Chapter Eight
e did not stay long in Hermonthis. Once the enthronement parade was over, I retired to my quarters on the barge. My feet were dusty and aching, my lips cracked and dry from the midday sun.
Arsinoe stayed the night in the city, the festivities luring her in as strongly as they repelled me. She did not return to the boat until the next morning while I was breaking my fast.
I looked up as she sauntered into the dining room. The guards I had left her with trailed in behind her, both looking exhausted.
“You smell of palm wine,” I said, letting my disapproval show in my voice.
“I do, as I had very many glasses of it.” To her credit she did not slur, though she swayed a little more than the movement of the boat accounted for.
“I hope you acted properly.”
My sister snorted as she reached forward to pick at the bread from my plate. “The people were just glad to have someone of Ptolemy blood there.”
I shot her a stern look. “Drink has made your tongue loose, sister.”
“If only it loosened yours, too. Do you know what they said about you, when they thought I couldn’t hear?”
I shook my head, not wanting to know, but listening intently anyway.
“They think you fragile. Too fragile to stay up the whole night through.”
“My night was not wasted on the frivolities of opulence,” I snapped. “I came back to my quarters to study.”
“Ah, yes. Your divine power is healing, of course.”
I darted my eyes around the room, taking in the faces of the guards who listened.
“Arsinoe,” I said in a warning tone.
She sank into a chair and trailed her finger along the embroidery of the tablecloth. “I wonder how the people would feel if they knew how righteously you studied for the divinity bestowed upon you.”
I slammed my hand down on the table.
“Stop.”
Arsinoe was startled for less than a breath before a smile painted her expression once more. “So, there is a fire in you, sister. I was beginning to wonder.”
Fury pulled me to my feet. “Fire? I am the furnace of the Lighthouse of Pharos. I shine, I lead, I burn. For I am the Pharaoh of Egypt, and I will not tolerate being spoken to this way.”
Arsinoe looked at me. “Do you remember Mother?” she asked suddenly. The question took me unawares and I sat heavily back in my seat.
“Of course I remember her.”
“Oh,” Arsinoe said, her eyes suddenly filled with sadness. “Another thing you have that I do not.”
“What is it you want, Arsinoe?”
The question disarmed her and her expression went slack. When she seemed to come to, she met my gaze. “I want to be seen.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, but I didn’t have to worry, as Arsinoe got up and left, leaving the scent of palm wine in her wake.
—
The journey back to Alexandria was less joyous than the outbound voyage, and things remained strained between Arsinoe and me.
The cities that had welcomed us on the journey upriver were less spirited than they had been, and the local governors rarely accepted my invitations for dinner, feigning illness or using other excuses. Most nights were spent dining alone with my sister.
“The rumours that started in Alexandria have now run the length of the Nile,” Charmion said softly in my ear. I had sent her into Memphis to listen to what the locals were saying.
I broke off a morsel of the steamed fish in front of me. Without turning around, I said quietly, “Tell me, what exactly is being said?”
Charmion inhaled sharply, and I knew it hurt her to repeat it. “That your reign is blighted by the gods. That you do not have any divine gifts and therefore are unfit to rule Egypt.”
Arsinoe sat on the other side of the table, but she was engaged in conversation with Serapion, the only courtier who had accepted my summons in Memphis. He was the son of the governor.
“It is curious that these rumours were not swirling on our journey to Hermonthis. It seems that time and river-water have helped the hearsay grow.”
Later that night I had an idea. I woke Charmion.
“What is it?” She lurched to sitting, her hair in disarray.
“I know how I can vanquish the rumours,” I told her. “I will open a royal hospital and treat the public. There is no need for me to heal people in secret. This way people will be able to see my power at work.”
It didn’t matter that my power was learned, as long as my citizens believed in my gift.
And perhaps I had started to believe my own lie too.
Charmion yawned. “Have you not yet slept?”
“That doesn’t matter. Will you send for the scribe? I want Archibios to begin preparations.”
It was many days before I heard back from Archibios. I was lounging on the balcony beneath an awning, the midday sun striking the deck of the boat. Arsinoe sat beside me playing senet with Charmion.
