Rome was drowning in celebration.
From the narrowest alley to the grandest marble avenue, the entire capital buzzed with restless anticipation. Trumpets echoed in the distance, banners fluttered above crowded streets, and the people of Rome pressed forward in unison toward the great gates. Word had spread days—no, weeks—earlier through every district of the city: today, at long last, the great Queen and Pharaoh of the Amun Ra Empire would set foot in Rome.
Cleopatra.
There was not a soul within the capital who did not know her name.
