The Road to Hell

False dawn came, the thin grey light leaking through the walls of the tent. Livia woke to the sound of Darius moving around the tent, and she rolled over, rubbing her eyes.

"We should be off soon, lady," he said. He was fastening his sword around his body, looking down at her. "We should be at the walls by the time the sun clears the horizon."

Livia nodded, pulling off the blanket. The robes she wore were rumpled with sleep, and she brushed at them as she stood, then fastened the veil over her head and across her face. Outside the tent, she breathed deeply on the cold morning air. There was a small gathering of the Sassenids from the camp, with bundles and a pair of carts filled, Livia presumed, with goods to sell or barter in the city. Lukas, too, was awake, and came over to them.

"Livia, Darius. You are going back to Constantinople?"

"We will be back at the walls by sunrise. May we walk with those from your camp?" asked Livia.

He gave them a grave nod. "We move often. You know where to find my messenger now; send a message if you need to see me again."

Livia bowed. "I will. Thank you for everything, Lukas." The words were cold and stilted coming out of her mouth, and she clenched her fists. She held out her hand, turned upward, her fingers closed over the coins within. "For your cause."

He took the coins from her, as coldly formal as she. Livia shivered, thinking that this man would probably never forgive her for refusing to risk their necks to get him into the city. She bowed again, this time more shallowly, and turned to go, Darius following her.

As they rejoined the masses walking towards the gates of Constantinople, Livia walked very closely indeed to Darius. "Tell me, Darius," she said, glancing up at him. "After Merouk dies...will you consider letting Diya at least pose as your apprentice? I need a reason for Diya to be in my residence that doesn't involve her being a slave."

His eyebrows shot up. "Certainly. But do you actually want me to teach her something?"

She shrugged. "That, I think, is up to you and her. It seems like she might well appreciate the education, if you're willing to teach her."

"I can teach her the small things to start with, but it's a long process. I just wanted to know how much damage you wanted to create in your home." Darius wore a small smile on his lips. "Wizardlings tend to break things."

Livia spread her hands. "As long as she doesn't actually bring the place down around our ears or set it on fire, it's all right. There's a back room on the first floor that's not really used for much at the moment."

"The farther away the better." He looked down at her, saw that she held her arms crossed, her shoulders slightly rounded. "You don't expect this to go well, do you?"

She shook her head. "Not in the least. But it must be done, and sooner rather than later. I cannot avoid it."

"No, lady, I am afraid not."

"She may surprise me. But if it were me, I would not take what I'm going to tell her well at all." She took a long breath as they passed through the southern gate of Constantinople, coming back into the city she loved so well. "I think I may inquire as to if Merouk ever described her rapist or rapists. if the descriptions match, I think I'll tell her that Geras may have been the culprit. It's a gamble, because she may try to go after him herself. But we'll see."

Darius shrugged. "She is very young. She might try something illogical." His tone was a gentle warning, and she caught his drift immediately.

"I know. She seems to have enough of a cool head on her shoulders, but...I remember being that age. Ah, well. I'll see how it goes with her, and what she's seen."

"You will soon see, as that is their house." He indicated with his chin the familiar door of Merouk's house, and the sense of dread in the pit of Livia's stomach intensified.

"Best to get this over with," she said, her voice miraculously steady.

"After you, lady." Darius gave her a wry smile, and motioned her ahead.

Feeling an odd sense of the repetition of time, she called into the house. Diya pulled back the curtains, her eyes opening wide when she saw who it was. The girl's hair wasn't covered with a veil, and her hair and clothing were both rumpled. Her eyes were reddened, and her mouth was set in the expression of someone years older. "Yes, come in," she said.

Livia entered, Darius close behind her. Livia tried to draw comfort from the big man's silent presence, solid as rock behind her. "How is your mother?" she asked quietly. I pray that we are in time--

Diya's mouth twisted, and she looked over her shoulder, at one of the doorways that led from the room. "Worse. She doesn't know me or her own name today. And she started coughing in the middle of the night."

Livia's heart twisted. They were too late. "Ah, no...she isn't coughing up blood, is she?"

The girl nodded. "Just a little last night, but more this morning."

Livia was certain she was pale as marble. "Come sit down, Diya. I have something I need to talk to you about."

Diya's eyes were wide, but she did as Livia asked. She looked very lost, huddled in on herself. "She's going to die, isn't she?" she asked.

She nodded, and looking at the girl, her eyes stung briefly. She swallowed, willing her voice to be steady. "I'm afraid she is. I spoke to the person who's been supplying her medicine. He sent me with some more of it, but he also said that once she started coughing blood, there was no medicine that would be able to help." Livia paused, schooling her entire being to silence. "He gave me another preparation. To send someone into a sleep from which they'll never awaken."

Diya shuddered as if she'd been hit, her hands gripping her upper arms tightly. "Is he sure? There is nothing he can do?"

Livia shook her head slowly. "Nothing. He said that once she began to cough, there was nothing his medicines could do. I'm sorry, Diya. I had hoped to come with better news."

"There has to be something, anything. Can we get him here to see her?" The girl's voice was soft and pleading. Livia thought her heart could not break more than it already had, but she'd been mistaken.

"He--cannot come into the city." She heard the hitch in her voice and cursed it. "Your mother can't be moved. Even if he could come to her, there's not much he could do at this point other than make her more comfortable." The lie came to her lips easily now, too easily. "You can try the medicines. Perhaps he was mistaken and they'll still help."

Diya leaned forward. "We can try, but if you don't think it will help..."

"He seemed very doubtful." She let her sorrow creep into her voice. May the gods forgive me for what I am about to do. "But it is your decision. You are her caretaker, she is your mother."

"This may seem selfish, but if she dies what do I do?" She looked for a moment younger for her years, a child frightened of being left alone. "She is suffering, but while she lives I have a place to stay. When she dies, they won't let me live here anymore."

"I was going to ask if you had any plans for that."

She shook her head. "I did until Esayis disappeared." She was gripping her upper arms tightly again, as if she had been reminded of everything she had lost, and was about to lose. Father, love, and now her mother were to be taken from her.

Livia closed her eyes for a moment and knew that she had abandoned any thought of using Esayis, when they found him, as leverage with Constans. It was the only decision that would allow her any measure of peace, she thought. Get Esayis, get the two of them out of Constantinople and safely elsewhere. Gods grant her that much, and grant her the fortune to not end up where her mother did. Softly, she suggested, "If you need a place, you could come stay with me. If you liked, you could apprentice to Darius and continue your education until we find Esayis. It might seem a little strange, but I think it's what Sextus would have wanted."

Diya started, and Livia thought that she had not even thought of it as a possibility. She licked her lips, looking intimidated. "That would indeed be strange. What do you I call you? I can't call you mother, that would be stranger still."

"You'd probably call me lady, as Darius does, or by my name. Officially, you and I have no relationship, though I'm sure there are those who will guess whose daughter you are." She watched as Diya did some swift thinking, weighing Livia's offer against what other options she had.

Finally, she shrugged. "I don't see a better choice, lady. But I can't kill my mother."

Livia hurt, her chest held a leaden ache in it. "I know this is hard, Diya. But do you want it done? You could simply wait, and let her die on her own. If you'd rather not...it does not have to be your hand that gives her the draught."

There was a terrible fear and hope in Diya's eyes. "Can you do it?"

"I will. If you want me to." It is my actions that are causing this death. Let it be my hand and no other, and curse the man who actually killed her.

The girl's voice was almost inaudible, and her eyes were closed. "Please. I see no other choice."

Livia glanced over at Darius, trying to avoid giving into the tears that were threatening. He was as silent as stone, but his eyes held some measure of compassion. She turned her eyes away from him, covered her face with her hand, and took a deep breath. When she was sure she had her voice under control, she said, "I will, then. Do you want some time alone with her? And do you want to be there when--I give her the draught?"

"Yes, I need to say goodbye, and no I can't watch." She rose swiftly, as if afraid if she stayed still any longer she would never move.

"All right. Take as much time as you need. Let me know when you're ready."

Diya went into the room that held her mother. She was there only a few moments when she emerged. Without looking at either Livia or Darius, she stumbled through another doorway, and there were rustles and bangs as she began to pack her belongings. Livia bit her lip, and rose. Leaving Darius behind, she went into the room that Diya had gone into. She'd heard the racking coughs, but hadn't truly expected the scene she saw. The scent of death hung on the air, and beside Merouk's bed was a bucket mostly full of rags dark red with drying blood.

Livia took a breath, summoning up all of her courage. She could almost hear her mother's voice in her head, telling her that grace in dire situations was the mark of true nobility of spirit, no matter what bloodline one was from. She knelt beside the bed, and tentatively reached out.

