join her on the dais.

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