Augustus jolted. How did the man know?

Agrippa stared at Augustus for a moment and then collapsed back into the chair, where he rubbed his temples.

“I might have guessed this wasn’t finished,” Agrippa muttered. He raised his head to look at Augustus. “Her people may wish her alive, but we all saw her dead and buried. Her body did not walk from that mausoleum. Her people took her corpse, and I am sure it was for some rite common to Egypt. The dead are enemy to no one.”

Augustus ignored him.

“She walks,” Usem continued, and smiled, showing his keen, pointed white teeth. “And she is more than she was. You will not conquer her with soldiers.”

Augustus wavered for a moment, and then hurriedly thrust out his hand to the Psylli.

“Yes,” he said. “I swear it. I will close the Gates of Janus, if you deliver me the queen.”

Usem took Augustus’s hand.

“It will be done. Now I require accommodations and a meal. My snakes hunger, and so do I.”

“Take him to his room,” Augustus ordered. “And let him give his directions to the kitchen on the way.” A legionary led the Psylli from the chamber. Out of the corner of his eye, Augustus could see Agrippa seething.

“You make promises to such a man?” Agrippa asked when he was gone. “You swear to give him something you will not deliver? You ask him to hunt something that does not exist? Cleopatra is dead. What has gotten into your mind? This man will pretend he has conjured and beaten her, and then he will demand that you keep your promise. It is all a sham.”

“Are you a fool? I have no intention of closing the gates,” Augustus snapped.

Agrippa looked at him, his gaze steely. “We do not want the Psylli as enemies,” he warned. “They have warred against the strong many times before, and won.”

“They will not win against Rome. I have not yet met the last of our warriors,” said Augustus.

“This discussion is not finished,” Agrippa warned.

“Nicolaus the Damascene, then,” Augustus said. “What of him? Where is he? You say I have no enemies, but you have not brought me the man I asked for.”

“He is nowhere to be found. My men have sorted through every grain of sand in Egypt. He’s likely cowering in a cave somewhere. The man you seek is a tutor, Octav —Augustus. He is no assassin.”

“The night is filled with enemies. You know that as well as I,” Augustus said. “Where is the last witch?”

Agrippa surrendered for the moment.

“You will not enjoy her company,” he said. “She offered herself into our service. This one comes from Thessaly, and my men say that the village near where they found her was filled with tales of her deeds. The men thought she was a whore, but she is not. She is certainly not. I met her tonight, and I do not think Rome should trust her.” The general’s face rippled with distaste.