Ancient wine & Dionysus

In my books, the characters often drink ‘spiced wine’.  In book I, The Road to Alexander, Ashley sips a cup of wine and notes it has a faintly spicy taste. Sometimes she says she has a cup of honeyed wine.

We cannot time travel, as Ashley did, to ancient Greece. But we can time travel – by reading history, myths, visiting a museum, or doing something slightly differently – such as drinking wine like the ancients did. Wine – one of the most ancient of human inventions. In the pantheon of Greek gods, the god of wine, Dionysus, is the most mysterious, whose origins are obscure. The most common origin given for Dionysus was that he was the son of Zeus and Semele. Zeus seduced the princess of Thebes, but then jealous Hera tricked Semele into demanding that Zeus reveal his true form to her. As a mortal, Semele could not look upon a god’s true form without dying. Zeus managed to rescue the unborn Dionysus by sewing him into his thigh. A few months later, Dionysus was born from Zeus’s thigh. In other stories, Dionysus’s mother is Persephone, and that Hera sent Titans to kill the infant Dionysus. Regardless of the mother’s identity, the myths remained consistent that Zeus sewed Dionysus into his thigh. Thus, Dionysus was known to have been twice-born and was sometimes called “dimetor” (of two mothers).

In ancient Greece, wine was often drunk watered down and savory flavors added such as garlic or assafoetida (to our modern noses, a foul-smelling onion type root), as well as raisins, honey, or other spices. Pine pitch was sometimes used when the wine had gone sour, and a pine cone is part of the wine-god’s sceptor.

Dionysus (or Dionysos) was the Greek deity of winemaking and wine, of ecstasy and madness.  His symbol is a thyrsus – a stalk of giant fennel (narthēx) segmented like bamboo, sometimes with ivy leaves inserted in the hollow end and topped with a pine cone. According to legend, it dripped honey – and so we can imagine that fennel, pine, and honey were traditional additions to cups of wine.

Here is an ancient recipe for wine –  Enjoy!

Recipe for Mulsum

Also known as Conditum paradoxum, from Apicius’s De re coquinaria

Ingredients
1 bottle dry white wine
¾ cup (6 ounces) clear honey
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 bay leaves
Pinch saffron threads

Directions
1. Pour 2/3 cup of the wine and the honey into a 2-quart saucepot and bring it to a boil.
2. Remove the saucepot from the heat and add seasonings to the hot wine; set it aside for 5 minutes.
3. After 5 minutes, add the rest of the wine.
4. Serve mulsum warm or transfer the mixture to a glass jar, cover, and refrigerate. As a modern variant, this drink can also be enjoyed cold over ice.

In the Medoc, we have friends at the Winery Tour Haut Caussan who make wine. This year, they made a limited edition of a form of rosé called claret. It’s darker than traditional rosé wine, because the color comes from the grape skins, and the skins also protect the wine because they have a higher amount of tanin. Sulphur addition dampens fruit aromatics and bleaches colour, which is why white wines and rosés have a higher amount of sulfates. There is nothing really wrong with sulfates – our own bodies produce them naturally – but some people say they can cause headaches and so prefer red wine. The claret is a rosé that has not been bleached by sulfates, and as such, is a clear ruby color. But besides the delicious taste, it was the design on the bottle that caught my eye!

Cheers!

Storms Over Babylon

Winery Tour Haut Caussan

 

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Roasted Pumpkin Soup & Pork Roast just Kidding

So, Stef is in Scotland for the weekend, and I have been cooking. Today it was pumpkin soup, but instead of boiling it, I roasted the pumpkin, along with five carrots and an onion. I ate one carrot when the veggies were done – I love roasted veggies – then I put the rest in the blender with some milk and cream, and used couscous spices: curry powder, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon, coriander, cayenne, and paprika. Then I whipped it up until the soup was creamy and light – and had a bowl because it smelled so good and now I’m stuffed. Pumpkin is filling!

