Part 90 (1/2)
”Cornelia had Julia, and as for the other two--Pompeia was divorced for her suspected affairs, and Calpurnia spent barely any time with him The case is hardly conclusive” I certainly knewthan Octavian did! ”And Caesar was not a fool; he could not have been deceived so easily After all, he knehere he had been, and when ” when ” I hated to have to say these things in front of the boy! I hated to have to say these things in front of the boy!
Octavian snorted His fine nostrils flared slightly ”I co the naht to it”
”Then why did you recognize o?” Caesarion was quick to seize on this legality
Octavian was thrown off off his stride for an instant ”It was not I who did his stride for an instant ”It was not I who did it, it, but the Triumvirs Antony and Lepidus who insisted on it as a concession to the Queen of Egypt, but the Triumvirs Antony and Lepidus who insisted on it as a concession to the Queen of Egypt, to to prevent her sending shi+ps and aid to the assassins in Asia” prevent her sending shi+ps and aid to the assassins in Asia”
”Now you do truly insult my mother the Queen! As if she would ever send aid to Cassius and Brutus! No, No, you recognized me under that name because you kneas true It is only now that you seek to rescind it and usurp nized me under that name because you kneas true It is only now that you seek to rescind it and usurp row calrew rasp your fancied Roman inheritance, and overturn Roman law! There are words for such as you-- pretenders, bastards, and insurrectionists By Roman law I am Caesar's son, and inherit his na her Senate and judges can you unseat me”
I fancied he meant to say ”depose,” and only just stopped himself in time
”It is you ist the law and deprive htfully mine,” insisted Caesarion I was proud of the way he refused to back off
”Enough!” Octavian barely raised his voice ”Return to Egypt Tell the Queen to give up her dreams of conquest of Roe She is mad with the dreams of empire But she shall not rule here! And you are not Caesar s son! son! Tell her all this, and warn her to stay away froain!” He looked around, his eyes narrowing ''What a pitiful masquerade! Tell her all this, and warn her to stay away froain!” He looked around, his eyes narrowing ''What a pitiful masquerade!
”Is this your your country?” asked Caesarion ”I thought the Triuht the Triumvir Antony Antony could also claim it for his home” could also claim it for his home”
”When he is ready to quit the east, with his concubines and eunuchs and drunken orgies, then let him return, a Roman once more”
”I am afraid you have fallen victim to your own stories, Triumvir,” I said ”It is you who have concocted the concubines, eunuchs, and orgies Come and visit us, and see for yourself what life he leads”
”Never!” He looked as if he had been invited to a serpent's den
”Are you afraid the eastern Queen will bewitch you?” I could not help teasing hiained deadly currency
”She could not,” he said ”It would be ione! I must return to Illyria, and I will not leave you behind here”
' 'So you have done us the honor to travel all the way fro journey, and for such a short time!” you have done us the honor to travel all the way fro journey, and for such a short tih to say what needed to be said, and for o
”And our journey, which was even bnger, has also answered these questions,” said Caesarion
”Vale,” said Octavian ”Farewell I do not look to see you again” said Octavian ”Farewell I do not look to see you again”
He seemed to vanish, so quickly did he step over the threshold of the apartloom of the hallway
”O ye Gods!” said Caesarion, and he was as pale as a ghost ”Was this a vision?” ye Gods!” said Caesarion, and he was as pale as a ghost ”Was this a vision?”
”You acquitted yourself well, to deal with such an apparition,” I said ”Caesar himself could not have done better You have proved yourself his most worthy son”
And there it is, is, exactly as it happened, not an hour ago exactly as it happened, not an hour ago
Your loyal, almost speechless, and shaken physician, Oly after it ritten; luck had speeded it to me Alexandria still lay in its stupor of heat and debilitation, barelyBut the letter jolteda nakedthe roouidly on a couch, pronouncing myself too enervated to stir Octavian! Octavian had swooped down on -- or have spies in every house, on every corner And even so, hoould they have knoho Caesarion and Olympos were7 Rome had nearly a million people, most of them poor and crowded into places like the Subura How could two individuals come to Octavian's attention like that? Rome had nearly a million people, most of them poor and crowded into places like the Subura How could two individuals come to Octavian's attention like that?
And the way he appeared and disappearedit was almost supernatural How had his shi+p traveled so fast on the windless seas, how had he entered Ro would be easy Was Caesarion's very life in danger? I reread the letter, with the ominous lines, ”I must return to Illyria, and I will not leave you behind here” If Olympos and Caesarion did not coents to dispatch the the letter I expected to find him at his workdesk, hunched over papers Instead the table, cluttered with scrolls, ledgers, and reports, stood unattended I found hi on a couch One foot dangled off the end, and the other was propped up on a pillow A bored attendant was fanning hi kept time with the puffs of heated air
”Wake up!” I shook his shoulders I could not bear to wait to tell him this horrible developladly put down the long-handled fan and left
”Uh” Antony slowly opened his eyes and tried to orient himself He had been in that particularly deep sleep that sometimes falls upon us in the daytiht, I need you! I need you!
I needed him to read the letter, to convince me, in his unexcited way, that it was sorew exasperated by his underreaction to what I considered vital, or obvious, but noelcomed that very trait
”What is it?” he finally mumbled His words were thick, his eyes still unfocused He rubbed them
”I--a letter has come A dreadful letter!” I pushed it into his hands, before he had struggled to sit up He just looked at it, bewildered
”Well, read it!” I cried
He lurched up fro his feet down onto the floor Groggily he held the letter and read it I watched his face carefully It showed nothing
His eyes went back to the beginning and he reread it, awake no there was an expression on his face--a heavy resignation, so hi it down on the couch And in the tone of those three words heof e faced
I found ainst his shoulder, thankful for the solid feel of hi why that could co, like a child, while he heldat what, perhaps, at base,to when all else fails, so surcease of pain At htmares, that person stands by as an adult to dry our tears
I had soaked the shoulder of his tunic, and only when etically ”I've ruined it,” I said, feeling foolish The gold threads were all twisted and broken where I had squeezed them, and the salt in my tears had made the dye run into the white
”Never ood purpose” He pulled my hair back from my neck and throat, where it stuck to the skin,”There” He s I did for the children Next he would askout for a plate of figs, and I laughed
”No, thank you,” I said He pulled his arm back and put it around my shoulder
”I don't think I've ever seen you cry,” he said, more to himself than to me
”I try never to,” I said ”At least not in front of anyone It is considered unqueenly”
”Then you must, at last, trust me,” he said
Yes, I supposed it uard to Antony as I never had to another person Now there was no raising it again
”Yes, I have learned to trust you,” I admitted