Pure. He had called it the pure elixir. And so the version he had of it was impure, incomplete. Corrupted.
She had stayed quiet for too long.
"And so you have no idea who's to blame for the poisoning today?" she asked.
"This is not so."
"Who is it?" she asked. "Who has done this thing?"
"We are exchanging information, are we not?"
"We are. I have told you of my connection to Ramses. I confirmed for you the man who calls himself Mr. Reginald Ramsey is in fact Ramses the Great. I now request information in return."
She felt a surge of triumph. She had tricked him. She could see it. He believed she knew the formula for the pure elixir, as he called it. His eyes were too focused as his jaw worked.
"The librarians in Alexandria," she said, "my Alexandria, they called Shaktanu a myth. A fanciful tale. A tale of a golden age, free of warfare. A comforting fantasy for those with no taste for war. Who could not accept its inevitability."
"Nothing is inevitable. Not even death. We are proof of that."
"I'm sure your children who died today believed the same."
"Don't seek to goad me, Cleopatra. I'm immune to these tricks."
"But you are not immune to this poison, whatever it may be. And neither are you immune to those who wish to dispense it."
"I am immune to her tricks and her lies and her deceit, as I always have been," he sneered, and then realized, too late, what he had just revealed.
"Of whom do you speak now, Saqnos?"
"You have had your volley. It's my turn now. Ramses the Great. Lover or enemy?"
"They are so often the same. Why force me to choose?"
"You have already chosen. The choice lies within whatever reason you had for attending the party today."
"Why would it help you to know?"
"I will know this when I know."
An alliance. Was he truly suggesting an alliance after the way he had treated her?
"Two thousand years ago he was my lover," she said. "Today he is my rival."
"I see," he said, "and so you attended his party to do him harm. Or to use his fiancee against him, just as we had planned to do."
"It is my turn to request information now."
He toasted her with his goblet to indicate his consent.
"The poisoner. Who is she?"
He chewed a bite of food.
"Lover? Rival?"
Again, he did not answer.
"I see," she finally said.