“For Egypt and for you who are Egypt,” I answered.
“So I should have been called in the old days, Cousin, because of my blood and the rank it gives, though now I am but as any other lady of the land.”
“And so you shall be called in days to come, Amada, if my sword and wit can win their way.”
“How so, Cousin, seeing that you have promised certain things to my uncle Peroa and his son?”
“I have promised those things, Amada, and I will abide by my promise; but the gods are above all, and who knows what they may decree?”
“Yes, Cousin, the gods are above all, and in their hands we will let these matters rest, provoking them in no manner and least of all by treachery to our oaths.”
We walked for a little way in silence. Then I spoke.
“Amada, there are more things than thrones in the world.”
“Yes, Cousin, there is that in which all thrones end—death, which it seems we court.”
“And, Amada, there is that in which all thrones begin—love, which I court from you.”
“I have known it long,” she said, considering me gravely, “and been grateful to you who are more to me than any man has been or ever will be. But, Shabaka, I am a priestess bound to set the holy One I serve above a mortal.”
“That holy One was wed and bore a child, Amada, who avenged his father, as I trust that we shall avenge Egypt. Therefore she looks with a kind eye upon wives and mothers. Also you have not taken your final vows and can be absolved.”
“Then, Amada, will you give yourself into my keeping?”
“I think so, Shabaka, though it has been in my mind for long, as you know well, to give myself only to learning and the service of the heavenly Lady. My heart calls me to you, it is true, day and night it calls, how loudly I will not tell; yet I would not yield myself to that alone. But Egypt calls me also, since I have been shown in a dream while I watched in the sanctuary, that you are the only man who can free her, and I think that this dream came from on high. Therefore I will give myself, but not yet.”
“When I have been absolved from my vows, which must be done on the night of the next new moon, which is twenty-seven days from this. Then, if nothing comes between us during those twenty-seven days, it shall be announced that the Royal Lady of Egypt is to wed the noble Shabaka.”