Page 41 of Cleopatra

I watched her reaction carefully: a relaxing of her jaw, an easing of the lines upon her brow.

My stomach lurched. She knows.

“Charmion, will you accompany me to my quarters?” I said. “I think I will retire for the afternoon.”

Charmion could read my emotions well, and didn’t question my sudden need for quiet.

There was a scratching sound above me and I looked up to see Qar hanging off the awning, looking down at the message in my hand.

I immediately folded the papyrus against my chest, closing my fingers over Archibios’s warning. Qar ruffled his feathers and flew away. I wasn’t sure how much of the message he’d be able to convey to my sister, if anything at all.

As I made my way down the stairs to my rooms, I heard Arsinoe call gently, “Rest well, Pharaoh.”

Charmion whirled on me as I entered my bedchamber. Wordlessly, I handed her the crumpled message.

She read it, her eyes growing large.

“Theos moves against you? This cannot be. Archibios must be mistaken.”

I thought back to when I had decided to go to Hermonthis and how Pothinus had encouraged me to go. “Not Theos; it is his regent’s doing.”

“How could they have instigated a revolt in a few short weeks?” Charmion whispered.

“Years, not weeks.” I reached into my bodice and withdrew the coin Neferu had given me. “This was found in the rooms of the acolyte who murdered the Buchis bull.”

Charmion held the coin up to the sunlight that poured in from the window. Her skin was pallid. “Why didn’t you tell me of this sooner?”

I looked away from her. “I hoped, wished, it was a misprint. But it’s clear to me now that Pothinus had the Buchis killed to rid me from the capital. And he paid with coins made for Theos’s reign.” To my horror, tears pricked at the corners of my eyes and when I continued, my voice shook. “What am I supposed to do now?”

Charmion’s hand cupped my cheek and turned my face back to hers. “We must fight for your throne.”

“Must we?” I imagined giving up, turning my back on the pressures of ruling. I had the boat; it would be a simple thing to disappear down one of the branches of the Nile. I’d have to send Arsinoe home, but it would be possible.

At the thought of my sister, I paused. What was her role in all of this? It was clear she knew more than she was letting on. We had been close once; our secrets were each other’s. But somewhere along the paths of our lives we had diverged.

“You are the rightful ruler of Egypt, Cleo. You cannot give up on the country that you were born to lead.”

I didn’t remind Charmion of Berenice.

“Mikro Theos may be a capable ruler without me,” I said.

“But it won’t be Theos ruling, you know this. It will be Pothinus, and he seeks only to support the nobility.”

My hand went to the ivory dagger tied at my throat. It was true that Egypt would suffer at the hands of the ruling class if I gave up the throne.

But would that be so dire?

A light breeze swirled through the window, bringing with it specks of glittering sand. It brushed across my brow, cooling the sweat that beaded there.

Egypt kissed me with her breath, and with it I felt renewed. My love for my country was as vast as the pyramids and as deep as the ocean. I would not abandon her.

“No, you’re right. I cannot let him take my throne from me.” The threatened tears had now begun to fall, and I wiped them from my cheeks. “We arrive in Alexandria tomorrow. If Theos has called on the might of the army, my royal guards will not survive long. Our only hope of matching his command is by calling on our allies.”

“Who will come to your aid?”

“Syria, Ascalon and Armenia would likely send troops. But that would take time, and the longer I allow this plot to fester, the harder it will be to reclaim my people’s faith.”

“What are you thinking?”