A Woman of Uneasy Virtue

The harpist entered Livia's chamber, having been escorted there by Darius. Livia could see the look in the mage's eyes that meant that he was suspicious of their visitor. She wasn't without her own suspicions, but if the woman proved helpful, she might open up a whole world of possibilities.

The harpist--Neera, Livia remembered, Faydren had said she was named Neera--was a tall woman, with features that weren't particularly distinguished in any way. She was kept from being plain by her smile, which was warm and vibrant. She was perhaps a little younger than Livia, her face unlined.

Livia rose from her chair. "Hello, Neera. It is good to actually meet you. I was at Faydren's gathering, and your work is amazing."

Neera gave her a flash of a smile. "Thank you. Where would you like me to set up?"

"In the corner, by the chair--I can have something else brought in if that doesn't suit." She gestured to the chair in question, and sat down on the edge of her bed.

"No, that would be fine." Neera bent to unwrap her harp. It was no more than three feet tall, the kind called a traveling harp. As the woman bent over the strings, stroking them, listening to the sound they made, and adjusting them, Livia could see that the instrument was a work of art. The front piece was made in the shape of a man outstretched, and the rest of the frame was made of a richly colored wood with inlays of gold.

"Your instrument is beautiful. Was it made for you?"

"I made it to my own specifications," she said with another smile. After a few moments spent tuning, Neera said, "Faydren told me very little, actually, about your situation and why I was coming. He said you had been troubled for sleep after the death of your husband. Is there anything else that is weighing on your mind as well because of that death? Money, family?"

"My husband was killed by a demon in the bed next to me. When I try to sleep, I keep going back to that scene. My daughter was adopted into another family directly after, and I miss her. And there are strange things going on around me that I don't understand." Livia's voice was soft, and she was looking off into space instead of at the harpist.

Neera set the harp down and looked at Livia. "Such as? Or is that too personal?"

Livia spread her hands. "I don't know if Faydren told you, but I was made an advisor to Constantius right after Sextus died, taking his place. I honestly don't understand why. And I saw something at Faydren's gathering the other night that--frightened me."

The harpist's hands were very still on her instrument. "And that was?"

"You were playing, and I'd needed to leave the room. I came back and nobody in the room was moving. It was a bit spooky. You stopped playing, and everyone started moving again." She realized how strange and silly this sounded. "It's silly, I know, everyone was probably just paying very close attention. My mind seems to be playing tricks on me, these days."

Neera picked up her harp again and bent over it plucking at the strings and fiddling with the tuning. Her expression was hidden from Livia. "Tricks, maybe, but sometimes my playing brings back memories that people have long forgotten."

She nodded. "True. Both of the people with me that night seemed melancholy, afterwards. Though with one of them, it's a little hard to tell." She wondered again what memories this woman had brought up in Linaeus--and in Darius.

"I play to release the pain of those memories, and sometimes to remind them of who they were." The harpist's voice was soft.

Livia nodded. "How did you come into Faydren's service, anyway?" she asked.

"My mother worked for him as a cook, I was raised there from a little girl. I showed a great aptitude for music and Faydren had me sent to Rome to study. I returned and now I play for him until my debt for my education is paid off." She shrugged and touched the strings again. Livia wondered what it would be like to have that sort of passion, that would drive a person to more or less accept indentured servitude for the sake of one's art.

"Does he often send you to people's houses, like this?"

"Very rarely but on occasion. The last time I went was to see Constantius about a month ago."

Livia frowned. She still hadn't established when exactly Geras had replaced Constantius. "I suppose even the strongest-willed of men might have difficulty with memories of things they've done, sometimes."

Neera looked up, and her expression was speculative. "Yes, he was troubled by things. I am not sure I helped him, but he was able to sleep at least a few nights."

"What will you do, after your debt is paid and you're beholden to no one?"

She smiled. "Travel, play as I choose to who I choose. Lady, you are searching for something, I believe. Why don't you just come out and ask?"

"I was just wondering how happy you are working for Faydren, is all." Livia sighed, her shoulders tight with tension.

"Not very, but I do what I must. His ways disagree with my morals." Neera had a canny look in her eyes. "I do not think though that was the question you wanted to ask, if I may be so bold."

Livia chuckled. "I'm sorry. I saw Faydren at the party, apparently using you in some fashion. I was wondering if you were going to go through my memories in the same way."

The harpist ran the lightest of fingers along her instrument's frame. "I would have lady, as per Faydren's orders but something about you was blocking the way. And as you touched people, they broke from Faydren's grasp."

Livia knew her expression had gone sharp, and she looked away, trying to bring herself under control. "Ah. And do you do that on your own? Will you be doing so tonight?"

Neera lifted her hands. "It is part of the magic that causes the peace. But will I be telling Faydren what I see? No, I remember them for no more than a fleeting second. Faydren uses a spell to retain them longer as he watches them through me."

"Ah. I fear you will find more darkness in me than you might expect, Neera." She sighed. She thought that the harpist was telling the truth. And, if she were honest with herself, she was exhausted, on the edge of doing something that would change her life's circumstances drastically, and if Neera could somehow hold off the nightmares for just a few nights, it would be worth having someone else know all her secrets.

"I sometimes am glad I see no more than I do. I fear there is a lot of darkness about in the memories I see."

"I'm sure there is. too many secrets in this part of society."

"Far too many secrets. Shall I?" Neera had dropped her hand to the strings.

Livia nodded. "Please." She curled up in bed and pulled the blanket around her shoulder. Any trepidation she might have had was melted away by the music, such wonderful music, carrying her away...

Memories flooded her, illuminating every corner of her soul. All of them were happy memories, of her mother and father when she has been young and they had still been had been happy together, of a perfect golden afternoon spent playing with her older sisters. A little dog she'd been given for her birthday. The day when she'd realized that she happened to be married to the most wonderful man she'd ever met. Falling unhesitatingly in love with her infant daughter and thinking that her life could not possibly be more blessed than it was.

Those memories and many more flowed around her. Later, the memories changed. They were no longer golden and happy, now. She was drifting, and she saw through eyes that were not her own. There was Constantius, being transformed into a demon. Faydren discovering that his strongbox had been raided. And Linaeus, healing the sick. The images were quick, but crystal clear, and Livia felt a strong pull towards the last one.

She followed Linaeus down.

He was a young man, arguing with his father, both of them shouting. "I have to leave, Father! I have to go with Geras. I'm losing the path." And as if that were an unforgivable statement, Linaeus turned and left, leaving a stunned Lukas behind him. Livia saw her husband, younger than she'd ever known him, saying goodbye. And then a flash of a meeting, with Julia--a quick hug, and "Goodbye, mother."