Merouk had finished a coughing fit and was breathing raggedly, her eyes half-open but unseeing. Livia laid her hand on her forehead, seeing the lines that illness and care had written there. Merouk was little older than Sextus, but she looked twice his age. She smoothed back the wispy hair from her forehead, and murmured, "It's all right, Merouk. I have something that will take away the pain and let you sleep."

The woman blinked and turned her eyes towards Livia. The thick white film over her eyes must make her completely blind now, Livia realized. She uncorked the vial that Lukas had given her, and then swiftly tipped the prescribed dose into Merouk's mouth.

Forgive me, Sextus. Forgive me.

Merouk swallowed. A few moments passed, and then her eyes fluttered shut. Her breathing became more even and regular, and then quickly slowed. In a minute or two, she stopped breathing entirely after one long exhale.

Livia bowed her head and let the tears fall. She didn't even try to pull herself out of it, to tell herself that she couldn't fall apart. This seemed like a perfect moment to fall apart, if only for a few minutes. She leaned against the edge of the bed, her face buried in the crook of her arm.

When she could speak again, she said quietly, "May the gods have mercy on you in the afterlife, Merouk. Because for certain they had none here."

"None whatsoever."

Livia managed to not quite jump. Darius had come into the room sometime in the last few minutes, evidently. She got to her feet, and turned to face him, wiping her eyes. "One mistake, and this is where she ends her life. It's really not fair. The gods' mercy seems to have been lacking lately, in many corners. I suppose they have better things to do, these days. And poor Diya." She leaned over the bed, pulling the blanket up over Merouk. "Darius, do you know what arrangements the Sassenids make for their dead?"

He shook his head. "I can find out. Mostly they burn them I believe. I will attend to the funeral. You should take Diya home. I will stay here today and tonight. Once word of her death gets out, looters will come."

She took a deep breath and nodded. "All right. I'm going to go see Julia tonight, I think. Now that I know more, she can fill in a few details for me. Do you have anything you want me to pass along for you?"

"I think that you will cover most of the updates that I would have."

"All I need is Diya and her things, then." She stepped past him, out into the main room of the house. She could still hear Diya banging around in her room.

"If you can, find out if Diya knows where some of Geras's people are."

They sat on the chairs, waiting for Diya. Livia said, "I will. I'll also find out what the current state of that warehouse is and secure it."

"Yes. I am sorry that this is quickly becoming more and more unpleasant. If you need to quit, I understand." He was keeping his voice low, watching her.

"No." The refusal was out of her mouth before she even had time to think about it. "Not until I know what I need to know. I will do what I need to."

He had an unexpectedly grave look on his face. "There is no coming back, if we do as we plan with Geras's mercenaries."

"I know. I'm staring to get the impression that this might get very deadly in a hurry. "

"It very well might. I just hope not for us." His smile was tight and closed.

Livia looked up at him. "And you, Darius. If you want to stop, tell me. You just met me a few days ago. If you want, I can send you back to the Tower. If you stay, I will protect you as I can. I repay loyalty in kind. But this might not be what you want to be doing."

His smile turned a bit more open. "No, I love a good mystery."

"Even if it might kill you?"

Darius shrugged. "If I didn't die in the ring after all those years, I will die when I am meant to and not before."

Her eyes widened. "In the ring?"

"Ten years as a gladiator. Julia didn't tell you?"

It made sense, of course. He had the gladiator's physique. "No. She mentioned that you still sometimes thought as a fighter first, but....I suppose I assumed you were a soldier. How does a gladiator come to become a mage?"

His gaze was a little too penetrating for her comfort. "A gladiator good enough to win his freedom in an event can live whatever life he chooses. I chose to be a mage. Age weakens the limbs. I wanted to defend myself."

Livia wondered if she'd ever seen him in the ring. Everyone went to see the gladiators, of course, but one looked at bodies, not faces. One watched blood fly and not the madness and pain in their eyes. She'd done her share of sighing over her favorites when she was younger, as every young woman and many older ones did. She shifted as she thought of the uncomfortable prospect that he had been one of those she had daydreamed about. She licked suddenly dry lips and asked, "Where are you from, originally? Were you born here?"

"I was. My parents were like Lukas. But we got caught, without the miraculous escape." His voice was steady as a rock, without a trace of waver.

Comprehension broke over her. The easy way he referred to the gods, the feeling she'd had since she met him that there were parts of herself that she could show to him without fear of reprisal. He was a pagan, or at least had been raised as one. "How old were you?" she asked.

"Seventeen." Livia thought quickly. That would make him three years older than her at the least, and probably five or six.

She shook her head. "I must seem very naive to you. Pampered child of the nobility."

He shrugged again. "You did what you had to, to survive and so did I. Whether that meant knowing what fork went with what meal course or what weapon to take out to fight a lion, it's what we did to survive."

Livia closed her eyes. She remembered endless lessons, seemingly unrelated to anything practical, etiquette and ways of hiding her true feelings, the trappings of politics, how to entertain a room full of men and keep them interested in what she was saying. Equipped to survive in a world where the damage words could do was far worse than any blade, she had been given what she needed to survive. But it seemed so flimsy against actually knowing how to do something practical, something real.

Quietly, she responded, "Or learning to hide our true religion under a veneer of what the emperor considered acceptable."

She saw him register the information, mere confirmation of what he already knew, she presumed, and then he nodded. "Yes, that too. So it's just a matter of perspective. We now must expand that to include a few more things."

"Some things I'm not looking forward to, but I'll get through it. Find out who killed Sextus, and go from there."

"Geras, I am sure at this point, until I have other information," Darius said.

"And then to find out why." There was an odd excitement that was gripping Livia. It had been a long day and it was not yet noon, that was all. It just feels good to have an ally I can trust again, she thought. I work better with people than away from them. "This is probably going to take us eventually directly against him, or whoever controls him."

"This will probably take us farther than that, I fear. Hagia Sophia, probably one of the regents."

Livia thought. "We're going to need a lot of help, especially if it's Hagia Sophia."

"Yes, we are. But I don't know who, besides Lukas now."

"Julia, perhaps, depending on what we need. Depending on what the situation is politically, I may have some allies with some political reach. There are others, I'm sure. I just have to find them," Livia said slowly.

He nodded. "I hope so, we will need them."

"First, though, the bodyguard. Then go from there. I wonder if Diya--" She glanced over her shoulder. Diya was standing in the doorway, her head tilted, her hair covered with a veil. Livia wondered just how long she had been standing there. "Well. Are you ready to go?" Diya nodded silently. Her eyes were red, but she seemed calm enough. Whether it was shock or true calm, Livia could not guess. "Diya, Darius will be staying behind to make funeral arrangements. If you'd come with me..."

Diya nodded. Livia shouldered one of her bags, a comfortable weight at her hip. Livia nodded to Darius and walked out, Diya following in her wake.

It was a long walk to the noble section of town. As they got into better sections of town, Livia felt a bit conspicuous in the Sassenid clothing she was wearing. To distract herself, she asked Diya, "So. How much of my conversation with Darius did you hear?"

The girl adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder. "Just a bit about needing allies."

Livia thought back to the conversation. Nothing too incriminating by itself, then. "Ah. Well, you do know that I'm trying to find out who killed your father and my husband. What we've found points to something much larger than I ever suspected him being involved in. I'm currently strongly suspecting that Esayis is alive still, though."

Diya's voice was low and angry. "I can only hope they don't have the guts to kill a regent's son."

"It depends on what game they're playing, really."

Diya glanced at her, and Livia was shaken by the sudden, hungry hope in her eyes. "Do you know?"

"I have clues, suspicions, nothing concrete. I think the Tower may be making a bid to control the empire, but I don't think that's the only game being played here. I do know that whoever took Esayis probably kidnapped Constantine's son, as well." She sighed, reminded suddenly of what a dirty business this was becoming. "And the person in the center, who seems to be doing all of the dirty work, is Geras. Speaking of...did you find anything out about him, at all?"

They were getting closer to home, the buildings sprouting details like marble balconies and arched doorways. Diya was looking around her a bit furtively. Livia noted to herself that they were going to have to train her out of that first thing. It would come to her easily enough, she hoped, once she was convinced that she belonged in her new place. Diya said, "I found that two of his mercenaries have been hitting a Sassenid whore house, nearly daily. They spend a great deal of money and stagger out of the building around midnight every night."

It was some of the best news that the girl could have given her. "That is very helpful, actually. It's always convenient when one's enemies have such terrible habits."

