“Yes. I spent time in Italy and Athens.”

  “Do you sing?”

  “I do, Caesar, but...”

  “Yes?” Hadrian’s voice grew stern.

  “I prefer the bow and hook to the niceties of court.”

  “As do I. Yes, you will do. Walk with me.”

  “Yes, Caesar.”

  Hadrian led Antinous from the pavilion and motioned for the guards and council to stay far behind them as he and his new cupbearer wandered the Bithynia shore. It was a solid port loaded with vessels sailing to and from Greece. A market had grown up by the docks and hawkers called their wares for all to hear.

  “Are you hungry?” Hadrian asked.

  “I am not, Caesar, but I am always willing to eat. My mother claims it to be a great foible of mine.”

  “I like a healthy appetite. What do you recommend? This is not my city.”

  Antinous motioned at a baker’s stall. “He creates layer after layer of thin dough and mixes it with honey and nuts. That and a posca—most excellent.”

  Hadrian turned to his council. “Get us two of the baker’s goods—the ones with thin layers, honey, and nuts and two posca. We shall sit by the dock and drink.”

  “OF COURSE, CAESAR.” Antinous chose his words and actions carefully. This was a golden opportunity and a potential entrance to torments beyond compare. This is the emperor! I am not a civilized youth with the etiquette and manners of a senator’s son. I must be on my guard. I must make a good impression.

  They sat in the heat of the day, drinking the watered-down vinegar wine and eating the pastry. Though Hadrian was a very large, hairy man, his voice was soft and his demeanor far from frightening. Antinous listened to Caesar speak of adventures all around the empire. “Caesar, you seem to prefer the provinces to Rome.”

  “This is so, Antinous. I would rule from Egypt if the senators allowed it.”

  “You are the divine emperor of the Roman Empire. Can you not do as you wish?”

  “Alas, I rule at the will of the senate. They would have me conquering new lands, whilst I wish to secure the boundaries we have, thus keeping them strong and safe for my people. I have been a soldier. I have marched with legions. I have seen our borders grow and shrink like the turning of the moon. Today, Rome is as strong as ever she has been. I wish to preserve what we have.”

  “A solid plan, Caesar.”

  “As my companion, you need not agree with everything I say. I want opinions.”

  Antinous pulled his curls back and secured his hair with a leather strap from his wrist. “I do speak my mind, sir. That is why I am unmarried.”

  Hadrian laughed. “Oh, Antinous, you are amusing.”

  “It is true. My mother brought worthy women before me and I spurned them all, for I prefer running barefoot in the hills with my bow to the yoke of marriage.”

  “It is a yoke, indeed.”

  “Is that why your wife is not with you?”

  “I married at the insistence of the senate. It is in name only. Vibia Sabina and I are second cousins and that is about as far as our relationship goes. I do not love her, nor she, me.”

  “Should you speak to me of such things, Caesar?”

  “I will, Antinous. Your position is one of great importance. I may say things that need never be repeated and other things that I hope spread like wildfire around the camp. You will make certain I am not poisoned. You will be my most loyal companion. At night if I have needs, you will be there. If we are away from the camp, you will be my hearthstone.”

  “I am honored.”

  “You are of an age where I need not worry over you. The younger prospects—not a good fit. I have never enjoyed the company of very young boys or girls. Children are too precious to subject to the whims of wrinkled old bastards like me.”

  “I assure you, Caesar, you are quite fit and not at all wrinkled.”

  “Do you understand my meaning, Antinous?”

  “It is commonplace for noblemen to take much younger boys than myself under their wing in education, and oft times, to bed. I believe you are saying you have never engaged in the act of love with someone younger than myself. Not of age.”

  “That is correct. Although I cannot abolish the practice, for it is deeply entrenched in our society, I am not one to groom a child.”

  “Do you have a lover, Caesar?” Antinous tingled as Hadrian’s brown eyes gazed into his and penetrated his soul. He barely heard the reply for the beating of his heart.

  “Not yet.”

