Whether because he feared me or because he had grown used to taking orders I didn’t know, but he relented after a moment of consideration. “Like you, they appear from the air. Melt into being, covered from head to toe in black, even their faces. They carry a small box that turns people into water from the inside. Then they’re gone.”
It had to be sonic wavers. I’d bet my teeth on it. But how? The technology wouldn’t even be considered until the Nazi scientists started dreaming up creative ways to kill people in the mid-twentieth century, and they wouldn’t be perfected until the twenty-fifth century. Nothing else could cause the physical destruction he described though. Not here and now.
Oz’s gray eyes, turbulent but determined, hung in my mind. He’d pushed that woman to change the course of James Puckle. Had he killed others to change their courses, too?
“I’m not here to kill Pharaoh. But I would like to be alone with him.”
I had no idea whether he would comply with my request, which the sharp, stabbing pain in the base of my skull said was completely inappropriate, but after a moment, he nodded.
“Only because it is Pharaoh’s wish.” He swept from the room, giving me a wide berth on his way past.
Caesarion slept, undisturbed by the hushed conversation of my latest intrusion in his life. His bare chest rose and fell in a soothing rhythm, the sound of life moving in and out of him almost bringing me to tears. How much longer would his lungs fill with air, his heart pump blood through his thrumming veins?
Not long.
I moved to the edge of the sagging bed and sat, reaching out a hand to touch the bristle of his dark hair. He startled at the soft brush of my hand, his midnight-blue eyes flying open in surprise that changed quickly to pleasure.
“Kaia, my love,” he breathed in a sleepy voice that had me curled up beside him in a matter of moments.
His body radiated warmth from the woolen blanket, and his long arms held me tight against his chest. With my cheek against his heart, my own found a matching rhythm, heavy with the knowledge that this night would be our last.
We stayed that way a long time, together in silence, his breath moving strands of hair on top of my head. I toyed with the dark hair curled across his chest, running my fingertips over the play between coarse and smooth, trying to memorize everything.
When he finally spoke, it startled me. “I am glad you came. I’ve delayed my departure for Alexandria in the hopes that you would.”
My blood turned to ice. I raised my head slightly so I could look into his handsome face, my stomach sinking. “You shouldn’t have done that. I could have found you.”
He gave me a halfhearted smile. Weariness that hadn’t been there the last time we’d spent time together appeared in the rings around his eyes, the slump of his shoulders, and poked holes in my heart. “We haven’t discussed the intricacies of your comings and goings. The summons from Octavian has come, but leaving immediately didn’t seem important in the grand design of life at the moment, and I didn’t want to take any chances. Don’t worry. I’m still going back.”
I pressed a kiss to his soft, salty lips. His hands came up, cupping my cheeks and then sliding into my hair. We were both breathless a moment later when I pulled away, stars in my eyes and body close to reneging on the decision I’d made not to complicate things further.
We had one night left. Taking things further would make things more painful or just plain awkward. He smiled at me, happiness nudging away some of his fatigue. It filled me with pride that a few minutes kissing me could erase the years that had found his face over the past several days.
“I can’t stay very long, and you need to get on your way first thing in the morning. Let’s go do something.”
He sat up on his elbows, kissing me again, then eased away with a perfect, roguish grin that would have been at home on the fashion magazines that would become popular two thousand years in the future. “What would you like to do?”
“This is your world, Caesarion. Pretend I’m a lady you’d like to impress. What would you show me?”
“I am not at home in Berenice. However, as you are the only lady I have ever wanted to impress, aside from my mother, I will make an attempt.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” I teased, rolling off the bed and handing him his clothes.
I turned my back as he dressed over the next several minutes, then called the manservant, who brought fresh water and soap. After Caesarion finished washing up, we eased into the hallway, where he spoke softly to his servant. I caught enough of the whispered conversation to know that he’d promised we would return by daybreak, and they should be ready to depart for the capital city.
We paused outside the inn’s front door while Caesarion shook the kinks from his back and neck. He resembled a tiger waking in the jungle, a masterpiece of long limbs and lithe, capable movements. No matter how hard I wanted to enjoy tonight, every time I looked at him tears clogged my throat.
I tried to smile when he reached for my hand. “Where are we going?”
“Just follow me, my love.”
I started to make a joke about the Pied Piper, then realized it wouldn’t mean anything to him. Gauging by the trek of the moon across the heavens, a couple of hours remained ours before sunrise. The night was silent but for the crunch of our footsteps until the sand muted those, as well, and we walked until a wooden dock appeared, set back in an inlet where the water barely moved with a current. Farther away, toward the center of the bustling seaport, bright evidence of civilization gleamed in the darkness.
Caesarion and his guards had surely chosen to reside on its outskirts to avoid the entourage and notoriety that came with parading Pharaoh around town, especially one whose power had been called into question by Rome. The bio-tat spat facts at me about the volatile relationship between Egypt and Rome, about the port city of Berenice—population, mineral wealth, coral reefs, the booming shipping industry—but it all felt less than the scene in front of me. I didn’t want facts about this place. It was enough to experience it.
“Would you like to make use of a boat?”