There was more. So much pain, so many deaths. Merouk under Geras's sweating body, screaming, Linaeus unable to look away. Trying to save people as he could, killing so many more. How many? I cannot count any more. Linaeus's voice was raised in prayer to Athena, begging, "Make it stop, goddess! Make it all stop..."

An answer, a voice that was not a voice. It will end soon, but you must stay the course.

Sextus, thought Livia. What do you remember of him?

A fight, both Geras and Sextus lashing out. A great wound, Sextus's blood pooled in the dirt and all over Linaeus's hands and clothes. The terrified look in Sextus's eyes as his breath faltered and failed. Carrying the body that seemed too light for penance to Lukas, and one more time Livia saw the argument between Linaeus and his father.

There was nothing for a long time.

Now Sextus was older, and they were in the desert somewhere. "The time is coming near, old friend. I am sorry for the last dozen years, but it's coming now," Sextus was saying. "I don't want to say goodbye again to you, Linaeus, but they have gotten too close. I have to go from this life. I was on borrowed time anyway, thanks to you." There was gratitude in Sextus's voice.

Livia would have wept, had she been able. As it was, she just watched and listened. A gift, she thought. To hear his voice again, even in someone else's memory--

He was continuing to speak. "Take care of Livia and Optata, if you can. Diya, as well. I know you want to help Merouk, but her pain is too great now. Let her go."

There was more, but it was slipping away from Livia. Wordlessly, she protested, reaching out, calling--

She was being shaken, roughly. There was a voice, and for a moment she didn't recognize it. "Livia, are you awake?"

No, she thought. Still asleep. Go away, whoever you are. She kept her eyes stubbornly shut.

The voice was rough with worry. Suddenly, she snapped back into herself as she was shaken again and heard Darius say in a voice that was nearly frantic, "Livia, are you all right?"

It was his tone more than his words that catapulted her into the waking world once more. "I--I think so. What's wrong?" She opened her eyes to look up into his face.

He let out a breath. "You have been asleep for quite some time. I was beginning to worry."

Livia sat up, yawning. The light in the room was strange. "What time is it?"

"Two in the afternoon."

She was combing her fingers through her hair, and stopped mid-motion. "Oh, dear. I haven't slept that late...well, ever."

"Linaeus will be here in an hour," Darius said.

Livia knew she ought to jump to her feet, call Orla, get ready. But she was never at her best when she'd just woken. Darius still had that worried look in his eyes, and she reached out to take his hand. "I'm really all right," she said to him. "You don't need to be so worried for me."

It was the most natural thing in the world right then for her to pull on his hand, encouraging him to sit down on the edge of the bed. The most natural thing in the world to tuck herself up against him, under his arm, her legs folded beneath her. She yawned and leaned into him. "I feared something had gone wrong with the magic," he said. "You must have just been tired."

"I haven't slept more than a few hours a night for two weeks. I must have had some catching up to do. Remind me not to schedule anything for tomorrow morning, it may happen again." She tilted her head, craning her neck a little to look up at him. "You called me by my name."

Darius looked down at her. "I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"No, it's all right, Darius. I liked it." She smiled up at him, their eyes meeting.

They seemed to both move at once, Livia shifting upwards, Darius's arm tightening around her and helping to pull her up. As if suddenly realizing what was about to happen, Darius drew back from her a little. "Livia--"

She kissed him, gently at first and then with more passion. Darius broke the kiss, gasping. For a long moment, they just looked at each other, silent.

Livia, finally, fully woke up, and realized exactly what she'd done. Her face abruptly flaming with a blush, she looked away. "I'm sorry," she stammered. "I didn't--I have no right--"

This time, it was his hand on her chin, and he was the one who kissed her. "Don't be," he murmured when they pulled away from each other that time. "Don't be."

She shifted and he pulled her onto his lap, cradling her. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to simply enjoy the silent comfort he offered for a few minutes. With her eyes still closed, she said, "I really ought to go get dressed. Um, do you think we could continue this sometime later?" Nervousness fluttered in her. If he said no--

"Of course," he said. "There will be time, I'm sure. Up with you now, you're going to have one very dangerous cleric in your house in a little bit."

Livia stood, then was struck by a thought. "I dreamed," she said. "I was seeing Linaeus's memories. Sextus asked him to take care of me and Optata. I think I can be honest with him, at least a little. He won't give me anything if I can't give him that."

Darius had risen, straightening his shirt. "Are you sure? Dreams can be deceptive. So can memories, for that matter. You saw him kill that mercenary. If he decides you know too much..."

"I may have to risk it." She stepped towards him, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him gently. "Would you find Orla for me?"

"I will. Livia." He inclined his head towards her and then took his leave.

Alone in her chamber, Livia hugged herself, unable to quite believe what had just happened, what she'd just done. She blushed again, and her happiness went out like a candle, swallowed suddenly by a wave of guilt. I'm so sorry, Sextus, she said silently. So very sorry. But you're not here, and I--

She swallowed. I need this. For so many reasons. If you were here, I'd never have given him even a second glance. You're gone, and I'm still here. Still alive.

Livia straightened. Orla couldn't come in and find her crying. It was time to put on one of her myriad masks and speak to a man who had known her husband better than she'd at first suspected.

Linaeus's mouth was set in a straight line. Looks like you're not looking forward to this, Livia thought. We'll see. They had settled down in the room that was commonly used for receiving guests, Livia concentrating on looking relaxed, Linaeus sitting on the edge of his chair. Darius was right outside, but Livia rather thought that the priest would talk more freely if she were alone with him.

She regarded the man across from her intently. "To dispose of the pretext for this visit, Linaeus, the death of my husband has shaken my faith in God. However, the real reason I wanted to speak to you was because I understand you're the reason Sextus was alive for me to marry. I wanted to thank you."

She'd startled him, she could tell. "He told you?"

Livia shook her head. "No, he didn't. But he left hints and clues for me to follow."

Linaeus's eyes were hooded. "Interesting that he left clues behind for that. Yes, long ago, I saved his life."

She narrowed her own eyes. "And then disappeared, following a man whose life you also saved, the person who nearly killed him. And now this leaves me with a certain amount of curiosity. For instance, I'm not sure why you've suddenly shown up as the bosom companion to a regent. And was hoping you might have some insight into why I was chosen as an advisor."

Stubbornness from the priest. "Constantius makes his own decisions. I do not know the ways of the regent."

Liar, she thought. "Really? Odd, that," she replied mildly.

"He chose me to advise him in the ways of Christos after the death of Sextus. And possibly for some family loyalty. My father served the regent as well."

"Truly? He didn't mention that when I spoke to him."

Linaeus blinked. "Who, Constantius or my father?"

