Even though he had entered this bedchamber with Bektaten and Julie at his side, Sibyl seemed to see only him. And in her expression, he saw the same recognition he felt when he'd looked upon her across the crowded party.
Aktamu and Enamon stood silently in the far corner, closest to the window, and Bektaten next to the fireplace, as still as a statue, as if she thought a safe remove from all of them would allow her to absorb whatever strange story Sibyl Parker had brought to he
r castle.
"You saved me," Sibyl whispered. "You saved me from that terrible man."
"Are you well, Sibyl Parker?" Ramses asked. "Are you unharmed?"
"How do you know my name? Do you recognize me as well?"
Before he could answer, Julie stepped forward and said, "It was I who recognized you. I know your books quite well. My father, Lawrence Stratford, enjoyed them."
"And now I have thoroughly ruined your engagement party." Tears filled Sibyl's eyes. Tears and a piteous expression made worse by exhaustion, he was sure. "I hope you can forgive me."
"No, no." Julie rounded the foot of the bed, then sat down on the opposite side of it so she could take Sibyl's hand in hers. "Nothing of the kind."
"She speaks the truth," Ramses said. "You were but one of several extraordinary and unexpected guests."
"Well, that is a most polite way of putting it. I thank you. But that man. That crazy, drunken man--"
"You have nothing more to fear from him." The note of finality in his voice brought about a long silence. "Now, please, Miss Parker. You must tell us what brought you all this way. You are American, are you not? Your accent."
Ramses said nothing of the woman's mysterious demeanor, nothing of her expression so suggestive of the long-lost Cleopatra, the Cleopatra who was as dead as ever now. He said nothing of the bizarre effect upon him of this woman's manner and voice.
Sibyl seemed to realize for the first time that Julie held one of her hands in between her own, and this made her smile. "Oh, Lord. Where do I begin?" Sibyl whispered.
"Wherever you would like," Julie said, "for we are in no great hurry."
"This is most kind. You are most kind. It is like a dream that you are all being so kind. You see, most of my life I've been a woman of distinct and powerful dreams. Dreams of Egypt, mostly...Oh, I'm afraid it makes so little sense, what I've been through."
Ramses smiled. "You have come to the right place, Miss Parker. We are experts in that which does not make very much sense."
"Good," she said, through her gentle laughter and her tears. "Good."
Julie filled Sibyl's water glass and pressed it into the woman's trembling hand.
After she drank, she began again.
"As I told you, all my life I've experienced vivid dreams of Egypt. But there was one in particular which recurred again and again. I could always remember only fragments of it when I awoke, and those fragments felt more like an awareness, or a knowledge of what had taken place, rather than an actual recollection. But in this one dream in particular, I am aware that I am a queen. And you, Mr. Ramsey, or a man who looks exactly like you, you are my guardian. And I am also aware in this dream that you are immortal somehow.
"One night, you arrive at my chambers carrying the clothes of a common woman, and you ask me to dress in them so that we may walk through my kingdom. So that I may view my people through a different pair of eyes. A commoner's eyes. Compassionate, sympathetic eyes. And I obey. Because it is you, my immortal counselor, who has made the request, I obey. And together, we make this journey on foot.
"But when I would awake from this dream, I would remember almost nothing of the city we've walked through, and nothing of your face. Only the sense that I felt nothing for you but love and respect and awe. I have written and published an entire novel inspired by this dream, you understand? And then when I saw you at the party today, I realized this man, my immortal guide, was you.
"You see, I crossed an ocean because you've appeared in other dreams of mine. More recent dreams. Terrible dreams. And then someone sent me a news clipping with your picture in it, and there you were. But only when I laid eyes upon you in the flesh for the first time did I realize you were the missing piece from a dream that has been with me my entire life. So I ask you now, how can this be? And is it possible that it was more than a dream?"
Ramses reflected. If they continued on this path, if his suspicions about what had brought Sibyl Parker here were correct, he would soon have no choice but to reveal his great crime to Bektaten. But Julie's look implored him to answer Sibyl's question as honestly as he could.
"Yes, it is far more than a dream, Sibyl Parker. The city was Alexandria. I was, indeed, your immortal counselor. And you were Cleopatra."
Like a thunderbolt this news hit her. She tightened her grip on Julie's hand. It seemed she might lose her tenuous hold on the moment, on this place, and slip into dreams so deep she might never come back from them. But she struggled to concentrate, to ignore a vast undiscovered country of memories and sensations and voices.
"It is not a dream," he said. "It is a memory. A memory from a former life."
"And from your former life?" Sibyl whispered.
"No," he answered. "No, from my continuing life, for I am immortal, and I have lived for thousands of years. And so what you experienced today at the party, it was an experience without compare."