“Arsinoe, you are better than your sister at senet,” Charmion said, with a playful smile in my direction.
“Yes, I’m better at many things, though few know it,” Arsinoe retorted. Though she also smiled, her eyes conveyed the truth in the insult.
“At games, certainly,” I said dismissively.
Charmion laughed into the silence that ensued. But it did nothing to ease the tension that endured between my sister and me.
There was a squawk at the balcony edge and I looked over to see Qar land with a headless fish in his beak. He threw his head back and swallowed it in one.
“I did not realise Qar had returned,” I said.
Arsinoe shrugged as if his appearance was inconsequential and I felt my temper quicken. “Did he come with a message from Pothinus?” I persisted. “Has Caesar arrived?”
She didn’t look up from the senet board. “No, nothing.”
I frowned. We were less than a day from Alexandria and I had not heard from Pothinus since my message to him.
I called forward a servant. “Please check the pigeon roost.”
When they returned with a slip of paper, I felt relief wash over me.
“A pigeon returned as I was there, Pharaoh.”
I took the small scroll from the servant’s outstretched hand. But the message wasn’t from Pothinus, but Archibios.
My breath began to quicken as I read.
Pharaoh, though I am intrigued by your suggestion for an infirmary, I fear there are larger concerns of late.
I am unsure if you have received word from your court, but your brother has recalled all regiments from Upper Egypt to Alexandria.
They stand guard at the harbour. I have heard whisperings that the Pharaoh is taking the throne for his own.
Julius Caesar resides in the palace as the Pharaoh’s guest. There are rumours that your brother has petitioned the Roman to dissolve your father’s will.
Forgive me for my callous words, but I wish to warn you of the trap that has been laid.
“Sister? Are you well?” Arsinoe asked.
I met her gaze, schooling my expression to neutral.
“Yes.”
“Who is the message from?” she asked lightly. Too lightly.
Gods, please tell me Arsinoe is not a part of this.
“Archibios. He needs the references for some of my research, that’s all.”
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?”
“Rome. Caesar. He was my father’s closest ally. Pothinus’s ploy goes against my father’s will. If I petition Caesar, he may yet lend me his force. Especially as his fleet docks in Alexandria. The problem is getting to Caesar.”
Charmion’s eyes narrowed and I said, “You look like you have an idea.”
She nodded. “I do. But you won’t like it.”
—
The following night, under the light of the stars, I made my way to the bow of the boat. No servants stopped me, no guards stood at my back. It was as if I were invisible, and it was a freedom I savoured.
I wore Charmion’s pale linen tunic. My hair was unbraided and tied simply at the base of my neck with cord. No jewels adorned my wrists or ears. No kohl lined my eyes. The only hint of the pharaoh I once was, I kept hidden beneath the collar of my dress: the concealed ivory dagger.
I looked behind me, but the boat was silent. Soon dawn would break and Queen Cleopatra would arrive at Alexandria’s harbour. But it wouldn’t be the Queen, it would be Charmion, veiled to hide her scar and dressed as my copy.
“I cannot let you do this,” I had said, shaking my head fiercely.
“You must. It is the only way you can enter the city without being caught.”
I held on to her wrist tightly. “What if you are hurt? Killed?”
“They will not murder you before the people. Pothinus is shrewd, but he knows there are many citizens who still support you in the city.”
“So, your death is delayed until you are beneath the palace’s roof.”
Charmion laid a hand on mine, loosening my grip until our fingers were intertwined. “I will reveal to them who I am before a blade is held against my throat.”
“And you think laying bare the ruse will stop the knife from slicing?”
Charmion looked at me plainly. “It is a risk worth taking. Let me do this for you. If I can delay their search for you for half a day, it will be worth it.”
“It is not worth your life.”
She smiled sweetly. “But it is worth yours.”
My heart constricted as I thought of her now. I turned back to the Nile water below.
“Isis, watch over Charmion. She is more to me than the flesh and bones of her body. She is my companion and my friend, in this life and the next.” My prayer concluded, I dived into the depths of the Nile.