"Anywhere, so long as I go away from here, escape out of this prison.... But why do you ask? You know it all better than I do."
"But how are you to go? Will they let you?"
"No one is to know, except you and Saakera. You two will help me. He has already promised."
"Promised what?"
"I will tell you. It was he who killed Maki; she had the child by him. He has just confessed it. He is so wretched that he wants to kill himself and drink the remainder of the poison out of Merira's ring, my present to him. But I have thought of a worse punishment for him: he is to be king when I go away."
"But can he do it?"
"He will be no worse than I am. And it won't be for long: he will hand over the power to Horemheb, the Viceroy of the North. Horemheb refuses to be king so long as I live, but I expect he will agree when I am dead."
"How, when you are dead?"
"When I go away I shall be dead to all. No one will know that I have gone, and those who hear of it will not believe it but will think me dead."
Dio knew that Horemheb was an enemy of Aton's faith. Would the king ruin the work of his whole life by putting him into power? She wanted to ask the question, but felt she had better not.