"We can sit on the steps," I said. "Come, they won't hurt you."

"I refuse to enter a tomb! I fear it would be a bad omen."

"We needn't go inside." And indeed, I would not have wanted to--it lay in deep darkness. "We can just sit here." I sank down and patted the place beside me on the step. I noticed a strange coldness emanating from the inside of the building.

We sat, side by side, primly, and he took my hand, like an awkward schoolboy, turning it over and over, as if he had a ring to put on it. "I must away," he said quietly, as if he had finally accepted it. "The events of the wider world call me. As you so glaringly pointed out."

The fishing incident. "I thought I was more subtle."

"How subtle could a salted fish be?" He laughed softly. "As subtle as the pyramids, as subtle as the Lighthouse. What more could I expect from you, my Egyptian? My crocodile of Old Nile. But the crocodile is a most n.o.ble creature, king of his realm, living eternally."

"I am as mortal as you," I said, gesturing to the yawning blackness behind us. "Or I would not need a mausoleum."

"Perhaps you won't need it," he said lightly.

"You have a very silly streak in you," I said. "But tell me, if you have decided--what you will do. And when."

"I will go to Tyre and see firsthand what has happened with the Parthians,"

he said. "And after that--I don't know. It will depend on what I find out. But this one thing I do know: I will come back to you. I could not leave, if I thought it was good-bye."

Pretty words. But in what way could he come back? There was no reason for him to return to Egypt. We were neither rebels nor enemies, or situated near rebels or enemies to serve as a base of operations. And next time Fulvia would most likely travel with him.

"If there is some way for us, I will find it," he was saying. "Do not ever think I leave out of a surfeit of you, for that is impossible." He paused. "Nor because I search for anyone else."

Then why didn't he divorce Fulvia? Perhaps because he was afraid to-- because then he would have no excuse not to behave differently. As it was, she could act in his name, staging rebellions, and he could watch enigmatically. Divorcing her and taking up with me would end all ambiguity in the eyes of the world. Perhaps ambiguity was what suited him best. It gave him freedom of choice. Marcus Antonius was a man who disliked making final decisions.

"Then let's have one last private night together," I said, rising.

For the first time since our fight, I desired him again. I took his hand as we walked slowly across the lawn to my chambers. I forgave him for being human, and I think. In doing so I became human myself.

The chamber was waiting, delicately perfumed from discreetly smoking burners on tables. The wind swept through from one window to another, and the whispering of the sea far below sounded like ancient music.

"There is only one memory you need to take with you," I said. I stretched out on my couch, pulling him over against me. He felt solid and glorious. Oh, why is this not a permanent answer to all our anguish and aloneness? It is our highest moment on earth. The pity of it is, it is only a moment.

Everything we did was colored by knowing it was farewell. I held him and rejoiced in all the lovemaking, which seemed like a memory even as it was happening . . . hazy and tinged with sadness.

It was good that he would go now. Soon my body would start to change, and he would notice. And I would lose my own freedom to decide what to tell and what not, what to do or not. Perhaps I liked ambiguity as well as he. Caesar would not have approved, but Caesar was gone. I realized with surprise that perhaps I was more like Antony in that regard than I was like Caesar.

Chapter 49.

Once he had decided, Antony moved fast to put everything in order for his leave-taking. He would sail with his small contingent of personal guards directly for Tyre; he sent word ahead that his newly built fleet of two hundred ships should make themselves ready--for what, he was not yet sure. An air of briskness as stirring as the strong spring winds rushed through the palace. There were swirls of mantles, spears, messages, sails, and all the noises of weapons being gathered up.

He stood before me to take his leave. He was flanked by his guard, waiting in the middle of the great audience hall. It was very public, and he was, suddenly, very Roman.

I faced him, Caesarion by my side. I knew this departure would be hard on my son, who had come to depend on Antony as a constant source of amus.e.m.e.nt and guidance. I put my arm around his little shoulders, which already came up to the middle of my ribs. This summer he would be seven.

"I come to say farewell," Antony said. "It would be impossible for me ever to repay your hospitality, but I thank you more than I can express."