"So what are you going to do?"

Livia paused to resettle the bag on her shoulder. "Do you really want to know? I don't want to involve you in this any more than I absolutely have to. "

Diya bit her lip. "They killed my father and thereby inadvertently killed my mother. They have my fiance. I am involved."

"So the answer is yes, then. We plan to...disappear one of the bodyguards, and persuade him to tell us what we want to know."

There was a cruel light in Diya's eyes. "Good. I hope it hurts."

"I believe it will." She could not share in Diya's fierceness at the prospect, but it wasn't the girl who was going to have to do the questioning.

They walked on in silence. Diya, surprisingly, was the one who broke it. "What is Darius's role in all this? I don't get him."

Startled by the question, Livia thought about it for a few moments. "Someone at Hagia Sophia that Sextus knew pulled some strings to have him assigned to me when Constantius requested that they send a bodyguard to me. He has proven an immense help, in many ways, and I believe we have similar goals."

The girl frowned. "And if the Tower is involved, you don't think he is a spy?"

Livia shrugged. "Sextus trusted the person who sent him to me, at least to a degree. She trusts Darius. He might be a spy, but so might just about anyone else. He hasn't killed me in my sleep yet, and I consider that an encouraging sign. I have to trust someone in this mess."

"I grew up pretty much alone. I don't have a lot of faith in humanity."

No, Livia didn't imagine that she did. "I was raised to be a politician. I don't, either. But I...I don't know. It's just a feeling, but I think Darius is trustworthy. If he's not, then the damage has already been done."

"Yes, he probably knows too much."

Livia nodded. If Darius wanted to either kill her or bring her down publicly, he had plenty of evidence and opportunity. She was just going to have to trust that her instincts about him were true. She asked, quietly, "Tell me, what were you planning to do with your mother, had you fled the city when Esayis wanted to do?"

Her reaction to the question was to shut down. Her face, usually so animated, became closed and still. "I...would have done something." Her tone was raw, and it begged Livia to let it alone. Livia decided not to press. She'd just lost her mother, and she was about to enter a new, strange world. She didn't want to make things any more difficult for her.

They had reached the house, and instead of going in the front door Livia gave it a wide berth. They circled around back to the bolthole that she'd come out of the night before. She unlocked it, and ushered Diya into the dark inside.

True to her word, Orla had left clothing for her on a shelf by the door. Feeling a bit self-conscious, Livia shucked the Sassenid robes and pulled on the chiton over the short tunic she wore beneath. She brushed herself down and said, "Let's get your things upstairs and go find Orla."

But Orla found them instead. They were setting Diya's things down in the guest room across the hall from Darius' room when the maid stuck her head into the room. "Livia? What are--oh."

"We were about to come looking for you. Orla, this is Diya, Darius' apprentice. Diya, this is Orla, my maid of some years. She helps me run the household." She turned her gaze on Orla. "She is a mage and is to be accorded the same respect as Darius is. If I hear of anyone treating her poorly, I will be very upset."

Orla nodded. "I understand. I will tell the rest of the maids, but you'll want to speak to Rusticus. The guards may be difficult."

"I know. But this is my house, and I rule here. They will do as I say. Would you also find some more clothing for her?" She looked over at Diya. "If you're willing, having you in Roman clothing might make things easier."

The girl was thinking, shifting her weight from foot to foot. Livia didn't envy her predicament. Wearing clothing that didn't mark her as immediately different would indeed make things easier, but the Sassenids considered Roman clothing to be quite immodest, as it showed off the shoulders and the arms, and especially the hair. Finally, Diya nodded. "All right," she said quietly.

"An outfit or two, Orla, we can purchase more later. And I'm going to need the back room cleared out, the one that used to be the playroom. It'll need--what does a mage's workroom need, Diya? A table and chairs?"

She nodded. "Some shelves and a cabinet that locks would also be good. We work with things that can be dangerous in hands that don't know what they're doing."

"It will be done, lady." Orla bowed slightly, and turned and left.

"This room is yours. Darius is right across the hall, and mine is that door over there," she said to Diya. She noticed that the girl was looking around, her eyes darting from corner to corner of the room. To Livia's eyes, the room was furnished simply, decorated with simple paintings on the walls, but she remembered the plain but sturdy house that she had met the girl in, and understood that this would take some time to get used to.

Diya tilted her head. "That is not where you used to sleep. That's on the other side of the house."

Livia spread her hands. "I could not sleep in that room now. I might never be able to sleep in it again." She had forgotten that Diya had been below her window that night, and would have remembered where her screams had come from. "I'll let you settle in. I'll be back in a little bit, and we can introduce you to Rusticus, the head of my guard."

Diya nodded, and Livia let herself out.

That evening, she once again set out for the baths, after having received a reply to her message from Julia saying to meet her there. The same small room had been reserved for them, and this time Livia was the one who was early. She drank watered wine and thought about the day, feeling exhausted and heartsick.

I am so sorry, all of you. Gods. I did what I needed to do, but I don't think Diya will forgive me if she finds out that I kept Lukas from coming into town. If she ever learns what happened...this will not end well between us. And Merouk. She shuddered. Today was the first time that she'd ever taken a life with her own hands. Even though it had been a mercy killing, it had still been her hand that took a human life.

And it might have been preventable, had she been more bold, less afraid of the consequences of being caught. That was the doubt that was going to dog her for the rest of her days. She still heard Lukas' voice in her mind, accusing her of taking the easy way out.

Somehow, I don't think this was the easy way out at all.

She was interrupted in her thoughts by the screen over the door sliding back, and Julia stepping into the small room. The mage seated herself on the couch opposite her. Livia was struck anew by Julia's luminescent beauty, and she wondered again which family she was a scion of. "It is good to see you again, Livia. What do you have for me?"

She filled Julia in on the events of the last few days, especially what she'd found out about Geras and Linnaeus, and the fact that they might be coming after Julia. She told him about Diya but did not tell her about her connection with Esayis, simply telling her that Darius had taken her on as an apprentice.

"And there's something else," she continued. "You asked me if Sextus gave me anything before he died. It turns out that he did, in a manner of speaking. A key."

"To what, did it say?"

She shook her head. "No, I have no idea what it unlocks. I was hoping you might know." She pulled on the chain around her neck, pulling the key hung on it from beneath her tunic. Livia held it up and Julia inspected it briefly.

"It's a key to a strongbox. We use a great deal of them at Hagia Sophia for important papers and valuables. It looks like the one that Faydren uses."

"Faydren?" asked Livia.

"The current leader of the council of Hagia Sophia."

"Ah." Livia frowned. "Ah. Why on earth would Sextus have had a key to one of his strongboxes? Well, I suppose that's less the question than how I could find the lock the key opens."

Julia pursed her lips. "It would be quite an accomplishment actually. They are usually magically attuned to one person. To create a copy that is keyed to someone else is impressive."

"He didn't have any dealings with Faydren that you know of?"

"None that I know of. But more and more, I think he had dealings with many on the council."

Livia sipped her wine. "I'm starting to get that impression, as well. He wasn't just spying for Hagia Sophia. He was doing other things too. I suppose I'll just have to keep my eyes open for an opportunity to get to Faydren's strongboxes."

"May I have it for a moment?" asked Julia, extending her hand.

Livia hesitated for a moment, and then pulled the key from around her neck. She handed the key to Julia, watching her carefully. The golden key lay in Julia's palm, and she stared at it silently for about a minute, while the silence thickened between them. Finally, the outlines of the key wavered and changed, growing larger, becoming a key made out of a heavy, dark metal. "Interesting," the mage muttered, and then relaxed her brow. The key immediately reverted to the small golden strongbox key, and she handed it back to Livia.

"Why did it do that?" she asked.

"That isn't just a key to Faydren's strongbox, that's a chameleon key. I made it change shape by thinking of something else. That was the key to my office in Hagia Sophia. It will open just about anything, anything with a lock, and it was set to default back to Faydren's key." Julia watched as Livia tucked the key back inside her tunic. "A clue, I would bet."

"I'm certain of it. Evidently, Sextus thought this would be of some use to me. Strange, that." She'd have given much in that moment to find out what her husband had been thinking, why he'd have given her a key that would open almost any lock. The key had to be priceless beyond jewels--and where had me managed to lay hands on it?

Julia nodded. "I think I would start with Faydren's house. He has installed some very interesting locks on his doors in his home. He lives next to Constans."

Livia twitched the corner of her mouth in a smile. "Interesting. Well, I was going to have to go try to speak with Constans, sooner or later."

"Good luck."

Livia inclined her head. "Thank you. I believe we're going to need it."

