Every Last Kiss, Final Copy, June 30, 2011

by Courtney Cole

Realization settled upon me like a cloud. So, Ahmose wasn’t just there to assist me… he was there to keep me firmly in place.

  “So, now you know.” She stared at me. “For now. You’ll forget it again soon enough.”

  That thought was not comforting.

  “Charmian?”

  I looked up at her.

  “Yes?”

  “Be good.”

  And she was gone.

  I took a shaking breath and sank into my bed, allowing the softness to comfort me momentarily. I wasn’t sure what to think. She had just confirmed that at least some of the things that Annen had told me were true… but since she openly admitted them, didn’t that mean that the Order had nothing to hide? I was at a loss.

  My hand brushed against a rolled up papyrus on my bed. Staring at it suspiciously, I picked it up. How had she left it? I hadn’t seen her with it at all.

  As I unrolled it, the yellow butterfly that I had just seen Lachesis eat flew from the confines of the paper and out my window. I watched it fly away in shock, alive and well, before I turned my attention to the paper in my hands. Delicate, feminine writing flowed across the page in English.

  There are things you were never meant to understand.

  You will have to trust me.

  Before I even had a chance to ponder its meaning, the cryptic message burst into flame and I dropped it to the stone floor, watching it burn on the stone. Within a minute, it had disappeared completely… as though it had never existed.

  I exhaled shakily, suddenly realizing that I had been holding my breath. Forcing myself to calm, I reminded myself of my reality. I was a Keeper and my job right now was to get my bloodstone back so that I could return home to Pasadena where I belonged. And I would do it while disturbing my ancient life as Charmian as little as possible.

  I took a last glance into the mirror before I slipped into the hall, intent on waking Cleopatra up and forming a plan of action for the day. But my plan was waylaid when a house servant rushed to my side, her face drawn and pinched with worry underneath her tied scarf.

  “My lady, I am so thankful you are up,” she uttered quickly. “Please, can you come with me? It is Iras. She needs you.”

  Iras?! What on earth could possibly be wrong now? I quickly sailed through the empty corridors of the palace to Iras’ bedchamber, the servant trailing behind me. Pushing her door open, I scanned the room.

  Iras was thrashing in her bed, her forehead glistening with sweat. I turned in alarm to the servant girl.

  “How long has she been like this?”

  I crossed the room quickly to Iras, putting the back of my hand against her cheek, but withdrawing it just as quickly. She was burning up, her eyes glazed as she moaned. In her delirium, she didn’t even recognize that I was there.

  The servant girl shook her head quickly.

  “I know not, my lady,” she admitted reluctantly. “I found her this way this morning.” She hesitated and then continued. “I do know that the priest Annen was going to be bring her an herb… to help her get over her sickness. As you know, she has been ill for the past week or two. I came this morning to tell her that Annen has died. And she was like this.”

  My gaze returned to Iras as my stomach dropped like a lead weight. This couldn’t be happening. Apparently, Annen had been meant to heal her. But he couldn’t… because he was dead himself.

  If Iras didn’t get better, she would not be in Cleopatra’s tomb to die with us the way she was meant. I sighed heavily. I did not want to be the one to tell Cleopatra. But unfortunately, breaking bad news to her often fell within my job description.

  I turned back to the servant girl.

  “Please go directly to Cleopatra’s personal physician. Tell them that I need him here immediately.”

  She nodded quickly, her face alarmed. She knew that I would not call for Cleopatra’s personal physician, Olympus, unless the situation was dire. Olympus was every bit as daunting a person as Ahmose. She backed quickly out the door. I suspected that she was running at this very moment.

  I sat on the edge of the bed, stroking Iras’ burning back and pushing her damp hair out of her face. Her bedclothes were soaked with perspiration. There was hardly a dry place left for me to perch. My thoughts whirled, trying to recall from history books the types of illnesses that ancient Egyptians suffered from… and the cures.

