Perhaps one of my daughters would want to be a Candace someday. I kind of hoped not, as the role had seldom been a happy one through the years. Even Sheba had died separated, alone and away from the great fling of her life.
I wasn't going to be like that. I was going to follow my heart instead. I climbed the stairs and went through the darkened doorway, not giving the ornate throne and the figure head above a second look. Solomon had said it best in two reflections, "All is vanity and there is nothing new under the sun."
The hall I walked in grew lighter again and I passed by the rooms to either side of the hall, they weren't filled with gold, but with treasure of a different kind none the less. At the end of the hall I pressed several stones and the private chambers of the Candace opened up before me.
The elegant linens of the bed and the colorful murals of the walls held no fascination for me today, as they had for countless hours when I was younger. An elegant burial casket dominated the room and I went to it reflecting on the one time wisdom of its occupant.
She had known that I was the last to rule here and that I would finish the job of protecting the treasure forever.
"Thank you old friend, for everything." I whispered, as I ran my hand over the carved outward features of the Candace's sarcophagus, which was overlaid with gold.
It showed her, as she had been in her youth and not as the old crippled and weary woman that had taught me everything I had needed to know and so much more. She had given me a break from the harshness of my life up until then and the tools to become free of it as well.
I pressed a golden seamed ridge on the sarcophagus and a shallow tray slid out from the side. I picked up the necklace, which glowed up at me from the tray and I put it on. This I would take with me.
The necklace consisted of several shimmering blue stones that were unadorned and not faceted. They seemed to glow from within and I did not doubt that they were the rarest element to be found on Earth and for a good reason too. They had not originated here, but had fallen as part of a meteorite long ago into the desert, the Candace had told me.
The stones had several unique properties, one of which I intended to exploit. I stripped off my clothes, until I was naked. I went to a chest and pulled out the embroidered linen garments of a Queen and put them on. I pulled my hair back and snapped a golden loop into it. I put on the jewelry and even the makeup of a Queen. I glanced in the mirror and was pleased with what I saw. I looked the part that I had already been living.