EMPIRE OF ASH AND GOLD.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: The Queen's Order

Alexander

The Egyptian fleet surrounded us before dawn.

Six warships.

Then eight.

By the time the sun began to rise, our merchant vessel was trapped between them and the open sea.

Archers stood along the Egyptian decks, their bows already drawn.

The Roman beside me swore under his breath.

"Do not make any sudden movements."

I looked at him.

"You are giving orders to the wrong man."

"I am trying to keep you alive."

"I have managed that for three hundred years."

His expression hardened.

"Then don't ruin it now."

A voice carried across the water.

"Lower your sails!"

The merchant captain obeyed immediately.

A second command followed.

"Drop your weapons!"

The sailors froze.

The Roman reached for his sword.

I caught his wrist.

"Don't."

He looked at me.

"They'll kill us."

"Not yet."

"How do you know?"

I watched the Egyptian soldiers.

Their bows were aimed at us, but none had released an arrow.

"If they wanted us dead, we'd already be dead."

The Roman's jaw tightened.

He hated that I was right.

A smaller vessel approached from the center of the fleet.

An Egyptian officer stood at its bow.

He looked directly at me.

Not at the Roman.

Me.

"Alexander of Macedon!"

The sound of my name carried across the water.

Every man on our ship turned toward me.

I stepped forward.

"I am Alexander."

The officer's face changed.

Not fear.

Recognition.

"By order of Queen Cleopatra, you are to surrender yourself and come with us."

The Roman looked at me sharply.

I barely heard him.

Cleopatra.

Her name had become impossible to ignore.

I looked at the officer.

"Why does your queen want me?"

"That is for the queen to tell you."

"Then tell her I will speak to her myself."

The officer almost smiled.

"That is exactly where you are going."

The Roman stepped between us.

"Alexander, wait."

I turned.

His voice dropped.

"Rome offered you an army."

"I remember."

"They'll consider this a betrayal."

"I haven't accepted their offer."

"You traveled with a Roman."

"I traveled toward my city."

His eyes narrowed.

"You don't understand what you're walking into."

I looked toward Alexandria.

The city was still distant, but I could already see the faint outline of its towers against the morning sky.

"I understand enough."

The Roman caught my arm.

"You need Rome."

I pulled free.

"No."

His expression hardened.

"You will."

I studied him for a moment.

Then I understood.

He wasn't warning me.

He was threatening me.

I smiled.

"Go back to Rome."

He stared at me.

"Tell them I chose Egypt."

His face went pale.

The Egyptian officer gave a signal.

A gangplank was lowered.

I stepped toward it.

Behind me, the Roman called my name.

I didn't turn around.

For the first time since waking in a world that had forgotten me, I wasn't walking toward a battlefield.

I was walking toward a woman.

And I had no idea whether she intended to welcome me...

or put a blade through my heart.

---

Cleopatra

"Bring him to the palace."

The room went silent.

I stood before the map of Egypt, staring at the red marker indicating the location of the intercepted ship.

Alexander.

Alive.

Not a rumor anymore.

Not a Roman fabrication.

Alive.

And now he was entering my kingdom under my orders.

Charmion watched me carefully.

"You want him brought here?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

I looked at her.

Because I had heard his voice while fully awake.

Because when he had spoken my name, my heart had answered before my mind could stop it.

Because I had spent the morning trying to convince myself that none of it mattered.

And because I had failed.

"Because I want answers."

Charmion folded her arms.

"That isn't the only reason."

I turned back toward the map.

"Be careful."

"Of what?"

"Of assuming you know what I am thinking."

She smiled faintly.

"I have served you too long for that."

I ignored her.

A knock sounded.

A guard entered.

"Your Majesty."

"Speak."

"The Egyptian fleet has taken possession of the vessel."

My pulse quickened.

"And Alexander?"

"He surrendered."

Something inside me loosened.

I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath.

"When will he arrive?"

"Before sunset."

Before sunset.

I looked toward the window.

The day suddenly seemed too short.

"Prepare the western audience chamber."

Charmion's eyebrows rose.

"You're receiving him there?"

"Yes."

"With the council?"

"No."

"Your guards?"

"Twenty."

She gave me a look.

"Twenty?"

"Thirty."

She laughed softly.

"You are afraid."

I turned to her.

"I am cautious."

"Of Alexander?"

I said nothing.

She stepped closer.

"Cleopatra."

I looked at her.

"If this man truly is Alexander of Macedon, you are not receiving an ordinary stranger."

"I know."

"Then why do you look as though you're waiting for someone you've already met?"

The question struck too close.

I walked away.

"I don't know."

And that was the truth.

---

By midday, the palace had begun to change.

Guards appeared along the corridors.

Messengers moved between rooms.

The council demanded explanations.

Rome sent another message.

I refused to read it.

I had no interest in hearing what Rome wanted from me when the man they feared was already sailing toward my palace.

Then the first report arrived.

"The ship has entered the harbor."

I rose immediately.

"How long?"

"The soldiers are bringing him through the eastern gate."

I dismissed everyone.

Except Charmion.

We walked toward the upper balcony.

From there, Alexandria spread beneath us.

The harbor glittered beneath the afternoon sun.

Ships crowded the water.

Merchants shouted.

Sailors unloaded cargo.

The city moved as it always did.

Unaware that history had just returned to its doorstep.

Then I saw him.

At first, he was only a figure among the soldiers.

Tall.

Broad-shouldered.

Moving with the confidence of a man who had never learned to bow to anyone.

Then he stepped into the open courtyard.

I stopped breathing.

I had never seen him before.

Not truly.

Not outside the strange world that existed when my eyes were closed.

But I knew him.

My body knew him.

His face was older than the one from the dreams.

Harder.

Marked by centuries I couldn't comprehend.

Yet his eyes...

His eyes were exactly the same.

As though I had been looking into them for far longer than one lifetime.

He stopped walking.

Slowly, his head lifted.

Our eyes met across the courtyard.

He couldn't possibly see me from that distance.

But he did.

His entire body went still.

So did mine.

The world seemed to fall silent.

Alexander.

The man who had been dead for three hundred years.

The man Rome wanted.

The man my dreams had brought to me before I ever knew his name.

He was standing inside my palace.

And he was looking directly at me.

Charmion whispered beside me.

"Majesty..."

I couldn't answer.

Because Alexander had begun walking toward the palace doors.

Toward me.

And for the first time since he returned from the dead, the legendary conqueror looked afraid.

Not of my guards.

Not of my kingdom.

Of me.