The House of the Rising Sun

Chapter Forty: Death of a Man (Murder of a Kingdom)

Chapter Forty: Death of a Man (Murder of a Kingdom)

Alexander

I wound my way through the palace, trying to remember which way was which. I had to save Antony, Cleopatra, and Caesarion. After what had happened in the temple, nothing was more important than my family.

Gods, our daughter. I swear to Venus that I have never seen a creature more beautiful. We still hadn't named her, but I had a name in mind. A name that meant something special. 

I hid behind columns and in rooms as I wound through the palace. If I ran into a Roman soldier, nothing good would come out of that. My heart mourned for the fact I couldn't be free with my countrymen anymore, and I probably couldn't return to Rome either. My heart cried for my parents, who would never get to see their granddaughter. I might never get to see them again. This was what violence and rivalry and hatred had brought. This path wasn't correct. 

I looked over from behind a column, and the coast was clear. Not a palace guard in sight. I stepped out, rushing to the next column. I looked around again, and I walked briskly to the hallway where I knew Cleopatra’s and her children’s chambers were.

“Who are you?!” demanded a voice from inside Caesarion’s room. I froze and my heart started pounding in my chest. Caesarion was talking to someone else.

I have to do something, I thought. I crept along the wall, inching closer to Caesarion’s room.

“Stop! I command you to stop! I am god-on-earth! What’re you”—

“Silence him!” shouted a man in Latin.

“NO—stop! St—” Caesarion cried out.

I ran to his room, my blood roaring in my ears. I got to the entrance, but two Roman guards were blocking it. They held spears and they crossed them, making sure I couldn’t go in.

“Stop!” I commanded in Latin. “Let the boy go!” I could see past the guards that two more held Caesarion by the arms up against a wall and a third was coming in slowly.

“We have orders from Augustus to kill him,” growled the man on the right.

“I command you to stop!” I shouted. “I am Alexander Helios, student of Mark Antony, and witness to Julius Caesar himself! I am a learned son of Rome! Let me through!” I pushed against the guards, but they pushed me back with so much force I almost backed into the opposite wall.

“Mark Antony is nothing but a traitor,” one of them spat. “He deserves to be killed. Maybe you do too.”

I ignored the barb and looked back in the room. Caesarion was limp on the ground. Lifeless. Dead.

“No!” I shouted. “May the gods damn your souls! Who is this gods-forsaken Augustus who ordered you to kill an innocent boy?!”

“You might know him as Octavian,” the man sneered. My jaw dropped, and my vision clouded, but I couldn’t stop now. The man looked to the guard next to him, then to the men behind them.

“Do we kill him too?” the guard asked, looking at me with a murderous glint in his eyes. I glanced back at Caesarion’s body on the ground…and I made a run for it. I wasn’t going to let them decide.

“Get him!” I heard behind me.

I ran as fast as I could, my feet pounding on the marble. The soldiers were weighed down by their armor, which made my escape easier as I wound through columns and leaped into small hallways. I looked through rooms, hoping for any sign of Antony and Cleopatra. They needed to know that her son Caesarion was dead. I wanted to cry for him. Being a father now, my heart felt heavy for this kind of a loss. Nobody deserved this pain. But I couldn't stop and lament now.