"Your father. Who was the one who told me the story of you and Sextus in the first place." The felt as though the conversation was a dilapidated shack that she was trying to lean on without causing it to completely fall over. If she miscalculated, she would lose this match.

There was mild puzzlement on Linaeus's face. "He would know, but why would he tell you that? Ah, you are investigating the death of your husband."

She nodded. "Of course. And I've learned all sorts of things. About my husband, about you, about Geras. Among other people." Livia paused to take a breath. "And, honestly, I'm afraid. Justifiably so, I think."

His expression altered, and she felt the shift in the conversation like a door opening. Linaeus lost his mask of calm, looking at her with narrowed and intent eyes. "Don't play in this, Livia. It will get you killed, just like Sextus."

Livia lifted her chin. "I think I don't have a choice."

"So did I once, but that is not true. There are always choices, some good, some bad and some you should just walk away from."

"I can't walk away from this. I have responsibilities to several people who are caught up in this through no fault of their own. And my daughter." Her voice was soft but immoveable.

Livia saw one of his hands clench. "Yes, your daughter. If I can get her out, will you let this go?"

She tilted her head. "I think I know too much already. And I've made a promise to someone. My husband wanted me to follow in his footsteps."

"Then find a way to step outside his footsteps, if you must. Following them leads once more into a grave."

He is as frustrating as his damned father! Livia growled to herself. "And do what? Let the world fall apart around me when I could do something to stop it? Bury my head and ignore what I know is going on?"

His voice was quiet and calm. "Maybe you should. What do you want, Livia?"

Livia looked away, thinking. "I want my daughter safe. I want to know why my husband died. And I want the person who probably arranged to have him killed to not be at the head of the empire."

He twitched the corner of his mouth. "Your daughter is safe for now. Your husband was killed by a demon, summoned by a boy working for Geras. The latter I can't do anything about."

"And what if I can?"

Linaeus shook his head. "You can trust none of the regents for that assignment. Who do you propose take over?"

She snorted indelicately. "I think just about anyone would be better than Geras."

"Faydren perhaps. Magentius would be a lovely choice." In another place, another time, she would have said he was teasing her. Right now, though, his voice was sharp and cruel.

"You mean Faydren wouldn't be ruling through Geras anyway?"

"Faydren has his own sights, and they don't include Geras."

She raised her hand, fingering the end of one of her curls. "I thought Geras was working for him."

He twitched his mouth. "They are working both for and against each other."

"Charming."

Linaeus looked at her, shrugging. "Politics. It's the ones I don't know about that scare me."

"Better the devil you know?" she asked, softly.

"In this case, yes. I know what to expect from Geras." He took a long breath. "Faydren, possibly. Magentius, maybe. But there are at least three others in this game, and I can't see them."

She leaned forward slightly. Again she felt the pressure of the conversation like a wind, and leaned against it. "Do you have any names?"

Linaeus shook his head. "Nothing yet. And I don't know how Constantine fits in. He is the quietest of all the regents."

"I don't know him well. He's never had Constantius's temper on the surface, but I think he's got a worse temper underneath." Livia sat back, considering. "He's very controlled. And he doesn't like Faydren."

"Nor does he like any of his brothers. His hatred squarely lands, though, on Magentius."

"Isn't Magentius one of Constans's generals?" she asked. Here was something important, she could smell it.

Linaeus snorted. "In name only. Constans promoted him for being so good in bed."

Livia's eyebrows shot up. "Ah, I see. What's Constantine's problem with him, do you know?"

"Magentius will do and say anything to get to the top of the pile. Rumor has it that he sleeps with Constans and then goes out to the whorehouses for sex with women." There was a brief glitter in Linaeus's eyes. "Constantine caught him at it and questioned his loyalty to his brother. The supposed response was, I will drop Constans and my pants for you, my lord."

She nearly choked, then recovered. Fascinating, she thought. Perhaps I can use this. "I can see where Constantine would take offense at that, " she replied mildly.

"There is more to it than just that, though. I don't know what yet."

There was a speculative look in her eyes as she looked at Linaeus. "You know, I may be able to find out."

"Careful, Livia. Faydren is watching you." There was a warning note in his voice.

She shrugged. "Of course he is. He couldn't get to my memories. This probably makes me interesting, at least."

He glanced at her sharply. "How did you do that, by the way?"

"Good question. I think it had something to do with a thing I found in his house." She raised her hands and then dropped them. "I'd like to say it's because of my innate toughness, but alas."

"Interesting. I should be going, I have said too much already."

Livia's voice was quiet. She did not move. "I'm not going to give this up, Linaeus. Die fighting or die because I've curled up and given in to my grief, does it really matter?"

He looked at her, and she felt his will as if it were a wind in the room, the strength that had allowed him to survive fifteen years of some of the worst hells she could imagine. "My course is set, lady. What we both have said today would get us both killed. I suggest you forget it, as will I. But for the future, where does this leave us?"

"For the immediate future, not much of anywhere. In a bit, though...we could share information, at least. More than that will have to wait for later."

There was a dark humor in his expression. "So does that make me Geras and you Faydren?"

"Less...poisonous than that, I would hope." Livia took a breath. "I meant it when I said I'm grateful to you, Linaeus."

"Thank you, lady. I owed Sextus that much anyway. He saved my father."

Livia spread her hands. "You gave me a gift precious beyond words. It doesn't matter really who owed who what."

"Maybe so. Good luck, Livia, in whatever you decide. I hope it's to pack up and leave Constantinople. But if not, we will meet again."

"I'm certain we will."

He rose, and she followed his example. "I will take my leave, lady, but there is one more thing you should know. Fausta is dead."

The world swayed and shuddered, and Livia knew she'd gone white as snow. "Ah, gods, no," she breathed.

"I am sorry, lady."

"She was my friend, but she was also a bit of protection for me. Now..." She shook her head. "I'll manage."

She couldn't read Linaeus's expression. "You may wish to hurry some, lady."

Livia's voice shook. "Is Geras planning what I think he's planning?" She felt breathless, her mind racing.

"What do you think he is planning?"

She'd turned away from him a bit, trying to control her expression. "I think he's planning to try to marry me in her place, using my daughter as leverage."

"That's not the half of it."

"What's the other half?"

His voice was merciless. "He killed her by tearing her up inside and out. Blamed the demon and will have Esayis executed tomorrow for the summoning."

She didn't want to ask, but she had to know. "And is the demon in the basement dead?"

"Quite."

Plans dropped away from Livia, things she had half in her mind simply dissolving like smoke. She swore vehemently, using several words that were not usually heard from noblewomen. "You're right. I do need to hurry."

