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“Why should I? The council of priests were not considered royalty though we’re the ones who actually ran the country and should have been revered by the pharaoh and peasants alike.

Instead, we were almost ignored, except on special days or when a pharaoh died and had to receive the special death rites.

We were never properly appreciated, but our treatment became a constant insult when the pharaoh Hadabam the Third decided to take Folashade as his queen.

It was a disaster. The only thing she had going for her was that she was also of royal birth from a distant branch of the family and had been brought up with Hadabam at the palace.

She would have been an adequate match for some unimportant court official.

The council tried for weeks to talk the pharaoh out of marrying her; he should have taken a bride from one of the royal families in Egypt or Persia.

It would have been the only way he might have increased the power of not only the throne but also the priests’ council.

” His lips curled. “But he wouldn’t listen to them as usual. ”

“A love match?” Eve asked.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Zakira said in disgust. “The council could have understood if lust had been the driving factor and taken care to supply him with a suitable alternative. This girl was plain as a post and had no skills, and yet the pharaoh seemed content to spend time talking and reading with her and the scribes of the court. If sex was even a factor, the council wasn’t aware of it.

Though she managed to give birth to a healthy enough boy a few years after she became queen.

The pharaoh had been a sickly child all of his life and there was some doubt about his virility, but she was able to at least furnish him with an heir.

” His face twisted. “It might have all gone well if Hadabam hadn’t gotten a fever and died.

He ruined everything the council had planned. ”

“I’m sure he didn’t intend to cause an upset,” Eve murmured. “What was the problem?”

“The pharaoh had named his queen as regent to her son until he reached the age where he could assume the throne. The child was only three years old. He should have put the priests’ council in charge of the child, not that stupid girl who was still almost a child herself.

” His lips curled. “And that was the most terrible mistake of all. Because the minute she took the throne, she became a nightmare for the council.”

“In what way? I believe I heard somewhere that she changed her name to Folashade when she became queen. It had something to do about honor and the crown… Is that right? Why did she do that?”

“Because she was a vain, power-hungry bitch. She told the entire council of priests after the death of her husband that as long as she was in charge, she’d rule with honor and justice; that was why she’d agreed to obey the pharaoh in this.

Then she dismissed the council and told them she would never accept their guidance again.

She called them thieves and butchers and said they had no idea of the meaning of honor.

The whore made the council powerless. She made all the decisions, even made war on other villages and city-states and conducted them herself for the next twenty-four years. ”

“And how did that work out?” Eve asked quietly. “Didn’t you mention a disaster?”

“The country people may have thought they were prospering during that period, but they were only ignorant peasants. The council should have been brought in to guide the palace. The priests deserved their worship and respect.”

“And after that time her son took over as pharaoh?”

He shrugged. “No, he was as stupid and useless as his mother. All through his life, he was only interested in his horses and books. Then one night he took his finest chariot and his favorite horse for a ride down to the seaport and sailed away into the sunset as if Shafira no longer even existed for him. When the council questioned his servants and guards, they only said that lately he’d been talking about wanting to see Greece or Macedonia. But he never returned here to Shafira.”

“Then perhaps he wasn’t as stupid as you might think. Did anyone talk to his mother when he sailed away?”

“They tried, of course. She was unavailable. She’d been ill for the past few days, and the day after he left she died unexpectedly.”

“And he didn’t come back to attend her as she was taken to her tomb?” Eve shook her head in bewilderment. “But that’s against all tradition. Something must have happened to him.”

“There were problems,” Zakira said harshly.

“She was a troublemaker all the years she had lived, and her death was just as much of a nightmare as her life. When the priests came to take her body to the place where they were going to prepare it for the tomb, she and all her worldly treasures had disappeared. The council questioned and even tortured some of her servants, but they swore they knew nothing.”

“My goodness,” Eve said. “How puzzling. Whatever did they do?”

“Am I amusing you?” Zakira’s tone was filled with menace. “Perhaps I should put a stop to that immediately. Shall I send for your son?”

She moistened her lips. “You’re too smart not to realize that I would protect him at all costs.

” She had been careless, and she had to make sure he was convinced.

“I was being honest when I told you it would help me to get an idea what kind of person I was sculpting. But I’m not sure I have the full story.

It was clear that she’d been fighting this priests’ council all through her years on the throne. Why? What did she think they did?”

“What does it matter?”

“I need to get a complete picture.”

She waited.

