“He is a boy and he has known no other life. Panek frightened him,” she said. “He does not frighten me, but even I missed the lust for power in him.” She paused and clenched her fists in the sheets. “A year ago, he brought orders from the king to have me banished. I knew they could not have come from my brother, but I was not allowed to plead my case. Those loyal to me marched into exile and the women tore their hair and rubbed ashes on their breasts. Believe me, Panek is too clever for a sheltered boy to resist.”

On the thirtieth day, Julius had contracts drawn up and Ptolemy was brought to fix his signature to them. Cleopatra came with him and Panek staggered to his feet as he saw her.

“My queen,” he stammered, falling to his knees and lowering his head to the floor.

The other courtiers followed suit and she smiled.

“Get up and finish what you have begun here, Panek. You have bound us in gold to Rome as I wished and with your king’s approval.”

Panek’s eyes flickered to where Ptolemy sat watching them. Slowly, Ptolemy nodded.

“We have reached an agreement, my brother and I,” Cleopatra purred. “Your influence is over, Panek. We will take our places on the thrones of the upper and lower kingdoms once more. We will rule, Panek, though you will not go unrewarded for your work.”

Panek watched as Ptolemy handed a quill to his sister and she scribbled the words “Let it be so,” as she signed all official documents. The papyrus sheets marked trade agreements that would hurt the growth of Alexandria, not to mention the heavy tithe of gold to be sent to Rome for ten years. Against them, Julius had made the astonishing offer of returning Cyprus to Egypt, as she had been owned centuries before. The Roman’s apparent generosity had troubled Panek deeply, not knowing that the suggestion had come from Cleopatra. Cyprus had been lost since Alexander’s death and its return would have almost been worth the weeks of torment and the insults to the king. Panek realized the queen had been the silent voice behind the negotiations, the reason that his bluffs were revealed and his strategies undone. He stood like a broken man and bowed stiffly to the first family of Egypt.

“I will await your return, Majesty,” he said to Ptolemy.

“You will have him tomorrow at dawn,” Julius said, interrupting the intense gaze between the two of them.

Panek gathered his copies and writing materials and left, his slaves and colleagues going with him. The room seemed empty without the tension he had brought and Cleopatra turned to her brother to embrace him.

“Now you will truly be king, Ptolemy, as our father would have wished. I will have Panek killed and my army will protect you from his spite.”