"May all the G.o.ds go with you, and grant you a safe journey," I said, mouthing the tired old formula, when what I wanted to say was, I love you because your honor makes you go, and therefore you will go, but remember my words and my warnings. I love you because your honor makes you go, and therefore you will go, but remember my words and my warnings.

He bowed, then said impulsively, "Come, look out over the harbor with me. Look upon my ships." He held out his hand, shattering the formal leave-taking, and I took it. Together we walked across the wide expanse of the hall and out onto the portico, where the brightness of the sea and sky hurt my eyes. The rest of the party trailed along behind us.

For an instant we were by ourselves; he leaned close and whispered into my ear, "This is not farewell, but just a brief separation." His breath was warm, sparking off a thousand memories and their attendant desire.

"Duty is the stern daughter of the G.o.ds," I said. "And now we must do homage to her." I dropped his hand, lest I try to hold on to it and pull him back.

The ships sailed away, their sails as white as the waves on the sea, growing smaller and smaller until they disappeared on the eastern horizon. I stood watching from my window as they rounded the Lighthouse and made out for the open sea; Caesarion watched with me.

"Now they are around the Lighthouse . . . now they must be almost to Canopus . . . now they are gone." His voice sounded faint and sad. The game of watching had sustained him for a little while, but now the last of the Antony-games had finished.

He sighed and made his way back inside, to slump down at the table where an abandoned board game waited. "When will he come back.7" he asked.

"I don't know," I answered. Never Never, I thought. "He has a war to prepare for, and after that, we cannot know what will happen."

Odd how he had filled the palace, had filled all of Alexandria, or so it seemed, and now it almost echoed and cried out for him. It had existed long before he came, of course, but now it seemed peculiarly his, as if he had stamped an insignia on it. He had not actually lived in my rooms, but they--and I-- ached for him, diminished without him.

I allowed myself to roam around my depleted quarters and touch each place of deficiency, then put it away in my mind, folding it as neatly and resolutely as any Roman soldier ever folded his tent when morning came. That was over. Antony had gone, after rejecting my offer of both a personal and a political alliance, gone to fight his own battles on a different stage, and they were now his battles, not mine.

Of course it was not entirely over. There was that legacy of the meeting at Tarsus, the long winter nights, gaudy and flaming, in Alexandria. Charmian knew, or guessed, even though she was fighting her own unhappiness at the departure of Flavius. One quiet night, after she had brushed my hair and folded my gown, she said simply, "So he left anyway."

"He didn't know." It was a relief to be able to talk about it to someone, to give voice at last to this most important fact. I didn't even ask, How did How did you you know? know?

"You didn't tell him?" She sounded incredulous. "Was that fair to him?"

"I thought it was. It seemed that telling him would be unfair."

"Why is the truth unfair?" she asked. "What were you protecting him from?"

"I don't know," I said. "I felt more as if I was protecting myself."

She shook her head. "No, you've done just the opposite. You've injured yourself. They'll say--oh, I can't bear to think of what they'll say about you!"

"I don't care," I answered, but that was not strictly true. I could not bear ridicule or pity, particularly the latter. "And which 'they' do you mean? My subjects? The Romans? Fulvia?" There, I had said Fulvia. Fulvia.

"Oh, all of them--any of them! Judging, clucking, stoning--"

"That is in Judaea. Greeks and Egyptians don't stone," I reminded her. "Besides, perhaps it will convince people that Antony is more Caesar-like than Octavian, since he has followed in his footsteps." The humor of it struck me.

Charmian laughed, her deep, husky laugh. "I don't think it was Caesar's footsteps footsteps where he followed." where he followed."

Now we both laughed. Finally Charmian said, seriously, "I don't suppose it would hurt Antony to have a son who was half brother to Caesar's."

No, not if Antony would exploit it, I thought. But he was unlikely to. That was both his honor and his weakness.

In a few days I felt obligated to tell Olympos; perhaps I felt it made up for not telling Antony, to tell another man. His reaction was even more vehement than I had expected.

"Have you no sense at all?" he cried. " "What about--"

I opened the box where I had stored his opportune birthday gift, and handed the jar back to him, wordlessly.

