Free Keeper of the Flame by Tracy L. Higley Page B

have?”
    The priest eyed them both with narrowed eyes, as though affronted by the interruption. Cleopatra nodded to the little man, and he continued the chanting Sophia had heard from the corridor, swinging the amulet and rattling the sistrum before them all. His bare torso was all bony, protruding ribs and sharp shoulders.
    The room was hot, the oil lamps smoked, and Sophia’s skin grew damp in the still air. Two slave women fanned Cleo withflat palm leaves on poles, but she shifted on her feet, as though impatient for the end of the chant. She still held Sophia’s hand, and her white chitôn drifted lazily across Sophia’s arm, trailing its gold trim.
    With the sing-songing of the priest, the warm night felt like Cleo’s robes on her skin, like black and gold silk from the east, caressing with the lightest touch of luxury. Sophia closed her eyes and succumbed to the spell of the night.
    But then the priest was whispering questions, and Ptolemy’s adolescent squeak grated against the silkiness of the night. The boy had been cleaned up at least, but nothing could improve his personality.
    Sophia ran a hand over the back of her neck and looked away. Across the room, a soldier watched her. She started and pulled her hand from Cleopatra’s grasp. Again, that Roman! Four thousand Roman soldiers in Alexandria, and she saw this one everywhere! He lowered his head in recognition, and she wrapped her arms about her waist, remembering his own arm around her body.
    The ceremony ended at last, with the priest shaking the sistrum too near her face. Its clatter of beads echoed from the carved walls and pillars of the hall. The priest slipped away, and Caesar faced the new husband and wife. “That is done, then. Let peace reign in Egypt.”
    Sophia looked to Cleopatra, who only offered her enigmatic smile and watched the Roman general. Sophia leaned toward her one-time student. “Cleopatra, I must speak to you.”
    Caesar turned on the boy. “It seems your advisors have left you to yourself, King. Achillas still heads your troops in Pelusium, Theodotus has fled from my wrath over his assassination of Pompey, and Pothinus—well, where is Pothinus, King?”Caesar’s glance took in the Roman soldier at the side of the room, the one who had invaded her lighthouse.
    “I—I do not know,” the boy said. “He disappeared during the riot this afternoon.”
    “Hmmm.” Caesar nodded. “I do hope he has not been hurt.”
    Ptolemy’s eyes widened. The boy would be lost without his eunuch.
    “Well, perhaps you can find your own bedchamber without assistance?”
    Ptolemy’s lips and chin took on a pout at the sarcasm. “Good night, then.” With that, he took his leave.
    “Cleopatra, will you not introduce me to the woman who managed to get past my guards and join us for the ceremony?”
    Cleopatra pulled her forward. “Caesar, this is Sophia, my language tutor from the time I was very young.”
    Sophia lifted her chin to the Roman.
    “Ah, language. Cleopatra has impressed me utterly with her command of Latin, Greek, and Egyptian.”
    Pride in her student coursed through her. “She knows Hebrew and Syriac as well.”
    “Then I must assume you are a supreme teacher. I thank you for your contribution to this astounding woman.” His hand went possessively to the small of Cleopatra’s back, and Sophia felt a spark of something like anger. She leaned her head to the queen. “May I speak to you in private, Cleopatra?”
    Caesar waved away the centurions at the side of the hall. “We have no secrets, the queen and I. Speak.”
    Sophia hardened her voice and turned on the Roman. “You have come to our land to reap the best of it, no doubt. But already you have harmed the best and put it in chains.”
    Caesar’s eyes narrowed. “I have dispatched no orders in regard to Egypt’s grain.”
    Sophia laughed, not caring it rang with harsh disdain. “Grain nourishes a man for a mere day. Philosophy, mathematics, science—the