KIYA: Rise of a New Dynasty (Kiya Trilogy Book 3)
Page 25
I looked into his eyes, remembering Akhenaten, my father, Eliora, Malachi, and Tut and how much they had each loved me and how I had grieved for them. I didn’t know if I could live through watching someone else I love die, or outlive a third husband. But as I stared into my old friend’s eyes, the man whom Malachi called my vice, I knew I loved him and I knew he would take care of me and make sure my family was always kept safe.
I sighed and touched his face. “Promise me something.”
“Anything,” he answered as he tightened his grip on my hands.
“Promise me you will let me die first. I cannot watch another man I love die.”
He smiled warmly up at me. “I will do everything in my power to outlive you.”
“Good.” I wove my fingers into his and leaned forward. “Well then, my lord, draw up the papers for me to sign…”
He stood, stepped around the throne, and pulled out a sheet of papyrus. “Already done.”
He handed me a reed pen.
I shook my head as I took them from him. “You have always been confident.”
I read the contract and, finding it agreeable, signed at the bottom.
He snatched the paper from my hands and looked at it, smiling. “As Pharaoh, I declare this marriage legally binding from this moment onward.”
He rolled up the paper and slipped it into his belt. He stretched out his hand for me.
“Come with me, Naomi.”
I took his hand and he yanked me to my feet. He pulled me against him, wrapping his arm around my waist. I ran my hands up his strong arms and giggled. “This is not what I expected to happen when I was brought here.”
He ran his fingers through my hair. “This is exactly what I expected to happen when I ordered you to be brought here.”
He bent down and kissed me, and to my delight, it felt as wonderful as it had when he first kissed me back in Amarna, all those years earlier. He swung me up into his arms and ran me through the palace to his bedchambers.
s my mother’s only full-blooded Hebrew daughter, I, Rachel, strove to follow my mother’s example and assist her in making life as good as possible for our people. My stepfather, Horemheb, reigned as Pharaoh over Egypt for twenty-eight years. During that time, he kept a close eye on the slavery and fought to keep it under control. My people were given days off to work their own land, and the Sabbath was allowed again. It wasn’t perfect, but we didn’t feel oppressed under his rule, and as a result, he found us extremely productive.
He reinstated the old religion and enforced taxing with a heavy hand to ensure the rebuilding of the crumbling society. My mother moderated many of his more severe plans of destruction, although he did get his way and completely tore down Amarna, wiping its memory away in every way possible. He was dedicated to removing the memories of the kings from Akhenaten onward, but he did struggle with erasing Tut. Despite Tut’s rule being between Akhenaten and Ay, Horemheb still loved Tut and couldn’t obliterate his memory completely. When Tut’s tomb was broken into and robbed, he resealed it and made sure it was well hidden so it would not be disturbed again.
My uncle Tobiah took my Uncle Jared’s wife Batya into his household as a third wife and lived to the old age of seventy-one. When my mother told him of her marriage to Horemheb, he did as he promised and supported it wholeheartedly. Uncle Samuel and Aunt Rena were pleased, but it caused another rift between my mother and Aunt Adina. It wasn’t until after Uncle Uriyah passed that they began to draw close again, but Aunt Adina never wanted to associate with Horemheb.
Uncle Samuel led our tribe with honor and integrity, and Horemheb found him to be a useful set of eyes and ears throughout the city.
My mother moved into Horemheb’s estate with me and my younger brothers right after she married, but Zakkai stayed on the farm with Hepsati and Itani, and once I married, I joined them, too.
Joshua lived a shortened life due to his disability, and when he passed, Nathaniel took Hepsati in to care for her and her children. My mother was glad to see my princess sisters free and happy all their days, especially after all the sacrifices she and Mordad made to keep them that way.
Although Horemheb had around twenty wives―all royal and treaty wives―he preferred retiring to his estate whenever he could to be with my mother. It was there that Mutnodjmet discovered them while looking for him to inform him of a pregnancy. She didn’t seem to care. It turned out she was never terribly fond of Horemheb, but did promise to keep it secret. She died a few months later while giving birth to the child who also died.
With no heir, and no wife capable of giving him one, he named Ramses his heir. Ramses was a fine choice. He had a large family, and was bold and clever. He was loyal and devoted to Horemheb and all his causes, so Horemheb had great faith that he would continue to build the kingdom and move it forward after he was gone.
