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"My body is no longer his temple!" she declared before plunging the blade into her heart. Her last thoughts as she sank to the floor were of Imhotep and his devotion to her.
When she awoke, her skin felt as though it were on fire. A voice somewhere in the shadows surrounding her cautioned her to lie still for a few moments; it would take time for her to settle back into herself.
"Imhotep," she whispered with a grin. "What a wonder you are."
The voice chuckled. "It was not his work that brought you back to this world. The gods grant new life to some. Who is chosen and why is a mystery none of us understand."
She pushed herself up from the sandy slab in an attempt to survey her surroundings. "Where am I?"
"Far from the city. Far from the guards. Far from the Pharaoh and his family. You will have many questions, I know, and I will answer them to the best of my ability. If you are hungry, there is food, but, please, take your time; you don't want to make yourself sick."
She placed her hands on the sides of her head; her thoughts were swimming like the rising tide of the Nile. There was a roaring in her ears that refused to subside.
"I apologise," the voice said softly. "It is my presence causing you this discomfort. It is how others of our kind sense each other. It will fade into the background eventually."
"Is that why you brought me here? Are we alone?"
"Yes, it is. And there are two servants - a cook and someone to help you bathe and dress - both perfectly mortal, both perfectly capable of keeping quiet."
Anck-su-namun stretched her arms above her head. Of course, she would have servants in her second life. She'd clawed her way up from that straw-and-mud hut to polishing a merchant's wares to mistress of the pharaoh himself. Obviously, she would continue to enjoy the finest.
"I must warn you . . . You must be careful from this day forward."
Her eyes narrowed as she hissed, "You dare threaten me?!"
"Not a threat, foolish child. I am advising you to be cautious. You were a wife of the most important man in the world. You don't honestly think you can live as you did before? It is time for you to live discreetly, without drawing attention to yourself."
"I am a royal woman. I have a right to -"
"You murdered the Pharaoh and stabbed yourself to escape punishment. How many of the royal guards witnessed your demise? How do you think people would react to seeing you walk amongst them now?"
That gave her pause. The children of the Pharaoh - the products of his other unions - would surely be out for her blood; they'd make sure she was forgotten, erased from the desert sands like so many others. She shut her eyes as she realised she'd have to start all over again from nothing.
"It's - It is not a pleasant thought, I know, losing everything. But you won't have to do it alone, not at first. I will help you get your feet steady, teach you how to use a sword."
"I am highly skilled with a sword," she reminded her still unseen host.
"Yes, I've seen you demonstrate those skills beautifully. But there are other techniques. And, as you are aware, different blades, suitable for their own unique purposes. It will be important for you to be able to handle them."
"Why should it matter? Will the gods not give me another life if I do not do as you say?"
An ominous silence settled over them. "You could live for untold seasons if you tread carefully. If you lose your head, you'll not get another chance."
"Lose my - A blade at my neck means the end?"
"Yes."
"What of my face?"
"What of it?"
"Am I - Do I look as I did?"
"The cosmetics have been washed from your skin, but, yes, your face is as it was when last you gazed upon your reflection."
She let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Now . . . How do I get my things from the palace?"
A scoff was followed quickly by a cough. "Forgive me, grand lady, but I thought I made it clear that you cannot possibly return. What was once yours has been . . . redistributed among members of the royal family."
She lay back, thankful for the coolness of the stone beneath her. "What am I to do? How am I to survive?" she whispered through clenched teeth. "Who would want me now? I have nothing. I am nothing. Just another of the Pharaoh's playthings he would have cast aside once he no longer found me amusing." Her cheeks burned with frustration and shame and rage.
"Is that why you did it?" came the gentle query. "You struck him first before he grew tired of you?"
Her shoulders shook with mirthless laughter. "I wanted to get away from him, yes. But it was supposed to be Imhotep on the throne next! All Seti's sons -"
"You should rest. This has been an unsettling day for you. There is fruit and honey, as well as barley cakes. At least have some sweet beer. Dying takes a lot out of a body."
She gasped and began checking the skin of her abdomen for incisions.
"No need to worry; none of your organs were removed. We managed to get you away from there before any damage could be done."
"Will they not notice an empty tomb?"
"We were able to substitute someone else who'd recently passed. Her family has been well compensated."
"Am I to be at your mercy?"
"At my - I do not expect . . . what others may have demanded of you. I will teach you a new way of living - Our way of living. The mercy I will show you is providing you sanctuary until you can take care of yourself. All I ask is that you listen. Listen well and learn. We are Immortal, unless your head is severed from your neck, you will revive or recover from even fatal wounds. Others of our kind will challenge you to fight with swords; you must learn to wield one for proper combat. If you take another Immortal's head, you will receive the power and knowledge of that person's life in a storm that will surround and consume you even as you consume it. In the end - and none of us knows when that end will come - there will be only one of us remaining with all the power of every Immortal who ever lived."
"There will be only one?"
"So it has been foretold. What that prize will actually be is anyone's guess."
She studied her hands. Death had been only the beginning.