His eyes were hooded. "The guard change is at six hours after sunset, then just about four hours after that, followied by just after sunrise. But that is just what I have heard, lady."

"It may be enough." She took a breath, shivering. "Tell me--you said you may be able to get my daughter out. What about the boys? Julian and Gallus?"

He frowned. "Probably, why?"

"Thinking long-term, is all. I don't know yet." There was a plan in her mind, half-formed, a plan in case all else failed and she did have to run. I may fail here. But if I think ahead, I may salvage something out of this mess.

Linaeus nodded. "Good luck. Geras is gone for now, and will be back in the morning to discover Fausta. I have a job to do and will be back late."

Livia took a long breath. "Thank you."

"If you intend to stay, then you may just as well be ahead of the game some."

She gave him a tired smile. "I still think I'm behind, but I'm working on catching up."

He nodded at her. "Good night, Livia."

"Good night."

He left, escorted out by her house guard. Livia dropped into a chair, her skin pale, shaking. Darius came in, and she knew without looking at him that there was worry at the corners of his eyes. "Darius, did you hear any of what I and Linaeus were talking about?"

Darius shook his head. "Not much, lady. I was listening mostly for shouting and spellcasting sounds." His voice was respectful, distant, retreating into that distance like a shield.

Livia leaned forward, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Fausta is dead. The demon in the basement is dead. Geras plans to have the boy executed as the summoner tomorrow. He tore her up and will blame it on the demon."

"I assume this means we attempt a rescue?"

She didn't move, her eyes closed. "It's either that or fail Diya one last time."

His voice was gentle. "That is a good reason, but I have one better. If they are missing the caster of the spell, Faydren has to reopen the investigation and the one he closed prematurely. Wonder how that will sit with Hagia Sophia?"

She almost chuckled. "Tweaking Faydren's nose would be fun." She thought of something, and froze. "There's a problem, though. Neera is coming back tonight, which makes an alibi difficult."

He shook his head. "She left ten minutes after she arrived last night."

Livia looked up. "As long as you can wake me..."

"It was difficult but not impossible." A smile lurked at the corners of his mouth. "But the reward was great."

She flushed, but returned his smile. "I have rumors of times that the guard changes, and I know the house. We have a good chance of doing this. I'm thinking of taking Diya along. And afterwards, we'll need to get the two of them out of the city."

"Lukas?" Darius asked.

"At first. I want to get them farther away from here eventually, but Lukas might be willing to shelter them for a few days while I make those arrangements."

Darius sat down across from her. "Are you sure you want Diya to go with us?"

Livia nodded. "It's going to be dangerous, but..."

"If she finds out anyway, she will never forgive you. Best to take her."

She sat up, forcing her shoulders back. "I'm afraid she's never going to forgive me for something else already, but I do want her along."

"Best it to be only one thing rather than two."

"True enough." She took a long breath. "I think we're going to need to go in on one guard change and out on another."

Darius's voice held warning. "Think. Once we start, I think things may get out of hand."

Livia closed her eyes, rapidly flicking through what she knew of the house. "All right. First guard change is just after eleven tonight. There are the guards outside and presumably on the inside, by the boy. The boy's being held in a cage of some sort, which I think my key will open. We can go in the south entrance by the stables, that's the servant quarters. There's a stairway to the basement near that door. Down the stairway, deal with the guards there if there are any, then get out."

"Good, then we wait for Neera and go after that. Spells to change our shapes. I have enough for all four of us." He, too, seemed to be making lists in his head. "No need to draw great attention to who is doing this."

"That's an excellent idea. Too bad we couldn't leave a body that looks like Esayis in the cage. But that would give Faydren an out, and I'm not interested in being nice to Faydren."

The smile in his eyes was very brief. "Me either. I'll get Diya and brief her on tonight. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear that the night she's been waiting for is here."

He rose and left, and Livia leaned back in the chair, putting her hand over her eyes. Gods, I'm scared, she thought. My luck can only hold so long.

Darkness pooled in the streets, the waning moon still unrisen. The walls of Constantius's place were a dark bulk in front of them, torches shedding light on the servants' door. The three of them all looked different, all of them looking like Romans. Darius looked like a lighter-boned version of himself with a different face, and Livia and Diya were teenaged girls, all three of them looking distinctly related.

"Time?" whispered Darius.

"Time," Livia replied.

The big mage raised his hands and whispered a spell. Both of the guards slumped forward, sprawling. They quickly crossed the street, entered the house, and passed into the stairwell without making hardly a sound. Down the stairs they went, and that was the point where their mission became a bit tricky.

Guards at the bottom of the stairs slumped into sleep. But instead of one cage, there were at least a dozen, all of them with people in them. Most of the people moaned and whimpered, asking for help. Livia swept her eyes along the cages and was brought up short by the sight of a scaled body in one of the cages. She took a few steps forward and recognized the gulagon that killed her husband. It had been stabbed several times, dark blood staining the straw beneath it.

Next to the demon that had been Constantius was Fausta. Her pretty eyes were open forever, staring upwards. She was naked and her flesh was torn, wounds everywhere, her face battered. Livia forced herself to look at her friend's body, staring at it. This is what happens to people who share Geras's bed, she told herself, seeing the blood that coated Fausta's thighs. Remember this.

Esayis was curled up in the corner of one of the last cages, eyes wide. "We're friends," hissed Livia as she concentrated on her key, changing it to fit the cage. "We're getting you out of here."

The young man scrambled to his feet. He looked a bit starved, but otherwise whole. Livia worked the key in the lock, wincing as she heard a commotion behind her that could only mean some more guards had come down. Finally, finally, the lock clicked and the door swung open. Livia turned and saw four men attacking Diya and Darius, one of them with his arm around Diya's neck.

Livia swore, unsheathed her dagger, and yanked on the one who had Diya. Darius dove his sword into one man's abdomen and swung back to slash at another one. Livia ducked as the one she'd grabbed swung at her, then came up under his guard.

It happened so fast. She saw--felt--an opening in his guard, and came up within his reach, uncoiling her whole body, hitting the man with her whole body behind the blade. It went into his throat and the man choked, clutched at the knife, and fell.

Behind her, Diya was standing over another guard, looking a bit pale and sick. There was blood on her blade. Darius, too, was bloody and sweating, the other two guards fallen beside him. "Out," Livia coughed, then bent to retrieve her blade. "Now."

