Page 115 of Cleopatra

I dropped the reed I was writing with, spraying ink across the papyrus I had been working on all morning.

“Truly?” The three triumvirs ruled Rome. So it could be either Lepidus, Antonius or Octavian.

“Yes, Pharaoh.”

I stood and ran a shaking hand over the front of my dress to smooth it.

The journey back to Egypt had been swift and peaceful. Caesarion had been glad to have me home. In the days since, I had returned to my usual routine and avoided all thoughts of Rome and Antonius. Or tried to.

“Charmion?” I called.

Eiras answered. “She is with Caesarion in the stables.”

“Good.” The stables were at the far end of the palace island. Caesarion would have time to escape to the mainland by the time the soldiers came ashore.

For why else would one of the rulers of Rome come to Egypt unannounced, if not to take my son from me? His very existence posed a threat to Octavian, and Antonius had already let me know where his loyalties lay in that matter.

As I walked to the harbour, I cursed myself for not being better prepared to protect my son.

“Faunus, if we come out of this unscathed, we must implement contingencies for Caesarion’s safety,” I said to him as we marched, flanked as we were by all the royal guards I could call to my side.

Allies or not, I did not trust Octavian’s ambition.

And what would Octavian do with me, once he had dispatched my son?

I will not be led in triumph.

Twice now you have heard these words from me. I’ll say them one more time before the end.

Maahes brushed up against my leg. His mane had grown in as thick and as glossy as tree sap, and I kept one hand in it as we waited for the newcomer to appear.

The ship on the horizon did not belong to Octavian or Lepidus, it transpired, but to Antonius. Though the realisation did nothing to calm me.

“What is he doing here?” I muttered, forcing my lips into a pleasant grin despite the turmoil I felt.

“Isis.” Antonius greeted me as the god that I was. He did not disembark with any soldiers of his own; though this should have put me at ease, it did not. Instead, his vulnerability drew out my own, and I felt myself shifting under the intensity of his gaze.

Maahes noticed my unease and growled.

Antonius took a step back, noticing him for the first time. It was a wondrous thing that I captivated him so much that he was blind to the beast beside me. “You have a lion.”

“Did you come all this way to state the obvious?” I asked.

“Does he bite?”

“Sometimes.”

“Like me, then.” He showed me his teeth.

I laughed despite myself. “I was not expecting you, Marcus.”

He cocked his head. “I believe you agreed to dine with me, did you not? Unless you are a ruler who goes back on her word?”

I mastered my surprise to say, “You have come all this way for dinner?”

“For the company,” he said seriously.

I looked into his eyes and sensed the sincerity within them. I should have predicted how far I would fall, in love and in life.