That night, awake and restless, Livia slipped barefoot down the halls of her house. She listened to the silence and the small sounds within that silence, and carried a low-burning lamp before her.

The chambers she had once shared with Sextus were large, and on this night they were cold, the doors having been closed for the week since Sextus had died. A week? It seemed to have been a lifetime, and she found herself turning into someone she did not recognize, and honestly did not like very much. "A politician," she murmured. "But more than that. A spy." A conspirator, as her husband had been.

She closed the door behind her. The room had been thoroughly cleaned and the mattress that had been on the bed destroyed, but Livia could still smell death hanging in the air, a faint and foul odor. She took two, three strides into the room, setting down the lamp, and wondered why she had come here.

This had been one of the places on earth that she had been the most happy. She gingerly probed her feelings and found that the revelations of the past week colored her memories but did not erase the happiness of them; their love and their joy had been genuine, despite the fact that he had been involved in things far beyond her ken.

Another few steps brought her to the empty frame of the bed, and she sank to the floor beside it, sitting with her knees close to her chest, her cheek on her knees. The emptiness tore at her, and she recognized the vast and aching void within her. It would be so easy to let someone fill that gap. Darius had already begun to, as she trusted him more and more, leaning on him.

"I am not replacing you," she said to the soft darkness. "But this is the hardest thing I have ever done, and it's only getting harder. I miss you, Sextus." The tears started now, and she let them fall, not fighting them. "Why didn't you tell me, love? I could have helped. And if you'd told me, I'd know what to do. I wouldn't be stumbling around in the dark. I'd know who I could trust.

"And I'm sorry. Oh, gods, I'm sorry about Merouk, and Diya. It was the only choice, but--" She swallowed, and wiped her eyes and nose. "I will love her as she'll let me, Sextus. I promise. I'll take care of her, and get her out as soon as I can. I can do that much. For you, for her, for Merouk." Her tears seemed to have run dry for the moment, and she cradled her aching head in her hands. "I wish you were here, Sextus. I wish you could hear me."

She wrapped her arms around herself, wishing desperately for comfort, for the feeling of a familiar and beloved presence beside her. There was no comfort, only the darkness, the faint perfume of death, and the cold, lonely road that she had set her feet on, that she would follow until either it or she ended.

The next morning, Orla woke her and helped her dress and do her hair. As she was combing and plaiting Livia's hair, she said, "The Sassenid girl. She's Sextus' child, isn't she?"

"Yes." She looked up at Orla, raised her eyebrows. "The resemblance is striking, isn't it?"

"If you know what you're looking for. The others may guess, but most of them won't be looking for it in her."

"She's a lot like him in other ways, too. She's her father's daughter, certainly."

Orla rested her hands on Livia's shoulders. "Dear, are you certain bringing her in is the right thing to do? I know she's something left of your husband, and I know you miss your daughter, but Diya is almost an adult. She's no child to be molded."

"She's also an orphan. Her mother died yesterday, and her father a week ago, and her betrothed is currently missing. She needs some space and time when she doesn't have to worry about how she's going to keep a roof over her head and food on the table. I owe it to Sextus to make sure she's cared for."

"Is everything he left behind going to become your responsibility?" asked Orla, who returned to wrapping Livia's dark plaits around her head. "Dear heart, your husband is dead. You have your own life to live now, and your own future to plan for."

Livia shook her head and then stopped as Orla tched at her. "I can't think about the future until I've untangled what Sextus left behind. I have to deal with the past before I can think about what the rest of my life will look life."

Orla smoothed the last few hairs into place. "Just remember that you do have a future, that you will eventually need to marry again. You're young still, and someone with your connections will be able to marry very highly indeed."

"I might, or I might not. A virgin marries to please her father, and a widow marries to please herself, after all." It was an old saw, but it was mostly true. Neither her own father nor Sextus' father was still alive, and her mother and mother-in-law were ambitious in their own ways, but would be unlikely to press her into another marriage.

The maid sniffed and said, "True enough. You're done, and unless I'm mistaken that bodyguard of yours has returned."

Diya popped her head out into the corridor when Livia opened her door. "Lady? Do we have plans for today?"

"We might." Livia regarded Diya, a thought occurring to her, "Tell me, did your father always bring the money he gave you himself, or did he sometimes send you somewhere to get it?"

Darius had just joined them in the corridor, nodding to them both. Diya acknowledged him and answered Livia's question. "Father gave me some coin every time he came, but I would also go to Andreas in the Sassenid quarter and he would give me a stipend every month."

"Ah. I should go see this person, then."

"I can take you to him. He only gave me the money, and never said how much was left."

Livia nodded, and said, "Let's go down to the workroom. I have something to ask you." They went downstairs, and closed themselves into the room that was newly emptied of its contents, swept clean with a plain table and a few chairs in it. Livia leaned against the table and said to Diya, "Diya, you said that you were already involved in this, that you have your own revenge to take. How would you feel about helping us capture one of those bodyguards that you were tracking?"

"I would love to. How do you want me to help?" She had stood up straight, and her dark eyes were alive with excitement.

Warningly, Livia said, "Keep in mind that what I may ask you to do may be--difficult."

The girl smiled. "I assumed that, but it's probably the only way to get Esayis back."

She took a breath. "The only time that those bodyguards are alone and relatively undefended is in that Sassenid brothel. That is where we have to make one of them disappear. And for that, we need someone who can pose as one of the women who works there. I'm afraid that no amount of makeup could make me into a Sassenid."

At first, Livia thought that Diya was taken aback by the prospect. Quickly, though, it became apparent that she was simply turning it over in her mind, looking at it from all angles. "I will. What do you want me to do?"

"I will need to come to an arrangement with the brothel owner. We'll need you to capture the attention of one of the bodyguards. You'll bring him into a room and give him a sleeping potion in his wine. Darius and I will be waiting nearby to bring him out, preferably making it look like he's too drunk to stand." She pursed her lips, thinking. "This is only the broadest outlines of a plan, of course, the specifics will have to wait until I know more about the layout of the brothel and speak to the owner." Livia glanced over at Darius, who was nodding. If he had objections, she was sure he'd voice them.

Diya said, "I understand. But it's the best way to help Esayis." Her voice was excited, and Livia sensed the terrible frustration that she'd been suffering from in the last week--her love missing, with no way to know if he were dead or simply captured, with no way to even begin to track him.

"It is the best way that I can think of. Afterwards--we have a place where we'll take him, and question him. You won't need to be present for that."

The excited flush faded a bit from the girl's cheeks. She knew what they were intending to do to him, what her actions would help with. "Might be for the best for me to stay away."

"There are some things I don't want you to witness. What we're going to have to do is one of them." She thought swiftly about the arrangements she'd made for the warehouse, the things she'd asked several people to do to make sure all was ready. "We need to go to the brothel, but I need to see this Andreas fellow first."

Darius finally spoke up. "I will obtain a sleeping potion from an herbalist while you speak to Andreas. It may well work, lady, but we must move quickly."

Livia nodded. "We are running out of time. Let's go."

On their way to the place where Diya said Andreas could be found, the girl asked in a low voice, "Running out of time?"

"Yes. Today and two more days and I am supposed to come out of deep mourning. Right now, my time is my own. Soon, it will largely belong to the regent."

"Oh. Well, here we are." They walked into a low-slung, blocky building, stepping into the cool dim of the outer room. Behind a long, plain counter was a compact man with dark hair, a beaky nose, and a pleasant smile.

"Good morning, Andreas." She smiled at the man, who seemed not at all surprised that she knew his name. "I have a question for you, if I may."

He nodded at the two of them. "Ah, good morning, lady and Diya. Good to see you again. You are bit early this month. Mother's medicine again?" Diya just nodded in response, her eyes widening a bit.

Livia approached the counter and leaned on it, spreading her hands on the smooth surface. "I am Livia, Sextus Nerius' wife. I believe that my husband had an account with you, holding some coins for him."

Something obscure flickered briefly on Andreas's face. "Ah, this a sad day for me then. I assume you will want to get all your coin back?"

She shook her head. "Not necessarily. I may leave at least some of it with you. I do not know if you know that my husband died six days ago."

"Ah, that would mean a great deal to me, lady. Yes, lady, I had heard. I should have recognized you by your portrait."

"I need to know a few things about the account--how much is in it, for one, and how deposits were made into it." She frowned in puzzlement. "And by my portrait? Sextus showed you a portrait of me?"