They ran up the stairs and out of the house. Almost there, Livia thought. A few more blocks, and we're free--

The twang and thud of a bowstring releasing and an arrow striking flesh came almost simultaneously. Esayis stumbled and fell, and Diya cried out, her voice almost unrecognizable. "No--"

Livia looked behind her. She recognized the figure standing behind them, lining up another shot. It was Zaran, the man who she had watched kill Maranis the other night. "Run!" she ordered. Darius bent and swiftly shouldered Esayis, and they took to their heels. Livia heard another twang, and abruptly an arrow sprouted from Darius's calf. Livia heard him make a strangled sound of pain, but he kept running.

A wailing sounded behind them, and they ran before it. The next few minutes were among the worst of Livia's life so far, certainly the most filled with immediate fear for her life. Search parties quickly fanned out from the house, and Livia led them down alleys and around twisting streets. Finally, it seemed as though they'd lost the search parties, in a stinking alley in a part of town that wasn't wonderful, but also wasn't as bad as some of the ones they'd been in recently. It was relatively near the noble section of town.

Darius eased Esayis off of his shoulder, looking at the wound in his chest. Esayis was breathing raggedly, and the strange thing was that the arrow was gone. Darius looked at the wound that it had left, and shook his head, meeting Livia's eyes. He then looked down at his own leg. The arrow was gone from his leg as well, and there was something, some sort of creature, wriggling under the skin of his leg, working its way upward.

Diya had dropped her shape-changing spell, and she'd dropped to her knees by Esayis. She was crying, pulling her fiance's shirt away from the bloody hole the arrow had made. There was a creature in his skin as well, and Livia felt nausea rise in her throat as she watched it move.

Livia felt very cold. Diya was talking to Esayis in a low voice, and he was shuddering, his eyelids fluttering. Livia shed her own disguise and then Darius followed suit, setting his back against the wall and sliding down.

Livia crouched beside him. "We can't get out of the city, they'll have it locked down tight." Her eyes met his, and she saw that he was grimacing in pain. She searched her mind, looking for something she could do. They're both going to die, she realized. And I am going to have to stand here and watch.

There was a sound at the opening at the end of the alley. Livia turned. What now? It was a figure of a man, walking deliberately towards them. Livia laid her hand on her dagger's hilt and tensed, but kept still.

The figure approached them, then pulled back his hood. It was Linaeus. He looked at both Esayis and Darius, then stepped over to the big mage. He knelt and laid his hand on the thing that was still moving under Darius's skin. Incomprehensible syllables poured from his mouth as he cast a spell, and the thing beneath his skin began to move--this time, back towards the hole in the mage's leg.

There was movement at the hole, and with a gush of blood the snake that had been tunneling beneath his skin slid out of the hole. Linaeus, his eyes intent, moved swiftly. He pressed a holy symbol to the snake's head, and it burst into sudden flames and then disappeared.

The holy symbol glowed briefly as the snake burned, and it drew Livia's eye. It was not a symbol of Ares, but a symbol of Athena.

Linaeus stood and looked at Livia. "Say your goodbyes to the other. It is eating his heart." Without further comment, he pulled up his hood once more and left the way he'd come. Livia watched him go, a peculiar twisting sensation in the center of her chest.

Behind her, Esayis began to scream.

Darius had gotten to his feet and now was looking at Livia, in his eyes a question. She held up her hand, asking for a moment, then went to Diya, kneeling beside her betrothed, silent tears rolling down her face. Livia didn't know if the girl had even seen Linaeus. She took Diya's shoulders and pulled her away from the young man who was beginning to thrash in pain. "Sssh, Diya. Ssssh." She wrapped her arms around the young woman and Diya buried her face in Livia's shoulder.

She looked up at Darius and mouthed, "Do it."

A few seconds later, a sweep of Darius's sword ended Esayis's life.

Diya sobbed, though still quietly, soaking Livia's shirt with her tears. "I'm so sorry, Diya," Livia murmured. "So very sorry."

Darius bent and scooped up Esayis's body. "Home, or Merouk's?" he asked Livia.

She stroked Diya's dark hair. "Merouk's," she said. "We leave for outside of the walls at sunrise. Come on, Diya. Let's go."

The house was, surprisingly, still furnished, and there were blankets in a trunk in the of the main room. Livia wrapped Diya in one, and Darius used another to shroud Esayis's body. Diya was pale and shivering, but she was no longer crying. She was sitting on the edge of what had once been her own bed, in the room that had once been hers. Esayis's blood was still on her hands, mingled with the blood of the man she had killed in the escape.

"Diya," said Livia, sitting next to her. "I have a place where you can go that's safer than here. It's very far away. You could go, start a new life."

The girl's face was hard, and her eyes glittered. "No," she stated flatly. "These people have taken the last of the things I loved from me. I want revenge. I'm in, Livia. If you won't have me any more, I'll find my own way, but I will kill every last one of these bastards. Including Constantius."

"You are always welcome with me. But there may come a time fairly soon when it's going to be too dangerous to be around me. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, though." Livia was watching the girl carefully. "Are you going to be all right?"

"We were so close," she whispered. "We had him out. We were going to get away. Finally, we were going to get away." The tears started up again and this time Diya simply curled up and let them fall.

Livia sat beside her until she at least pretended to fell asleep. Then she rose and went to Darius, in the room that had once been Merouk's bedroom. He was sitting on the narrow bed, cleaning his sword.

"How's Diya?" he asked. He held his sword up to the lamplight, turning it this way and that, and appearing to find a few spots he'd missed.

"Sleeping, now. It's going to take her a while to mend, but she will. She won't leave, though. She wants revenge. I'm hoping we can give it to her."

She'd sat next to him on the bed, putting her head in her hands. She heard his sword slide back into his sheath, and then felt Darius rest his hand on her upper back. "It wasn't your fault," he said quietly. "It could have gone much better than it did, but it also could have gone far worse."

"Give me a few days and I might even believe that," she said. She added, "We'll take the body out to Lukas tomorrow morning. He can do what's needful for him. Though I'm not looking forward to the dressing down I'm going to get. Or the fact that he's going to recognize Diya, and he knows about Merouk."

"Livia. Don't punish yourself any more than you need to. We can bury him somewhere secret, without Lukas's intervention."

"No." Her voice was quiet and stubborn. "I deserve everything I get from Lukas." She still had her head in her hands. "I almost lost you as well as Esayis tonight."

"We didn't expect Zaran to be on guard," Darius replied. "Though we probably ought to have."

She shifted, and suddenly remembered the only other time that she'd been in this room. "This bed--"

"I had the mattress burned and a new one brought in. I thought this house might make a useful bolthole, so I took a few precautions. There is fresh clothing in the trunk in here for the both of us, and Diya."

His hand was warm on her back, and without thinking about it she straightened and leaned into him. "I should stand guard," she said. "Considering that I slept so late."

"You can if you like, or if you think you're not going to sleep." His voice was carefully neutral. "I don't think it's strictly necessary."

