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lap.
    "Do you know why I spared you, Arsinoë?" King Lysimachus asks.
    "The letter," I say.
    "That was only a convenient excuse."
    Such hatred is burning in my belly that I dare to ask, "Then why did you spare me? Because my father is the Pharaoh of Egypt?"
    "That is the main reason," the king admits. He does not want to cause a war with my father, so he will not kill me. It's an advantage I will not forget again. "But there's one more reason."
    "What is it?"
    "I spared you because you worry Prince Agathocles," the king says merrily. "So long as you're my wife, he'll plot against you. And better you than me."
    It's clear to me now. My husband is
happy
that I lashed out at those who might harm him. He
wants
me to become like his horrible dog.
    I plead with him. "But Cassander isn't a threat to anyone. Please, have mercy—"
    "Cassander 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