The Faux Pork Roast (Roast Pork, Just Kidding!)  comes from “Food Wars“, a manga cartoon that has some incredible recipes. This one looked like fun, and I had all the ingredients, so I boiled my potatoes and mashed them, fried up onions and mushrooms and added them to the mash. Then I wrapped it in four large rashers of thick bacon and tied it like a roast. I baked it in a nice, hot oven (turning it once) until it was browned all over. Then I deglazed the onion/mushroom pan with port wine, added soy sauce and butter, and some herbes de Provence. I sliced the roast on a plate and poured the sauce over it. I had it for dinner last night, and at work today for lunch, and it was deliecious!

The good thing about recipes is that you can change them to accomodate what you have in the house. I didn’t have red wine, but I had port wine, and that worked well with the soy sauce. I didn’t have any sweet sake, but the port wine was sweet already, so it worked fine! I also substituted regular mushrooms for the oyster mushrooms and again – they were fine!

Tomorrow, Sunday, I will take Auguste for a walk along the riverside. The river is very high, and it is scary/fun watching the brown, swirling water as it flows by just inches from the bike path – instead of being several meters below it!

 

Tomato Soup – the Best

Tomato soup – staple for winter – easy to make, and everyone loves it, right?

My husband hates it. I love it. Have tried for years to get him to eat it. I’ve camouflaged it, changed its color, added bells and whistles – nothing worked – until last night. Here is the recipe for the worlds most delicious tomato soup: (for 2 persons)

Start with three tomatos – they don’t have to be fabulous tomatos*, but as usual, the fresher the better. Cut in half and put face down in a saucepan and start cooking over low/medium heat. Cover. Go read a few chapters of a book. **

When the tomatos have turned to mush, add half a bouillon cube – I used vegetable, but you can use chicken or veal stock. When the cube is disolved, take a strainer and strain the soup over a big bowl. press with a wooden spoon to get All the juice out. Put the juice back in the saucepan and add a heaping teaspoon of good quality curry. Put back on the heat, stirring to make sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom.

Now, here is where it gets tricky.

I had frozen watermelon left over from this summer. I had thawed it out, just to see what would happen. What happened was I got mushy watermelon and a ton of juice. I added the juice to the tomato soup. If you don’t have watermelon juice handy – don’t panic. Fresh orange juice will work. The tomatos made a little more than 2 cups of liquid, I added about 3/4 cup juice. Stir. Now, add 1/2 cup heavy cream.

Stir. The soup will turn a delightful salmon pink. It will smell divine.

Now, in a separate pot, cook vermicelle (angel hair) pasta. Strain, and put in a soup dish. Pour the tomato soup over the noodles. Serve with cracked pepper. Enjoy!

*You can even use canned tomatos for this recipe! Yes, you can!

**’The Road to Alexander’, if you haven’t already read it, otherwise, books 2 & 3 are available too!

3 or 4 large tomatos or a big can of stewed tomatos

half a bouillon cube

3/4 cups fresh orange juice

1/2 cup heavy cream

Curry

Pepper

More soup, more banana bread, some rice pudding

Very Veggie Soup –

I have been making soup every weekend – I buy some veggies (whatever strikes my fancy and look good) but there is always 1 leek (white and green part all the way up to the top, rinced well, sliced thin), an onion (diced), 2 or 3 carrots (diced), a potato (diced) – and then whatever – today it was a huge head of brocoli and a leftover tomato at the bottom of the bin. Next week I plan to add sweet potatos, you can use anything you like: parsnips, squash, pumpkin – add more of anything and it becomes that soup – add more tomatoes, or leeks, and you get it!

Cook in butter and oil until all the veggies are wilted and starting to soften, but are not yet browning but things are starting to smell good and it’s sizzling. Add broth (vegetable or meat – I used beef bullion cubes today) and cook until the veggies are completely soft. Let cool and mix in the blender – add water if too thick. Put back in the pan and heat, and add some cream or milk  if you like it creamy soup. What I do is make a pot of vermicelle on the side (angel hair pasta, or sometimes rice) and add them to the soup (never cook the pasta in the soup!) I usually make enough soup to last 2 – 3 days – we have it for dinner with fresh baguette and cheese.