She looked up at him, searching his face, the broken-nosed face that had become very familiar in the last two weeks. Quietly, she said, "Maybe I'll stay here for a little bit, at least. I might fall asleep."

He gave her a brief smile and then moved over, both of them lying down. Livia was curled up against him, feeling distinctly awkward. It had been so long since she had been with someone like this, a stranger that was not exactly a stranger. It reminded her of those first weeks with Sextus, both of them not quite at home with each other. It had taken them time to adjust to each other, to learn the silent give and take of the language that bodies spoke to each other.

For the moment, she closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of being held, and held back her guilt over enjoying it with an iron will. Darius kissed the top of her head, and she murmured quietly and snuggled closer. They lay still, Livia with Darius curled up around her, drifting off.

Sleep finally came to claim her, and she abandoned the cares that weighed on her, the guilt that dogged her. I must try to wake before Diya does in the morning, she thought sleepily. This would be an altogether compromising position for her to find us in.

The thought was lost as she was overtaken by sleep.

The next morning, Livia woke as the coming sun began to lighten the sky. Darius had been woken by her movements, and both of them rose without speaking. "The clothes are in the trunk, under the blankets, lady," Darius told her.

"I'll get Diya." As she walked out into the main room of the house, she saw that Diya was already awake, sitting on a chair next to Esayis's wrapped corpse. Her eyes were red, and there were places on her arms where she'd scratched herself. Her thick black hair was loose around her shoulders, disheveled. She glanced up at Livia incuriously. "It's time to go, dear," she told the girl.

Diya's voice was dull and quiet. "Where are we going?"

"There is a cleric named Lukas who lives outside the walls. He'll be able to do what's needful for Esayis, and we can bury him there. There are clean clothes in the trunk; we'll be Sassenids today. Get dressed, and we can go."

She nodded woodenly, and Livia helped her sort through the clothing in the trunk. Livia picked out a man's Sassenid outfit for him, and robes and veils for herself and Diya. Darius went out and came back a few minutes later, having borrowed a cartful of what appeared to be junk--broken furniture, spoiled food, shattered pots. "We'll take him out of the walls in this," he told them.

They buried Esayis under the junk and walked down to the south gate and outside the walls. They found Lukas near where they had last seen him, in the Sassenid camp.

The priest had been sitting in a shelter made of fabric, sharing breakfast with others in the cam, but when he saw them he rose. "Livia, Darius, what brings you here?"

Livia took a breath. "Some sadness, Lukas. We have a body that we need to lay to rest."

His eyebrows went up. "What happened? Or is this the friend from before?"

"No, it's not." She turned slightly, indicating Diya behind her with her hand. "This is Sextus's daughter Diya. Constantius had captured her betrothed and was holding him; we tried to get him out, but he was killed in the process."

Lukas frowned. "How was he killed?"

"An arrow that turned into a snake that burrowed into his heart, fired from a mage's bow. We were almost away."

For a moment Lukas just looked at her with consternation in his eyes. Then he looked over his shoulder, shouting, "Bring wood! Bring it quickly!"

"What's wrong?" Livia asked.

"We have to burn the body. The snake eats and lays eggs into the host. The eggs hatch and eat their way out. Then the mage comes to collect the mother and the hatchlings, which he uses for arrows." He turned away, going towards the cart where Esayis lay, Darius going with him to help uncover the boy's body.

Livia heard Diya make a choked sound. The girl had her arms wrapped around her body and she was staring sightlessly at the horizon. Livia went to her, putting her arms around her, holding her as she trembled but did not cry. She felt a deep sympathy for the girl. "Hold on, Diya," she murmured. "It's all right."

Diya made no response except to turn so she could cling to Livia, and weep soundlessly on her shoulder.

Lukas and Darius returned, and Diya loosed herself from Livia, stepping back from them. Livia asked, "Burning will stop it?"

The priest nodded. "Kills the snake and the eggs."

"Can the snake be tracked somehow by the mage?"

He shook his head. "Not that I know of. After the eggs hatch the snake is more like a homing pigeon and goes back to the mage."

A sigh of relief went out of Livia. "Good. I was afraid we'd brought more trouble to you than I'd realized."

"I don't think so. There is no proper burial for this one, I am afraid."

Diya sank to the ground, sobbing. Darius leaned over, trying to talk to her, but she struck out at him, crying, "Leave me alone!" With a dubious glance, the mage complied.

Lukas's gaze seemed to burn right through Livia. "Whatever game you are playing at Livia, is it worth it?"

"I have to believe it is. In this case...he would have been executed. We were hoping to get him and Diya out of Constantinople. We did what we needed to do, and my luck failed us." She glanced over to where the people in the camp were building a pyre. "I'm trying to do what I can."

"Your luck's bound to fail," he said. "Someday it's going to fail on you, and it will be Darius standing here with your body."

Or I with his, she thought. "I know. But it's either fight or lie down and let death come for me, at this point. I choose to fight."

"I did too, once, and then I chose a different path. But we all have different paths to take."

Softly, she replied, "I believe that what I'm doing is worth my life, if need be."

The priest inclined his head. As with the first time she'd met him, she was feeling the very strong urge to give in and trust him, tell him everything. "As you choose, Livia."

"I do have a favor to ask of you, though." Livia spread her hands. "The time may come when I need to send Diya out of Constantinople, at least temporarily. Can I send her to shelter with you, if that comes to pass?"

"Yes, she will be safe here."

"Thank you." She paused, looking at the priest. Her voice was soft. "It's interesting. Your son said much the same thing, about paths. He, too, was warning me away from mine."

Lukas's eyes widened, and for a moment she could see pain reflected in the, "You have seen Linaeus?" he asked, in a voice as quiet as hers.

"I have. He's in Constantinople at the moment." Her heart ached for this man, who believed that his son had been lost to evil.

"Even so, I doubt he will come here by choice. Tell him, if you see him again, to come if he can."

"I will." In that moment, seeing the pain on Lukas's face, Livia swore to herself that she would get Linaeus out here to see his father if she could. Could she hint at what was going on, without telling Lukas outright? "He's in a difficult place, your son is. I don't envy him in the slightest."

The priest's eyes were somber, and they still seemed to look right inside of Livia. "I don't envy you either. Your place has to be just as difficult."

"I think Linaeus has the worse of our two positions. For the moment, at least. That may change."

"He chose the path of darkness long ago. I hope you don't follow."

She looked him in the eye, ruefully acknowledging what he was saying to her. "I may have to." She shrugged. "This isn't what I expected to end my life doing."

Lukas shook his head. "No one does."

