City of the Dead

my knowledge is also my safe conduct. I know that Ay is hungry to be king. I must let that hunger grow greater before I feed it. Then, instead of my being in his power, he will be in mine.’
    To his surprise, he found that Senseneb was looking at him with contempt. ‘I see,’ she said, tonelessly.
    ‘What do you see?’
    She rounded on him. ‘You are playing the game like an expert, Huy. The only thing I do not understand is why you are so candid with me.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ Huy had been too intent on explaining his plan. He now found that he had explained it appallingly. ‘What will your price to Horemheb be? Kenamun’s head?’
    ‘For what?’
    She laughed. ‘For Ay! I will not avenge my father through another betrayal.’
    Huy was too tired to restrain himself. Fury seized him. He stood up, grabbed the woman by the shoulders and shook her hard. She broke loose and hit him with a balled fist across the mouth. He responded immediately, not thinking, feeling his right arm swing and the impact of his open hand on the side of her head. He felt briefly the softness of her cheek and the texture of her hair. He had caught her squarely off balance and she sprawled on to the couch. Before she could recover he took her roughly by the arm above the elbow and pulled her up, jerking her savagely round to face him.
    ‘What are you thinking? Has grief deranged you? If I cannot convince you I am not evil at least understand that I am not stupid. Do you seriously believe that I could play one regent off against the other like that? They would close tanks and crush me and then continue their battle with each other. As for Kenamun, I pray the good gods to let me find a way to get him; but not as a price to Horemheb for Ay!’
    She glared at him silently, her mouth defiant; but gradually thought replaced anger in her eyes, and both their bodies relaxed. When he released her, he was shocked to see the ugly purple marks his fingers had made on her arm.
    ‘I thought you could read my heart,’ he said.
    ‘So did I. I could not believe what I saw there.’
    ‘You saw what you put there. What we are involved in now is cobra’s venom; it seeps into us too.’
    ‘You are not above using it.’
    ‘To survive, yes. For my own advancement, no. Not because I am moral. Because I am practical. That kind of advancement carries its own chains, its own death.’
    Senseneb drew herself upright on the couch, curling her legs round her. Her body was smooth muscled, like a panther’s. The plain white mourning robe she wore had pulled tightly against her in their struggle, and she made no attempt to loosen it again. Perhaps she was not even aware of it.
    ‘The queen,’ Huy began, ‘the queen must leave here before she is killed. I do not think she is in danger until after the pharaoh’s funeral but I am not going to take the chance. To Horemheb she is a threat until he can father a new child. In any case he will want to get rid of her because a son or daughter in direct line from Tutankhamun could always gather forces against him. And for the same reason Ay would not flinch from killing her, if marriage to her proves impossible. But he is her grandfather, and there is a shred of hope that he could be manoeuvred into showing mercy.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘If he were convinced that she would not be a threat. He is more subtle than Horemheb and less ruthless. He is an artist, not a scientist. He is less predictable, weaker, more malleable. Above all he is vain. And as long as the general and the Master of Horse are preoccupied with each other, there is a chance that the queen may slip out between them. That is why I am playing for time.’
    Her eyes were as dark as sloes. ‘I do not know why you trust me. You are too clever to trust anyone. Why are you telling me this?’
    Huy was too weary of explanation to explain any more. He could not tell her that his ideas were only half thought out, that at any minute they might founder, that they were based on supposition and the hope of fortunate coincidences, that after all he was an inexperienced opportunist in too deep and principally motivated by a desire to survive. It was true that in the midst of all that were a desire to see the queen safe, and a desire to kill Kenamun, but nothing was in focus.
    ‘I am telling you because you of all people could not use it against me. Your father was disinterested, showed integrity, and died for it. Who on earth is going to trust you after