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Banana Bread –

Every time I make it is is different. This time, I spent a hour cracking walnuts, then toasting the walnuts with oil, sugar, salt, thyme & a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. Once toasted, I put them in the banana cake mix with a handful of raisins. Oh. My. God. Not only does is smell divine as it’s cooking, but the toasted nuts give the banana bread a little crunch –

Banana bread batter: 2 very ripe bananas (they can be rotten, there can be 2 or 3 bananas…) a cup of sugar, (I use half white, half brown) 2 cups flour, a tablespoon baking powder, pinch of salt, 1 cup milk with half a lemon squeezed in it (let the milk sit until it’s curdled – about 15 minutes), 2 eggs, 3 or 4 tablespoons melted butter. Raisins, nuts (optional). Put everything but the raisins and nuts in a mixing bowl and blend with your hand-held blender. Just do it. When the batter is smooth, stir in the raisins and nuts and pour into a greased cake dish and bake at 350° for 30 – 40 minutes. Add cinnamon if you want. A dash of rum, coffee or coconut liqueur works too.

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Rice Pudding –

I had leftover rice. This is what I did: I put a pan of milk to heat on medium heat (the same amount of milk as there is rice) and added 2 teabags of strong, black tea, 5 cardamon seeds and a  half cup of sugar. Stir well – don’t let the milk boil! When the teabags start to color the milk caramel and the cardamon releases it’s scent and flavor, take the teabags (& cardamon, if you want) out, and then add the rice. Now bring the milk to a boil, stirring constantly. Add more milk as needed to keep the rice creamy. After the milk boils, turn the heat down and add a handful of raisins if you like. Now, keep stirring for about 15 minutes – you really want the rice to be as soft as possible without turning completely to mush. Do add more milk to make sure the rice doesn’t get sticky. It should stay creamy. You can eat it hot, or cold – I like to eat it for breakfast with even more milk on it, a dash of cinnamon, and heated up in the microwave!

 

 

 

 

Warm and tasty cabbage tomato soup

Ingredients:

Half a green cabbage (sliced into thin strips), 3 or 4 very ripe tomatoes (cut up) or a can of tomatoes, can of corn, 1 tablespoon dried oregano, garlic (1 clove, diced, or a spoonful of powdered garlic), half a cup of red wine (optional, but it gives a nice flavor), about a quart of broth (I use vegetable broth, but you can use chicken, beef, or veal).

In a large pot, melt butter or heat vegetable oil, add the sliced cabbage and cubed tomatoes. Stir and cook evenly for about 5 minutes. Add the wine, garlic, and oregano and stir. Cook for a few minutes until vegetables start to soften. Carefully pour in 1 cup of broth. Stir the ingredients. Once the soup starts to bubble, add the rest of the broth. Stir the ingredients to evenly cook the vegetables, then cover and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat. It should simmer and bubble, but not too much. If using canned tomatoes, add a teaspoon of sugar.

Ater the cabbage is softened to noodle-like texture, and the tomatoes are mush, add the corn kernels. Cook for a few minutes and turn off the heat.

Allow the soup to simmer for 10 more minutes, then turn off heat and allow to sit. Serve hot with fresh bread & some cheese such as a goat cheese, a blue cheese, or even a brie.

