Page 143 of Cleopatra

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* I have watched your painters portray images of me and the asp time and time again, in oil, ink and lead. It is a shame none captured this true moment—the venom of a mother’s vengeance.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

31 BCE

ctavian declared war on me two years later.

First he had to convince Rome of the worthiness of the fight. Though many would die in the battle between Antonius and Octavian, it was a war of words before it was a war of swords.

The day after Antonius penned his will, he had sent Faunus to Rome to give the document to the Temple of Vesta, where it would be protected until his death.

But before Faunus could meet with the priestesses there, he was set upon by Octavian’s men.

“They beat me and robbed me of all I had, even my toga.” The old man quivered before me, the mark of Iphis smeared from the sweat that beaded his brow.

“How dare Octavian touch one of mine,” I seethed.

“Pharaoh, there is more.”

I braced myself on the edge of my throne. The gold cages that had once held the asps had been replaced. In their place now lay ivory carvings of the rearing snakes. I patted the head of one fondly. They were a fitting tribute to the creatures who had helped carry out my vengeance. Antonius sat beside me. Faunus turned to him now. “Octavian took from me your will, my lord, and he made a show of reading it to the senate.”

Antonius ran a hand through his greying hair. “He goes against the laws set in paper and stone,” he growled. “My allies were able to regain my documents, I assume?”

Faunus grimaced. “No, my lord. Octavian called for soldiers to prevent anyone from relinquishing the tablet while he read. He embellished upon the words within, making bold claims that swayed the senate’s ire to you.”

“Bold claims?” I said quietly.

Faunus replied in a rush, as if getting the words out quickly would somehow soften their impact. “That you intend to turn Alexandria into the capital of Rome, that you mean to give the spoils of war to your children by the Pharaoh and not your children by Octavia. That you wish to die beneath the gods of Egypt and be interred in a tomb here.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Alexandria the capital of Rome? I would not let it be so. Egypt is master of her own.”

Faunus blanched. “But the rest he spoke on, it is true?”

Antonius’s eyes narrowed. “This should be no surprise, Faunus. I have made my home in Egypt and my children already rule the lands I have conquered.”

“But to be laid to rest in Alexandria…” Faunus swallowed and rubbed the back of his neck. “It appeared to sicken some of the senate. They believe you to be, ah…possessed by the Pharaoh’s wanton ways.”

“Of course—it always comes back to me,” I said bitterly.

“Do not let Octavian’s words come to harm you, my love. He is a fool.”

“A fool with ambition, and now one with the senate behind him,” I replied.

“Peace, Cleopatra,” Antonius said.

“Peace?” I laughed scornfully. “There will be no peace while Octavian means to attack our family.”

Faunus looked stricken as he watched us argue.

“You are dismissed,” I said, relieving the administrator, but he did not leave. “What is it? Tell me there is not more.”

Faunus squirmed and I would have felt sorry for the man if I hadn’t been so blinded by my own anxiety.

“Pharaoh, they have declared you an enemy of Rome.”

There was a shocked silence as we took in what he had said. Then my hands tightened around the throats of the ivory snakes beneath my palms, as if at any moment they would come alive and I could brandish them at my foes.