The three of us who remained behind watchedthem disappear into the crowd, whereupon Septimus turned to me andasked, “Well? What now?”
It was a good question, but I had thoughtabout a way to pass the time.
“You said you’ve read the Prefect’sscrolls?”
Septimus’ response was to shift on his feetuncomfortably, giving me an idea of what was coming.
“Not all of them,” he admitted, and Iglared at him in a silent reminder of what he had said when we saweach other in Arelate the year before, which prompted him toprotest, “I was spending my time trying to undo all the damageGaius was doing! But,” he allowed, “I did read enough of them, andI think I know where you’re going.”
He was right; we passed the time tellingBronwen everything we could think of about Alexandria, describingits basic layout from memory. Septimus had not reached the point ofwhat we now call the second civil war that culminated with the manknown as Gaius Octavius becoming Augustus Caesar, so it was left tome to talk about the final days and sham of a battle that was thelast gasp of Marcus Antonius.
“I have heard of him, of course,” sheoffered. “But I do not know that much about him. Cleopatra,” hereyes began to shine, “there are many stories about her! Was she as wicked asthey say she was?”
“She did send her half-sister to try and kill mygreat-grandfather,” I answered laughingly, “so I suppose there’struth to those rumors.”
“What about her beauty?” she askedeagerly. “Did your great-grandfather talk about how beautiful shewas?”
I cast a rueful glance at Septimus, but hewas grinning at me cheerfully, and I knew he was thinking, you gotyourself into this, nephew; you can get yourself out.
“Not exactly,” I answered. “Shewas…homely,” was the best I could come up with, which notsurprisingly, she did not accept at all.
“That cannot be true,” she said thiswith a great deal of confidence, but when I did not reply for along span, it slowly dissolved until she finally finished, “canit?”
“Cleopatra’s gifts weren’t in herphysical appearance,” I explained. “But even my great-grandfathersaid in his account that he fell a little in love withher.”
“So she could not have been as homelyas you say,” she insisted.
In that moment, I decided to choosewhat I considered the wiser course by agreeing, “Obviously not.But,” I could not resist the opportunity, “no matter what shelooked like, she would have hatedyou because of how beautiful you are.”
She was standing between me and Septimus, sothat while she was looking at me, she missed him rolling his eyes,and while it felt somewhat awkward saying this kind of thing, itwas her reaction that mattered as she rewarded me with a kiss, andas she hugged me around the neck, I grinned at Septimus, who shookhis head in disgust.
Demeter was the first to return, notall that long after he left, and when I approached him, he assuredme that they had been successful in exchanging money, and mostimportantly, offering up a plausible explanation how a freedmancame to be in possession of gold aurei with the profile of Divus Augustus onit.
“Alexandros had me do it, and I saidthat I had just delivered a cargo, and the merchant had nothingbut aurei to offer, and Ineeded to exchange it to pay my crew. I have done business with theman before, so he recognized me and has no reason to think I amlying.”
This made sense, and I thought no more aboutit, asking Demeter instead, “You know the city better than us. Ifthe man we’re looking for is where he’s supposed to be in the BetaDistrict, how long do you think it would take Alex and Gaius tofind it?”
He considered for a moment, then glanced upat the sun before he replied, “If Mela is where he is supposed tobe, they should be back here by midday.”
They were not. In truth, they did notreturn to the ship until the beginning of fourth watch, the lastone of the daytime hour, and there was no need for them to tell methe news because their demeanor as they plodded up the plank backonto the Persephonepractically shouted it.
“He’s not there,” Alex confirmed, butwhile I knew this, there was something in his expression that toldme there was more to it than his words.
It was Gaius who offered up the informationthat created what can only be called a crisis when he said, “Ifound out from one of the slaves who work for another merchantwhose house is next to Aviola’s that he was there yesterday atsundown.”
“But,” Alex interjected, his mouth setin a grim line, “just after dawn, this slave noticed two carts infront of the villa that were being loaded with things.”
“What kind of things?” I asked,although I was already experiencing a sinking sensation in
