The Path of Thorns

Dust motes danced in the clear morning sunlight. Livia was again in front of her husband's cabinet, the doors open, running her fingers down a page in the book Sextus had written in. It was near the end of the book; she could almost feel him making a note of it, thinking that he'd need to acquire one before long.

She shuddered. The day she was looking at was the last before he'd died. On this page, he hadn't been thinking that he'd need to find another book to fill. He'd known that he would never get to finish this book.

The notes for the day had him meeting with Constantius until two, and then a note for an out of town meeting until six, after which she remembered seeing him arrive home. Everything had seemed so normal; even going over and over that last evening in her mind, she didn't recall much of anything out of the ordinary, except perhaps he had been a bit more unusually affectionate. She smiled at the memory of the night they'd had, after Optata had been safely asleep.

Livia tapped her finger on the entry for the meeting from two to six. It was Lukas Orwelius, Diya had said. He had stopped by Diya's house and then rushed out of town. Livia knew she needed to find and speak with Lukas, and Darius had said he'd put out feelers. In fact, he ought to be back soon--

There was a step in the corridor, and she looked up. Darius was standing in the doorway. She put away the book and closed and locked the cabinet, and asked, "Were you successful?"

"Only time will tell, lady. What does the morning hold for you?"

She climbed to her feet, brushing off her dress. "I'm going to see Optata this morning. Do you want to come with me? I'm entitled to a personal guard even in the palace, if I want one. Though it shows a...lack of confidence in the regent, I'm willing to risk it. Constantius needs to believe I'm scared."

Darius inclined his head. "Yes, I will come with you, lady. And it may be that Constantius is the one that needs to be afraid."

Livia shook her head. "I'm not coming to any conclusions yet. I am loyal until such time as I have proof that he was involved. I think someone may be trying to frame him. If it was him, though, I am going to be very, very angry with him." There were plans half-formed in her mind. Someone in her position could, given motivation and time, bring down a regent--or an emperor.

"I have to agree, lady. I think that we should be away. I am hoping for some responses to the feelers that I put out tonight." He stepped back from the doorway, and Livia went out into the hall. As she walked down the hall, he fell in beside her.

"Good. Let's be off, then. I have instructions for a discreet arrival and departure. I am not up for announcing that I am entering the game once more quite yet." She'd thought ahead to when she'd need to enter court life once more, but the things she was going to need to do were all things she was not looking forward to. All necessary, none enjoyable.

Darius raised an eyebrow. "The game is going on around you. You have no choice but to play, it seems."

They'd reached the outer doors, and Orla was waiting with the fine grey palla in her hands, which she helped Livia drape around herself. "Thank you, dear." Orla nodded, and they walked to the litter. Darius would ride with her, they'd decided. "I have a few days yet before I enter the nest of vipers that is Constnatius' court and find out who's pissed at me that I was promoted in the place of the one who was to take Sextus' place. I am playing the game, but it becomes more difficult once I'm doing it publicly."

He was watching her as they settled down in the cushions, and the slaves picked up the litter and began to walk. "Yes, and time is starting to run out."

"Four days including today. I need people, I think, a network of sorts. It's not enough time to do anything but get started on that."

"What you need, lady, is an informant you can trust in Constantius' home. Any possibilities?"

She thought, ticking off possibilities. She needed someone discreet, preferably with at least a tenuous connection to her household. "If only my daughter were older...but I won't involve her so young. There are actually a few possibilities. The older of Constnatius' cousins, Gallus, might be one. He's only eight, but the boys are more or less ignored wherever they go. The cook also has a cousin who's a maid to Fausta. And Hedea, of course, but she's probably in the nursery, and so removed from the family quarters. Those are the best candidates in the household itself, and I really hate to involve Gallus."

"The cook's cousin might be the best possibility, as is Hedea. Maids hear a great deal. A boy might slip."

Livia nodded. "I think so. I'll speak to Tertia, if I can get her alone. I've always liked her, she's very quiet. I'm spending the morning in the palace, so I should have a chance. Oh, you're going to need this." She extended her hand to Darius, and he picked from her palm a shining gold pendant on a long chain. It had on its surface stamped the symbols of the family Nerius. "The badge identifies you as a servant of some standing. It will open doors in the palace for you that would otherwise be shut."

Darius raised it, giving it a spin with one of his fingers. "Nice. Spelled to come back if it's ever recalled or if it's given to someone without your specific permission?"

"Indeed. I was given five of them when I married Sextus. This is the second one I've given out; Orla has the first. Sextus' are useless to me until I can have them re-keyed to me; even Rusticus had to be given an unspelled badge." She heaved a sigh. "You don't have to wear it if you don't want to, but it's safer in the palace for you to be identified as part of the family. Constnatius' personal guard is a bit twitchy, and Fausta's is worse."

They reached the back entrance of the palace, and a silent servant ushered them up ways that Livia had never seen to the family quarters. They entered a nursery, brightly lit, which appeared to have had a small tornado hit it. They tornado in question was currently sitting in the middle of the room, playing with a pair of dolls, the morning light glinting on dark curls. Optata looked up and jumped to her feet. "Mama!" she cried. "You came!"

Darius stayed in the doorway and Livia took a few steps forward and stooped to scoop her daughter up in her arms. "Of course I came, sweetling! Of course. I am so happy to see you, I've missed you terribly." She sank to the floor, Optata's arms twined around her neck. "How do you like your new rooms? Has everyone been nice to you?"

The child nodded vigorously. "They have good things to eat. Everyone kisses and hugs me." Optata's voice would have been a purr if she were a kitten instead of a child. She was naturally affectionate and loved being petted and made much of. "Why don't you come here to live, Mama? It's big enough."

"Ah, sweetling. I can't right now, but we'll see later. I miss my girl, though, and I'm hoping to come more often now." She and her daughter continued to murmur to one another, until another servant arrived, saying in a soft voice that Fausta would like to speak with her.

Livia nodded and stood, still carrying Optata. Her daughter refused to let go of her, and Livia was by no means ready to let her go. She shifted Optata, a shiver shaking her shoulders. She hoped that Fausta was going to give her what she needed. She really didn't want to test her acting skills in bed with Constantius. She would if she had to, but if Fausta would tell her what she needed to hear...

They entered a room, Fausta's inner sanctum in the group of rooms in the palace known as the women's wing, a room quite separate from the bedchamber she shared with her husband. It was dressed in rich colors and soft fabrics, as feminine as the woman herself. Fausta was a small woman, scarcely larger than child-sized, her gold hair meticulously braided into plaits and wrapped around her head. She was easily one of the prettiest women that Livia had ever laid eyes on, a daughter of one of the oldest and most noble families in Constantinople, an offshoot of a family based in Rome itself. That family had gifted her with a modicum of intelligence, but she had not been raised with the same political will that Livia had. She had never been expected to play the game of politics in her own right, only support her husband.