 

 

 

 

 

Sun day, soup day

Today I set aside the whole day to clean the house and clear out my fridge of old veggies, so I declared it soup day.  Unfortunately for me, it’s also a glorious sunny day – so I have been cleaning and cooking in spurts, and rushing outside to walk Auguste, who wants to stay out and play – but no, today is cooking and cleaning day – I have declared it so, and so it must be! For revenge, Auguste ate something in the grass outside, came back in, and threw up all over the living room including on my rug. Thank you Auguste. I didn’t need an excuse to clean – I’d already decided to…*sigh* Oh well. Out comes the baking soda to clean the rug. Out comes vinegar and salt, and my “alcool ménagère” which is the French housewife’s answer to everything – it smells great (I have vanilla scented) and cleans everything shiny. So off I go scrub-a-dub-dub.  The phone rings and it’s my hubby telling me to quick go fill up the gas tank – France is about to go on strike (thank you, Macron’s labor law – you have made a lot of people angry). So off I go with Auguste to fill up my tank. (Good excuse to get outside again!) Stroll very slowly back home.  Meet the neighbors and chat a while. Go home reluctantly. Clean the bathroom with my salt and vinegar scrub. Dust the whole apartment. Decide to clean the kitchen and fridge, and see what is to be dinner!

Here are today’s leftover veggie recipes: (and my new soup philosophy)

Curried zucchini potato soup: heat olive oil in a pan, cook garlic and curry until wonderfully fragrant but not brown! Add sliced zucchini and sliced potatoes, and cook in the oil until  the scent is divine – Think Good Thoughts about those you love! (This is the secret philosophy for making great soup!) Add water to cover veggies, add a half a bouillon cube for more taste, and cook until everything is very soft and mushy. Let cool, then blend (I blend in my new blender!!) add cream and more curry to taste.

Pepper and Onions in a slow cooker (the name says it all, actually): Slice 4 onions and Five bell peppers into strips, put into slow cooker with 5 or 6 tablespoons of butter and some salt, toss – cook (stirring occasionally!) for 6 hours.  You can put paper towels under the lid halfway done to absorb excess water, but make sure you change the paper towels often, and save them for cleaning up!

The sun is shining. It’s nearly 2 pm, and Auguste & I have to go back outside! I will finish cleaning later! (When it gets dark.) 🙂

 

 

The world’s easiest lentil soup

Today I made the world’s easiest lentil  soup. I was going to keep the recipe to myself – but I decided to be magnanimous, after all – there are others out there, too lazy to rinse, soak, and cook their dry lentils, then fry up onions and carrots and celery, then…bla bla bla. Listen – this soup is quick, easy, and delicious.

You need: 1 can of cooked lentils. A blender. Some bouillon (chicken or veggie), a pinch of hot pepper flakes, coconut milk (I get mine in a little carton – a half a cup is enough), and curry powder. Use the best quality curry powder you have – it’s worth it.

Directions: Open the can of lentils.  Put half in the blender. Add one mug of bouillon (half a bouillon cube for a full mug of boiling water if you like…) and blend until creamy. Pour into a pan and add the rest of the lentils, half a cup of coconut milk, and a good tablespoon of curry, and a large pinch of hot pepper flakes. Cook over medium heat until just bubbling. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes. Serve hot. 

I made this soup this afternoon for my son, who has a bad cold. He loved it, and had 3 bowls! He finished it – so I couldn’t even get a photo of it – but it was delicious. And easy.  I think that it is, without a doubt, the World’s Easiest Lentil Soup!

Enjoy!

Oh, and after I put an old stick of cinnamon in a mug of boiling water and let it seep for a while – then added honey – wonderful cinnamon tea. One stick makes about 6 cups of tea, then use the softened stick in a rice pudding recipe or cook it with a stew.

 

 

The heatwave ends, fruit salads

The heatwave ended suddenly yesterday – in the space of two hours it was over. We opened the windows and let the air cool the apartment. We had been baking in the heat for days, and the fresh air was a blessing. We have no air conditioning here, and when it’s hot, it’s best to keep all the windows and shutters closed, turn off the lights, and turn on the fans. It gets very stuffy. To keep cool, I’d been making fruit salads – here are my favorite heat beating recipes:

Heat-beater salad: Watermelon & melon, cut into chunks. Put in freezer for 15 -20 minutes, until just frosty but not frozen. Serve with a sprig of mint & a glass of cool water or lemonade. You can also add apricots.