  “When you take a woman to your bed, I shall make myself scarce, unless it is your desire I watch.”

  “I do not take women. I have, on occasion, taken a beautiful young man.” Hadrian paused. “But none were as beautiful as you...Antinous.”

  Antinous again trembled as Hadrian touched his arm. Our divine emperor will take me to his bed. I know it. Thank all the gods, for I would spend every moment alone with my hand on my cock and thoughts of him filling my head. “Thank you, Caesar.”

  “Please, call me Hadrian. It is your right as my companion.”

  “Hadrian.” Antinous gingerly reached up an placed his fingertips over the emperor’s, whose hand still rested on his arm. “Hadrian.”

  “You must understand that whether or not you come to me in the night, your job as cupbearer is secure. I have never taken a servant by force, nor abused the slave of another. I do not keep slaves. All under my tent are paid for their time. I do not whore, either. Many a young man has approached me with offers of love for pay, but I refuse them all. Prostitution is a noble profession, but I do not partake.”

  Antinous could barely speak. The words caught in his throat. “Yes, Caesar.”

  “Have you made love?”

  Antinous nodded. “With males and females and once with a person who was both.”

  “And?”

  Antinous cast his gaze down and looked up through his lashes. “I prefer the touch of males, Hadrian.”

  “As our relationship continues and we become accustomed to each other, will you have me?”

  “Yes, Caesar. Hadrian. When that time arrives, I will come to you in the night.”

  Hadrian chuckled and squeezed Antinous’ hand. “Bring posca with you. At that time.”

  ADRIAN AWAKENED IN a cold sweat, buckled over in pain. He immediately looked at his phone. Only an hour had passed. “What the hell was that?” He stood and stretched. “How did I end up prone against an overturned chair?” He touched his ribcage. Pain shot through his solar plexus. He pulled back his T-shirt to find a horribly bruised torso. A great healed gash ran from side to belly. “Well, that’s new.” He traced his fingertips along the scar. It had not healed cleanly. The stitches used to close it had been large. Too large. I do not recall such a wound being struck. He stood and walked around his apartment. He flipped on the light and noticed another oddity. He wore a ring on his right index finger. An old ring. Brass. No. “This is gold.” He pulled it off to examine it more thoroughly. “This is a Hadrianic coin fashioned into a ring. This is the great seal of Caesar. I do not own such a treasure. I could never afford it. It is perfect. Mint. And it must be nineteen hundred years old.”

  Adrian swooned and sunk into an overstuffed chair. He spoke into the empty room. “What just happened to me?” He took a deep breath and thought back on the vision imparted to him after melding with the spirit. The bruise. The scar. The ring. He glanced at his shorts. A semen stain and the overwhelming presence that he’d just had sex. “Well...that was certainly realistic. I dreamed of Hadrian and Antinous in situations not recorded in history, but easily presumed, and now have the marks and leavings of those events on my body.” He leaned forward to allow blood flow to his head. Something his mother had taught him. “This can’t be real. Did I hit my head? Am I still asleep?”

  He pushed himself to his feet and then stretched. It was almost eight in the morning. Time to get up, anyway. All right, Antinous...today is your day. October 30th. He wanted to dress professionally because of the tours to the church. It was little more than a hole-in-the-wall shop—but its significance was very important to his tour. Especially today. This is the day you became a god.

  Adrian donned white linen walking shorts, a blue shirt, and hat. He wore sneakers. He put a small vial of water and another of salt into his pocket. He reached for the handful of coins on his nightstand. Traditional offerings to the god when visiting the temple. He had included the information on offerings in the brochure. However, most of the souls visiting on October 30th were already adherents and knew the drill, though his morning tour had some bona fide tourists from the Midwest. His profit margin tripled this time of year. Today he would make two trips to the site of the drowning and ruins of Antinoöpolis. The first tour began at the church, then a stop at El-Minya, where the ruins of Antinoöpolis were located, then the pyramids. The second would begin at Giza near the pyramids and end at the church. He had an employee who would return the first tour group to Cairo while he escorted the second. “Hail Antinous.”

