she saw him standing in the sitting room. She could hear Samir's low, comforting voice.
"Of course I will help you, sire, but where do we begin?"
There was a sharp rap on the hall door.
Ramses stepped back into the bedroom. Samir went to answer. It was Elliott. Their eyes met for only a moment, and then she looked away, unable to judge him and unable to face him. She thought only, He has had a hand in this. He knows it all; he knows more than I know. And suddenly her revulsion for the whole nightmare was insupportable.
She went into the sitting room, and took the chair in the far corner.
"I shall come right to the point," Elliott said, looking directly at Ramses." I have a plan and I need your cooperation. But before I begin, let me remind you that it isn't safe here for you."
"They find me, I escape again," Ramses said with a shrug." What is this plan?"
"A plan to get Julie and my son out of here," Elliott said." But what happened after I left? You want to tell me?"
"She is as you described her. Mad, incalculably strong, and dangerous. Only she is whole now. No longer disfigured. And her eyes are die colour of the blue sky, just as mine are."
"Ah."
PART 2 Chapter 28
Elliott fell silent, as if he'd felt a sharp pain inside and had to hold his breath to let it pass. Julie realized suddenly he was drunk, really drunk. It was perhaps the first time she'd seen him this way. He was dignified, restrained, but drunk. He reached out for Samir's glass, still half-full of brandy, and drank it almost absently.
Quietly Samir went to the small rattan drinks cupboard in the corner and got a bottle for him.
"You saved my life," Elliott said to Ramses." I thank you format."
Ramses shrugged. But the tone of all this struck Julie as curious. It was intimate, as though these two men knew each other quite well. There was no animosity.
"What is this plan?" Ramses said.
"You must cooperate. You must tell lies. You must do that effectively. And the end result will be that you are cleared of the crimes of which you're suspected, and Julie and Alex will be free to leave here, Samir also will no longer be under suspicion. Then other matters can be attended to. ..."
"I'm not going anywhere, Elliott," Julie said wearily." But Alex must be allowed to go home as soon as possible."
Samir poured another drink of brandy for Elliott, and Elliott took it mechanically and drank it." Any gin, Samir? I prefer gin for getting drunk," he said.
"Come to the point, my lord," said Ramses." I must be taking my leave. The last Queen of Egypt roams this city alone, with a penchant for killing; I must find her."
"This will take a strong stomach," Elliott said," but there's a way that all of this can be pinned on Henry. He laid the ground himself. But Ramsey, you have to lie as I told you. ..."
The quiet of the night. Alex Savarell lay naked and asleep on the snow-white sheets of the soft feather bed, the thin wool blanket covering him only to the waist, his face smooth and waxen in the moonlight.
In the sweet stillness, she had undone her many parcels quiedy, examining the fine robes, gowns, slippers. She had laid out the little rectangular stolen opera papers which said" Admit One" on the dressing table.
The moon shone on the rich silks. It sparkled in the rope of pearls, coiled like a snake on the table. And beyond the sheer finespun curtains on the window, it shone upon the Nile flowing into the soft tangle of rounded roofs and towers that was Cairo.
Cleopatra stood at the window, her back to die soft bed and the godlike young man who lay there. Divinely he had pleasured her; divinely she had pleasured him. His innocence and simple male power were treasures to her; her mystery and skill had overwhelmed him. Never had he placed himself in the hands of a woman thus, he had said. Never had he given vent to all his whims with such abandon.
And now he slept the sleep that children sleep, safe in the bed, as she stood at the window...
... As dreams came to her, pretending to be memories. It occurred to her that she had not known the night since she'd been awakened. She had not