Frozen Green Grapes – Put a bunch of geen grapes in the freezer until well frozen. Take out and munch as you sit in front of a fan. I like to eat them while watching a film – it takes my mind off the heat.

Aunt Minnie’s Lemonade – I can’t get enough of this! Whole lemons, washed, cut into chunks. Crush with a wooden spoon and a generous helping of sugar in a heavy pitcher. Add water and stir – chill. Serve with ice and mint. Add water to the pitcher as you serve until the taste is nearly gone.

Une Chose – the French drink grapefruit juice mixed with tonic water & chilled. It’s not bad. They call it a “Chose” for some reason. I have no idea what it means. The thing?

In the worst of the heat, I wet dishtowels and sit in front of a fan with them on my legs. I put a dishtowel over Auguste as well, he loved it.

My frosty watermelon / melon fruit salad

Grilled lettuce, Legends of Persia

You have no idea how good this is. Romaine lettuce, rinsed and sliced lengthwise in half. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Grill until just charred on both sides. Now, you can do this a couple ways – you can grill the cut side 60 seconds or so, flip them over and sprinkle with blue cheese while grilling the other side. Take off the heat and serve with steak – and for an extra treat – add a dash of hot pepper sauce and honey.  OR, you can cook the salad both sides 60 seconds each, then serve with avocado – lime dressing which you can make in a blender with a ripe avocado, some lime juice, some white vinegar, some crushed garlic, and olive oil – whip it up and drizzle it on – serve with sliced red onion and tomatoes. 

In Legends of Persia, Ashley &  Alexander are heading across the mountains on their way to Bactria to recover the crown of Persia and to try and find Paul, their infant son. Alexander the Great was able to take his army far because of the organization (imagine the logistics of feeding 60,000 men!)  He perfected the art of feeding his army with stocks of grain and livestock, and he planned carefully so he always had a steady food and water (and wine!) supply. An army is only as good as its health – Alexander had doctors and cooks with him too. And most meat and vegetables the army ate were grilled. Baked bread, peas, lentils, beans, olive oil and wine also accompanied the troops’ meal. If wine was  not available, there was barley beer, or even fermented honey (mead).

“For a normal  soldier, major nutrients were taken in through a variety of fruits and vegetables, while other rations, especially fish, were supplemented whenever possible. Non-perishable foodstuffs such as salt, onions, and thyme enhanced the soldier’s bounty, while any meat that was ordained edible could be cooked on the iron spits of a portable grill, which the soldier himself carried.” [Engels, Donald. Alexander the Great and the logistics of the Macedonian army. Univ of California Pr, 1980. Print.]

LEGENDS OF PERSIA

2nd in the Time for Alexander series. Ashley continues her incredible adventure in 333 BC as she follows Alexander the Great’s army on his journey across Persia. As a presumed goddess, Ashley is expected to bless crops, make sure battles are won, and somehow keep out of the daily journals sent back to Athens, while all the time searching for her son and keeping history on course.  

Alexander’s campaign against the mountain tribes in the Hindu Kush is given a new life, told from the viewpoint of a time traveling reporter. Ashley knows he’s on the most dangerous part of his fantastic voyage, but she has to walk the knife edge of history, keeping Alexander alive and not bringing the wrath of the Institute of Time upon her.

Buy links:  Published by Accent Press, Available through Simon & Schuster,  Amazon.com, Amazon.co.UK, Barnes & Noble,  ibooks, BAM!, !ndigo (Canada), Waterstones

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Excerpt:   We settled in the valley to wait for the rest of the army, and Alexander put Bucephalus in a large corral next to his tent so he could watch him closely. However, it seemed the horse had recovered. He kicked his feet up and rolled in the grass. Alexander leaned against the makeshift fence and watched him, his chin on his hands and his expression somber.

I went to stand beside him, putting my arms around his waist and resting my chin on his shoulder. He was still too thin. The past few days hadn’t helped, and he looked tired.

