They hoisted the sails in hurried silence. In the distance they could hear the tumult of the skirmish at the temple. Seleucus hoped the centurions were getting the worst of it. He glanced at Imi, who stood at the stern staring at Ephesus as the city receded behind them. She had not spoken since they’d gotten back on board, but he thought he knew some of what she was feeling. “Imi.” He pulled her into his arms. “Do you think if I’d gotten there quicker . . .” She turned to face him, her eyes huge and despairing. “If he’d known she had the relics in her possession . . . ? Perhaps . . . ?” “Arsinoe was a threat to Cleopatra. She would always have been a threat as long as she lived, so she ordered Marc Antony to kill her. He knew before he asked that she would never renounce her claim.” Seleucus sighed. “I am sorry, Imi. It is politics. Marc Antony needs Cleopatra’s support if he is to conquer the East.” “But the relics . . .” He shook his head. “They are important from a religious point of view, of course they are, but Cleopatra and Marc Antony are playing for very high stakes.
