“What do you mean?”

“The silver box is gone,” Augustus stammered. His mind felt tangled and drunk, and suddenly he was dizzy. Was she working a spell on him?

“It is not gone. I have just seen it. The guards watch it all night and all day. My own men.”

“Then perhaps Cleopatra is escaped from it —”

“The queen is captured.” Agrippa’s face was suspicious, but for a moment, Augustus saw terror flash across it. “Or so I believed. Tell me I am not wrong.”

“Usem told me that there is a plague,” Augustus interrupted. “All over Italy. Everywhere but Rome.”

“There are always plagues,” Agrippa replied. “It’s summer.”

“The plague comes from Cleopatra’s vengeance. She’s missing,” Augustus insisted. “And Chrysate has done something monstrous —” But even as he said it, Chrysate appeared behind him, opening the curtains of his bed.

“She does not seem to be missing,” Agrippa said. “Did you forget who shared your bed?”

Augustus was terrified. She had not been there. Had she? Had he gone mad? She was wearing only a flimsy silk gown, and he could see everything through it. Her hair was still wet from the cauldron.

“I am here,” Chrysate said. “I have been with you all night, as you should certainly know. If Cleopatra is missing, you are the one who has charge of her. Your guards guard her.”

Augustus nearly screamed. He could not understand what was happening. He felt dizzy, and his slippers were still soaked in blood. He held one out to show Agrippa, and for a moment, the general looked startled.

“The kitchen slaughtered a chicken and made a soup for me,” Chrysate said. “He tread in the blood. Do you not remember, Augustus? You are not well. If I were you, I would summon a physician.”

She spun on her heel, leaving the room.

The general’s lip curled in disgust.

“If you’re looking for a creature who might cause a plague, I suggest you look into your own bed. You might look to your witch.”

“I am looking to her! You must go out and fight this plague!” Augustus insisted.

Agrippa slammed his fists on Augustus’s desk, tipping the theriac over.

“I AM A SOLDIER!” he shouted. “I wage war against men, not gods! Not Fates! Not witches! Not curses invented by drunkards! You sit here in your study, drinking your potion and wallowing in your fears. Your uncle would be ashamed of you. You do not rule. You rave!”

Augustus sputtered, stunned. Agrippa had never spoken so to him.

“How dare you?” he managed. “I will have you crucified!”

“I speak as your friend. There are threats out there. There are threats in here! Real threats. I will fight them for you, but you cannot ask me to fight the invisible. There are rumors in the streets that you’ve gone mad, and prophecies that Rome is cursed and doomed. I delivered them to you a week ago, and have you read them? You have not. What have you done? You stay here all day and all night with your witch and your drug. Your power grows weaker every day.”