Andreas turned his back, going to a long shelf behind him, filled with new-style books. He pulled one of them out, then bent and retrieved a rolled-up parchment from a slot below. "Yes, lady. He said you would be coming someday, and you might close the account if he should ever die. He gave me this." He handed her the paper, which she unrolled. On it was a charcoal drawing, a reasonable likeness of her that she did not remember ever posing for.

"Interesting. I should have known he'd have prepared for this." She rolled up the parchment but didn't give it back to him. "Can I see the account book?"

"Of course." He handed her the book, and she flipped through it, looking at dates and amounts. The first entry was about eight years ago, a deposit of five hundred aureus dating around when Merouk had returned to Constantinople. There were deposits made over time, about a hundred gold at a time every six months or so, and the last six months had seen a serious increase in the deposits. At least a hundred aureus and sometimes more had been deposited every couple of weeks.

Livia's eyes widened as she saw the ending balance. It was nearly five thousand aureus. This man held in trust for her husband an amount equivalent to nearly a third of the entire Nerius fortune. No wonder he had been heartened to realize that she was not going to close the account right away. "Did he make these deposits in person?" she asked Andreas.

He nodded. "Always."

"Did he ever speak of the source of the income to you?"

"No, nothing concrete, he did mention once that mage gold should be used for something good."

"Interesting." Now I wish I were seeing Julia tonight instead of last night. I need to ask about the money. "And did anyone other than him and Diya come up get money from it?"

"Merouk in the early years, but only Sextus and Diya for about two years now."

Of course. "I will leave the majority of it with you for the moment. I'll take two hundred of it now." She would need a bribe for the brothel owner, after all. She closed the account book and handed it back to Andreas.

He reached under the counter and pulled out a plain bag closed with a drawstring. He then, with some fumbling, counted out two hundred aureus onto the counter in front of her, then swept the coins into the pouch and handed it to her. "Thank you, lady. Is the arrangement the same? Diya, Merouk and you?"

Livia glanced over at Diya, and lowered her voice. "Merouk died yesterday. Me and Diya, now. There may be others who can access the account later, but I will bring them by when it is needful."

Andreas nodded, saddened but not surprised. "Sorry for the loss. Are you selling the house?"

Livia hadn't thought about it. "I may sell it, I haven't decided yet."

"If you do sell it, lady, I have many interested buyers I could point in your way for just a few coin. Always merchants looking for new homes, and that one is in good condition."

She made swift connections in her mind, deciding that she didn't want to decide this in front of Diya. It would make a nice surprise for the proceeds of the house to come to her, she thought. A dowry for her, money enough for her to start a new life in any corner of the Empire she might like. By rights the money should belong to her anyway; Sextus had bought the house for Merouk, after all. She nodded at Andreas. "I'll let you know."

He nodded, then asked, "Same limit on Diya, then?"

"What was her limit before?"

"Ten aureus per month, no more than twenty in any month without Sextus's approval."

Livia pursed her lips and ran through some calculations in her head. While Diya would no longer need to pay for her own food, that was more than offset by the fact that she was going to need to buy some clothing befitting her new station in colors that actually suited her rather than the pale colors that Orla had dug up for her. There were also mage supplies to be bought, and the possibility that she might have to bribe a few people here and there. "Twenty a month for her, then, more only with my approval. Thank you, Andreas. I am certain I will see you again."

He nodded at her. "Yes, lady, always a pleasure."

Outside, Darius was waiting for them. "Were you successful?" she asked him.

"Yes lady, very. Found a merchant who claimed a few sips of his wares and you would dream for a few hours. If it works half as well as he said, it will work."

"Good. I've gotten what I needed, as well. On to our destination, then."

The day was wearing on towards noon, and the sun was getting hot. They arrived at a building that looked more like a large house than anything else, red cloth covering the doorway. There were a few scantily clad women, mostly Sassenids, leaning on the walls, catcalling passing men. They gave the three of them incurious glances as they walked inside.

Within the brothel in what seemed to be an outer waiting room, as her eyes adjusted, Livia's sense of smell was assaulted by a mixture of scents--sex, vomit, strong wine, and a layer of perfume on top in an evident attempt to cover the rest up. She clenched her teeth together, wondering how men stood this. Was it possible to enjoy oneself in such a stench?

Her eyes adjusted to the dark, and Darius caught her eye and nodded at a thin man who was speaking to a guard near the door. They were exchanging conversation in a near-whisper.

Livia approached them and addressed them both in a clear but quiet voice. "I would speak to the owner of this establishment."

The thin man turned to her. He was a citizen, she thought, not a Sassenid. "Not hiring," he said, looking her up and down.

She fought the temptation to roll her eyes. "I have a business proposition for you that will profit us both."

He eyed her. "All right, this better not be a pitch for potions of infertility."

"Not in the slightest. I would speak to you in a location more private than this one."

He shrugged, eyeing Darius behind her, then said, "Come in." He led them inside into the brothel proper, the smell only getting stronger as they went. Low couches held nude and mostly nude women, lounging, most of them smoking something from long pipes. The nudity didn't particularly bother Livia as long as she thought of this as like the baths, but the scandalous clothing of the partially clad ones did. She averted her eyes and followed the thin man through a door at the back of a bar, into a small room with many shelves that were used for storing many things that appeared to be smokable. Most of them she didn't recognize, but the few she did she strongly suspected were illegal.

Livia took a breath. "All right. I need to purchase something from you."

The man sniffed. "The woman you can rent just like anyone else. I can't sell them, legally."

"It's not a person I want to purchase. It is, in the end, your silence." She leaned forward a bit, pressing on his space subtly.

"Can't let you kill one of them, either. Sorry your husband is stepping out on you."

She shook her head. "Ah, you misunderstand me. No. I need this girl to be able to work this establishment for an evening or two, one of your back rooms, and a way out that won't be observed. And I will then need you to forget that you have ever seen any of us."

The thin man raised an eyebrow. "That's odd. But if the money is right. How many customers is she taking, and what percentage do I get?"

Livia narrowed her eyes. "You get a flat rate, a good amount of coin. She'll only be taking one or two customers. In the end, like I said, I am paying for your silence."

The man had a small, sly smile on his face, and she saw him glance at Diya and then Darius, and bring his gaze back to her. His gaze lit with amusement as he evidently came up with some ideas as to what the three of them were up to hat would require such a thing. "A room, two nights, and one or two customers. How much you offering?"

"One hundred gold. Half now, half when we are done."

His eyes widened, and she knew she'd hit the mark. "All yours." She could almost hear him thinking, they may be perverts, but they are rich perverts.

Livia let her gaze become directly challenging. "And you've never seen us."

"Never once in my life."

"Good. Is there a discreet exit out of the building?"

"Yes, out this door and down the back hall. Stairs to the street." Livia handed him his money, and they went out as they had been directed. Livia took a deep breath of fresh air, longing for a bath to wash off the smell that she was sure was clinging to her.

When they were well away, heading first to the souks and then home for the afternoon, Darius said, "Good job, but if Geras backtracks this, he will squeal like a lamb to the slaughter."

Livia had thought of this but hadn't come to a good answer yet. "Your suggestion? Suggest that he close down and get out of town?"

Darius shook his head. "One, we do nothing and hope that he or someone else like the guard doesn't recognize us. Or two, an unfortunate happening that leaves him a bit dead."

Somewhere, she'd known what his answer would be. If Geras tracked them, they were all dead. "I don't think hope is going to get us much of anywhere. I don't think we can scare him nearly as much as Geras could if he got his hands on him."

Quietly, Darius suggested, "I can arrange for an accident if that is what you wish, lady."

It took her a few minutes to think about it. "Yes. I can't exactly be squeamish here."

"May I have the liquid that Lukas gave you?" He held out his hand. She was actually carrying the stuff, not wanting to leave it behind to be discovered. She silently dug it out and handed it to him. "It will be done, lady, the day after we have what we want."

She nodded. "First, though, we have to get what we want."

That evening found them back at the brothel. They came in the back entrance, and the thin man showed them to a back room. Diya uncloaked herself and revealed that she was dressed in mere scraps of fabric, showing off the fact that she had the sort of curvaceous body that struck men speechless. Livia spent a few moments in quiet envy. Having Optata had changed her body, thickened her middle and broadened her hips. She hadn't appreciated the body she'd had before childbearing when she'd had it, though usually she liked it just fine even now.

Diya gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, and then a remarkable change came over her. Her mouth became softer, and her eyes when she opened them were heavy-lidded. When she walked over to the door, she swung her hips in soft circles. Livia wondered where she'd learned that, if she'd ever had to sell herself for real. Surely not, she told herself. Sextus was taking care of her, and before that she was far too young.