Fausta's enduring interest was philosophy, which Livia had little patience for. Mind games, was all it was. But Fausta loved to argue minor points of philosophy for hours and had a near-encyclopedic knowledge of all of the important philosophers of what seemed like the last five hundred years. She was generous with her favorite thinkers, and one of her ambitions in life was to help make Constantinople a center of thought and debate that would long outlive her. Livia wished her well, but her concern was generally on more practical matters.

Fausta waved her hand at a low couch. "Welcome, Livia," she said. "I am glad to see you, though I am very sorry for your loss. I will miss him greatly. How are you doing?" But her eyes were not on Livia but Optata, who shifted as Livia sat down. Optata curled up on Livia's lap, her warm weight utterly trusting, one small, sticky hand wrapped around Livia's thumb.

Livia glanced at the door, which was cracked just a bit. She'd left Darius on the other side. "Thank you, dear. I'm holding up. And you? How are you dealing with this little hellion I've gifted you with?"

"She is a delight, but you knew that." They spoke for a while about how Optata was settling in, until the loosening of Optata's hand around her thumb let Livia know that her daughter had fallen asleep.

Livia looked down at her daughter's curly head, and then back at the woman who sat across from her. "I'm scared, Fausta. The gulagon came back, and it was looking for Optata." She as watching Fausta as she spoke. Had Constantius told her what happened?

Fausta nodded. "I have heard of the second attack. It was very lucky that you agreed to have us take Optata. Or it may have been worse yet."

"It is very lucky, indeed. Constnatius' offer was more than generous, though I miss Optata quite a bit. I still don't know who could have wanted to take vengeance on Sextus so badly as to be able to call a gulagon twice."

Fausta sat perfectly still. "I don't know much about mage things, but I know that it has been occupying my husband's mind greatly. There is not a day that goes by that he isn't meeting with some member or other of Hagia Sophia."

"The highly-placed ones, I assume? The council of twelve, I've heard they're called. Strange people, mages." She was gently probing Fausta, trying to draw her out.

The other woman nodded, her mouth going tight. "Yes, very strange people and some of their bodyguards can make you run in terror just to look at them."

"Truly? What do the bodyguards look like?"

"Several of them have horrible scars but the worst ones are those that don't look human. Terrible looking creatures, almost like rats on two legs." Fausta shuddered dramatically.

Livia grimaced and shifted Optata in her arms. Her daughter murmured in protest but didn't wake. "Ick! Who ever heard of rats that walk on their hind legs, and these I assume large as a man. I wonder what they are, have you heard anyone call them anything?" Her mind was working. Were these the creatures Diya had mentioned, those that looked as though they did not often run on two legs?

"No, but some whisper that they were human and are experiments of Hagia Sophia. Worse still are those that come with strange eyes. Eyes that are slitted or strangely colored." There was anxiety and something else in Fausta's voice. Livia knew that she'd have to come back to the people with the strange eyes in order to keep Fausta calm, but within herself she was thinking, oh, gods, there's more than one person with slitted eyes out there...

She swallowed and forced her voice to remain normal. "Mages are strange people, indeed. Has Constantius said anything about why he's meeting with so many members of Hagia Sophia? Trying to track down who killed Sextus, I assume. And probably arranging to add to the fortifications on the palace."

Fausta nodded. "Fortifications, for one. He has nearly sealed Optata's room up from magic of any sort. and I am sure he is looking hard for Sextus's murderer but I have only heard him speak about the fortifications so far. It has consumed him, his fear for you daughter." There was no awareness in Fausta's eyes of anything unusual about her statement.

Her mind working, Livia stored away the thought for later and asked, "I wonder what he fears? The demon, yes, but who else would strike at her--well, unless they were trying to get to him. I'm sure there must be a reason, though. Constantius has never been paranoid without reason that I know of." She looked down at Optata and said, "Though it seems like the children of the regents have been going missing quite a bit lately."

"It has, I have heard that both Constantine and Constans have lost a son recently in very strange circumstances." Now it was Fausta who was watching Livia, her avid eyes searching for her reaction.

"That's sad to hear. Constans has only the one son, as I recall, it must be devastating."

Fausta's eyes were on Optata as she replied, "Very devastating indeed. I don't know what I would be like if I lost my...your child."

Livia bristled. For a moment, her anger at this woman who was claiming her daughter for her own threatened to break through the wall of emotional control within her. I gave her up, she told herself. She is officially theirs, I am no relation to her any more. But she'd carried this child for nine long months, had seen her through her childhood illnesses and temper tantrums, and she was hers.

But Fausta was her friend, and she obviously loved Optata. She schooled that anger to silence and replied as if she had not noticed the slip. "It's hard enough to lose a husband to death. But to lose one's only child...I'm not certain I would be able to go on, afterwards."

"Yes, a husband who at least had some life, but to cut a child down before they have even lived, that would be a greater tragedy."

Silence fell between them as they both listened to a pair of slippered feet go by in the corridor. Livia asked, "You know, you mentioned that some of the mages' bodyguards have strange eyes. Are they supposedly Hagia Sophia experiments, as well?"

Slowly, Fausta shook her head. "No, some of them seem to be mages, they would give orders to the creatures."

They were back on familiar ground, now. "I wonder what foul magic could give rise to such things. How many of the strange-eyed ones are there?"

"Only two that I saw, but they were enough." Fausta shuddered again, this time in genuine disgust.

Gently, calmingly, Livia said, "I'm sure they'd be enough for anyone. Perhaps they used to be human."

Fausta's voice shook. "Perhaps, but I doubt much human is behind those eyes anymore."

There was the fear. Livia could bet that Fausta had run into the people with slitted eyes, possibly one of them being Geras. She turned the conversation slightly. She'd come back to them later. "No, it certainly doesn't sound like it. Has Constantius said why he's so afraid for Optata? Other than the fact that the children of the other regents have gone missing?"

"He fears that if the demon was still looking for her at your house, it may soon come here."

"It might, at that. He's having someone check her room for demon sigils every night, correct?"

Fausta shifted. "Yes, he had the room warded against anything that isn't human, I believe he said."

"And human threats...there are guards for those." There was something here, but what? Livia fought the urge to twitch her nose. There was a scent of something that wasn't quite adding up. All right, Fausta love, give me what I need.

"Yes he has many guards now. More every day. And more mages." Fausta made a face, twisting her small mouth in aristocratic disdain. "They come and go with such regularity, you would think we were running an inn." She sniffed, obviously disapproving. But not frightened.

There it was, the thing that didn't add up. Fausta trusted her husband implicitly, but Livia knew that the situation she described was dangerous. Better to have a smaller number of guards that could be trusted than to hire many that might be something else in disguise. The palace had always been closely guarded, but with so many people coming and going, there would be opportunity for those with ill intentions to strike. But Livia made a face back at Fausta, showing sympathy with her. "More of them every time you turn around, eh?"

