the ambuigity about her lover is just the icing on the cake

That's my Evy/Rick/Ardeth recurring past-lives OT3 headcanon sneaking in there...up to you which one of them it is!

I can't help but think the Pharaoh would have played the two of them against one another, really - maybe Anck-Su-Namun was not a very nice person, or maybe she was just reasonably concerned with herself and her own position and safety. Who's to say.