Page 138 of Cleopatra

I shrugged. “Let her. I will give her what she wants.”

Antonius had instilled in me again an appreciation for luxury, which had waned in our years apart.

It was after a particularly lavish feast, at which our children wore their new crowns of quartz and copper, that I broached the subject of Octavia.

“Octavian’s sister will have heard of our new child by now,” I said lightly, my hand resting on my stomach.

“Yes,” he said, looking out towards the sea. The breeze was warm, laced with a fine rain that left my skin glistening.

“Will you go to her?”

Antonius turned to me. His gaze was imploring. “I will. But only to divorce her,” he said.

All the air left my lungs. “You mean to end your union?”

“You and I are husband and wife. Octavia was a political alliance, whereas our love is deeper than mere flesh: it is blood, it is bone, it is breath.”

I blinked away an image of Octavia lying beneath him. He must have seen the pain cross my face.

“How many times must I tell you I am committed to you? Only you?”

“I fear that when you leave, you will not come back,” I admitted.

“I will come for you, always.” He ran a thumb over my bottom lip. I shivered and he put an arm around me, pressing me to his chest. I inhaled his aroma, wine and something sweeter, like honey.

“Must you go back to your campaign?”

“The lands I conquer, I conquer for you.”

I snorted. “Not for me, Marcus, but for yourself and for Rome.”

He pushed me to arm’s length, looking shocked. “Have I not made it clear I do everything for you? Cyprus; it is yours. Cyrene; have that, too. Even Syria, where we reignited our love, is to be an Egyptian territory.”

Though he smiled, I could tell this was no jest. “You mean to grant me the spoils of war?”

“My victories are yours now, Cleopatra. Let us rule the world together.”

“What of Octavian and the triumvirate?”

“Lepidus has already proved himself a traitor, and Octavian, I will deal with. We are Isis and Dionysus, and should rule as such.”

He gently stroked my swollen belly. “We fight now so that our children can have peace. All of it will be theirs in the end.”

I leaned into his embrace, feeling safer than I had in years. When he left a few weeks later to continue his campaign against the Parthians, he took with him the might of the Egyptian army.

For to rule together, we had to fight together.

And die together, in the end.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

34 BCE

ntonius did what he set out to do, carving out more and more of the world for me and my family. His latest victory—Armenia—was celebrated in Alexandria with much enthusiasm.

I waited for him at the harbour as his ship came in. In my arms I held Ptolemy Philadelphus, the sixteenth Ptolemy of my line and my third child by Antonius.

“Cleopatra!” my husband called from the bow of the boat. He wore a golden ivy wreath atop hair now cut short. The purple cloak he draped on one shoulder had been adorned with beading and gemstones.