My mother remained as Horemheb’s unnoticed but most beloved wife for twenty-seven years, until she passed away. He mourned her greatly, but he knew she had lived a long life and lived to see many grandchildren and so was happy.
She lived a wonderful life. She saved her sisters, been esteemed above all others by kings and queens, she protected her children and had loved two great men, which was more than most people could ever hope for.
https://curiosityquills.com/phil
Thank you…
Kiya has been such an amazing journey for me. I have learned so much along the way, and developed new friendships. It’s been wonderful to see how one Hebrew girl can touch so many people’s lives, and I feel blessed to bring that to them.
So thank you to all my readers who have been there from the beginning, who have shared the books with your friends and family, and who have supported me every step of the way. I hope I can continue bringing you books you enjoy even though the trilogy is complete. Your support means more to me than you know.
A special thanks to the team at Curiosity Quills; Jessa and Kathleen, for loving the books and having enough faith in them to sign them, for Mary in her ever patient editing and telling me to add more commas, Michelle for doing all three covers, for Courtney with managing everything, and of course, Lisa and Eugene for supporting and encouraging me along the way.
Most importantly, thank you to my family, who although somewhat obligated to read, enjoyed them anyway! And my wonderful husband, for being my romantic hero and patiently enduring my stress, heartache, and joys with me. I couldn’t have asked for a better husband.
So thank you all again! ~Katie
Born and raised in Australia, Katie’s early years of day dreaming in the “bush”, and having her father tell her wild bedtime stories, inspired her passion for writing.
After graduating High School, she became a foreign exchange student where she met a young man who several years later she married. Now she lives in Arizona with her husband, daughter and their dog.
She has a diploma in travel and tourism which helps inspire her writing. She is currently at school studying English and Creative Writing.
Katie loves to out sing her friends and family, play sports and be a good wife and mother. She now works as a Clerk with a lien company in Arizona to help support her family and her schooling. She loves to write, and takes the few spare moments in her day to work on her novels.
Now that you have completed this book, we hope you will leave a review so that other readers may benefit from your perspective. Authors like Katie Hamstead live and die by your reviews, after all!
Please visit http://curiosityquills.com/reader-survey/ to share your reading experience with the author of this book!
The Heartless City, by Andrea Berthot
(http://curiosityquills.com/kindle/heartless-city/)
It’s 1903, and London has been quarantined for thirteen years, terrorized by a race of monsters created by Henry Jekyll. Due to his own devastating brush with science, seventeen-year-old Elliot is now an empath, leveled by the emotions of a terrorized, dying city. He finds an unlikely ally in a music hall
waitress named Iris, and together they must discover who’s pulling the strings in Jekyll’s wake. Monsters, it turns out, are not the greatest evil they must face
Night of Pan, by Gail Strickland
(http://curiosityquills.com/kindle/night-of-pan/)
Fifteen-year- old Thaleia is haunted by visions: roofs dripping blood, Athens burning. She tries to convince her best friend and all the villagers that she’s not crazy. The gods do speak to her. And the gods have plans for this girl. When Xerxes’ army of a million Persians marches straight to the mountain village Delphi to claim the Temple of Apollo’s treasures and sacred power, Thaleia’s gift may be her people’s last line of defense. Her destiny may be to save Greece… but is one girl strong enough to stop an entire army?
Murder in Whitechapel, by Aiden James & Michelle Wright
(http://curiosityquills.com/kindle/murder-whitechapel/)
Emmanuel Ortiz holds an ancient and dark secret: his real name is Judas Iscariot. Forced to walk the earth as a cursed immortal, Judas’ disguise as Emmanuel does little to ease his eternal loneliness. But when the brutal murders ascribed to Jack the Ripper in poverty-stricken Whitechapel, London in 1888, he recognizes the bloody signature of killing that speaks to the unholy talents of a fellow immortal… an enemy from long ago.
Unhappenings, by Edward Aubry
(http://curiosityquills.com/kindle/unhappenings/)
When Nigel is visited by two people from his future, he hopes they can explain why his past keeps rewriting itself. His search for answers takes him fifty-two years forward in time, where he meets Helen, brilliant, hilarious and beautiful. Unfortunately, that meeting has triggered events that will cause millions to die. Desperate to find a solution, he discovers the role his future self has played all along.
Appetizer:
Book Cover
Title Page
Main Course:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Afterword
Dessert:
Acknowledgments
Closing
About the Author
Copyright & Publisher
More from Curiosity Quills Press