"Yes, very much so." Fausta's hands moved restlessly, showing irritation in their fretting movements.

"You said that Constantine and Constans have both lost sons in strange circumstances--I heard somewhat about Constan's son, but not Constantine's. What happened?"

Fausta's hands continued to fret, but otherwise her countenance was as still as a pool of water. "Ah yes, the night that Sextus died, Constantine's son was out doing as young men do. Drinking far too much from what I understand. He wandered too far from the main roads on he way back and was attacked by Sassenids they say. He hasn't been seen since. We all fear he is dead."

The regret in Livia's voice was genuine. She'd always liked Constantine, the oldest of Constnantine the Elder's sons. He'd been kind to her a few times when she'd been younger. "Oh, that's too bad. What's Constantine planning to do about it? I can imagine he's frantic, imagining the worst."

Fausta's brows drew together momentarily before training took over and her forehead smoothed. "I would have expected him to do something rash and he usually does, like kill every Sassenid in the city but he didn't. So far he has said and done nothing. Which makes me believe that he either knows who killed him or has received some ransom demand."

"God willing, it's the latter rather than the former. I'd have expected him to try to destroy the Sassenid quarter, as well." Thinking about it, she added, "Which would likely lead to outright war with the Sassenids."

"Which may be why he hasn't done it yet. I do hear that the mages are involved in Constantine's household as well."

"I'm sure they are." She wondered if she could risk a probe, and decided that Fausta was relaxed enough that she might answer her questions. "I don't know, Hagia Sophia has always been such a law unto itself. It seems a trifle dangerous to have them in such numbers so close. But I suppose Constantius and Constantine are confident of their power over them."

Fausta looked down, her voice dropping low. "I would hope so. But they wield such terrible power."

Livia nodded, catching Fausta's eyes. If her suspicions were true, she needed to plant a seed of doubt in the other woman's mind. "They do. And they can work in concert to wield even more, I've heard. I've even heard that some of them can affect the mind, make you see and hear things that aren't there." She did give Darius his due, saying, "Though, I think the one they sent me is a decent sort. They come in all types, I suppose."

The other woman had pulled her arms in close to her body. She looked away, out the window. "I wish that Hagia Sophia didn't exist. It frightens me sometimes."

You and me both, dear, she thought. "I think demons currently scare me more than mages. but the slitted-eyed ones, they sound very scary indeed. Do they ever speak to you?"

Fausta looked back at her, and Livia was struck by the look of frightened disgust in her eyes. "The big one has, very crudely," she said quietly.

Livia shuddered in solidarity. "Ugh. And Constantius didn't have him punished for it?"

She swallowed and looked down. "No, I didn't tell him. He had enough to worry about."

"I don't know. It might be wise for him to be wary of that one, it sounds like. I wouldn't like having him near me."

Anything that Fausta might have said in response was interrupted when Optata woke and stirred, stretching. She slid off of Livia's lap and started chattering sleepily, and the conversation turned to the antics of children and other, less dangerous subjects.

After Livia left Fausta's chambers, she walked Optata back to the nursery, Darius following silently at their heels. The child looked up, her eyes wide, and asked, "Are you Herakles?"

The mage laughed quietly. "No, child. I guard your mother and keep her safe."

Optata blinked and said, "Oh." She seemed to want to ask more questions, but was unsure if she would be allowed to. She had learned the lessons Livia had taught her well--to always think before speaking, to learn as much as she could from her surroundings before asking a direct question. When Livia returned on another day, she was sure Optata would ask more questions of Darius.

In the nursery, she had a quiet conference with Hedea, who called in Tertia, the cook's cousin. Both women readily agreed to pass along anything strange that they witnessed or heard to Livia. "And try to get her to tell Constantius about the comment that the strange-eyed one made to her. He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near her."

"You know of him, lady?" asked Tertia, her brow furrowing. The maid was a stout woman with long-fingered hands that were constantly in motion.

Livia nodded. "I've heard a bit. Enough to know that whatever he is, he is dangerous."

Finally, Livia kissed Optata, holding on to her for a long moment, until the child squirmed in her arms and complained that Livia was holding her too tightly. Livia released her, and felt once more the pain in her heart that was quickly becoming familiar.

She collected Darius and went out the same way they'd come in, through corridors that were silent and largely empty. She didn't know what Constnatius had done to keep such a mob of people as Fausta had described out of the halls, but whatever it was, it had been effective.

Outside, as the litter rocked its way towards home, she said to Darius, "Well, that was certainly enlightening. Constantine's and Constans' sons both going missing the same night. Geras and his priest in the palace. Constnatius being paranoid about my daughter's safety. And people who look like overgrown rats. Do you know what Geras is, what has those eyes?"

Darius nodded. "Geras experimented for many years with crossing animal traits with humans. He dabbled with it on himself, which led to his being asked to leave Hagia Sophia."

"Ah. Would he have anything to do with the people who look like a cross between rats and people?"

"Yes, he was experimenting with them and inadvertently created were-creatures. Now they run rampant in the Sassenid section of town." His hand rose and he briefly touched the symbol of Hagia Sophia that he wore. "Mages use them to find out information, as they can get in and out of places that most people can't."

"Creepy. And now, evidently, he's been invited back to Hagia Sophia--or he's been telling Constantius he has been."

"His return can only mean that a shift in power has occurred in the council." Darius' eyes were distant as he spoke. "Most hated him, but a few supported his experiments."

Livia sighed. "One more confirmation that something going on inside the council. We don't know yet how much influence he wields with them at the moment, either. That I'd need to ask Julia to find out, I think." She made a face. "And it sounds like whatever Geras is, the priest he has with him is the same thing."

"Probably converted like Geras was."

The litter rocked, moving at a steady pace through the streets. "There's something very strange going on at the palace," Livia said. "I gave Fausta as much warning as I dared, but Constantius isn't telling her everything. What he's doing is out of character even for him, I think. He usually wouldn't bring so many people he doesn't know into the palace all at once. Too much chance that one or many of them are spies or assassins."

He scratched the back of his neck, evidently thinking. "I wonder if he has been compromised in some way. Magically taken over perhaps. More of a god magic ring to it though. But Geras does run with a cleric."

Livia considered the idea and turned it over in her mind. "It's a thought," she said slowly. "If Constnatius is a puppet for Geras--or Hagia Sophia as a whole--right now, it could explain the strange way he's been acting. And it might explain why the council is acquiescing to his demands--because they're controlling the demands he's making."

"Makes sense, which means that the council may have ordered him to make you his new advisor. But that seems out of place."

"That does seems strange." She shifted in her seat, careful not to unbalance the litter. "Or, possibly, making me his advisor was something he did with whatever free will he has left. though...that's also out of place. I'm not certain he has such a high opinion of me.

"Did he know something was up and placed you there because you would investigate and not leave it alone, like a new advisor would? A new advisor wouldn't care how he got the job, just that he did."

