Children of the Storm - Elizabeth Peters [171]
There was a note in his voice that sent alarm bells jingling through Nefret’s head. She tried to speak, but produced only a rusty croak.
“A nice cup of tea is what you need,” Justin said cheerfully. “Can you walk, or shall François carry you?”
The last hope faded when she saw he was not alone. What part he played in this she could not yet determine, but at best he was useless, incapable of understanding and too frail to resist. François had to be one of them, though. He reached for her, grinning unpleasantly. Nefret staggered to her feet, pushing his hand away.
“As you like,” Justin said. “Come with me.”
Nefret followed him along the passageway and into the saloon, with François close behind her. Smiling sweetly, Justin indicated a chair, and Nefret sank gratefully into it. Tea was set out on a table, a handsome service of silver, but there was no one in the room except herself and the boy and his attendant. Her eyes moved to the windows. It was dark outside. And the boat had stopped.
“Drink your tea,” said Justin, pouring. “You must be very thirsty.”
Something about the gesture, the turn of his wrist, caught Nefret’s attention. She watched him as he lay back against the cushions of the divan, one hand behind his head, the other gracefully limp.
“Who are you?” she demanded.
The light peal of laughter, a tone higher than Justin’s, was the final clue. My God, how could I have missed it? she wondered. “His” coat was open and the thin shirt clung to the curves of a woman’s breasts, now unconfined.
“My name, you mean? I have had a number of them. You may continue calling me Justin. It sounds a little like Justice, and that is what I am about to deal out.”
Nefret shook her head dazedly. “Why are you doing this? What do you want of us?”
“Justice. For a dead woman and her children. Come now,” she said impatiently, as Nefret stared openmouthed. “How stupid you are. Your family took my mother’s life and would have left me to die, unprotected and exploited, had it not been for her friends and my own talents.”
“Your mother,” Nefret echoed. She picked up her cup and burned her tongue on the scalding tea. “Who . . . ?”
“It shouldn’t be that difficult. How many women have met their deaths at the hands of your virtuous family?”
“None. Not even . . . Oh, good Lord.” Nefret gasped. “Bertha? You are her child? But—but that’s not fair, we didn’t even know you existed. Mother and Father would have helped you. They would help you now.”
“I don’t want help. What I want I will take, as my due, not as charity.”
Nefret couldn’t think what to say. In all their theorizing, they had never anticipated this. She sipped the tea, stalling for time until she could get her wits back. “What have you done to the Professor?”
“Not as much as he deserves.” François had taken up a position beside his . . . mistress. His scarred face twisted. “He is only chained and locked into that room. She wouldn’t let me—”
“I did not give you leave to speak.” The light voice pierced like a sword blade. François recoiled, and then dropped to his knees and began mumbling apologies.
“It really would serve him right,” Justin said, ignoring her groveling servant. “He has thrown all our plans into disarray. Would you like to know what they were, and how they have changed? François, where are your manners? Offer our guest a biscuit.”
“I’m not hungry,” Nefret said. “Tell me.”
Justin lay back against the cushions, her hands under her head, breasts lifted.
“Hathor,” Nefret said in stunned disbelief.
“On both occasions, yes. You suspected Maryam, didn’t you? I did it for her. She wants your husband. If the Professor hadn’t interfered today, she’d have got him.”
“Never,” Nefret said steadily.
“Oh, I think her chances were excellent. You see, our original intention was to get you aboard and then, wearing your clothing and hat, I would have gone ashore and strode briskly off into the alleys of Luxor. When I returned it would have been as myself. By the time your friends came looking for you, the Isis would have sailed and a dozen gaping witnesses would have