The guard at the door gave a shout and came running, quickly followed by others. Caesar raised his arm. "Stay back!"

"But, Consul-!" protested the guard.

"Leave us. Now!"

Looking askance at the queen and mumbling among themselves, Caesar's men withdrew.

Cleopatra gazed down at the lifeless bodies at her feet. She drew a sharp breath and let out a cry. Tears ran down her cheeks. For a moment

I thought she might lose her composure entirely and fall to the floor weeping. But she stiffened her neck, fought back tears, and turned her glittering eyes to Caesar.

"Is Caesar satisfied?" she asked.

Once more I felt compelled to speak, but Caesar cocked his head, thrust out his jaw, and silenced me with a look. "Caesar… is satisfied."

She lowered her eyes. "And this matter is closed?"

"The matter is closed. The queen's subjects have been punished. Meto is absolved and shall be released. We shall never speak again of what happened on Antirrhodus."

"Very well," said the queen. She removed a long linen mantle that was gathered and pinned at one shoulder, shook the garment loose, and laid it over the bodies of Merianis and Apollodorus. "If you will, see that no one touches these remains. Embalmers from the temple of Isis will come very soon to collect them, so that the proper rituals may be observed at each stage of the journey upon which they have embarked."

I could not help myself. My voice trembled. "How terrible, if anything should go amiss and disappoint the queen! Even in the life hereafter, her loyal servants must be ready and waiting for her when the day comes that the queen herself crosses over!"

She gave me a chilly look. "You understand completely, Gordianus. Apollodorus and Merianis worship Isis, and I embody Isis. Their loyalty knows no bounds, and neither does their reward. So it is in this world; so it shall be in the next, and through all eternity. The impious will fall aside and turn to dust, but the righteous shall have life everlasting."

"With you as their queen?"

"Don't worry, Gordianus. I doubt very much that you will be among my subjects in the life hereafter."

With that she collected herself and strode from the room, her head held high.

CHAPTER XXVII

The embalmers came quickly; so quickly, in fact, that it seemed they must have gathered somewhere nearby beforehand, to await the queen's call. The bodies of Merianis and Apollodorus were laid upon biers and carried off.

" 'Caesar is satisfied'!" I said, unable to contain my sarcasm. "Are you, Consul? How can you be?"

He looked at me for a long moment before speaking. "I am satisfied that I responded as I should have responded to what just took place in this room."

"But you cannot be satisfied that the queen and her subjects told you the truth!"

"That, Gordianus, is another matter."

"Those tears she cried! She used them like a witch to cast a spell over you."

"Perhaps; nonetheless, I think her tears were genuine. Do you not believe that she loved Apollodorus and Merianis, as a queen loves those closest to her? Do you not think that she was profoundly moved by the sacrifice they made for her?"

"Sacrifice, indeed! That nonsense about Merianis being madly in love with Meto, and deciding on a whim to destroy him because he spurned her-and the further nonsense that Apollodorus would go along with such a plot on a moment's notice, without question, behind the queen's back! Apollodorus was a slave to only one woman, and we both know it wasn't Merianis."

Caesar sighed. "In fact, Gordianus, I do happen to know, because Meto told me so at the time, that Merianis did indeed make her affections available to him-"

"As she did to me!"

"-and that Meto declined."

"As did I. But I don't believe for an instant that Merianis decided, on her own initiative, to plant that vial on Meto."

He looked at me gravely. "Nor do I."

"Yet you're satisfied to let the matter rest!"

"Meto will be released, Gordianus. Is that not the result you wished for?"

"I'm a Roman, Consul. Wisely or not, I take justice for granted. But truth also matters to me. While the queen was here, you refused to let me speak. Will you listen to me now?"

He heaved a sigh. "Very well. Because you're Meto's father; because you've suffered much here in Egypt; and also because, whether you realize it or not, I rather like you, Gordianus, I am going to indulge you, and allow you to tell me exactly what you believe to be the truth. Explain to me what occurred on Antirrhodus; and then let us never speak of it again. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Consul."

"Then proceed."

"Will you grant that the amphora of wine was already poisoned, because it was the wine with which Pompey intended to poison himself?"

Caesar nodded. "I grant as much. But what of the alabaster vial?" "I believe it was taken from my trunk by Merianis, just as she said, and for the reason she gave: She wished to deny me any chance to use the poison on myself. She stole the poison with my best interests at heart. I think that was about the only thing she told us that was true, because there was something Merianis left out. She was a spy for the queen; her eyes and ears belonged to Cleopatra. She told the queen everything, and I believe she told Cleopatra about the alabaster vial, as well. When you asked Merianis about disposing of the poison, she became flustered. I think that was her original intention, but someone ordered her not to-the queen, of course. For a woman like Cleopatra, such a poison might eventually serve a purpose, and so she ordered Merianis to keep the vial and its contents intact.

"Neither of them had any immediate use for the vial; for the moment, they both forgot about it, just as I did. Then came that terrible day on Antirrhodus. When Zoe died from the poisoned wine, the queen was as puzzled and alarmed as the rest of us. But her mind worked very quickly, searching for a way to turn events to her advantage. Because Meto had opened the amphora, he was an obvious suspect, and it may be that Cleopatra actually believed that Meto had poisoned the wine. Meto was her enemy; the queen knew that he disliked her. Whether he had poisoned the wine or not, it would benefit the queen to be rid of him, and she saw an opportunity to deal him a blow-even as she diverted suspicion from herself. A plot formed quickly in her mind, and she put it into action at once.

"While she held the body of Zoe, she called Merianis to her side. What did she say to Merianis? None of us could hear, for they kept their voices low, but did it not seem to you that Merianis balked at the queen's commands? This was what Cleopatra told her to do: first, to fetch the alabaster vial from her room, and to empty the poison from it; then to find Apollodorus, and to convey the queen's desire that he come at once and, when the occasion allowed, that he should plant the empty vial upon Meto. Merianis was appalled; she had no wish to harm Meto, but she had no will to resist the queen's command. Thus the strange look she shot at Meto; thus the shame she exhibited afterward. As for Apollodorus, he obeyed the queen's command without question, and for the very reason he gave today: 'Because I love her,' he said-but he didn't mean Merianis. He meant Cleopatra!"

Caesar rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "And-supposing this version of events is true-this was why you wished the two servants to be called here without their mistress. You hoped they might reveal the truth-and incriminate the queen."

"Yes. But Cleopatra foresaw that possibility. She might simply have refused to cooperate-but she sensed that you must, at some level, be given an explanation, and that someone would have to be punished. Before they came here, the queen told Merianis and Apollodorus exactly what to say, if called upon; and to save her, they lied, knowing it would mean their own deaths." I remembered the look of acquiescence on Merianis's face when Apollodorus delivered the deathblow, and my voice quavered. "If Merianis hadn't stolen the poison from my trunk, desiring only to save me from myself, she might yet be alive."