Kleopatra Read Online Free Page A

kicked the seamstress hard on
     the shin, stepped on the bare toe of one of the slaves, spat at Thea, and darted from the room.
    “Go!” yelled Thea, and the two slaves ran after her. Thea, Berenike, and the seamstress followed, Thea ordering the hall attendants
     to pick up the princess’s trail, and Berenike, cursing, hampered by the heavy gown tightly basted to her frame.
    The child ran through the corridor like a tiny fox chased by a pack of hounds, flying down the stairs, where those on her
     trail stumbled over themselves. Running straight to the sealed chambers of the queen Tryphaena, Kleopatra pounded her small
     fist on the door until her hand throbbed. A tall slave scooped her up in his arms, holding her gently until she gave up her
     ineffective blows and caught hold of the man’s chest hairs, clutching as if to a favored blanket.
    By Thea’s orders, Kleopatra was sedated with a potent infusion of valerian root that stank like rancid vegetables. Groggy,
     she was laced into her gown while Berenike watched, wearing the face of victory. Kleopatra noted this but did nothing; before
     she was completely dressed, she was asleep. Hours later she was carried into the ceremony, where she could not participate
     as planned, but slept in the soft arms of a big slave woman who sat on the floor in the back of the hall. When she awakened
     the next day, her half sister was queen.

TWO
    K leopatra, why do you enter the Royal Reception with disheveled hair?” asked Thea. “Thank the gods our guest is not already
     here. What would he think of a royal daughter rushing about with wild and snarly hair like an untamed thing?”
    “He would think, Madam, that the daughter had more remarkable pursuits than attending her hair.” Kleopatra could barely contain
     her joy at the way the condescending response sprang into her mind and out of her mouth before she could stop herself.
    “At least straighten your crown,” Thea hissed.
    The nine-year-old Kleopatra despised Thea; she wanted to knock the golden diadem—the crown of their mother—off her head. She
     wanted to scratch her pretty face, the face Auletes loved to stroke with his fleshy fingers. She could not stand to be near
     Thea; the sickly smell of her, thick with the scent of lotus oil, made Kleopatra gag, and she wanted to tell Thea so. But
     Kleopatra was attended by Charmion, her newly assigned Greek governess, who stood primly at her side. The young woman had
     been presented to Kleopatra as a lady-in-waiting, in the hope that the more dignified position would discourage the princess’s
     notorious acts of rebellion. Though Charmion was in the bloom of her maidenhood, the stern lines of her face were set like
     ridges in smooth stone; her posture, impossibly erect. She rarely corrected Kleopatra, but could squelch her outbursts with
     an admonishing look. Kleopatra did not fear her nineteen-year-old companion, but admired her and knew that she should strive
     to achieve a modicum of Charmion’s restraint. In ambitious and pious moments, Kleopatra tried to emulate Charmion, but with
     very limited success.
    The Royal Family sat enthroned in the State Reception Room, the centerpiece of the palace Auletes had built and dedicated
     to the god Dionysus. A double-headed cobra, the symbol of pharaonic power, crowned each dais, peeking out over each royal
     head. Splayed before the royal feet were mosaic scenes from the earthly life of the god. Hovering overhead, a snarling bronze
     eagle, the emblem of the dynasty’s founder, Ptolemy I Savior, flexed his impressive wingspan, almost embracing the royals
     from above. Visitors to the court could not help but notice that both the king and his younger daughter Kleopatra had noses
     that resembled the eagle’s beak.
    The king had explained the significance of the eagle to Kleopatra in one of their history lessons. Kleopatra had official
     lessons with her tutor, but she preferred learning the story of her family’s rule