When she was gone, Darius nodded at a doorway that led into what appeared to be a closet. "In there, lady, will be the best place to wait."

She opened the curtains and peered inside. "It's a little small."

"We will fit." Was that just the ghost of a smile on Darius's face? He walked over, looking into the closet. "There is room enough for us both, I think."

There wasn't quite enough space for them both to stand; there were some awkward shelves overhead that would make the mage need to crane his neck strangely if he wanted to stand. But seated, the big man took up most of the floor space of the closet.

Once Darius was settled, Livia folded herself into the space that was left. She was reasonably flexible, but there was simply not quite enough room. After a few moments of squirming around, she asked, "Ah, would you mind terribly if I put my legs over yours?"

He inclined his head. "We do what we must."

The most comfortable position for her to be in turned out to be with her legs across his lap and her upper body leaning against his shoulder. After a minute or two, Darius turned his body slightly, freeing his arm to drape lightly over her shoulders.

It should have been awkward, the odd intimacy of their proximity. But Livia found herself enjoying the simple human connection, the touch. Even though it was cramped in the closet and both of them were sweating, she was comforted.

She closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the brothel. Next door, a man and a woman were enjoying themselves quite vociferously, though Livia suspected that the woman was perhaps not quite sincere. Farther away, there were more suggestive sounds and the whoops of men who had imbibed altogether too much wine.

Finally, they heard the stumbling footsteps of a man coming into the room. They heard Diya's voice, low and musical, though her words were indistinct.

The man roared with laughter and said, quite distinctly, "I'm going to rip you open, baby. Come here!" Livia stiffened, but Diya's voice came again, and this time she was saying something about more wine first.

The man kept boasting quite crudely, bragging about accomplishments with women that Livia thought were quite improbable. Then, mid-sentence, his words began to slur together. A few seconds later and he stopped talking entirely, and the thump as he hit the floor told them that it was time for the next phase of their plan.

Livia scrambled up and she parted the curtains on the closet, shaking out legs gone to sleep from too long in one position. Darius followed, more slowly. When he saw the man laid out on the floor, he swore and said to Diya, "You did have to pick the fat one, didn't you?"

"Luck of the draw," she shrugged. The man was barrel-chested and big-bellied, and he looked like he weighed more than Darius did on a frame that was smaller than his. Somehow, Darius got the man up on his shoulders, Livia coming up on his other side and trying to help him hold up the man. Being half a foot shorter than Darius made this more a token gesture than anything else.

Meanwhile, Diya was swiftly changing into street clothing, draping a cloak over her head. Wordlessly, they exited the building, Diya ghosting off into the shadows almost as soon as they came out the back door. She would return home and wait for them to finish their work and come back.

The warehouse was a good piece away from the brothel, and Darius dragged the man the entire way, handling him as if he were a companion who'd had too much to drink. Once they were in the warehouse and Livia had thrown the bolt behind them, Darius stripped the man naked and tied him to a sturdy chair. There were bags of grain all around them, stacked high, and there was a drain in the floor that led directly to the sewers, quiet and easy to clean up.

The world had taken on a bit of an unreal quality. Was she really doing this? Had she really gotten to the point where she was willing to torture another human being in order to get what she wanted?

She shook her head and ground her teeth. Stay present, she told herself. This is a role. You will play it, and then you will wash it away when you're done. Darius finished tying the man to the chair and straightened. "I will be back in an hour, lady. Wait for me to return. If this one moves, stab him a few times, but nowhere vital."

She nodded and he left. Livia was alone in the room with the snoring man, watching his chest rise and fall. The man was definitely Roman, his belly fat, his hands large with thick fingers. He was naked as a babe, and Livia could see that on his genitals were several sores, signs of disease that made her shudder. She sat on a bag of grain and waited in silence.

The minutes went by very, very slowly. Livia had ample time to consider her actions, think about what questions she wanted to ask, and to work herself into the role she was about to play. The man moved a few times, but he did not awaken.

Finally, there was a knock at the door, and Livia let Darius in. He seemed to be none the worse for wear. "Problem resolved, lady," he said, handing her the vial. It was a bit emptier than it had been when she'd given it to him.

"Ah. Thank you. That's one person who won't tell a soul a thing."

He nodded. "I made it look like he drank too much and smoked too much. He unfortunately didn't feel a thing."

Livia frowned up at him. "We can't hurt everyone who's running things we disapprove of. He was useful. Someone else will just take his place."

"Many more will. I don't think anyone can place us there tonight, and he was the only one to know. He didn't need this, either." He handed her a familiar small sack, the fifty aureus that she'd given the thin man that evening in payment for the brothel's services.

She pocketed the money. "My thanks. So what do we do with this one? I'm afraid I don't have a lot of experience with this."

Darius folded his arms, regarding the snoring man in the center of the room defined by grain bags. "He will wake in an hour or two, at which time, you will ask the questions and I will cut off body parts if he fails to answer or obviously lies." They spoke for a few minutes about what they needed to know, waiting for the man to come around.

Finally, he seemed to rouse. Livia unsheathed one of her daggers and experimentally poked the man's chest, just hard enough to break the skin with the point. She felt the role she was taking on settling around her like a dress. "Wake up, you," she commanded him.

Startlingly, he obeyed. He opened his eyes, swearing foully as any sailor. Livia stepped forward and held the blade of her knife against his throat, effectively silencing him. "That is just about enough of that out of you. Be quiet and listen. You're going to answer my questions when I ask them, and you're going to be truthful and cooperative in every respect. If you're not, my man here is going to get creative with those blades he wears. Do you understand me?"

She took the blade from his throat, and he nodded. Then he looked at her and spat at her, hitting her shoulder as Livia turned away. Darius stepped forward and plunged a dagger into the man's thigh. He howled and gritted his teeth. Livia kept her voice even. "See, now we're getting off on the wrong foot. Let's start with some easy questions. What's your name?"

The man looked down. "Menaris."

"And the person you work for is named...?"

"Geras and he is going to kill you for this," he snarled.

She raised an eyebrow. "I believe that's my problem, not yours. About a week ago, you helped Geras and his priest do a job in the noble section of town. I want you to tell me what Geras and the rest of you did, and what happened to the boy he captured."

He looked at her, his eyes flatly defiant. "I can't. He'll kill me."

Darius stepped forward swiftly and took the man's little finger, using one of his knives to slice cleanly at it, severing it at the joint. The man screamed again, then whimpered. "You think I won't?" Darius asked the man.

Livia smiled. "Listen to the man, Menaris. He speaks the truth. Tell me."

He stammered, "We took a boy to a noble house. He cast a spell. That's all I know."

She tilted her head. "You know, I don't think I'm very happy with that answer. The boy cast the spell, or Geras?"

"The boy did. He didn't want to, but we made him."

"Afterwards, what happened to the boy?"

"We took him away."

Her voice was gently persistent. "To where?"

He muttered, "I can't--" Darius moved swiftly again, and another finger fell to the floor. "Constantius's house!" Menaris sobbed, his head dropping to his chest.

"And you left him there? In the care of who?"

His voice was sulkier now, though there was still a lot of pain in it. "Linaeus."

"Is Linaeus staying at Constantius' house?"

He barely nodded. "Yes, for the time being."

She felt more and more distant from her body, watching herself as if she were an actor in a play. She felts as if parts of her were shutting down, things she didn't need right now. She let them. There would be a reckoning later, but for the moment, she had to be here, had to be present, had to do this. She thought about her next question. "Let's go back to the night you were at the noble's house. Was there any talk of demon summoning symbols having been placed in the house? And was there any mention of who the target of the spell was?"

"The boy summoned something. I don't know what. The target was some guy that knew too much and was snooping around. Sexton or something."

Livia tilted her head. "Was there any mention of his family also being a target?"

"No, just the man."

That didn't add up quite right. She made a note of it and moved on. "That night, did you have any creatures with you? Things that stood on their hind legs but weren't human?"

Menaris' breathing was harsh, counter pointing the blood dripping quietly on the floor. "No, Linaeus uses them, but not that night that I know of." Darius moved closer and then backed off, and she took her cue from that.

"I'm thinking I'm not quite convinced of your truthfulness. I know there were creatures there that night. Think hard. Are you certain you didn't see them?"

"I didn't see any, I swear. If Linaeus used them, he didn't tell us." Sweat was rolling down the man's face. Livia glanced at Darius, who nodded, confirming her feeling that the man truly didn't know.

Her voice was quiet, and she learned forward a bit. "Do you know who Geras is currently working for?"

Menaris shook his head, terror in his eyes. "Someone on the council of Hagia Sophia. I don't know who."