“What are you thinking about?” I asked him, my cheek next to his. I closed my eyes. He smelled good, he always did, a clean, musky scent.

He didn’t speak for a moment, then he said, “I’m twenty-five years old. When I was nineteen my father died, and when I was twenty I inherited his crown. I was young and brash. I felt as if the gods had spoken directly to me and commanded me to take my rightful place at the head of his army. The men welcomed me, and the first place I went was to the oracle, to ask if I would be successful. She said I would be invincible. And so I went to fight the strongest army in the world, armoured with the knowledge of my immortality, sure to win. And I did win.

“Then I met you, and you said you were from a time three thousand years in the future. Three thousand years.” His voice faltered. “It seems such a small thing when one says it. The sound of it passes so quickly. And then you look at a lifetime, and you think of your parents who seem so close, of your grandparents, whom you knew slightly, but did you know their parents? What were they like? Only three generations gone, and already the thread is frayed. Another two generations and it breaks. The memories stop. No one has ever seen his great, great, great grandfather. His life was a mystery.” He spread his hands in front of him, fingers outstretched.

“And then you said you came from a time when the ‘greats’ are too many to count. How many generations have passed? Are there any of my blood left? Does it matter? It would be as diluted as a drop of rainwater in the ocean.” His voice was bleak and his shoulders started to shake.

I held him tighter. “Don’t worry, please don’t worry,” I said.

He turned to face me. “Ashley, I never asked you, did I, to tell me about my future? The truth is, I’m afraid. I don’t want to hear it. When I went to see the oracles, I wasn’t afraid to hear my future. I asked because I didn’t truly believe. If you know that your questions will be answered, then it’s like looking death in the face, and nobody can do that.”

“I understand,” I whispered, my stomach knotting. I thought I knew what was coming next.

“I don’t want to know for myself. Because whatever stories about me remain three thousand years in the future, only the gods know which ones are true and which are legends. And if any of my family survive, how can I care about them? I care not for a man only four generations removed, my great, great grandfather.” His voice wavered and then he drew a deep breath. “Two days ago, eighty soldiers perished coming over the mountains. Eighty good men. Thirty-six died together when they fell into a ravine. The ground beneath them slid away. Fourteen died of the cold. Five starved. Three fell off the trail, and twenty-two died of what you called ‘altitude sickness’. Now we are going into a land that none of us knows. A land held by a madman, a traitor. Can you tell me if I will be successful?”

I shook my head. My pain must have shown on my face. “I don’t know. There are several years in your history that we know little about. I’m afraid I can’t help you.”

“And it would be these years in front of us.” He spoke without rancor.

“I’m sorry.” I would have loved to be able to say, “Go here, do that,” but I couldn’t. I did know something I wasn’t telling him. The next two years would be the most difficult his army had ever known.

About the author:

Jennifer Macaire lives in France with her husband, three children, & various dogs & horses. She loves cooking, eating French chocolate, growing herbs and flowering plants on her balcony, and playing golf. She grew up in upstate New York, Samoa, and the Virgin Islands. She graduated from St. Peter and Paul high school in St. Thomas and moved to NYC where she modeled for five years for Elite. She went to France and met her husband at the polo club. All that is true. But she mostly likes to make up stories.

BROWNIES, TIME TRAVEL, AND ALEXANDER THE GREAT

Recipe for Scrumptious Brownies

4 oz dark unsweetened chocolate, 2 sticks sweet butter, melted. Melt chocolate in the microwave or over a double broiler and add melted butter. Stir well. In another bowl, mix 4 eggs and 2 cups granulated sugar together until creamy.  

Note: I used 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup light brown sugar. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla. Blend chocolate/butter mix with sugar/egg mix and add 1/2 cup of flour. You can also add a cup of crushed walnuts or pecans if you like.
Butter and flour a rectangular baking dish. Pour in batter and bake in a preheated 350°F  (220°C) for 25 minutes or until middle is set. Do not overcook! Let cool and cut into small squares.  
 Note – I eat these hot out of the oven, when they are still gooey – I take a chunk and put it on a scoop of ice-cream!