  I was pretty sure that I remembered reading about typhoid and smallpox. And, suddenly I recalled that King Tut had died from Malaria. Holy crap. We had no penicillin or antimalarial drugs in ancient Egypt. There would be nothing we could do but plaster her in herbs and offer gifts to Sekhmet, the goddess of healing. Somehow, my opulent surroundings seemed a little tarnished now that the drawbacks stared me in the face.

  Before I could ponder the circumstances further, the door burst open and Olympus hurried in, carrying his leather satchel of herbs. His face was ominous, like always. He never looked cheerful- it was as though he always expected a death, even at dinner every night. The little servant girl scampered in behind him, securing the door in his wake.

  He strolled to my side, apparently intent on appearing as though he had not been summoned by me, but that he had simply decided to grace us with his presence. I suddenly recalled why I disliked this abhorrent man so much- he was grossly arrogant. I honestly didn’t understand why Cleopatra tolerated him.

  “You require my services, my lady?” His stringy eyebrows rose mockingly as he eyed my face. I pasted on my best superior look and glared at him.

  “Obviously, Iras needs your help,” I gestured toward the bed as I rose to stand beside him. As if on cue, Iras moaned pitifully. “Please do all you can for her. Our majesty will be greatly displeased if anything…unfortunate happens to her.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to say the words, but my implication was clear. If Iras died, Cleopatra would be pissed at Olympus.

  He looked down his long Greek nose at me and I backed away from him. For some reason, he always smelled like pungent cheese. In a land where everyone was overly concerned with how they smelled, that was strange to me. Just one more thing to dislike about this unpleasant man.

  “I will do what I can,” he announced gravely and a little dismissively, as he turned his back to me. “It will be in the hands of Sekhmet, as well as my own.”

  I almost rolled my eyes. I had foreseen this not five minutes ago. Visions of the offerings that would soon take place in this room flitted through my head. Good lord- I might as well start lighting the incense now. What I wouldn’t give for just one bottle of penicillin or a Z-Pack.

  “I will check back in this afternoon. Please do not leave her side,” I instructed.

  He sniffed as he stared at me, but he did not dare to argue. He knew that what I had implied was correct. Cleopatra would hold him personally responsible if Iras died. And right now was not a good time to cross her, although he couldn’t know the extent of that truth. I sighed at the thought. I was going to have to break this news to her and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

  I made my way slowly back to her bedchambers, not relishing my job at all. As her right-hand girl, I always got the short end of the stick.

  Once, when we were teens, she had inadvertently broken her father’s favorite flute. It had been a complete accident, but her father was very serious about his flutes. He had even had an elaborate display case custom made from ebony to house his enormous collection.

  Out of curiosity, Cleopatra had taken his favorite one, a beautiful hand-carved ivory creation, to see firsthand why her father enjoyed playing them so much. She herself couldn’t understand it- it seemed a little foolish to her, an utter waste of time.

  Unfortunately, though, she had dropped it before she could even try it and it had shattered on the marble floor. I was the one who had to break the news to Auletes for her, although she didn’t ask me to lie. She simply didn’t wish to get struck and she felt confident that he wouldn’t beat me for her mistake.

  She had been wro
ng. In his intense fury, he had backhanded me so hard that I flew across the room into the wall. A sympathetic guard had helped me to my feet and held me as I regained my balance. That guard would grow up to be the leader of Marc Antony’s armies… and my fiancée.

  Hasani had risked Auletes’ wrath in order to help me to my bedchamber…because the room was spinning so much that I couldn’t walk alone. I could remember the anger and sympathy on his face as though it was yesterday. But as a member of the royal Ptolemaic guard, he couldn’t say anything to Auletes. It was unheard of.

  But Cleopatra could. My face had swelled up for a week, my eyes black and blue. Cleopatra had felt so horribly that she had waited on me hand and foot… and she had gone toe-to-toe with her father for the atrocity, all traces of her fear and guilt for breaking his flute were gone at what she saw as a horrible injustice.

  Servants had whispered to me in awe of how she had screamed at her father for hurting me. But I was in too much pain to care. It felt like the intense pain was going to split my head apart. But her railing had accomplished something. The next morning, one of Auletes’ servants had crept into my bedchamber carrying a small ivory box. The box itself was beautiful, but it also contained a set of matching golden combs. I still had those combs in my jewelry box, although I never wore them. I didn’t like to be reminded of that incident.