It made sense, and she felt a theory assembling itself in her mind. "He'd know I wouldn't be able to rest till I knew what had happened. And if someone is trying to frame Constantius, they have gone to quite the lengths to do so."

Darius nodded. "Hence his reasoning. But I still don't know what side he is on."

"Neither do I. Still hoping he's on ours." She twisted her mouth.

From the sounds outside the curtains, they were nearing home. Darius said, "This makes some sense though. Now he has something to lose, and whoever is doing this now has two other sons to hang over the other regents--and now your daughter over Constantius. Keeping all the regents under their thumb."

Livia pursed her lips. "Everything keeps leading us back to Hagia Sophia. They're playing some kind of game, but I don't know what their goal is quite yet."

"Nor do I. And they wanted to send Agias in my place to you. But was that to protect you, or to kill you?"

She remembered something Julia had said a few days ago. "Julia seemed to think that it was possible that whoever they sent might want to kill me in my sleep."

"Agias specializes in destructive spells. I wasn't appointed to you until the very last minute. It is possible that the gulagon was sent and Agias was supposed to kill it and possibly take you out with it. A convenient accident and one that makes the council look good."

Livia drew a deep breath in through her nose. "Whatever game the council is playing, I really, really don't like it. Of course, it could all be very innocent, after all." She tapped her tongue behind her teeth. "Hm. Do you report back to them, at all?"

Darius shook his head. "Only to Julia."

She narrowed her eyes, thinking. She knew this game, information and misinformation. "It would take a very delicate balance of misinformation to lead the council to believe that I truly thought that Constantius had Sextus killed without giving them any actual evidence. I've no doubt they're watching me."

He snorted gently. "I have no doubt about it either, and if I start blocking them they will get suspicious."

"But why *me*, is what I want to know. Whoever sent the gulagon the second time told it not to harm me. That bothers me. And the demon said "they", as if there was more than one person who had sent it. It argues for Geras and his nameless priest, but at the same time, if what we're thinking about is true, he has every reason to want me dead...unless he's playing another game under the one I think he's playing."

"Knowing a bit about Geras, I think he is playing several games." Darius spoke carefully, as if he were exerting a vast amount of emotional control. What he was controlling, Livia could not guess.

She shook her head as a theory spun itself together. "Hm. Leave me alive to find the carefully prepared trail leading me to suspect Constantius. Leave me alive to take Constnatius down in vengeance--build a coalition among the senators, or just simply kill him. Grieving widow finds out her husband's best friend ordered his death, kills him for revenge."

"Eliminating one of the regents and him with control of the other two."

Livia nodded. "Very neat, and Hagia Sophia's name isn't invoked."

Darius nodded as the litter came to a stop and was carefully set down. "Yes, seems that way."

"It's a working theory, anyway." Livia watched Darius rise and exit the litter before her, one hand on his sword. She followed him into the house, where they were met by Orla.

"Lady, a message came for you while you were gone. The messenger would not leave without a reply," said Orla as she handed Livia a tightly rolled piece of paper.

Livia nodded and went into Sextus' office--her office now, she supposed. She closed the door behind her, and sat down to break the seal. She read the contents, and her eyes widened.

Dearest Livia, I am sorry for your loss of your husband Sextus. But in your time of mourning I must ask if you are continuing on the course your husband laid out before him. You may be unaware of what I am speaking about but I would like to discuss it with you and see if you wish to proceed. Please respond tonight with a meeting place of your choosing.

Lukas

Her heart thumped painfully as she stared at the message. After a frozen minute or two, she rose and opened the door, asking the guard outside to fetch Darius. When he came, she silently handed him the message and waited while he read it. When he looked up, she said, "Looks like he beat us to contacting him."

He handed the message back to her. "Looks like it. Must be important. Got a site in mind for the meeting? He must be desperate, he is still under penalty of death if he is caught."

Livia nodded. "The Sassenid quarter, perhaps. We've been down there enough recently that it wouldn't be out of character, and I think I recall an inn or two that looked likely, if you think you might be able to secure it against eavesdroppers. My other thought would be outside of the city, but I don't know the land at all and have no idea what a good place would be."

"I do know the outside of the city pretty well. It might be safer to meet him there." He took a seat as Livia turned to the desk and got out writing materials.

"I'm willing to go if you can think of a good location for it. I agree, it would be safer," she said.

"Write him back and tell him to meet us at the oni oasis. He will know what that means. It's not really an oasis, just a place where a single date palm grows against the odds."

She nodded and began to write. "I will. I believe suggesting a place outside of the city will also indicate to him that I do know something of what's going on."

"What time? We will need to go out with the merchants in the Sassenid quarter. They are tossed out of the city at sundown and can only get in at sunrise."

Livia frowned, lines creasing her forehead. "Do we plan to spend the night outside, then? How long would it take to get to the oasis from the gates?"

"Not long. It's less than a mile, about fifteen minutes walking." He gave her a long and measuring look. "Yes, we are going to have to sleep outside the city."

She nodded, and the lines on her forehead did not disappear. "A half hour after sundown, then? That gives us time to get there. Fortunately, it's still summer. Though if it's just the two of us, and it should be....ah, well. I can do rumor management later."

"Yes, that would be good." He watched her as she bent over the paper, scratching out a script. "I would suggest, lady, that you feign illness and withdraw to bed. I will come to you and we will have to sneak out."

Still writing, she said, "That can be done. Orla will need to know, she can cover for me. There's a back way out of the house that's little-used, but I have the key."

"Good, and find clothing that matches or could match Sassenid clothing. You'll need that pair of daggers I gave you, in the leg sheaths. And bring money."

She scratched out a signature and said, "Orla can help with the clothing, and I'll pull out some money. How much are we talking about?"

He raised his hand, tilting it. "Not that much. A few gold as a donation to his cause, a few more in case we run into trouble. I will meet you at the back door about forty-five minutes before sundown."

She nodded, dripping wax onto the roll in preparation for her seal. "Take this out to one of the maids and tell them to give it to the messenger, please?"

He nodded and withdrew. Livia stood, stretched, and then gave a low moan and doubled over. She pressed her lips together and stood gingerly upright. The maids would know she was having her courses, and she was often seized with cramps during them. It was as good an excuse as any to take to her bed. She walked, partly doubled over, towards her chambers. One of the maids stopped her, laying her hand on Livia's shoulder and asking, "Are you all right, my lady?"

Livia shook her head. "Please, would you fetch Orla for me? I am retiring to my chambers." The maid nodded and took to her heels. In half an hour, the entire household would know that she was ill, which was exactly what she wanted.

When Orla came to her chambers, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "What's wrong, Livia?" she asked.

"Nothing, actually," she responded. At Orla's raised eyebrow, she said, "I need to leave the house tonight, and quietly. Will you help me?"

The other woman crossed her arms. "Child, I've known you since you were small. I know when you're up to something, and I want to know what it is."

