Page 142 of Cleopatra

Before I could answer, the guard returned, a basket in his outstretched arms. I reached for it.

The assassin’s voice took on a pleading tone as I approached him with the basket. “Triumvir, do not let her touch me, I will not be subdued by her charms.”

I lifted the lid and hissing filled the palaestra.

“Step back,” I said to Antonius.

“No, stop!” Finally, the soldier spoke to me. But I was no longer listening.

“Have your fill, then have your freedom,” I said to the asps before tipping them onto the bloodied stomach of the assassin.[*]

The smaller snake, the one that had been frantic, darted away without lingering on the prey I offered. But the copper one, who had watched the crowd from its gilded cage, lunged.

The assassin thrashed as the cobra’s fangs sank into his flesh, but his cries weakened as the venom’s paralysis came into effect.

The asp, realising she would be unable to consume such a large meal, slithered away, leaving a trail of blood through the gymnasium.

“Go and find your mother, little one,” I whispered as her tail slipped out of sight.

The assassin’s jerking had stopped by my feet, but his eyes were wild and fearful.

“Kill him,” I said to Antonius.

The poison was not enough to stop his heart; the snake was only a juvenile. But it did paralyse him enough to make his death an inescapable horror.

I watched impassively as Antonius’s sword crunched through the bone and sinew of the soldier’s neck.

“It is done,” he said when the assassin’s breath left him.

But this was not the end of the bloodshed, merely the beginning. More and more people would die, until finally, I, too, would walk the lonely path to the field of reeds.

—

“What are we to do?” I said, pacing the bedchamber.

Antonius lounged on the bed, his ankles crossed. “Nothing. Octavian does not have enough support from the senate to pose a threat to us.”

I showed him my hands. “You see this? This is my son’s blood. Octavian has already proven he is a threat.”

Antonius rose, came to me and enfolded my bloodied hands in his. “I will protect you and our family. We’ll increase the guards, be more vigilant with who we allow in our presence. Perhaps we grew complacent. But Octavian will not harm us.”

I chewed my lip. “He calls Caesarion illegitimate still.”

“He only retaliates against me divorcing his sister. This is a quarrel between families, not a harbinger of war.”

I was not sure he was right.

“He will try to take the land you have granted to the children.”

“He may try, but he will not succeed.”

He could see I was not convinced.

“Call the scribes,” he said. “Allow me to make known my will. Then, if I fall in battle, our family will be protected.”

He did as he promised and penned a new will, assigning the countries he had conquered to our children. It eased some of the worry in my chest, knowing that even if we went to war, Octavian could not refute the words of Antonius’s final wishes.

I watched as each of the seven scribes sealed the wax tablet as witnesses, Antonius’s will made immortal. And as it was placed in its wooden box, I hoped it would be many more years before the box would be opened again.