  I don’t worship. I am not spiritual. I am not sexual. I am...not worthy of ghostly visits or spirit encounters.

  You are more worthy now than ever you were. My divinity sees through your humanity, and I would embrace you.

  Adrian didn’t see the spirit speaking to him, but certainly felt its presence. I can’t do this! Please stop!

  Is that truly your desire, or would you rather explore the pleasure of submitting to my spiritous actions?

  “I’m afraid.” It was the truth. “And we need to have a conversation about consent. It’s important.”

  I am with you, and I am a god. You have nothing to fear. Nothing to lose, but everything to explore. Please...tell me about consent.

  “To share such an intimate experience with me requires that I agree to it first. That’s consent. In a nutshell.”

  Are you injured? Frightened terribly?

  Adrian shook his head. “I don’t understand what has transpired. To what was I witness?”

  Antinous’ spiritous voice grew calm and the very air around Adrian seemed to warm and fragrant. “Us.”

  Adrian startled, for this time the reply was audible—not only in his mind. Us? “I have to work.”

  “Trust me, Adrian. Once reunited with your past, you will have no regrets.”

  “Antinous.”

  “It is I.”

  Adrian swallowed hard. “Antinous. On this auspicious day I am being blessed by a god. I want to believe it.”

  “Then do.”

  “When you say the very real vision I experienced...was us...what do you mean, exactly?”

  “Do I have your consent to continue? To make things known to you that are already a part of your hidden world. I can draw things from your past to the present and then...everything will be clear.”

  Adrian was a man who trusted his gut. He trusted his abilities and experiences. This feels right. “Yes.” A moment of panic rushed in—soon calmed by a reassuring presence that he was all right. That it would be all right. That warmth grew hot until every part of his body seemed to stand under the Egyptian noonday sun. Perspiration trickled from his brow. “What is it you need from me?” The words stuck in his throat. He glanced at the ring and felt the pain of the wounds on his ribs. Warm arms encircled him. “I am not Hadrian.”

  Soft lips pressed against the back of his neck. “You are he.”

  Adrian didn’t turn. “And if I am, then what? It’s not as if we live on the same plain of existence. From what I understand a ghost and mortal...”

  “I am returned.”

  “What?”

  “I have returned to you that we may live together once more along the Nile, making love and hunting and fishing and commanding all we see.”

  “This is the twenty-first century. There is no game and the Nile is polluted. There is so much plastic filling it that it will take decades for it to recover.”

  “Then we shall make love.”

  Adrian turned. Strong arms encircled him, and he instinctively wrapped his around the shoulders of the beautiful being before him. “If you are reborn, how can you come to me in this form?”

  “I am a god.”

  “And I am not.”

  “I would forgo divinity to be with Hadrian again. His soul rests within you, and on this momentous day, I implore you to allow our journey to continue that you may come to know our shared past.”

  “I have two tours today. Important ones.”

  “You never need toil in the marketplace again. I am with you.”

  “Let’s discuss this after the tours.” I’ll think about this later.

  “I shall be with you.”

  “I need everything I have—everything I am...intact today, Antinous.” Saying the name aloud tasted like honey upon his lips. “No ethereal visions, all right?”

  Antinous nodded. “Of course, but I will join your tour.”

  “You are not dressed for the part.”

  “My reincarnation agent has educated me on modern attire so I can walk amongst the peoples of this place without drawing too much attention.”

  “A reincarnation agent?” Adrian pocketed his keys.

  “Yes. She’s watching. In truth, as I made the journey between lives I was inundated with great quantities of information, and as a god, I absorbed it all. Languages. Electricity. The utter insanity of religion and politics this modern era brings. My agent is monitoring the timeline to see if it explodes since I chose to return in a way most untoward. I never was one to follow convention. I waited a very long time to reincarnate because I refused to be reborn from the body of a woman and then wait decades to be with you. I am divine. I have reincarnated thusly. I swore that I would only return to your arms in a form we would both find agreeable. I’ve waited quite some time.”