Then he smiled recklessly. “I repeat, what does it matter? You have to give me what I want regardless of your thoughts or opinions.” He paused.

“Folashade had discovered that the council had been helping themselves to the treasures in the tombs of several pharaohs. Well, why shouldn’t they?

It should have been my ancestors who were honored in that fashion.

They should have been the ones to live in those palaces.

They were just a little ahead of their time.

” Eve could see his cheeks flushed with anger as he gestured to himself.

“So I decided to take it all back and use her to do it. This will bring attention from all over the globe. Your participation will help ensure it. My power will reach farther than this small pocket, to the entire planet. It’s how world religions are born, can’t you see?

” His eyes were glittering as he stared at Eve.

“And I’ll use you to do it. Do you understand, Eve Duncan? Are you going to give me what I want?”

“I’m going to give you exactly what I promised,” she said quietly.

“You’ve told me everything I need to start my work.

I believe I can give you and the rest of the world a true picture of your queen.

I think you might find her… riveting.” She gestured toward the door.

“Now if you’ll let me get to work, I need to check to see that the prep work your experts did is in order. ”

He started for the door. “It will be in order. They realized what would happen if they displeased me. Just as you do.”

The door swung shut behind him.

She was glad to be rid of him. This entire day had been a terrible time of stress and just trying to keep both herself and Michael in some kind of balance.

It had been helpful to concentrate on Folashade and her story.

She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about the queen who had lived thousands of years ago—and yet, while Zakira had been talking about her, Eve had felt as if she had known Folashade.

Still, she had been a complicated person.

Well, then it was her job to find out more about the woman who had controlled a country and perhaps had held the dogs of war at bay for her people for at least a short while.

Eve opened her eyes and stared for a moment at the gold sarcophagus across the room. So stately and beautiful that it seemed impossible that it had been hidden in the mountains for all those thousands of years.

She started to move slowly across the room toward the sarcophagus.

“Hello, Folashade,” she whispered. “My name is Eve, and I hope we’re going to become good friends.

Because I think perhaps you’re a person that I’d want to know if we could have met at another time and place.

If you don’t mind, I have a lot of questions I’d like to ask you.

If the answers don’t come to me, I might have to guess, and that’s okay, too.

But the first thing you should know is that I’m one of the good guys and I’m on your side. And I promise I always will be…”

But she needed to finish this initial examination and then get back to Michael and try to sleep so that she could start working on Folashade as soon as possible. It was the only sure way she could keep her son safe.

“Mom! Wake up!”

Michael’s voice. Michael’s hand on her shoulder shaking her. He needed her!

Eve jerked upright on her cot, instinctively reaching for him. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“No! You scared me. You screamed. I guess you were dreaming.” His hand was touching the tears on her cheek. “You’re crying.”

“Am I?” She covered his hand with her own. “It must have been a really bad dream. A nightmare. It’s a good thing you woke me.”

He nodded. “But you don’t usually have nightmares.”

“No, I don’t. But it’s been a kind of worrisome day, hasn’t it? But now that we’re together, everything is going to be better.” She gave him a hug. “Now go back to your cot and we’ll both try to sleep. We’ll have to start work on the queen early.”

“Okay.” He got to his feet. But she could tell he was still troubled. “You didn’t tell me the queen’s name. Was it Nieva?”

Eve froze. “Nieva? No. It’s much more unusual. It’s Folashade. She named herself when she took the throne. It’s an interesting story, and I’ll tell you about her while we’re working. Why did you think it might be Nieva?”

“Because that was what you were screaming when you were having the nightmare,” Michael said simply. “I thought maybe what the priest had told you about the queen had scared you.”

“Not at all. I have an idea she was a good and extraordinary person.” But she knew she couldn’t just leave it at that.

Not with Michael. “But I did also meet a Nieva, and sometime I’ll tell you about her, too.

But not right away. Because she wasn’t scary either.

She was only very, very sad. And we’ve got enough sad things to think about right now, haven’t we?

So when we think about Nieva, we’ll just hope that she’s not sad any longer. ”

He nodded though he was still frowning. “And you’ll try not to be sad, either?”

“You’re worried about me having any more bad dreams? I’ll work on it.” She smiled. “And we’ll probably be so busy working on the queen that we’ll both collapse at the end of the day.”

He smiled back at her. “Sounds good to me.”

“I thought it would.” She added thoughtfully, “Maybe somewhere in that master plan we’re going to concoct, we’ll manage to find a way to heal some of the sadness and make any nightmares vanish into the great beyond…”