Livia stepped back, and Darius moved in. She wondered what he was doing when he swiftly knelt in front of the man, but the wet slicing sound that followed told her answered her unspoken question. The scream that ripped itself from Menaris was a terrible thing, and as Darius stood, she glimpsed the ruin he'd made of the man's crotch. Livia turned away briefly, willing herself not to vomit. A foul smell told her that the man had soiled himself, and that smell added to the reek of blood and sweat and fear. She took a deep breath through her mouth and faced Menaris, waiting for him to stop screaming.

Finally, the man's screams failed, and he dropped his head to his chest, panting. Livia stepped forward and slid the point under his chin, gently lifting his face so he was looking at her. "Who?" she asked in a voice she didn't quite recognize.

"Most of them," he gulped. "Faydren for sure."

She stepped back, sheathing her knife again. "It's so nice that you're finally being cooperative. Where does Geras stay in town?"

"Moves all the time. He doesn't like to stay in one place every night. Inns, noble houses, whore houses, outside the city. Wherever."

"How do people find him when they need him?"

Menaris licked his lips. "Linaeus knows. He knows everything."

She glanced over at Darius, who was still as stone. She asked Menaris, "And what is he doing now, what is he working on?"

"A stronger cell for the boy. He is giving them trouble."

There was Esayis again. She followed this line of questioning. "Where in the house is the boy being kept?

"Basement. In a cage." There was almost a whimper in his voice.

"Was there another boy, perhaps? One that was captured the same night, perhaps later?"

"No, not with him. The other boy is in the Sassenid quarter."

Livia smiled. "Where in the quarter?"

Menaris shook his head. "Don't know. Swear I don't."

Livia looked over at Darius. He took a long step forward, then backed off. "Your call."

She clucked her tongue. "I am having my doubts. Another finger, if you would."

The man's eyes widened, and he cried, "No, no, I don't know!" Darius didn't listen, taking another finger to the accompaniment of a scream from Menaris. "I don't know," he moaned.

"I'm still not happy. Who took the boy to the Sassenid quarter, if not you and your fellows?" She let impatience creep into her tone.

"More mercenaries. Old friends." His breathing was getting more rapid, and the sweat was pouring off of him now. Livia wondered where this man's limits were, how much more he could take before he either passed out or his heart stopped.

She would get whatever she could in the time she had left. "Your old friends, or Geras's?"

"Mine."

She clucked her tongue again and took a few steps laterally to him. "Are they still working with Geras?"

He nodded and swallowed. "Yes, they are guarding him."

Livia sighed and rubbed the back of her neck. That had been an informative diversion, but she needed to get back to what she needed to know about. "So. Let's return to that night in the noble quarter. First question: who, exactly, was with you that night?"

"The boy and Dar, the other mercenary." Menaris had evidently decided to be cooperative--or blood loss had taken the rest of the fight out of him.

She raised her eyebrows. "What about Geras and Linaeus?"

"Not there, Geras was at Constantius's house. Linnaeus was gone to the Sassenid quarter."

"Was there a girl there?"

He shook his head slightly. "Saw a girl briefly, but she ran."

Tension ran out of Livia's shoulders. She'd begun to suspect that Diya had been there; certainly, she still now suspected her of having been the one to attempt to erase the demon marks. She'd have some difficult questions for Diya, tomorrow morning. "And how, exactly, did you force the boy to summon the demon?"

"Told him that if he didn't, we would kill his fiance."

"And you knew who the fiance was?"

"Some Sassenid, rumored to be Sextus's child, through a Sassenid woman." There was no name. Hopefully, they didn't have Diya's name yet.

Menaris's breathing was getting harsher. She pursed her lips. "Hm. Did you ever see the thing that the boy summoned again?"

Briefly, the man pulled at his bindings, and then grimaced. "I did. Demon of some sort."

"It returned?"

"It returned the night Sextus died, and stepped into the cage with Esayis. It's been there ever since."

Now that didn't make much sense. "Really. It hasn't left even once?"

"I--don't know. I have never seen it leave."

Darius caught her eye, shaking his head. He gestured to the growing puddle of blood beneath the chair, and Livia nodded. Time as growing very short indeed. "Ah. Tell me, have you ever heard Geras or Linaeus mention the name Merouk?"

He lifted his chin, just a little. "Might have. Sounds familiar. Sassenid name. Name of the fiance?"

Livia twisted the corner of her mouth and leaned inward. "Think harder. Perhaps something to do with the time Geras spent in Ankara."

His eyes widened, and he looked at her with fear in his expression. "Geras in Ankara. Sassenid woman. We tracked a Sassenid woman to Ankara. That her?"

"That would be."

He lifted his upper lip in a sneer. "Yes. I know her."

I'll just bet you do. "What happened in Ankara with her?"

The sneer was still on his face, and Livia fought the urge to slap it off. "Geras captured her for three days. He had her way with her, several times, then turned her out to the rest of us. Except Linnaeus."

Livia his her surprise at his last words. "Linaeus didn't participate?"

Menaris's sneer had faded, and he coughed wetly. "Never does."

"He's a bit squeamish?"

"No, he's not squeamish at all. I have seen him kill more mercenaries than anyone I know. Bad temper."

"Unusual, in a priest." The man's color was getting worse. She stepped back to Darius and asked, "Anything else I should ask him?"

There was a suspicious light in Darius' eyes. "Ask him why Linaeus kills his own mercenaries."

She repeated the question. Menaris replied, "Two sides of that one. Evil and bad tempered. Other side, goes and heals the sick in the Sassenid quarter. I caught him once. He never tells Geras that he does that." Out of the corner of her eye, Livia saw Darius lifting an eyebrow.

Good enough for me. "Did he say anything to you about it, the time you caught him?"

Menaris coughed again, and his head fell forward a bit before he recovered and looked up again. "He would let me live, so long as I never raped or killed anyone that Geras didn't directly order me to."

"No mention of why he was healing the sick in the Sassenid quarter, then? Just that he was?"

"Nothing. Told me never to speak of it. I've seen him do it many times, now. After every time Geras does something especially nasty."

Livia began to pace a bit. Menaris's eyes followed her. "Interesting. Yet he kills mercenaries that work for him when he gets into a bad mood."

"Only when we rape or kill and weren't ordered to. He killed twelve men once, because they slaughtered an entire village, where just the men were supposed to be killed. Geras didn't know, he thought they died in battle, but Dar saw him."

"Does Geras know that he kills the other mercenaries when they do something that offends him?"

Menaris coughed, and his breathing was rapid and shallow. "I don't think so. If he does, he doesn't care."

She paused, and felt Darius at her shoulder. "You are starting to lose him," he said warningly.

"I know. I think I'm done," she replied.

"One more. Ask him who Constantius is."

"Ah." She moved forward smoothly, pulling her dagger, sliding the point once again under his chin. Her voice was soft and poisonous. "Stay with me a bit longer, Menaris. I want to know who Constantius is."

Menaris was having trouble keeping his head upright, and was starting to struggle for breath. "Regent."

Darius moved in, his knife point low. He set just the tip of the blade at the man's groin. Menaris moaned, "No, no--"

Livia leaned in until her mouth was right next to his ear. "That wasn't the question I asked. Tell me." She wanted to wrap her hands around this man's soul, hold him in place until he had finished answering her. He was dying, but surely he had one more answer in him.

He shuddered, and answered. "Geras." Then he shuddered again, and his head dropped, his whole body going limp. A few seconds later his breath rattled in his throat, and he stopped moving entirely.

She straightened and turned away from the corpse. Darius said, "I was afraid of that, lady."

She nodded, not turning to look at him. "So what did they do with the real Constantius?"

"Probably dead. I would bet." He paused, and seemed to consider. "Might still be alive."

There was a sharp tone in her voice that she listened to with a certain amount of detached interest. "I don't think that they'd have any reason to leave him alive."

"I can think of one reason. I don't like it much, though."

Livia turned back to Darius. He was looking at the corpse in the chair. "What?" she asked.

"Demons go home after their job is done. If Esayis conjured the first one and it went home, where did the second one that came to you come from? What if that one is home? What if they transformed him into the demon?"

She shuddered. "It's really strange, because it looked like the same exact demon. But if they transformed Constantius into it..."

"Could even be the same demon. Forced to kill Sextus."

Livia thought about this from all angles, looking at it, weighing it against everything she knew. "It would make sense. Especially how strangely it acted when I saw it the second time."

Darius nodded. "Somewhere in there is Constantius."

"It's odd, I was actually feeling a bit sorry for it the other day. It seemed to be doing work against its will. Now I have a theory why."