Livia looked away from her. "It's better if you don't know, Orla. Safer for you if you can claim ignorance. If the worst happens, I want you to be able to say with honesty that you had no idea what I was doing."

"That may work for the others, child, but it won't work for me." She sat next to Livia, putting her hands on her shoulders. "I can't help if you keep me ignorant, but if I know what's going on, I can possibly help, and help keep the household running."

Livia resisted for a moment, and then leaned into Orla. "There is something going on. I'm following the trail that Sextus left for me, and it's leading me into places and into things that I never even had a clue existed. I don't know who killed him yet, but I'm getting closer to finding out, I think. Tonight, I'm going out of the city walls for the night, to talk to a man who may be able to tell me something of what Sextus was trying to do right before he died."

Orla's eyes narrowed. "You're going to spend the night outside the wall--with Darius?"

"I trust him, Orla. I don't think he's going to compromise my virtue."

"It doesn't matter if he does or not." She'd pulled away from Livia and was looking at her sternly. "The look of it is everything. If rumor has any evidence to support it, you will be ruined."

"I know. But it might come in handy--a small scandal to distract everyone. Lovey, I mostly know what I'm doing. Please trust me. There are larger games going on, and I'm doing my best."

Orla looked at her for another long moment. "All right. What do you need?"

Livia took a breath. "I need some clothes--Sassenid women's clothes, and a veil. And in a couple of hours, I need the halls of the house to be clear for about ten minutes. I and Darius will be back just after dawn, and I'll need something to change into at the back door."

Orla pursed her lips. "It'll take me an hour or so, but I can lay hands on those. The house will be more difficult, but I'll think of something. I take it you're going to be ill and sleeping?"

"Yes. Thank you, Orla. It means more than I can say."

She smiled briefly at Livia and left her to curl up in her bed, closing her eyes though she did not expect to sleep.

The robes were strange, and smelled dusty. She settled them on her shoulders, and without comment Orla stood behind her and braided her hair back with practiced fingers. She then wrapped a long piece of cloth around her head, then attached a veil to it that covered her hair. Beneath that, Livia fastened a veil that went across her face.

In the polished mirror, Livia could see her face transformed by the veil. "My skin is too fair," she muttered. "It should pass if nobody looks too closely, though." She pulled out the pot of smudge that she used to disguise the pale bands where her rings usually sat. She made a note to find some makeup that would darken her skin. She thought that she might not be done with this disguise after this night.

She looked in the mirror again and tugged at the veil over her face. "I'm ready," she muttered. "Another half hour, Orla, and I'll need the halls cleared."

Orla nodded and then turned Livia around, her hands on her shoulders, looking at her critically. "Remember to keep your eyes down, child. And good luck." Swiftly, she bent forward and kissed Livia on the cheek, then turned and left the room.

She slipped down to the back door, Orla having worked temporary magic with the house to keep the corridors clear. She unlocked the back door and went through, shutting and locking it behind her. Darius was in the shadow by the back door, and nodded at her as she came out. "Ready?" he asked.

"As I'll ever be." She smiled at him, forgetting he couldn't see her mouth behind the veil. He was wearing Sassenid trousers and shirt, both in subdued colors. "Make haste, lady. We have a distance to go."

Livia fell in beside him, feeling the leather straps of the leg sheaths around her calves. The daggers were a comforting weight, and Darius held a long cloth-wrapped package that she knew held his sword. She was nervous, and both of them suspected that this was a trap. They were as prepared as they could be.

She and Darius found and fell into the stream of people leaving the Sassenid quarter as the sun slid down behind the mighty walls of Constantinople. Livia kept her head down, trailing along a half-step behind Darius' bulk. As they passed through the great south gate, a shiver of nervousness shook her shoulders. She had never been outside of the walls of the city when she wasn't in an enclosed conveyance of some sort. Alone except for Darius, with no more defenses than the two of them could muster, and the great expanse of land around them making her feel small and exposed. They broke off from the crowd, heading northwest, towards where the land became dryer, a bit inland.

About a mile later, they came to a place where she could see a single tree against the horizon. Beneath it was a shadow, vaguely human-shaped. She took a slow breath, and raised her arm to wave.

The figure waved back. Livia unfastened the veil across her face as they drew closer and said, "Lukas?"

"Yes, Livia?" came the calm, smooth voice of the man beneath the tree. It was a voice that wrapped around the soul, that said trust me. He looked to be in his late fifties, strong Roman features with skin tanned to almost the color of a Sassenid's, his hair once dark going to a steel grey.

Livia tried to calm her nerves, and said, "I am glad to meet you. This is Darius, my bodyguard. I was actually beginning to look for you when you contacted me. The timing was quite coincidental."

He smiled. "Ah good, are we ready to go then for tomorrow? I was beginning to wonder, when Sextus didn't show up and then I found out he had been killed. I had hoped that someone would come."

She blinked. "I'm afraid that you're going to back up. I am aware of some of what Sextus was up to, but by no means all of it. He left a trail, but he told me nothing before he died. I was trying to contact you in order to ask you what your dealings had been with him."

He closed his mouth and gave her a look that mixed sternness and concern. Livia fought against the urge to simply give in and trust this man. She felt immediately at home in his presence; he reminded her of the priest who had occasionally visited the house when she was young. "Sextus never told you what he was doing? How far back do I need to go? Had he ever spoken of me?"

"No, he never mentioned your name, and it wasn't even in the papers he left behind. As far as I knew, he was an advisor to Constnatius. I've found out many things, but everything I've discovered so far has led me to believe that I'm only seeing the very smallest part of what he was doing." Darius moved behind her, the sense of his presence retreating a bit, still in earshot but keeping an eye out across the dry land.

He shook his head. "I too have very few clues but he was up to something big. I saw him infrequently from when he was about fifteen on, until last year. Then I started hearing from him on a nearly weekly basis. His wounds sometimes were remarkable. But he was very clear that I should make the scars as small as possible. But he never told me what he was doing."

Livia put her hand over her mouth in startlement. "His wounds? Wounds from what?"

"Battles, I assume. Knife wounds, sword wounds. Magic wounds from missiles and things. Took an arrow out his shoulder the day before he died."

She stared, and she knew she'd gone pale. "I knew nothing of this. Perhaps we should start at the beginning. How did you meet him?" Was this ever going to start to make sense? The thought echoed in her mind again, as it had many times in the last five days, Sextus, what were you doing?

Lukas ran his hand through his hair. "Now that's been awhile. I met him when he was 15. He was a friend of my son Linaeus. Linaeus, Sextus and Geras were nearly inseparable as boys."

The name Geras hit her like a blow, almost physically knocking the wind out of her. She stammered, "I...never heard him mention either of their names. Strange, that people who were so important to him when he was younger would never have been mentioned."