  “Isn’t that confusing?”

  “Yes. It is a bit.”

  “This is nuts, Antinous. You’re rewriting time and space.”

  “I assure you I have not lost my mind. You are my beloved reincarnated and we shall explore our past together while we create our future.”

  “I’m asexual. I don’t have relations. Forgoing such things has simplified my life.”

  “I shall convince you otherwise—with your consent. I know in your heart that I appeal to you, just as you do me. We will be happy together. The twenty-first century shall embrace us.”

  Adrian bristled at the thought of developing a relationship. Any relationship. He kept his cool. “What shall I call you? Do you wish to continue using Antinous as your name?”

  “I think I shall be known as Alexander. Will that suffice?”

  “Do you have money? Where will you live? I’m not ready to share my apartment much less my bed.”

  “From what I gather, I have everything—even a luxury hotel room overlooking the pyramids of Giza. And what a nasty bit of work has been done to them! Why there are houses and dining establishments nearly to their bases and the pollution here is awful. There is a flatbread restaurant overlooking them. It says pizza is Italian, but I know Italian food and Pizza Hut is not a proper Roman food.”

  “Welcome to Cairo.”

  Chapter Ten

  Adrian finished getting ready for work after the semi-corporeal specter of Antinous departed. Two tours on the busiest tourist day of the year for him atop a randy romp in another realm with Antinous, himself, that had left him bruised and bejeweled. Thank all the gods I can compartmentalize. I don’t think I could be the cheery tour guide today without putting all that a literal ghost has said to me in the background for a bit. I’ve never considered reincarnation before. I’ve never considered having such profound actions take place in the spirit realm that I awaken marked. And sated. I came. A wet dream, perhaps. Or I really did fuck the shit out of Antinous along the Nile, in another time, in another space.

  As always, the narrow streets of Old Cairo were loud and busy. A large souk was near his apartment complex, and if the wind blew just right, the fragrant scents of exotic herbs and spices filled the air. Today was such a day. His senses were kissed by cumin, coriander, cardamom, chili, aniseed, bay leaves, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. Dates, figs, fine cheeses, and coffee perfumed the breeze. He didn’t take tourists to the vast marketplace of stalls and kiosks. Pickpockets were rampant. However, today would be the best day to show them—no—surround them, by the best of Cairo. I’ll suggest they visit—with a caveat against the rolling teams of thieves.

  He drove his minibus to the pick-up location at a hotel. He had six a.m. attendees. He owned a twelve-person van that had once been his home but was now converted to a slick tour bus with air conditioning, a cooler, and even a camp shower if someone got heat stroke. Each tourist paid over three hundred US dollars for the excursion to the church, the site of Antinoöpolis, and the pyramids. He counted seven in attendance—the seventh being a fair-haired young man with piercing blue eyes and a regal bearing.

  “Hello.”

  Antinous. In fully mortal form. Dear gods, he’s lovely. No wonder Hadrian proclaimed him divine. I would have done the same should he have died in my arms. His beauty rivals the lotus and the constellation named for him. “Hello.”

  Graceful and soft-spoken, Antinous leaned forward and whispered to Adrian, “I look much like I did in life. Does this form appeal to you?”

  Adrian nodded. “You are very handsome.” He turned his attention to the others. “We begin at the temple and end at the pyramids, where another transport will return you to Cairo while I conduct the evening tour. I’d like to thank you all for coming—especially today.” He glanced at Antinous. “It should be a special day along the Nile. One to remember.”

  “Thank goodness for air conditioning,” one of the tourists remarked.

  “We have plenty of water. Help yourself. It is a hot autumn day in Egypt,” Adrian replied. “I lived in this van for a while when I first moved to Cairo. It has a shower too. Just in case. And I’ve a handful of new kaftans if you all fall in the mud.” Adrian chuckled.

  Antinous laughed. “I love Egypt. It is the time of inundation, and the weather can be unpredictable, but always hot. Why, I recall a time when rain fell from the sky and rose up as steam from the white blocks of the sphinx.”