He watched as Cleopatra began a new ritual, lighting clay pots of incense from a taper. Death was too close to life, in Alexandria. The people seemed to prepare for it all their lives and lived with the certainty of another existence. It made them fatalistic, but with a confidence that was as alien in its way as anything he had seen. Julius could not share it.

Cleopatra rose and bowed her head to the shrunken figure of Ptolemy. She took two steps backwards and knelt once more before rising.

"You are a patient man, Julius. I understand your people move faster than we over such things."

"There is a dignity to death here," he replied, searching for the right words.

She raised an eyebrow, suddenly amused. "And a tactful man," she said. "Will you walk through the gardens with me? The smoke is like a drug after so long and I want to breathe."

Relieved, Julius took her arm and they made their way out into the sun. She did not seem to notice as slaves prostrated themselves as she passed, not daring to look on the queen who mourned her brother.

The warm air outside helped to clear Julius's thoughts and he took deep breaths of it, feeling his spirits rise. Seeing the body of the boy king had been disquieting. He felt as if a weight had lifted as he breathed the scent of living gardens. Even that pleasure was tainted as he remembered running through the same paths and arbors to capture Ptolemy in his bed. It had seemed an adventure then, without consequence. The results of it lay in the king's tomb, and in ashes on the docks.

"Your men have told me a great deal about you," Cleopatra said.

Julius shot a sharp glance at her.

"You have been blessed to survive the battles they described," she continued.

Julius did not reply, instead pausing on a path of glassy stone to touch a red bloom leaning out from green leaves.

"They say you are a god of war, did you know that?" she said.

"I've heard it said," Julius replied uncomfortably. "They boast on my behalf."

"Then you did not defeat a million men in Gaul?"

Julius looked at her as she reached out to the same flower and caressed its petals. "I did, though it took ten years of my life," he replied.

She used her nails to nip through the stalk, grazing the flower over her lips as she breathed its scent. Again, he wondered how Rome would react if he brought her there. The citizens would probably adore Cleopatra, but the Senate would reject her claims to divinity. Rome had enough gods. They would not dare to object to a foreign mistress, but taking her as a wife would raise hackles right across the great houses. In addition, he was not sure if she would even want to come back with him.

"You pardoned your general, Brutus, when he had betrayed you," she said, walking on. "That is a strange act for a ruler of men. Yet they still respect you. More, they revere you, did you know it? They would follow you anywhere and not because of your birth, but because of who you are."

Julius tapped the fingers of one hand on the wrist of the other behind his back, unsure how to respond. "Whoever you have been speaking to has let his mouth run away with him," he said after a pause.

She laughed, tossing the flower onto the path behind them. "You are a strange man, Julius. I have seen you with them, remember? You can be as arrogant as a king, as arrogant as I am myself. We are well suited to one another, though I think you would not like the slow pace of existence here. My country has seen five thousand years of life and death. We have grown old and tired under this sun and your men are young in comparison. They have the energy of youth and think nothing of running through lands like a summer storm. It is a frightening thing to see, in comparison to my sleepy Alexandria, yet I love it."

She turned to face him, her nearness intoxicating. Without thinking, he reached out and held her by her slim waist.

"My advisers warn me daily that you are too dangerous to remain in Egypt," she said. "They see the lust and the strength and nothing else in your men. They remind me that you burned my beautiful library and your soldiers laughed and played dice in the ashes."

"They are fighting men," Julius replied. "You cannot expect-"

Her laughter silenced him and a slow blush appeared on his cheeks and neck.

"You are so quick to defend them!" she said. She reached up and kissed the underside of his jaw and laid her head against his chest.

"My advisers do not rule here," she said, "and they have no answer when I tell them you returned Cyprus to us. That was not the act of a destroyer. It gained you great good will amongst my people. They saw it as a sign that the old glories are on the rise again. They watch us and wait to see what we will accomplish together."

Julius did not want to spoil the mood, but he had to speak. "There will come a time when I have to return to my city," he said. "I will wait until the funeral is finished for your brother, but I must go back."

She lifted her head and looked into his eyes with a troubled gaze. He could feel her distance herself from him. "This is what you want?" she said, her voice revealing nothing of her thoughts.

Julius shook his head. "No. I want to stay here and forget the years of battle. I want you at my side."

The tension vanished from her as if it had not been there. She reached up and brought his head down to her scented mouth.

When they broke apart, her face was as flushed as his and her eyes were bright.

"It is not so much longer until I am free," she said. "If you will stay with me then, I will show you the great Nile. I will have grapes and fruit lowered into your mouth by the most beautiful girls in Egypt. Musicians will play for us each evening as we slip through the waters. I will be yours for every night, for every hour. Will you stay for that?"

"I do not need the most beautiful girls in Egypt," he replied. "And your music makes my ears ache. But if you are there and mine alone, I will leave Rome to fend for herself for a while. She has survived without me this long, after all."

Even as he said it, he knew it was true, but still it astonished him. He had always dreamed of returning in triumph to the city of his birth, to all the honors and rewards he had won over the years. Yet with a word from her, none of it mattered. Perhaps, just for a little while, he could be free of the care and worry that seemed the core of his life. Perhaps he could throw it all off and feel the sun on his face with a beautiful, enrapturing girl who was queen of Egypt.

"I am too old for you," he said softly, wanting her to deny it.

Cleopatra laughed and kissed him again. "You have shown me you are not!" she said, dropping her hand to his thigh and letting it rest there. He could feel the heat of her hand on his bare skin, and as always, it aroused him unmercifully.

"If we had a child," she said, "he would inherit Egypt and Rome together. He would be another Alexander."

Julius looked off into the distance, his mind bright with dreams. "I would give anything to see that. I have no other sons," he said, smiling.

Her hand moved slightly on his thigh, making him catch his breath. "Then pray to your gods that the one I carry is a boy," she said seriously. He reached for her, but she slipped from his grasp. "When the mourning is finished, I will show you the mysteries of Egypt, in me," she called over her shoulder.

Julius watched her go in frustration, overwhelmed by her words. He could hardly take in what he had learned and he would have called after her, but she vanished back into the palace with light steps.

The noise of celebration in Alexandria was enough to leave the ears of the Romans ringing and numb. Cymbals and horns crashed and moaned on every street and the voices of the people were raised in a great shout of joy to send Ptolemy into the arms of the gods. Julius shuddered at the memory of the final rites he had witnessed.