There was concern in Lukas' eyes, but he did not reach out to steady her. "Bad memories sometimes do that to you. Long about when they were seventeen, it happened for them all. Linaeus came to me with a badly wounded Sextus. From the story that I could gather from the two of them. Geras and Sextus had argued about a girl. A Sassenid girl. It came to blows and Geras lashed out with magic. Sextus ran a blade across Geras's eyes. Blinded him. Geras lurched off into the darkness and Sextus collapsed. Linaeus did the only thing he knew and brought him to me. I saved his life, but I forbade Linaeus to ever see Geras again. Geras was expelled from Hagia Sophia by Julia. His punishment left him blind and his father denounced him." He shook his head again, his eyes distant. "I later found that Linaeus was helping keep Geras alive by feeding him and so on. Sextus turned his back on Geras forever and Linaeus was forced to choose between his friends. He chose Geras. We fought and Linaeus left. I had hoped that he would follow the teachings of Hera and become a healer but Geras's influence turned him to the ways of Ares. We have not spoken since, my son and I."

Livia swayed. She knew, somewhere, that she needed to be strong, to stand fast, to keep her wits about her. But the story was making a terrible sort of sense. Lukas asked, "You seem a bit stunned lady. Are you still with me?"

She swallowed. "I--I am. Dear gods. Geras had a very personal reason to want vengeance against Sextus. Do you have any idea where Geras and Linaeus went?"

"I don't know for sure. I had heard they left for Ankara many years back but my exile interrupted my information flow. I do know that my son restored Geras's sight, but the cost gave him slitted eyes. Sextus saved me from the stake that night so many years ago when Constantine tried to burn me. He disguised himself and turned the crowd to a mob and Constantine was very put out. He never figured out who did it."

Despite the quickly cooling air, Livia felt as if the robes she was wearing were stifling her. She said, "I am....startled at the depths of my ignorance. I believe that both Geras and Linaeus are currently in Constantinople."

She saw his eyebrow twitch upward. "That can only spell evil again. I would bet that Geras had something to do with Sextus's death."

"I think he may have been directly responsible, actually. Sextus was killed by a gulagon, a vengeance demon. I believe Geras himself sent it." And now she had a reason why Geras would have sent the gulagon.

"That would be very like Geras," he agreed, letting out a slow breath. "Geras was a evil child then, and worse now."

Her mind, temporarily stunned, seemed to be working again. "And he's back in the good graces of Hagia Sophia, as well. There is something going on here, but I can't see everything yet."

Lukas frowned. "It would have taken a near act of Hera herself to get Geras back into Hagia Sophia. How did he manage that?"

She tucked her hands under her arms, despite feeling too warm. "I don't know yet, but I may be able to find out. when I find that out, I'll probably be much closer to finding out what's actually going on here." The stars were beginning to come out overhead, she noted absently, as true night began to fall.

"One can only hope. Geras was a evil child, then and worse now."

She gritted her teeth, trying to bring herself back to the moment. "So what was Sextus supposed to do tomorrow?"

"Two days ago, actually. He came to me the day he died and begged me to come into the city. He had a friend that was dying. I can only hope that the friend is still alive."

Ah, no. She thought she knew what he was going to say, but she asked the question. "Did he mention who the friend was, at all?"

"A woman, I believe. Meryl, Merak, something like that."

Her voice was hollow. "Merouk. The Sassenid woman that Sextus and Geras fought over. The mother of his older daughter."

Lukas nodded. "Yes, that would be her. Is she still alive?"

"She was yesterday--gods, was that only yesterday? Her daughter is caring for her."

"Then there may still be time. Her condition was bad, Sextus said. A wasting disease that she contracted from a rape."

She nodded. "Yes, that's what Diya said. She seems to be lucid very little of the time, now. I know where she is, and can take you there if you are still willing to go."

Behind her, she could feel Darius draw a breath. "A word in private, lady?" he asked.

She glanced over her shoulder, and saw the look on his face. "Of course. A moment, please, Lukas." She stepped away from Lukas, Darius following closely behind. When they were out of earshot, she asked, "What is it, Darius?"

His voice was low and urgent. "You can't be serious lady. You are going to take a known criminal into the city and get him out again? If we are caught we all hang, or burn as the case may be."

"That's only if we're caught." She looked askance at him. "I'm working on the how to get him in and out. I don't know what Sextus had planned, and without that..."

"And what if Merouk is already dead? You could be doing this for nothing." He glanced over his shoulder.

Livia crossed her arms. "I know. We don't have any way to find out, unfortunately, being on the wrong side of the walls tonight."

Darius spread his hands. "And what about Lukas? If he dies a great deal of people are going to die, without his help."

That barb hit home, and Livia closed her eyes. He was right. Gods damn it all, but he was right. "I...suppose it is possible that Sextus was willing to risk much for sentiment. I wish we could bring her out here, it would be much safer." She opened her eyes and saw Darius looking at her, his eyes almost--worried, perhaps?

"You and I both saw her. She can't be moved. She would scream out most likely being moved."

"And she's probably too fragile to be drugged to sleep through that." Livia pursed her lips, cold beginning to overwhelm the sense of stifling heat that was still wrapping her.

He shook his head. "She wouldn't survive that. I am willing, lady, to do whatever you need, but I thought I should point out the problems and consequences."

Livia dropped her voice low. "Do you have any idea what Diya would do, though, if she discovered I'd had the means to help her mother and didn't? Damn, I wish I knew why Sextus had decided to chance bringing Lukas into the city."

"Merouk is dying. He wanted to save her. Without Merouk, he would have to come forth as the father or Diya would be put on the streets, or worse, made a slave. And you know what happens to young women who become slaves, especially Sassenids."

She did know. The brothels of Constantinople, illegal though they were, were filled with young female slaves who had the misfortune to have become slaves in their early teens. She shook her head. "Unless she and Esayis could escape. I think he was working that angle, too--I think that's why he was meeting with Constans."

"A good bet, but he didn't complete it before he died."

She took a long breath. "I think that he didn't decide it was safe to bring Lukas inside, I think he thought Lukas was his last hope."

Darius nodded, then shrugged. "I think you are right but the question, is what do you do now? Merouk will surely die, but bringing Lukas in may kill us all."

Livia dug her fingers into her upper arms, thinking hard. She ran through the odds, weighing the wordless equation in her head. "I hate to admit it, but you're right. I need to be able to protect Diya when Merouk dies, though. "

Darius nodded. "Again, lady, I will do as you wish. Diya can be taken into the house, lady, and made to look like a servant."

Irrationally, Livia wished that just once he'd call her by her name. Ah, I'm a fool among fools, she thought irritably. He keeps that distance between us, as is only proper. I cannot afford to have him any closer. That irritation came out in her voice. "If she's willing, that is. Sextus didn't have that option, because it would have required him explaining to me who she was. Which was, evidently, something not to be contemplated." If she'd seen him at that moment, she honestly didn't know if she'd kiss him or slap him for keeping such secrets on them.