His voice was slow, as if he was reluctant to speak. "Worse yet, lady. Geras has your daughter. And there is very little you can about it."

Livia's detachment abruptly failed her. She stared at Darius, and she knew that she had gone white as snow. "Gods. You're right."

"Some sort of sick joke by Geras to place you in Sextus's job, maybe."

She nodded, shivering a bit. "We may be able to retrieve Esayis. Maybe even the demon, and try to get him back into his own shape. But my daughter---I can't get her out without abandoning Constantinople entirely."

"Julia might be able to reverse the transformation. But you're going to have to continue the charade."

"I do. Not something I'm looking forward to." She looked down and noticed that she had a long smear of blood on the skirt of her dress, and there were small spatters of blood on the hem. She'd brushed up against Menaris somehow while she was questioning him.

He glanced over at the corpse in the chair. "Makes even more sense that he is demon proofing that room for your daughter. He doesn't want the real Constantius to get to her."

"If Constantius got out, he might bring her out." She was surprised that her voice was as steady as it was.

Darius nodded, leaning back against a stack of bags of grain. "Geras is aiming for the throne of the Roman Empire. He has it now, effectively."

"He's got the other two regents by the throat. He doesn't have to kill them as long as he has their children."

He rubbed his hands together absently, trying to rid the of some of the blood that was dried on them. "And he has Hagia Sophia, as well."

She paused, thinking forward. "But if we get both the boys out, he might move against them directly."

"Yes he will, and it will be open warfare in the streets."

Livia took a long breath and immediately regretted it. The smell in the warehouse wasn't getting any sweeter. "You know, I would like Geras a lot better if his head were separated from his body."

His mouth quirked in a half-smile. "So would I. I think the weak link, though, is Linaeus. Something of Lukas is left in there."

"That's my thought. He still has the principles he was raised with. And he keeps things from Geras." Livia rubbed the back of her neck again. "I'm not going to be able to rely on any affection he once had for Sextus, however. I'm going to need to win him on my own."

"Can you turn him, is the question?"

"I don't know. It depends on how sick he is of what's going on and what I can offer him. I have something for him--possible reconciliation with Lukas. I don't know if it'll be enough." She was letting her mind range outward, putting what Menaris had told her together.

"He could have done that on his own, unless he thinks Lukas is dead."

She shook her head. "He can't while he's still hanging around with Geras. I'm sure of it."

"Looks like he may be caught, too." Darius spread his hands.

"I'm sure I'll speak to him, eventually. It sounds like he's at Constantius' house."

Darius glanced back at the corpse. "And so is Geras, just not in the form you know."

Livia shuddered. "And here I was thinking I was going to need to sleep with Constantius. No, thank you."

"I wouldn't recommend it." He was watching her carefully. "This is getting uglier, lady, by the minute."

Se pressed her lips together. "It is. It's not going to get any prettier, either. But at this point, I'm committed."

Darius nodded and began to untie Menaris's corpse from the chair. "So are we all," he replied.

"True enough. Though you can still claim you were ordered to do what you've done. If anyone takes a fall, it should be me."

He caught the corpse as it fell forward, laying the dead mercenary out on the floor. "We all go down with you, lady. Julia, Diya, myself, your household. Geras, if he finds out, will destroy everything."

"He will. But I'm hoping I can preserve the lives of those in my care. If nothing else, scatter everyone to the four winds." She watched him work, handling the body as if he were used to this particular detail. "Once we get Esayis out, I want to get him and Diya out of Constantinople."

"It's the best plan that we have, lady, until opportunity presents itself."

Livia nodded and gestured with her chin at the body. "Any ideas for what we're going to do with him? And I brought some clean clothing for both of us. We should get rid of what we're wearing." She followed her own advice, stepping behind one of the waist-high stacks of bags of grain and skinning out of her dress, pulling on the clean dress she'd brought with her.

While she was doing that, Darius had dragged out a large crate from behind the grain sacks, and hefted Menaris's body into it. "I will get rid of it. A few hundred pounds of stone in this crate, and it will be years before he comes to the surface of the Mediterranean." He slammed the lid of the crate shit and hammered iron nails into it. "Julia keeps a private boat. It has a bit of midnight sailing to do." Livia averted her eyes as he skinned out of his soiled clothing, pulling on a clean tunic.

"I'll wash down the floor here. By the time anyone returns to this place, it'll be clean." She was keeping her eyes on the floor, unable to take her eyes off of the blood puddled on it.

"I will see you in the morning. You are safe to get home?"

Livia said absently, "I think so. I'm armed, at least." She noticed that she was shaking, and everything seemed very far away indeed. She wrapped her arms around herself, closing her eyes.

There was sudden concern in Darius' voice. "Are you all right?"

She shook her head. "No. But I'll hold it together until I get home."

"I have to go, lady. The sun is coming soon. Be careful." She opened her eyes to find that he was looking at her, a line of worry having appeared between his brows. "You can wait for me here, if you want. I will be back in an hour. Or you can come with me, we can clean this after we get back."

Livia tried to force her head to clear, to push away the knowledge of what she'd done this night. It seemed her detachment while she was doing it had a price, and that was the weight it put on her soul. She shuddered again, remembering how at the end she had pushed the man, how she'd pressed for one last answer before he'd died, how she had turned into someone that she didn't truly recognize. She looked around, swallowing. "I'll come along, if you don't think I'll be in the way. I...don't really want to be here by myself."

Darius nodded. "I understand." He threw the bolt on the door, then turned and muttered a spell at the crate. It floated up off of the floor, and he put a hand on it to guide it out the door. "Come with me, then."

She pulled her palla up over her head, shrouding her face in shadow. She closed the door after them, locking it behind her, and followed Darius through the quiet streets.

The warehouse was very near the docks of Neorion Harbor, and Julia's boat was docked at one end of the docks, in the midst of some other pleasure craft. Livia settled in the bow of the boat, and Darius settled the crate and cast off. Once they were clear of the other boats, Darius took the tiller while Livia, finally feeling as if there were something useful she could do, trimmed the sails. Her father had taught her how to sail small craft when she was young, along with the rest of her siblings, and she'd always enjoyed sailing.

Silently, they sailed out of the harbor. When they were a few miles out to sea, Darius floated the crate off of the side of the boat. He released the spell, and the crate sank swiftly below the waves.

Back in harbor and then on land, Livia and Darius went back to the warehouse and spent some time cleaning it up. As the sun brightened the eastern horizon, they climbed the hill toward the noble district. Livia had mostly stopped shaking, but she still didn't trust her voice. They passed into the house, Orla meeting them at the door.

"Diya?" Livia asked.

"Returned last night. She's still sleeping," replied Orla. "My pardon, dear, but you look like death." She favored Darius with a gimlet gaze. "Both of you, as a matter of fact." It was telling that Orla did not ask what they had been doing that night.

"I'll sleep for a few hours," said Livia. "I believe Darius will, as well. If I'm not up by noon, wake me?" Orla nodded.

They climbed the stairs to the second floor. Darius paused with his hand on his door. "Will you be all right, lady?"

She leaned against her doorframe. She felt wrung out as a wet cloth. "I'm going to have to be, won't I? I'll see you when we both wake, Darius." Before she could change her mind--and before she could say something she'd regret--she opened her door and stepped through, closing it behind her.

With her back against the door, she heard Darius' door click closed. She leaned her head back against the wood of the door, taking a long breath. She did not cry. She could not.

She desperately wanted comfort, the feeling of the warmth of another human being next to her. She could not ask Darius, though at the moment he was the only one who knew what was going on, who would understand why she could not stop shaking.

You are alone, she reminded herself. This is yours to carry alone.

She undressed and curled up on her bed, pulling the blanket up around her shoulders. But if she thought she was going to sleep, she was sorely mistaken. Every time she slipped under the surface of dream, Menaris's screams woke her, the sob in his voice when she'd ordered Darius to take one of his fingers echoing in her ears.

But even more than that, the role she had taken on, the skin she had worn while torturing a man to death for what he knew, kept her from sleep. She kept thinking back, going over her actions, replaying her voice in her mind. Darius had told her that she was too nice. She didn't think he'd be saying that to her about the night's work.

And the worst thing of all was that she suspected that somewhere underneath the horror was someone who understood the necessity of it and didn't mind the blood, or the screaming. Someone for whom the information they had gathered tonight was invaluable, and the price paid for it relatively cheap. Two lives, one ended in pain, had been the coin paid for the information that made much of what had gone on recently make sense, and pointed the way for future endeavors.

Grey-eyed Athena, what am I becoming?

But the gods, if they heard, kept their silence on the matter.