  Cleopatra had never asked me to do her dirtywork again. Although, I was still the one stuck with giving her bad news. Such as today. Standing outside of her bedchamber doors, I took a deep, steadying breath and pushed the doors open.

  She was still sleeping soundly, her beautiful face relaxed and unworried in her slumber. I walked silently to her side and gazed down upon her, dreading that I had to interrupt her peaceful dreams with this new development. I sighed heavily once more, before reaching down and shaking her shoulder gently.

  I had barely touched her when her dark eyes flew open and met mine. The intensity of her gaze so soon upon waking startled me and I stepped back with a gasp.

  “Goodness, Cleopatra. Were you already awake?”

  She stared at me wordlessly as I crossed to her balcony doors and opened them, allowing the fresh sea breeze to flow in through her rooms, rustling the sheer draperies that surrounded her bed.

  “No,” she finally spoke, before yawning into her hand. “I just wasn’t sleeping deeply. My dreams have been most fitful, of late.”

  “I can’t imagine why,” I muttered ruefully. Could it be the impending doom that lurked over all of us?

  “Don’t be snide, Charmian,” she admonished lightly. “We have a big day today.”

  She had no idea.

  “Yeah, um, about that…” I started, but trailed off as she narrowed her eyes at me.

  “What?” she demanded. “What now?”

  “Iras is sick,” I started again. But she interrupted me impatiently.

  “Yes, I know. She’s been sick for over a week already. Tell me something I don’t know.” She rolled her eyes as she stepped lightly out of bed, as naked as the day she was born, and stretched in the sunlight.

  “Well, you don’t know this,” I paused until she looked at me. “Apparently, Annen was supposed to bring her some healing herbs. But obviously he can’t, because he’s permanently indisposed.”

  As she grasped where I was heading, Cleopatra froze in her tracks, dismay immediately flooding her features.

  “And,” I continued, “She is not doing well at all. She is feverish and delirious.”

  “Summon Olympus at once,” Cleopatra demanded. “This is unacceptable. We can’t have any more incidents like this.” She collapsed back onto her bed, her head buried into her hands. I approached her quickly, wrapping a dressing gown around her thin shoulders.

  “It’s already done, my queen,” I replied quietly. “Olympus is with her now.”

  “What does he think ails her?” Cleopatra asked miserably, rubbing her temples with her fingers, her long chestnut hair tumbling around her shoulders.

  “He didn’t say,” I answered. “I doubt he knows,” I added meanly. She glanced at me sharply.

  “I know you dislike the man, Charmian, but you must give him credit where it is due. He usually knows of what he speaks.” I nodded silently, neither agreeing or disagreeing. I crossed to her side table and cut her a piece of crusty bread.

  “Here, your highness,” I handed her the small jeweled saucer. “Eat something.”

  She snatched it from my hands and grumpily chewed on the bread as she stared out at the harbor. “Charmian, you know we will still need to summon Tehran today. This doesn’t change that.”

  “I understand, Cleopatra,” I acknowledged. “But what shall we do about Iras?”

  She turned to me in confusion. “What is there to do, Charmian? But wait?”

  I nodded dejectedly. She was right. There wasn’t a thing that we could do. But perhaps burn a few bunches of incense to Sekhmet. I would utter some frantic prayers to God, too, even though Christianity hadn’t even been thought of yet. It wouldn’t hurt to cover all of my bases.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Tehran impatiently sat in Cleopatra’s sitting room, looking horribly out of place on a delicate golden chair. His oily face caught the light from the windows and I could barely contain my repulsion. His bony arms clutched a tea cup and I could see his hands shaking slightly. So much for his pretense that he was cool as could be. He was a thinly concealed weasel. He probably almost had a heart-attack when Cleopatra had sent her guards to bring him to her chambers.

