I kept you here, not to vex the Princess or you, but for a good reason.

You know that it is the custom of the royal dynasties of Egypt for kings, or those who will be kings, to wed their near kin in order that the blood may remain the purer." "Yes, Prince, and not only among those who are royal.

Still, I think it an evil custom." "As I do, since the race wherein it is practised grows ever weaker in body and in mind; which is why, perhaps, my father is not what his father was and I am not what my father is." "Also, Prince, it is hard to mingle the love of the sister and of the wife." "Very hard, Ana; so hard that when it is attempted both are apt to vanish.

Well, our mothers having been true royal wives, though hers died before mine was wedded by my father, Pharaoh desires that I should marry my half-sister, Userti, and what is worse, she desires it also.
Moreover, the people, who fear trouble ahead in Egypt if we, who alone are left of the true royal race born of queens, remain apart and she takes another lord, or I take another wife, demand that it should be brought about, since they believe that whoever calls Userti the Strong his spouse will one day rule the land." "Why does the Princess wish it--that she may be a queen ?" "Yes, Ana, though were she to wed my cousin, Amenmeses, the son of Pharaoh's elder brother Khaemuas, she might still be a queen, if I chose to stand aside as I would not be loth to do." "Would Egypt suffer this, Prince ?" "I do not know, nor does it matter since she hates Amenmeses, who is strong-willed and ambitious, and will have none of him.

Also he is already married." "Is there no other royal one whom she might take, Prince ?" "None.