She implored me silently with her eyes to not be angry and I tried very hard to make it seem as though I struggled with it.In truth, I was ecstatic.She was still continuing down her path.She hadn’t swayed.I need only worry about Iras, at this point.
“It’s fine, Cleopatra.I understand.I am mostly worried about Hasani.And of course, Antony.”My voice was pained- even I could hear it. And my emotion was real.I was worried about Hasani.
“You will have children someday too, you know,”she added as an afterthought, changing the subject from the painful one that I was headed down.“And you will be a wonderful mother.So, congratulations.”She smiled.
I had to laugh. Congratulations were in order for children that I hadn’t had yet.The thought was funny until the laughter died on my lips.I would never have children; not now, not two thousand years from now.It was impossible for a Keeper.We were barren.
“Now then,”she continued, patting my shoulder as she glided past me.“I am off to the nursery to play with the children.Let’s lunch together, shall we?”
She didn’t wait for an answer, because it wasn’t really a request.She knew I would be waiting for her in the banquet room at lunchtime to dine with her.She disappeared into the hallway, leaving me alone in her chambers.
I reveled in the quiet peacefulness for just a moment before I felt the twinges of restlessness.Walking to the balcony, I leaned over the edge, searching every direction for some sign of Hasani.No such luck.I didn’t see him anywhere.The day was warm and balmy as normal, though, and I found the sea calling to me.The gentle lap against the shoreline enticed me and I had the sudden urge to swim.
I made my way quickly through the palace and down the two hundred stairs to the beach, enjoying the crisp salty air with every step.The guards posted at the base of the staircase wordlessly allowed me to pass and I found myself facing the giant open expanse of the sea.
It was magnificent.More beautiful than words or any picture could express.The smell of the salt, the feel of the breeze coming off the water, the scream of the sea gulls over head… it was all so familiar to me.The sand was hot under my bare feet, so I quickly stepped onto the cool foam lip of the water.
My feet found instant relief from the burning sand and I felt myself sink into the wetness. The water was fairly warm and I knew it would feel heavenly the further out that I walked.Looking down the beach, I saw that there was no one else as far as I could see, except for the guards that I had already passed.
I waded further into the water, trailing my hands lightly on the surface behind me until it was chest high and I was wonderfully buoyant.I quickly dove into the waves, enjoying the reprieve from the sticky Alexandrian heat.It felt so good that I spent the next several minutes splashing and swimming in the sparkling blue-green Mediterranean water.
Charmian, come here.
I froze mid-stroke as the voice resounded inside of my head, as clearly as if it had been spoken aloud.
Ahmose.Again.
Inhaling a long, agitated breath, I rose from the water to find the old priest standing on the edge of the sea, watching me with placid eyes.His dark robes billowed around him in the wind, making him appear even more intimidating.
What have you done, Charmian?
I plowed through the waist deep water to reach him.Impatient, agitated…angry.
“I haven’t done anything, priest,”I hissed through gritted teeth.“Everything is falling apart and it is not of my doing.”
“Is it not?”he asked calmly, eyeing me curiously.Did he really think it was?
“Of course not!”I snapped. “What could I have done to cause this?”
“You banished Tehran from the palace, something that you did not originally do.You were not to change anything—yet you did and it tipped our hand. And now, of course, Tehran is dead and Iras has been taken.”
“We don’t know that for sure,”I murmured hesitantly.
“About Iras?Of course we do. Or I do, I should say.Pothinus definitely has her.”
I knew better than to question the mysterious way the Aegis just ‘knew’ things. It was unsettling, but always correct.
“Where? And how in the world did that happen?He died two years ago.”
“That I do not know.But I know that he has her.It is unmistakable.Our question now, is how to repair this.She needs to be here to die with you and Cleopatra in a week’s time.”
I swallowed hard.He spoke about our deaths so easily, as though we were simply blips on the pocket-watch of time.And I guess we sort of were.
His eyes glinted in their creepy, all-knowing way as he continued.
“I’m afraid, Charmian, that we must do the unthinkable in order to rectify this.”
His eyes were black and ominous as he stared at me.I raised one eyebrow and he sighed.
“You will need to explain everything to Cleopatra.You’re going to require her assistance to put things back on track. She trusts you.And we must hope that she will trust you enough to listen to your wisdom- that she must continue to make the decisions slated for her to make.”
I was aghast.“We can’t.She will be devastated.I don’t know if she can follow through with what she needs to do if she knows that it will kill Antony.”
“Haven’t you done that very thing, life after life?”
I gazed at the old priest. He knew that I had. I nodded.
“Are you saying that you are so much stronger than your Daedal that you can handle that type of sorrow and responsibility but that she cannot?”His raspy voice mocked me.