Chapter Thirty-Nine
THEBES, EGYPT
The Nile shimmers before us. The verdant, palm-lined riverbank on which we sit affords us a breathtaking view of the countryside, dotted here and there with sandstone structures.
As I lie back on the blanket and pillows and reach for a date, I glance over at my beautiful Neferure and my beloved Senenmut.
We are alone here, save the guards standing at a distance.
I allow myself to imagine that we are an ordinary family enjoying a simple afternoon meal.
“Look,” Neferure cries out at the sight of two ibises landing in the reeds on the riverbank. “Their feathers are beautiful.”
“Ibises are a good omen, Neferure,” Senenmut says, gently pushing aside a strand of hair that has blown in front of her eyes.
He no longer refers to her as “princess,” just as he no longer refers to me as “queen,” “regent,” or even “pharaoh”—in private anyway.
It would be strange if he did, as we have become a family of our own.
In many ways, Senenmut is the only father Neferure has ever known.
I hear Neferure’s name being called in the distance, and I know my fleeting dream of a normal life must end.
No longer today will it be just us three.
Tutors and a vizier and advisers and servants and generals and family members and royal courtiers will inundate the remaining hours, and we must shift and change our roles to accommodate their perception of us. Even Neferure.
Her name grows louder, until Senimen materializes underneath our open-sided tent. “Apologies, Your Majesty,” he says with a low bow, “but it is time for the princess’s lessons.”
“Must I, Mother?” Neferure pleads. These occasions when it’s just us three are so rare, and I know that, like me, she doesn’t want this luncheon to end. Yet duty always prevails.
“You must, my love.”
With a groan, Neferure rouses herself from the comfort of our meal, pushes herself to standing, and follows Senimen back into the palace.
Senenmut watches as she grows smaller in the distance, until she disappears out of sight.
“Sometimes I wish we didn’t have to bring Senimen back on as Neferure’s tutor.
I miss tutoring her myself,” he says quietly.
I wrap myself around him, and whisper, “I know you do. And she misses your sage lessons and your many kindnesses.”
“Senimen will not teach her the order of the night sky or its stories. How will she ever learn about the stars without me?” His voice contains such sadness that I tighten my arms around his chest. His passion for sky watching and sky mapping runs deep, and he longs to share it with Neferure.
“You will divulge the secrets of the stars to her after the evening meal, starting tonight. From the terrace in my private quarters,” I say, and this notion makes him smile a little.
But I want him to understand that he has helped me—and therefore Neferure—in ways far more meaningful than simple tutoring.
Senenmut has become much more than my lover and, in all but name, father to Neferure.
He has become my closest adviser in all things.
Together, we have forged a reign of unprecedented stability and prosperity; organizing the forty-two provinces comprising Upper and Lower Egypt; expanding our trade route farther than ever before; naming a solid leader to help manage Kush; and installing a talented and loyal cadre of governors, judiciary, priests, and military leaders.
“Your brilliance is necessary for running Egypt, and we have accomplished much together that benefits the people, Senenmut,” I remind him when his expression turns melancholy.
“And much to perpetuate the Thutmoside reign in our construction projects, which will benefit Neferure—who is Thutmoside herself and will marry Thutmose the Third when they come of age and hopefully bear the next pharaoh. Just think how paltry my own construction plan was when you started overseeing the building projects. I mean, I started with a simple remote tomb in a little-known small wadi and now you’ve planned the most stunning mortuary temple the world has ever seen.
” Senenmut’s astonishing design for my temple is unlike any structure I’ve ever encountered.
Carved into the cliffside across the river from Thebes, it will consist of three massive, colonnaded terraces with a sanctuary for Amun at its center.
Its striking composition is nothing short of a masterpiece.
“Hmmm,” he says offhandedly and reclines back on the pillows.
I see that he’s still lamenting the fact that he cannot tutor Neferure anymore.
I know her progress is slower than it was under him, and that failing riles him.
Never mind all he’s done to memorialize the Thutmoside line, which will benefit her in numerous, immeasurable ways in the future, he stews over his perceived shortcomings with Neferure.
“And don’t forget that you are overseeing the education of Thutmose the Third. I would trust no one but you to ensure that he has proper academic instruction as well as military training, when the time is right.”
He doesn’t speak, and I can see he’s weighing and balancing all these accomplishments against the sacrifice of his time with Neferure. His expression is inscrutable, and I know I must raise the one topic I’ve long avoided.
I lie back next to him, and say, “Senenmut, have you thought that perhaps it’s time to take a wife? And perhaps have a child of your own?”
He turns to me with an expression of such dismay and disdain, that I blather on. “Neferure will always be like your own daughter, of course, it’s just—”
“How can you even suggest such a thing, Hatshepsut?” He interrupts me. “Do you doubt my love for you? My love for Neferure?”
“Never!” I exclaim, clasping his hands in mine.
“It’s just that you know I can never marry again.
And, even if I could, I cannot have any more children.
It isn’t fair of me to deprive you of a legacy that will preserve your memory for all eternity, especially when Neferure will soon have even less time with us as a family.
She’ll begin her training to become the God’s Wife of Amun sometime in the next year or two, and a year or two after that, she’ll wed Thutmose the Third,” I say, feeling a wave of melancholy myself at the thought of Neferure waking long before dawn every morning and performing the laborious rituals necessary to start the day.
The decision to have her become the next God’s Wife of Amun was not easy, but I know it is the only way she’ll have her own source of power outside marriage.
Senenmut sits up, and pulls me up alongside him. Placing his wide, strong hands on my cheeks, he says, “For all intents and purposes, you are my wife, and Neferure is my daughter. You are the only family I will ever want or need.”