"She may be willing but if this conversation ever gets back to her, even the very whisper that we had the power to save her mother, she will hate you forever."

She twisted her mouth. "She will. No amount of protesting will make her believe that I didn't withhold hope out of spite for Merouk. I'll have been responsible for her death, after all. I don't want Diya to be an enemy, but I don't think we can chance bringing Lukas into the city." She took a breath. "If it were just me that would burn, I'd chance it. But it's not just me."

Darius inclined his head. "I agree, lady, but now you have to convince Lukas."

"Right. Well, let's see if I can do this." She breathed in, then turned and walked towards Lukas, Darius a large shadow on her heels. "We have a problem, Lukas. Getting you in and out of the city is going to be difficult and dangerous, for all of us. If we're caught, we all burn. I hate to say this, but Sextus' friend may need to go without your attentions. It is...not the decision I'd have preferred to make."

Lukas' face went hard. "You can't, lady. Sextus was insistent. I owe him my life. It is the least I can do, to try to save his friend."

"If we're caught, she dies--and so does everyone else that you would be able to otherwise save."

His eyes were narrowed. "But it is a life I can save today, and only the promise of saving those in the future."

Livia shook her head. "A promise that I'm sure you'll be able to fulfill if you manage to stay alive. Sextus, I think, wanted to protect his daughter. I can do that for him. But you going inside the walls is too much of a risk. I can see the odds, and they're not good."

Lukas had dropped his voice, anger entering it. Livia quailed. He sounded like her father had when he was genuinely angry with her. "Your mage counseled you to this. I can tell. They are always thinking of themselves and their own skins. Never a thought of the dying, just how can they gain more power. Damn any that get in their way."

Livia crossed her arms, gritting her teeth. "And? I think he's right. My daughter just lost her father. I won't have her lose her mother, not so soon." She wanted to agree with Lukas; deep within herself she thought the right thing to do was to somehow get him into the city. too dangerous. Too risky. Gods, Diya, I'm so sorry about this.

"But you will have another girl's mother die, and her father just did." His expression was still hard and angry.

"There are no good decisions here, I admit. I think the reason Sextus was willing to bring you into the city was because he knew that he was about to die. Die getting caught with you, or die being dismembered by a demon...I suppose it doesn't make any difference. And there's this. Of everyone in Constantinople, only we can see that Geras is--up to something. I'm in a position to possibly be able to stop him, if I find out what it is."

His mouth twisted in disdain. "And you are going to take the easy way out and do nothing? What price will you pay, then? One life? One hundred?"

She ground her teeth. "The greater good, Lukas. Do you want Geras possibly in control of the entire empire? Can you imagine what kind of a place that would turn this into?"

"No, but is it worth the sacrifice of one life? or the sacrifice of your soul?" He met her eyes, looking deep into them. It was almost as if he was looking into her soul. "You won't sleep well again if you do this."

"In the end, what happens to me isn't important. As long as what is happening is stopped." She took a long breath, hugging her body tighter, looking away from his intent gaze. "I don't actually ever plan on sleeping well again, Lukas."

"There is little I can do to change your mind. If I knew where she was I would go myself, but I don't." Livia felt tears sting her eyes as she considered her victory, hollow as it was. "Come back to my camp and I will get you the medicine that Sextus was taking to her. It wasn't working anymore, but maybe I can up the dose or give you something that will end her pain for good."

Quietly, she replied, "All right."

He turned and walked away, his back straight and his shoulders stiff. They followed him, Livia keeping her eyes on the ground, ignoring the brilliant stars overhead. They came to a camp, a small gathering of tents, quiet in the gathering night with very few fires. As they walked in, people came out of tents, standing and staring at them. There were perhaps thirty of them in all. Darius led them to a tent and silently held the flap aside. From a chest in the corner of the tent, he produced two vials, two blue glass and one clear.

"The two are for her, one today and a quarter of one for the next four days. I will have more brewed by then. If the pain is too great, and it may come to that, give her a quarter of the clear bottle. She will fall asleep and never awaken again." He held out the vials and Livia took them.

"Thank you. I'll take these to her tomorrow." She closed her hand around the vials.

His eyes were perhaps not as hard as they had been, but they were still grave. "If she starts to cough blood, give her the clear one. There is nothing I can do at that point. May Hera have mercy on her soul, and yours." He turned away, then looked over his shoulder. "You and your mage can spend the night. You will be safe."

"I'm not sure any of the gods are looking upon me with kindness in their eyes. And that would be welcome."

He shook his head. "I may be angry now, Livia, but if you ever need help again, I will always assist the wife of Sextus." He stepped out of the tent, closing the flap behind him, leaving her and Darius alone.

She dropped onto a stool, folding herself in half, wrapping her arms around her head, struggling to keep her breath even and calm. She shook, the force of the decision she'd made hitting her. Finally, she took a deep breath and sat up, shoving away the turmoil in her soul. "Well, now we have two people who might have summoned the gulagon--Constnatius, if he knew about the spying, and Geras on his own. I wonder how many more we'll find?"

There was another stool, and Darius sat down in it, somewhat gingerly. "I am beginning to think that we might find more than I care to, but at least we know more know than we did." He looked over at her, and Livia wondered what he saw, her pale and shaking. "You made the right decision. Might not feel like it, but you did."

"I'll never be able to explain it to Diya. I know you're right, but..." She shook her head. "Never mind. I can't dwell on it or I'm going to change my mind. We have a name for the priest who Geras keeps company with, at least, and a reason for him to have replaced his own eyes with...whatever he replaced them with."

He twisted his mouth. "Yes, that's a bit creepy."

"I need to talk to Julia, see if she's found anything more about why Geras is suddenly in the council's good graces again." She was flipping forward in her mind, trying to fit all of the information she had learned into the framework of what she already knew.

"Julia could be a target, but she probably knew that. She expelled Geras the first time. And you know more about Sextus. He was doing something that was getting him shot at."

Her irritation with Sextus came back in full force. She missed him so much, and wished at this moment that he was here to yell at. But there was only Darius, who hadn't done anything shouting-worthy, and she shivered again. "For the last year, even, and I never suspected a thing. Sextus could handle a sword, but he wasn't really a fighter, as far as I knew. And I'm guessing that Julia probably is a target. I'm hoping she can defend herself, because I'm not sure if I can do much of anything for her"

He nodded. "Julia can, if she knows it's coming. Sextus had to have known more than just how to handle a sword, from the way it sounds."

"Yes, it does. More secrets and surprises. And Ankara. Seems a coincidence that Geras went to the same city that Merouk had been sent to."

"Think it was Geras that raped Merouk?"

Livia pulled the veil from her head, unpinning it. "It's a thought--she called them demons, Diya said. Those eyes would certainly be a reason to call them demons. But that...would suggest that one or both of them have the disease that she has."

