" Still, the shock of her suicide created such a jolt in my being that huge chunks of memory fell away, like the details of a nightmare that fade into mist, leaving only the horror intact. Some images, though, remained: Alexandros’s glazed eyes, staring into nothing for hours. Ptolly putting his thumb in his mouth even though he had long ago stopped the habit. The wind moving through the nearly abandoned palace, echoing like soft moans of grief. Zosima later said that I did not speak for days. "

― Vicky Alvear Shecter , Cleopatra's Moon