"True enough. I'm betting that Linaeus didn't anticipate having to live a lie for fifteen years." She shook herself. "I need to speak to you away from the others, and then we should be off. There will be fallout from last night."

"As you wish, Livia." They retreated to Lukas's tent, just out of earshot of Darius and Diya. "What is it?"

Nerves were suddenly fluttering in Livia's stomach. "I don't know if you can help me, but...do you have anything that encourages fertility?"

"I do." His voice was calm. "Thinking of having a child so soon after the death of Sextus?"

She nodded. "It would officially be his child. I am in danger of being forced into a marriage that would mean my death. Pregnant, I can at least delay it." She bit her lip slightly, raising her eyes to his. Please understand, she begged silently.

Lukas inclined his head. "True, you could."

"I do not have a good history of carrying to term, but it might buy me some months. And if I do carry to term, and it's a boy...I and Sextus have an heir."

The priest frowned. "Did the physicians tell you why?"

Livia shook her head, remembering the seemingly constant parade of doctors who had poked and prodded her, finally admitting that she was a mystery. "They didn't really know. Some malformation of my womb, they thought. I had Optata on my first try, then I've miscarried every pregnancy since."

"If you do get pregnant, come back to me. I have some spells that could help. The doctors have given up on the gods and their medicines can't do the things that we can."

She looked at him, hope suddenly taking hold in her. "Thank you, very much. That would be a great help."

Lukas smiled gently. "Good luck, Livia. I hope that you survive long enough to have this child. Have you asked Darius yet?"

She gave him a wry smile, acknowledging that he had guessed correctly. "No, I haven't really had a chance yet. But I will."

"It's a good choice. He already fancies you." The priest turned away from her, opening a trunk that rattled when he moved it. He paused and looked at her. "And you him."

She flushed, turning away slightly. Her voice dropped low. "I feel guilty about it, but I do."

"Extraordinary circumstances make for extraordinary feelings. If you feel that this day could be your last every day, you take chances you normally wouldn't." Lukas's voice was gentle.

"That's true. And I would have never even glanced his way if Sextus were still alive. But he's gone, and I'm still here."

Lukas pulled out some object from the trunk and began to lay them out on the lid, sorting them. "It is a good plan, a bit strange but a good one." He looked up at her from the vials he was sorting. "Though this wedding that you are forced into may backfire if the groom decides to make that baby his own. Claiming it as his."

Livia nodded. "I can contest that, though. It may be enough for me to, if I'm forced into this, at least dictate my terms. And stay out of his bed, with any luck. After all, it would look very strange for me, pregnant possibly with my late husband's heir, to marry someone else."

"It would. A dangerous game, but one that may keep you out of his bedroom for a while."

"That's the hope. A delaying tactic. Time is what I lack at the moment."

"And so do they."

She spread her hands, watching him with his head bent over his vials. He'd removed three of them after holding them up to the light, and was replacing the rest in the trunk. "I think at this point they have more time than I do."

"Maybe, but they have to react as well. See if you can catch them with their pants down, as the case may be." Lukas pulled out a stick of charcoal and was writing numbers on each of the vials. He then pulled out a bag, pungent with the smell of herbs, and measured out about five different herbs into a smaller bag.

"I'm hoping so." She sighed. "I'm tired of playing this game on the defensive and by their rules. I want to see if I can change the rules on them some."

"Good luck, Livia. I am here if you need me." He handed her the herb bag and the vials. "The vials are numbered in sequence. Steep a generous pinch of this herb mix with the contents of one of the vials each night, starting three nights before your most fertile time. After the herbs are steeped for about ten minutes, you can mix the whole mixture with water and then drink it. I assume you know when you'll need to start?"

She gave him a wry smile. "I'm regular as clockwork, and my time is very hard for me to miss. Thank you, Lukas." She paused and looked at him, weighing her next words. "I don't think Linaeus is entirely lost. He healed Darius of the same kind of arrow that killed Esayis. I suppose it was too late for the boy by the time he arrived."

Lukas's eyebrows shot up. "Who got hit first, and where?"

"Esayis first, in the chest. Darius a few moments later, in the leg. I assumed the snake had to take more time to travel to do its damage in Darius, and Linaeus was able to catch it before it did any serious harm."

"Just a few moments, is all?"

Livia nodded, furrowing her brow in confusion. "Yes, the time it takes to nock a new arrow in a bow."

"Not to second guess another cleric, but those arrows take a good minute to transform into the snake they will become. Then they have to find the heart, it's a bit disorienting to anyone to suddenly wake up in a body. Personally I have saved people from that same situation as many as five minutes after being struck. A chest wound can take from three to five minutes for the snake to get where it's goings and a leg wound--he had five or ten minutes for sure."

The world was turning upside down on Livia again. "You mean he might have been able to save Esayis, if he'd healed him first?"

Lukas nodded slightly. "Like I said, I wasn't there and maybe he didn't know that, but he should have been able to without any trouble whatsoever."

She stared at the priest, implications begging to filter into her mind. "I have difficulty believing it was simply ignorance. There's every reason to believe that Linaeus is familiar with those arrows. Why would he have saved Darius and let Esayis die? It doesn't make much sense."

"It's also possible that he only had the one spell, and chose the person that would be more valuable in the long run."

She inclined her head, though her mind was not put at ease. "I suppose that's possible. Esayis, though, was a highly-ranked noble and a spellcaster of some power for his age. A choice between Darius and him would have had to have been difficult."

Lukas's gaze was shrewd. "What happens now that Esayis is dead? Is there some advantage in it?"

"If Esayis is dead, he cannot possibly be forced to take the fall for the death of Constantius's wife. I suppose that if he'd fled, he could always have been found and brought back." She added as an afterthought, "And his true father may be distracted by his disappearance."

"His true father?"

Livia shifted, nodding. "He was officially Constans' son. His birth father is Faydren, who I assume you know of."

"Will this drive a wedge between Constantius and Faydren?" Lukas asked.

"It's likely that it will. Constantius was supposed to be holding him safe. He would have called for his death this morning anyway, but I wonder if Faydren didn't know about it or thought he could protect his son."

"Why did he want to drive a wedge between them? And will that benefit him in the long run?"

She was starting to see where Lukas was going with this. "Anything that keeps Constantius from working with Faydren will help Linaeus. In the long run, if Faydren holds Constantius responsible for losing his son, they would probably become enemies rather than allies at least in name. We'd end up with Constantius trying to take down Faydren."

"So that said, was there a plan to liberate Esayis that Constantius and Faydren had hatched?" Livia stared at Lukas as what he was saying hit her. "I know my son, that would be his logic. And he probably used you in that meeting as much as you thought you were using him. He got you to kill Esayis and make it look like an accident."