Darius stretched out his long legs. "Yes she did. And did he give her the disease on purpose, knowing that it would bring Sextus out? Some people get sick from the disease and recover, but carry it to whoever they next encounter. And the next may not be so lucky."

She shuddered. "if he did it on purpose, that's....just *sick*. Evil. To doom someone that you evidently once loved to a lingering death just to get vengeance... I begin to understand why Sextus never told me any of this."

"It would have been a hard story to tell."

Fretfully, she folded her veil, just for something to do with her hands. "Very hard. and I suppose it's a natural urge to shelter your loved ones from very unpleasant truths. But it's left me ignorant. And poor Lukas." She shook her head.

He looked over at her. "Lukas heals people. For that you have to care, and he does deeply."

"I'm wondering if Geras is behind everything, or if there's someone behind him, though. There's more to this story, I can smell it."

Darius stood, unbelting the sword from across his back. "Geras is the front man. Something darker pulls his strings, I would bet on it."

She nodded, smoothing her fingers down the dark fabric on her lap. "We have to find out who that is. Stopping Geras won't help if we don't stop whoever's behind him."

"Which means we have to get closer to him somehow to find out what he is doing."

Planning was a distraction, a welcome one. "It needs to look like I'm playing into his plans. Let's see. If I genuinely thought that Constantius had sent the gulagon, what would I be doing? Probably be spending a lot of time in the palace, trying to gather evidence, building my own power base, to protect myself if I needed to kill him." She frowned, thinking. "Oh, this is leading me into places I don't really want to go. If I tried to ally with Geras...that might stretch credibility."

Darius nodded. "It might, but he might have thought you knew the story as well. A difficult play, here. I think we need more information, and I hate the way I think we need to get it."

She turned towards him. "How, do you think?"

"You know those bodyguards he travels with? I think one of them needs to turn up missing and then later dead. Or never again."

He sat down, and Livia thought about it. "Will they know what he's up to, do you think?"

"I think they will know some things. one they might know what he is up too or at least what he has ordered them to do. Two, they are probably the ones that took Constans' son and know where he is."

Livia's hands crept up to her upper arms again. "You're right. It's useful and....not pleasant. At all. Gods." She dropped her voice, and muttered, "At least this won't be innocent blood on my hands..."

Darius shook his head. "No, this is going to get very unpleasant. Third, it might shake up Geras a bit to know that one of his men disappeared."

"We have to find them before we disappear them. With any luck, Diya will know more when we talk to her tomorrow." Livia bent forward and began to unfasten the daggers from her les, lifting the slirts of the robes so she could see what she was doing.

"One can only hope she does, and that we are in time to help Merouk. At least we didn't make an enemy out of Lukas. I think he will be of great help in the future."

"I think he will, as well. And much more help alive than dead." She drew a long breath. "So, just to make sure I know what we're thinking of--once we have this guard, we're probably going to have to torture him in order to get him to tell us anything, right?"

Darius was looking directly at her, watching her reaction. "Yes, we are, and then we are going to probably have to kill him. If he knows who took him, he will tell Geras, and this game will be over."

Livia briefly dropped her head into her hands and just breathed. Then she raised her head again. "All right," she said quietly. "I can't think of anything more likely to yield us what we need to know. We'll need a few things--a place to do this, mostly." Her hands were shaking, and she rubbed them together, trying to still them.

"Any suggestions as to where we can put him, once we get him? I have one, but you won't like it."

She thought about it. Surely there was something... "There is a grain warehouse, near the merchant quarter, that I now own. I have not been there in some time, but it might do if we were very discreet about getting him in. Other than that, none of the places I know of are far enough out of the public eye and proof against sound. What is your suggestion?"

His smile was wry and closed. "That is a much better suggestion. I was thinking Merouk's house."

She looked at him, her own mouth twisting. "Gods. No, not there. I've done enough to Diya at this point without bringing someone into her home to torture. I can secure the warehouse." Without warning, a yawn overtook her. It had been a long day, filled with touchy conversations. She glanced around the tent and realized that, though it was large for a tent, it was possessed of only one narrow pallet.

"I will take the ground, lady," Darius said, following her gaze. "I am more used to sleeping on the ground than you. We will need to be awake before daybreak to walk back to the gates. I'll turn down the lamps."

She nodded and rose, to lie down on the pallet and curl up on her side as Darius turned off one lamp and turned the other down until the shadows in the tent grew deeper and darker. She heard him lie down, taking some blankets from a neatly folded pile in the corner.

Livia thought she was not going to be able to sleep, but the moment she closed her eyes she was out, tumbling into dream. Some time later, though, she jerked out of a nightmare into wakefulness, every muscle in her body tense. She stopped a scream just before it came out of her throat, turning it instead into a gasp. She scissored her body upright, rolling to her knees before she realized that she'd awoken.

It was dark, all of the lamps off, and for a moment Livia couldn't quite figure out where she was. Then the evening came back to her, and suddenly a light flared in the darkness as she heard a quiet word spoken. Darius sat bolt upright, holding a ball of light in one hand, and she heard the sound of his sword being loosed a bit from its sheath. "Are you all right, lady?"

Not trusting her voice, she nodded and swallowed. "Just a nightmare. I'm fine. I'm sorry I woke you." She lay back down and curled up on her side, facing away from Darius, her eyes focused on the tent wall.

The light Darius held winked out, and she heard his sword slide back into its sheath and the rustle as he lay back down. After a moment, she heard his voice again. "What were you dreaming of, lady? Perhaps if you spoke of it, it would lose its power."

She drew the blanket that covered her up closer around her shoulders. "The demon. I see the demon, over and over again, crouched over Sextus. And the sound that Sextus made when the demon tore out his throat." She was shivering, and she closed her eyes. "And then I see the demon doing the same thing to my daughter. Tearing her in half. And her screaming. And I'm frozen, I can't do anything. And then I heard Sextus' voice again, only he was begging me, 'Don't let her die, don't let her die, please'. And then I heard Merouk begging.--" She broke off, gasping. She forced herself to be still, calming her shivering. "It's just a nightmare."

She heard Darius move, and then she felt his hand on her shoulder. "This has to be hard for you, lady. Losing your husband, then finding out that he wasn't who you thought he was. All things considered, you are holding up well."

Livia was shivering again, her eyes closed. "If I keep moving, keep working, I don't think about it too deeply. But when I stop, I start thinking about Sextus and all the things I didn't know about him."

His hand was still on her shoulder, and after a moment she slid her hand on top of his, accepting the touch for what it was, an offer of comfort. She was finding that above all she missed the partnership she'd had with her husband. Despite the fact that she was almost always surrounded by people, she felt very alone. Servants, political allies and enemies, her husband's family--but no friends. Sextus had been a true companion, among everything else he'd been to her. His absence was a constant drain on her.

She found that she was drifting into sleep again, her shivers subsided. After a few minutes, Darius slipped his hand from under hers. Livia relaxed into sleep, and if she had dreams, she did not remember them.