Brutus dropped his head an inch, wondering at the choice of words. “Will you take her back with you?” he asked.

“I think I will,” Julius replied, smiling slowly at the thought. “She brings new life to my bones. With her at my side, I could make an empire to rival Alexander’s own. It would be fitting to make his city the second heart of it.”

Brutus felt himself growing cold. “So you will be a king? Like Ptolemy?”

Julius turned to him, his dark eyes seeming to bore into his oldest friend.

“What else would you have me call myself? I am the first in Rome. Rome is first in the world.”

“What of my mother, Servilia? Will you cast her off as you did Pompeia? Or your wife, Calpurnia? Will you divorce her as well?”

Julius hesitated, blind to Brutus’s growing anger. “It is too early to plan such things. When I am home, I will do what is necessary. Calpurnia will not resist, I know.”

“The Senate will resist your ambition,” Brutus said softly.

Julius laughed. “They would not dare to, my friend. They will honor me and they will honor the queen I bring home. Rome was built on kings. It will be reborn from my line.”

“From your daughter?” Brutus asked.

Julius’s eyes were bright as he looked across the city. He gripped the stone windowsill like its owner. “I cannot hold the news, Brutus. It is too much for me. From my son, who will be born. The queen is pregnant, and her omen-takers say it will be a boy. A son to rule two empires.” He laughed aloud in wonder. It had to be a boy, he thought. The gods would not be so cruel.

Brutus took a step away from him, his calm shattering. What friendship could survive such a relentless ambition? Brutus saw that Julius had not sated his appetite in Egypt. He would return to Rome with greater dreams than any one of those they had destroyed. Not Sulla, not Cato, not even Pompey had reached so far.

“The Republic . . .” Brutus began, shocked into stammering.

Julius shook his head. “. . . was a glorious experiment. I honor it, but it has served its purpose. When I return to Rome, we will begin an empire.”

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

The Nile bore them south through lands made lush by its waters. Birds soared and shrieked in their thousands, rising into the air with the passing of the royal barge. White egrets stalked amongst cattle as they made their way down to the shallows in the evenings. In such a setting, Julius allowed the cares of years to fall from him. He had not suffered a fit for many months and he felt strong. Rome was far away and he lost himself in Cleopatra.