midnight
Where was the lovely bride he had wedded only a few hours before ? What was this horrible thing lying where _ she _ should have been ? Not Nitocris -- and yet , it _ was _ Nitocris . Like a flash of lightning rending the darkness of the midnight heavens , the gap of oblivion between his lives was rent , and the light flamed into his soul . Phadrig had lied to him . The daughter of Rameses had not died that night in the banqueting chamber of the Palace of Pepi . She had lived and reigned virgin queen of the Sacred Land .