I can hear the pounding of feet, soldier's feet, through the city. I turn to my maid. She widens her eyes, not wanting to go with the plan, but I insisted. "The asp, "I pleaded, "The asp."

       I know it requires sacrifice, but I will reward them in the Underworld, where I will be made a queen for being the living reincarnation of the great goddess Isis. They have nothing to fear unless they want to die by the hands of the Roman scum! I will not ask for mercy, grovelling at Octavian's feet. If I die, it will be by my own hand.

       Two maids return with a small cage. Inside is a viper, greenish-blue with grey tones. Stripped with black. And very poisonous.

       The first maid holds the viper and it bites her arm. She drops the snake and cries as she holds her wounds. The second servant is braver. She picks up the asp and doesn't even flinch as it pierces her neck. She will be most rewarded, once I claim my place as Isis.

      Now it is my turn. There is a guard returning to his post. I give him a note. "Give this to Octavian, "I say. He seems to understand what has happened, what is happening, and what is to come. 

       I return to my quarters. I see the viper slithering by a couch. I pick it up, and go to my favourite spot in my room, right next to a window overlooking the Nile. I don't know where the snake has bitten me. I have a sharp pain in my chest, so I assume around there. I think about the suicide note, and Mark Anthony, my lover, as I sink into another couch and close my eyes. I drift off into a deep sleep, knowing that I would never wake up.