  Very few people saw her personal chambers and he was getting a prolonged look, as Cleopatra was making him wait. I knew that she was probably doing absolutely nothing in her bedchamber, but she wanted to make him understand that as queen, she could do as she wished. If she wanted him to wait for four hours, so be it. I personally prayed that it wouldn’t be that long. I had to stand in here and supervise the worm. We obviously couldn’t leave him alone.

  Thankfully for me, she emerged just a few moments later, appearing as calm as she could be. Her face was cool and collected as she stared regally down her nose at him. He quickly set his teacup aside and dropped to the floor, touching his nose to her Persian carpets.

  “You may rise,” she commanded coolly, gliding silently to a chaise lounge adjacent to the chair he had been sitting in. “Please…sit,” she instructed.

  As she crossed her legs delicately, she appraised him slowly, pursing her full lips as she did so.

  “Tehran,” she drawled softly, narrowing her heavily made up eyes. I noted with amusement that she had added a thick layer of additional kohl since I had originally done her face this morning. I rolled my eyes before I could stop myself. Leave it to Cleopatra to be extra-dramatic.

  “We all know why you are here,” she purred smoothly, as she fiddled with a thick string of pearls. Tehran’s eyes widened noticeably as he watched her, but he didn’t say anything for a minute.

  He gulped hard and finally said, “We do, your majesty?”

  I found myself transfixed on his prominent Adam’s apple, which bobbed with every word he spoke. The man was just all-around disgusting.

  “Of course we do,” she nodded. “Let’s not play games, Tehran. You know about the unique pendant that your master has in his possession. And I obviously know about it, as does Charmian. Especially Charmian, since it is hers.”

  Tehran’s eyes flitted to me briefly before he returned his nervous gaze to the queen. I noted that he was frantically tapping his heel against his chair.

  “So, since we are all in on the secret, let’s get down to business, shall we?” She asked, narrowing her eyes again. “Pothinus stole it from its rightful owner and I know that somehow, you have been involved.”

  Tehran started to deny it as sweat broke out on his brow.

  “Now, now,” she reassured him. “That only means that you are quite bright and very loyal… to help your master in such a way.”

  The dulcet tones of her voic
e were as smooth as honey and Tehran’s face went from nervous to confused to flattered in about two seconds flat. I almost laughed out loud. Cleopatra’s infamous charm seemed to be working once again. She was like a well-oiled machine.

  He watched her eagerly for her next words and I realized that he was practically eating out of her hand already. This would be a piece of cake. And really, now that I thought about it, I didn’t know why I had doubted it. Knowing Pothinus, he wasn’t exactly the best master. He was probably ungrateful and harsh. Not exactly loyalty inspiring.

  “I know that this will be a difficult decision for someone as loyal as you, Tehran,” she continued, “but I could really use someone of your cunning and intelligence on my staff. You see… Pothinus has become a thorn in my side. And I have discovered that I can’t handle him alone.”

  She batted her eyes femininely and I almost choked again. She was really laying it on thick…the whole, I’m-a-helpless-female-and-I-need-you-to-rescue-me routine, and I could tell from his smitten face that it was working. No one could resist her when she put her mind to it.

  “Well, I… I don’t know what you need, my queen,” he stammered.

  “I need you on my team, Tehran,” she purred again. Rising fluidly from her seat, she crossed to him, bending to murmur in his ear. Her musky, distinct scent enveloped them and he closed his eyes as he inhaled.

  “Tehran, will you please help me?” she whispered huskily into his ear.

  He all but melted into a pool at her feet as he nodded, his eyes still closed. He didn’t see the exultant, triumphant look that Cleopatra shot me over his head. I smiled and shook my head.

  “You will have my undying gratitude, Tehran, as my loyal servant.” She looked to me. “And you can ask Charmian about how I treat my loyal staff.” I was quick to reassure him.

  “Yes, Tehran. You will not find a more appreciative queen anywhere,” I nodded. “Cleopatra is most unselfish. She always desires only the best for Egypt. It is her driving force.”

  His eyes flew open. “But what about me, my queen? Pothinus has said that you only want to kill us both in your efforts to save Egypt.”