"Untouched, I see," he said, peering down inside. He sounded utterly exasperated, like a parent with a wayward child. He set it down on the floor and crossed his arms, as if he expected me to confess. "Well?" he said, tapping his foot.

"You and Mardian were always at me to provide more heirs to the throne, so I have merely tried to comply." I tried to smile at him, but he was having none of it.

"Oh, my dear, my dear Queen and friend," he lamented. "This is terrible, terrible! The world looked the other way the first time, with all that mumbo-jumbo about Isis and Amun, and the G.o.ds know Caesar always got away with whatever he did, but this is different. Antony is no Caesar--"

As Antony himself had pointed out. "Olympos--" I was touched that he was so deeply affected; it was comforting that someone was.

"--Antony is no Caesar, and the world is harsh on him. Besides, he has many other children, unlike Caesar. This is not a special gift you bring him, something no one else has offered, but--how many children does he have, anyway?"

I had to stop and count. There was at least one from his marriage to his cousin Antonia, and he and Fulvia had two sons. "Three that I know of," I admitted.

"You see? What is a fourth? Besides, as soon as he sees Fulvia again, there'll be another one."

The thought was painful--especially since it was probably true. I could not think of any reasonable answer.

"Sit down here," said Olympos, ignoring the fact that he had no right to order me to do anything. I was his Queen first, his friend second, his patient third, but now the last took precedence. He then took a seat opposite me, and sat staring at me, his long, dark face drawn with worry. "Who else knows about this?"

"Only Charmian," I said. "And only because she guessed. You are the only one I have told."

"Not Antony?" he said quickly.

"No, not Antony."

"He doesn't suspect?"

"No."

"Good. Then it's still early enough, or else he would have known. Now listen. You have to rid yourself of it. There is still time--thank all the G.o.ds."

"But I--"J_ "At least listen to my argument, and then think over my words tonight. I have an elixir that works if used in the early days. It won't hurt you. No one would have to know. It can be gone, just like Antony himself."

His choice of words hurt, again, because they were true.

"Think about it. Ask yourself why you want to punish yourself by going through with it, when you don't have to. Isn't it painful enough to have been left like this, without having a b.a.s.t.a.r.d as well?"

He stood up, again without leave. I just sat looking at him.

"I will come back after dinner. Prepare for bed early. Send Charmian on some errand, say you want to be alone."

"You sound like a lover," I said, faintly.

"No, I am the person who has to undo what the lover has done. I clean up other people's messes."

Like a sleepwalker, I did what he said. It was oddly comforting to be ordered around, to be told exactly what to do. No thinking, just obedience. I was worn out from the burden of making decisions, of orchestrating events, of leading, amusing, cajoling Antony. How soothing to be led, to be relieved of any responsibility.

I waited in my chamber, dressed in a plain sleeping gown with a coat over it. Charmian had brushed my hair, rubbed my hands with almond cream, ma.s.saged my feet with mint water. She had lit three small lamps in the chamber, and opened my favorite window onto the palace grounds. Then she had stolen away to what she a.s.sumed would be a sweet night of rest for me.

Olympos appeared a little while later, a silent visitor who was suddenly there. He was holding something all wrapped in cloth. Reverently he unwrapped it and handed it to me.

It was a tall, thin gla.s.s bottle. Through the sea-green gla.s.s I could see that the contents were also green. I tilted it and watched as the heavy liquid rolled to one side.

"This is your friend," he said. "Your friend that opens the door of your prison and lets you walk out free."

"What must I do?" I asked. It seemed impossible that this small amount of medicine could be so powerful.

"After I leave, drink it down--all of it. Cover your bed with these cloths." He thrust a basket out at me; inside I could see folded material. "Lie down. Wait. It won't be painful--just wait. Then gather up the cloths and hide them. I'll come to you as soon after daylight as possible, and take them away, before Charmian or Iras even comes in."

I took the basket and walked over to my bed with it.

"Just remember," he said. "Tomorrow night all this will be only a memory. It will be past. Don't lose your courage." He took my hand. "Your hand is cold. Is this so very difficult for you?"

I swallowed, and nodded. My hand felt like ice in his warm one.