Excerpt from The Road to Alexander

We walked through the doorway to find Darius sitting pensively on his throne.

He was taller than I’d expected. Most of the people I’d met were of medium height. Darius, when he stood up to greet us, towered over me. He was nude, except for a golden chain around his neck. Nudity was so common that I’d ceased to be aware of it. The soldiers went around unclothed, and in the villages children were nude. Persian men wore very brief loincloths. Women wore robes or belted a cloth around their waists, although slave women were often naked. Alexander chose the Greek mode, which meant he wore a pleated tunic or slung a short cape over his shoulders. Today he wore his tunic.

Darius’s hair was long, black, and wavy, brushed back from his high forehead. He was clean-shaven; the beard he wore on ceremonial occasions was in his hand. It was made of finely knotted black silk. 

He looked at his beard and then placed it gently on the seat of the throne.

“It’s yours now,” were his first words to Alexander.

“You can keep it.” Alexander’s voice was neutral. It almost sounded like pity, and I looked at him sharply. So did Darius. For a second his eyes flashed, and I saw a glimpse of the king he’d been.

“Thank you.” His voice was careful too. They talked about the battle, verbally dancing around each other like fencers. Neither gave the other any advantage, but there was an undercurrent of sadness in Alexander that I could not fathom. Darius was puzzled as well, because after an awkward silence, he motioned toward the table where a tray of fruit sat. “Would you like some figs? They’re fresh. I imagine you’ve been living off dried ones during the march.”

Alexander said, “No thank you.”

Darius nodded. “Ah well. How’s Statiera?” It was almost an afterthought.

“She’s well. She’s ruling Babylon.”

He looked surprised. “Oh? And your mother?”

“I sent her back to her own people. It was either that, or kill her.”

Darius froze. I held my breath. He turned his head very slowly and looked at me for the first time. He had long-lashed, honey-brown eyes. Vanity prompted him to line them with kohl, making them appear even larger and more brilliant. His face was dark and his eyes were lighter than his skin, like a lion’s eyes. And like a lion he blinked and looked away from my gaze. “So you knew,” he said.

“Why did you think I came after you?” Alexander’s voice rose, a note of anger in it.

“Oh, I suppose I’d guessed.” Darius shrugged and took a plump fig. He squeezed it appraisingly and then put it back in the bowl. “You want the babe.”

“Where is he?”

“Is it true she’s a goddess?” He wouldn’t look me in the face and I found that disturbing.

“It is.” I was startled by Alexander’s answer, but even more startled at Darius’s next question.

“Tell me when and how I shall die, Goddess.” He was staring out the window, bracing his hands against the sill. His body was all flowing lines and muscle. I couldn’t help admiring his physique.

I looked at Alexander who nodded once.

I drew a deep breath. “You’ll be killed by someone you trust before the summer ends.”

A shudder ran through his body. When he spoke his voice was broken. “The child is in the hands of a Bactrian satrap. I gave him to a caravan going east. He’ll be in Bactria in the spring. The babe is marked by the goddess. He’ll come to no harm.”

I put my hand on Alexander’s arm to steady myself. “Why?” I whispered.

“Because of the oracle,” said Darius. He sighed and then looked at me at last. “When Olympias came to the city she had the babe brought to the temple of Marduk. She was going to sacrifice him. An oracle told her that the babe would be her downfall. In a way, I suppose it was true. However, my astrologer said that if the babe died I would lose everything that was dear to me. I love my daughter Statiera more than all the gold in this city. And I love her more than my own life. How long do you think she would have lived if you had found out that your child had been sacrificed on the altar of Babylon’s god? Now she is the Queen of Babylon. The babe is safe, but the prophecy said one more thing, Iskander, about you.”

“What did it say about me?” asked Alexander.

