The Princess Of Egypt Must Die

embarrassed me," he says bluntly. "He's also confessed. And he must die."

  I stifle my sounds of anguish. Inside my head, I am screaming, No, no, no!

  The king tilts his head. "Cassander did not ask for his life. He only asked to see you before he dies. That was the price of his confession, and we made our bargain. So go to him tonight, because he dies at dawn."

  Cassander is a prisoner in a small room with bars that keep us from rushing together. I don't wait to see if the guards watch me. I don't care if this might be a trap to test my loyalty. I don't care about anything but seeing him again.

  Rising from a pallet in the corner, Cassander comes to the bars, his eyes murky with emotion.

  A guard puts a burning oil lamp on the floor near my feet then withdraws to the hallway.

  And we are alone.

  "Why, Cassander?" I ask, my voice high and shrill. "Why did you confess?"

  "To save you," he says simply. "I told the king that I loved you but that you had nothing for me but scorn."

  "A lie," I whisper, tears flowing freely down my cheeks. "That's a lie. I love you. I love you."

  He lays a finger over his lips to hush me. "I knew they would find your letter, Arsinoë."

  "Why didn't you burn it?" I cry, wringing my hands.

  Cassander's lips tilt into a smile. "It smelled like you. I didn't know if I would ever see you again, so I kept your letter. I traced the words, imagining you writing it. I couldn't burn it; it was the only thing you ever gave me."

  Oh, how that pains me. I would have given him so much more...

  "I'm not afraid," he says, reaching through the bars to twine his fingers with mine. "I said that we have no choice about how we're born, but we have some say over everything else. I have a say over how I'll die."

  "Then I want to die with you!" I cry.

  He shakes his head. "No, Arsinoë. You have to live. You have to live for both of us."

  I won't believe anything he says now. I'm sobbing. I'm going mad.

  "Remember your dream that you'd be Pharaoh of Egypt? Live for that..."

  He must know that I can't ever return to Egypt. "It was a silly dream of a silly girl."

  He brushes the tears from my cheeks. "When I die, I'll blow my last breath to you. Take it in, and I'll be with you all the days of your life. We'll be one person, one soul. Everywhere you go, I'll go. Everything you see, I'll see. Every time you laugh, I'll laugh. Every time you ride Styx, I'll feel the wind on my face. You must survive, above all."

  "No," I say, shaking my head. "He can't kill you. He can't kill his own son. This isn't happening."

  "He can," Cassander says calmly. "And he will."

  He's so brave, but I feel his fingers trembling. I clutch at him. He pulls me as close as he can, though the metal keeps us apart. His breath warms my face and I look into his beautiful eyes. These eyes, filled with fear. Filled with love. Love for me. And I'm breaking.

  We kiss. It is soft. It is sweet. I breathe him in.

  And when we break apart, he says, "Thank you for that. Now, nothing can hurt me. You're already breathing for me, Arsinoë. I'm already half gone."

  When the rooster crows, we go out into the warm spring morning, where a platform is being erected for the execution. It takes longer than it should for my husband's harem, all his children and all of the most important nobles to assemble. Then we wait beneath blooming almond trees that weep pink and white flower petals down upon us.

  King Lysimachus is solemn. This is his fault, I think. Men like him. Men like my father. Men who marry so many wives and make so many children that we must compete for attention, for power and for survival. But it isn't only his fault. Prince Agathocles played his part. So did his sister. Now these monsters sit here to watch the murder of their own brother.

  The soldiers lead Cassander onto the wooden platform. His hands are tied behind his back and I feel the cords cutting into my own wrists. When the executioner places a knotted rope around his neck, my throat aches. Cassander doesn't move. He stares straight at me—and my heart batters against my ribcage. I want to run to him, even if it means my own death. The pain cannot be worse than losing him; let them plunge knives into both of us.

  But Cassander's eyes beseech me to live for him; it is a horrible choice.

  The king nods to the executioner and Cassander blows out his last breath.

  The springtime breeze carries it my way and I gasp, filling my lungs. I hold it inside me as the executioner twists the rope, cutting off Cassander's air.

  My beloved begins to strangle. As I watch, I squeeze my hands into fists, wanting nothing more than to pummel the executioner and make him stop. I want to save Cassander. I'm desperate for him to live. Then, as Cassander's lips begin to turn blue and his eyes bulge in agony, I want nothing more than for him to die.

  Die. Die swiftly. Be free of these pains! Be free of this world and its betrayals.

  Then I know that I'm wrong. If Cassander lives inside me now, he'll never die. For as I watch them murder him, I make this solemn vow.

  I will have revenge.

  I will have revenge on King Lysimachus. I will have revenge upon Prince Agathocles and his sister. I will destroy each and every one of them. I will see them suffer. From this day forward, no one—not even Lysandra, wherever she is now—will ever hurt me, or anyone I love, without paying a price. And I will make that price steep. My enemies will pay in blood.

  Rivers of blood.

  For I have Cassander's breath inside me. To hurt me now is to hurt him too, and I'll defend him with the ferocity of a hippopotamus.

  Until now, I've been only that soft-hearted Princess of Egypt who did not want to listen to her mother's warnings. I’ve been that fool of a girl who did not want to see rivals or learn to play political games. That girl, that princess, dies with Cassander. She must die.

  For today I'm born anew.

  Today I'm born a true queen...and an avenger. My rivals will learn to fear me. They will tremble at the sound of my name. And when I've destroyed them, I'll take those dreams I had on the banks of the Nile and make them true. Somehow, I'll make them true.

  For Cassander, I will return to Egypt.

  I will become Pharaoh.

  And we will both live forever.

  AUTHOR'S NOTE

  Based on the life of Queen Arsinoë II who was born into the Greek-Macedonian Ptolemaic Dynasty that ruled Egypt, this story imagines an explanation for the ruthless woman who would become one of history's greatest survivors.

  Except for Cassander, I based all the characters upon known historical figures. King Lysimachus would go on to lose the support of his people—in part—for murdering a son. That's what gave me the germ of my story idea.

  It took Arsinoë years, but she eventually destroyed the royal family of Thrace. Later, she returned to Egypt, became queen and was anointed Pharaoh in her own right. She planned victorious wars. She won an Olympic medal for horse harnessing. And she was deified as an incarnation of the goddess Isis, whom the Greeks believed was the eternal goddess of spring.

  She was also an ancestral heroine of Cleopatra Selene, another Egyptian princess who is the stars in my award-winning historical fantasy series based on the truth life story of Cleopatra’s daughter. LILY OF THE NILE, the full length-novel that started the series is available in all bookstores and e-book retailers but you can start reading it now by turning the page.

  LILY OF THE NILE