I believe the female protagonist was mid-to-late teens, described in a way that, if memory serves me right, makes her of Egyptian or North African descent; desert-like setting; a prophet or god that wears a mask; and a scorpion, I believe, is involved in a way—perhaps a scorpion bite is the litmus test for divinity or some such?
So many loose ends in this description, I know. I'm only guesstimating the publication date. Also can't fully recall whether it's YA or not, but likely was YA.
Found it!!! Will definitely have to reread—and I'm elated to discover it's a trilogy! We'll see if my description above really did it any justice… :-P
The High Priestess interprets the wishes of the god as conveyed through the Oracle. Mirany serves the High Priestess. But when the god speaks to Mirany, she realizes that the High Priestess does not hear him, that she is manipulating the choosing of a new God-on-Earth for her own gain.
Mirany must join forces with Seth, a young tomb-robbing scribe who knows the secrets and hidden passages of their land, if she is to defeat the treachery that grips the kingdom. But they have powerful enemies who will stop at nothing to destroy them.
This sounds to me like Children of the Lamp, but instead of a scorpion there's a snake at some point. I read it a while ago, and not in English, but from what I can remember it's very similar to what you're describing, except there are two main protagonists who are twins- a boy and a girl. Is this it?