“It said to ask her.” He pointed at me. “The oracle said, ‘All Iskander’s questions can be answered by the child’s mother.’ It claimed she knows all.” Then he turned to the window again. “Ask if you dare, 

Iskander. I did.” His voice was almost inaudible.

I would have run out of the room, but Alexander caught my wrist. He bowed to Darius, and made me bow too, although Darius had his back to us and was staring out the window. Alexander knocked on the door, and Lysimachus let us out.

“He can see anyone he chooses,” said Alexander.

“Anyone?” Lysimachus looked surprised.

“Anyone. He’ll be trusting no one now.” He looked at me with flinty eyes as he said this, and I quailed.

When I got outside the palace, I gulped the air. The atmosphere had been suffocating. Darius was doomed.

I had hated Persepolis from the moment I’d entered it. Perhaps it was the emptiness of the city. No one had ever lived there. There were no women, no children, only Darius and the soldiers. Or maybe it was the pall of smoke that hung low in the sky. Thousands of men were clearing the bodies from the battlefield. The dead soldiers were being cremated, and the smell was ghastly. Darius had lost nearly half his army. The rest of Darius’s men had either been absorbed into Alexander’s army, or if they wouldn’t swear allegiance, sent to the mines as slaves.

Alexander brooded as we walked. Several times he made as if to speak, but each time he fell silent. At first, I wondered if he were thinking about the men he’d lost, and their families’ grief when the news arrived. Then I saw him looking at me out of the corners of his eyes, and I realized he was thinking about what Darius had said.

I reached out and touched his arm lightly, meaning to comfort him, but he flinched.

“All right, that does it!” I stopped in the middle of the path and folded my arms across my chest. “We have to talk about this. It will do no good for you to go on sulking.”

He spun around and faced me, his eyes blazing. “Sulking? Sulking, am I?”

“Yes.” I glared back at him, but I couldn’t stay angry long. My eyes softened. “Oh Alex, I’m sorry. I never should have said anything to Darius. It was a mistake, I admit. I regret it and I wish you had never made me do it.”

“Made you do it? I made you do it?” His anger was terrible to behold. “I told you not to!”

“You nodded!” I was furious. “You nodded your head like this!”

“That means ‘no’!” He sputtered. “Everyone knows that!”

“I forgot,” I said miserably. “I’m sorry. Where I come from that means ‘yes’.”

“Where do you come from?”

I shook my head. “That means no, where I come from. And I can’t tell you.”

We stared at each other. Alexander’s face was paler than usual, his forehead damp. “The gods are playing with us,” he said slowly.

“Perhaps it’s true.” I couldn’t face him anymore and I turned my head.

“Oh, no, you don’t.” He took my chin and made me look into his eyes. “How do you know he will die by the hand of someone he trusts?”

I shivered. I would have to tell him, and by doing so change the course of history. A sharp pain was starting in my toes and I wondered if it was the erasure that was beginning. In a moment I would disappear. Probably writhing in horrible pain. I glanced down, expecting to see my feet disappearing but no, it was just Alexander, standing on my foot. “You’re on my foot,” I said, pointing.

He cursed and stepped backwards. “I need to know. Are you really an oracle?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m not. I’ve never even seen an oracle, and I don’t know what they do, or how they act. When I was in the palace, all I could think of was my baby, and that Darius had kidnapped him. I was angry. I said something I regret. If it turns out to be true, we’ll talk about it then. Right now I’m just glad to be out of there and away from him.”

“He was a great man,” said Alexander.

“But you’re a greater one.” I touched his face and then pulled him towards me and kissed him. “And you’re the best kisser in the world. Who taught you?”

He opened his mouth to speak then snapped it shut. “My mother was right. All women are sorceresses.”

My mouth twitched. “For once, she was probably right.” I linked my arm through his, and he didn’t pull away. He was not convinced and was still angry, I could tell. He hadn’t forgiven me, and I knew it was only a matter of time before I’d have some serious explaining to do. Bleakly, I wondered what I could invent.