"Most people never have a chance to undo mistakes," he said. "Most of our misjudgments stay with us, and we must pay the consequences. There will be those in plenty--for us both. But this need not be one of them." He squeezed my hand and said, "Please don't be afraid." He paused. "I will be back in only a few hours. I promise." Again, he hesitated. "It is not an easy thing for me, to break my oath as a physician and give you this. It is no light matter for either of us. But it must be done."

After he left, as silently as he came, I stood stupidly by the side of the bed. Why could he not stay with me? But of course he couldn't, if the event was to be erased completely. It must come and go with no witnesses.

I spread the thick cloths out over the bed, and then held out the vial of medicine. My hands still felt so cold that they did not warm the gla.s.s. I put the bottle down and rubbed my hands together as hard as I could, snow against snow. Even my nose felt cold. I touched its tip and touched stone in winter. All the blood was fleeing from my extremities, as if I had taken the elixir already.

I held it up before the lamp. Why were all drugs green? I remembered the potion we had drunk in Canopus. Maybe it had caused the condition that now called for this antidote--one green potion requiring another. I shivered.

Don't take it, I told myself, and day will follow day, and you will get bigger and bigger and the whole world will know that Antony came to Alexandria, enjoyed himself, and left a b.a.s.t.a.r.d--a b.a.s.t.a.r.d that will cause amused laughter in Rome and sneering remarks from Octavian. Another discarded mistress like Cytheris and Glaphyra, they'll say.

And it will even reflect badly on Caesar, I realized with a sinking feeling. Antony used Caesar s widow for his pleasure, but then cast her aside. What was good enough for Caesar was trifling to Antony. used Caesar s widow for his pleasure, but then cast her aside. What was good enough for Caesar was trifling to Antony. What did that say about Caesar? I would have dishonored his memory--I, who had promised above all things to revere it. Antony had usurped his place, then trampled on it. And I had allowed it. So they would say. What did that say about Caesar? I would have dishonored his memory--I, who had promised above all things to revere it. Antony had usurped his place, then trampled on it. And I had allowed it. So they would say.

I reached for the bottle, pried off its lid. This is the least I can do to make amends This is the least I can do to make amends, I thought wildly. Caesar, forgive me! It is not as the world would think. You know that, but no one else will. There is only one way to stop this dishonor. I will not fail you a second time. Caesar, forgive me! It is not as the world would think. You know that, but no one else will. There is only one way to stop this dishonor. I will not fail you a second time.

As I raised the bottle to my mouth and felt the smooth gla.s.s rim with my lips, I sensed a presence of something, or someone, nearby. It was enough to make me hesitate. I jerked the bottle away, trembling, and set it down. What was I thinking of? It sat there, gleaming, like the snake's eyes in Meroe, and just as poisonous. I raised the bottle to my mouth and felt the smooth gla.s.s rim with my lips, I sensed a presence of something, or someone, nearby. It was enough to make me hesitate. I jerked the bottle away, trembling, and set it down. What was I thinking of? It sat there, gleaming, like the snake's eyes in Meroe, and just as poisonous.

I backed away from it. Why had I not even thought of any counterarguments before starting to down it? It was as if my mind were paralyzed, dumbly obedient to Olympos's suggestions--all rational, all persuasive.

Except. . . they ignored the main fact. Regardless of anything else--Antony's other children, Fulvia, Rome, Octavian, Caesar, b.a.s.t.a.r.dy, ridicule-- the G.o.ds, and Isis, the great mother-G.o.ddess, had given me a child. I was its mother, and all the other facts were unimportant beside that one great fact. As Caesarion had brought me joy, so would this one. What happened to their fathers was almost beside the point, or rather, it was a completely different point. One could not cancel out the other.

I fell weeping on the bed, afraid of how near I had come to making what would have been the one mistake--the only mistake--in all this. And it could never have been undone, Olympos's words notwithstanding.

Perhaps it was Isis herself who had come to me.

I jerked off the covering cloths and lay down on the bed. My hands were warm again, and I fell asleep, with deep relief.

I awoke to find Olympos bending over me. He was pointing to the gathered cloth, and stuffed it into his basket. He touched me tenderly and proudly. Then he saw the full bottle on the table. His face changed.