At first, she didn't know quite what to make of his statement. She held herself quiet, simply thinking about it, turning it over in her mind. In a quiet voice that nonetheless held steel, she said, "Your pardon, sir, but I think the next time I see your son I'm going to strangle him."

A brief smile, rueful. "I have wanted to do that to him for years. But he got a large wedge driven between an allied group, and that could save us all in the end."

Livia spread her hands. "True. Though the idea of Constantius actually being somewhat on my side makes my skin crawl." She didn't specify why, though she rather thought that Lukas could guess.

"And he did save Darius," he pointed out. "He could have let him die."

She let out a long breath, dropping her shoulders. "I think he realizes that I need Darius, someone who can protect me that I can trust." She sighed. "Perhaps I'll only strangle him a little."

"I would refrain from saying this to Diya. Maybe even Darius, if he doesn't know."

She nodded acknowledging the necessity. "I won't say anything to either of them, though Darius may come up with it on his own."

"He might. Depends on how much he knows of healing."

"We'll see. Poor Diya. I've been trying to do the right thing by her, but everything I do for her seems to end badly." Absently, she shifted her cloak on her shoulders. "But we all have our sins and nightmares that keep us awake at night."

His eyes held compassion. "And you are gaining your fair share quickly."

"About two weeks ago, my only sins were very minor ones. They're beginning to get larger and larger." She thought briefly of the magnitude of her sins, both the intentional and unintentional ones. Torture, murder, placing an innocent in a situation that got him killed, probably having an extramarital affair. I have much to atone for.

"I suggest that you might want to pray for guidance in these things, if you are religious at all." His voice was mild.

She could have laughed. Lukas was a priest, after all. "It's been a very long time indeed since I practiced the religion of my childhood, and the worship of Christos has never been very interesting to me. But I'll keep it in mind."

"Athena has granted me a great many gifts in my life. And she could probably grant you some as well." He smiled at her gently. "But as you wish."

"I'm not ruling it out yet, Lukas. I'll think about it." Would the gods listen to her, now?

"Good luck, in whatever you decide. I do not envy your position."

She pulled her cloak closed, and said, "Neither do I. But thank you."

"Do come back sometime without all the death." He smiled at her.

She chuckled. "I'll do my best. I need to get home. Thank you again, for everything."

Livia collected her two companions and they walked back to Constantinople, hauling the now-empty cart behind them. They stopped by Merouk's house to change clothing and then went home.

Waiting for Livia was a message.

Livia,

I have terrible news to give you. Fausta is dead.

The demon returned for Optata, and it was stymied by the wards on her room. Fausta heard it, and though she ran to get help, it killed her before she could find anyone. My guards killed the demon.

I request your company at four this afternoon at my house. Faydren will be attending, as well. I intend to confront him with his laxness in closing the case of who sent the demon that killed Sextus far too soon. Together, we can get him to agree to reopen the case, and perhaps actually solve it this time.

Constantius

Livia rubbed her temples. She was unsurprised, but this meeting was going to be very dangerous. "All right," she muttered, and looked out at the sky. It was about an hour after noon. "I need to go find Darius."

She found him in the workroom, alone. "I gave Diya a dose of the sleeping potion. I think she didn't actually sleep last night," he said as she walked in and closed the door behind her. "Poor thing."

"Is it time to tell her what's going on, do you think?"

There was a speculative look in his eyes. "Not yet. We'll see how she is after the first grief has passed. I'm sorry, was there something you wanted, Livia?"

She sat down at the table across from him. "I received a note from Constantius that we need to discuss. But before that, I have...something of a favor to ask you. It's a very personal one, and I want you to feel free to turn me down if you're uncomfortable with it."

He was frowning at her, bafflement in his eyes. She took a long breath and folded her hands together. "You know as well as I do that Geras means to force me to marry him. That's one of the reasons he guards Optata so zealously. Married to him, not only do I become his, but everything I own. He gets his revenge, the wife of his enemy to do with as he wants, and when I die he gets the majority of the wealth of the Nerius family to boot."

"What do you mean to do about it?" Darius was still looking puzzled.

She looked away, gathering her courage. "According to the outside world, there is a chance that I'm pregnant. If I were, then I would have every reason in the world not to marry until after my child is born, because if it lives and is a boy, the Nerius family has an heir."

"But you're not pregnant?"

Livia shook her head. "I started my courses right after the funeral. But if I wanted to become pregnant...now would be the time. If I conceive now, the child will officially be Sextus's, and few people would be the wiser."

Darius was watching her, and a look of comprehension was beginning to steal over his features. "And the favor you wanted to ask of me?"

"I need a father for this child." She twisted her hands together until her knuckles turned white. "I was hoping that you might consent to be that man."

"Gods." His oath was an explosive breath bursting from him. "You mean it, don't you? Livia, this is--I didn't--"

"I know," she said quietly. "Darius, I trust you. You wouldn't be the acknowledged father of this child, but..." She paused, and swallowed, her mouth dry. "If we both survive this, there will always be a place in my household for you, for as long as you want it. I realize it's a poor offer I give you, but it's all I have right now."

"More and less than I ever dreamed." He rose abruptly, crossing the room away from her. He leaned on the sill of the window, looking out. "At least you asked, I suppose, rather than--" He stopped.

"Rather than seducing you and 'accidentally' conceiving, you mean?" Livia took a long breath. "Darius, everything has gone on between us has been genuine. I would never have done this without asking. It's only right that you know what you're getting into."

He was still looking out the window. "I've never had a chance to have a family," he said, his voice low. "First I was a slave and a gladiator, and then I was too busy with my mage studies. I always told myself I'd find time later. There were women, of course, but...the one closest to my heart didn't want children, and she certainly didn't want to marry. Now you offer me something I've wanted for a long time, but it comes with a catch--that my child will be another man's, and his or her mother likely married to someone else."

"I told you it was a poor offer." Tears were threatening in her voice, and she looked down at the table, at her white hands. "I'm sorry, Darius. I wish I had more to give you."

"I haven't said no yet, Livia." He straightened to turn and look at her. "I assume this is what you were discussing with Lukas?"

Livia nodded. "I wanted to ask him if he had anything to enhance fertility. He did. He had a few questions for me, and a few warnings. Like the fact that Geras may well attempt to force me into letting me take this child for his own, as well."

"Do you have a plan for dealing with that?"

"Stubbornness and legalities." She smiled at him briefly. "I can insist on a usus marriage, one that allows me to retain most of my independence and all of my own wealth. I can delay and delay some more, making sure all the legalities are satisfied."

"Geras may decide that you're messing with him and decide to take you, marriage or no marriage," Darius said, warning in his voice.

She shook her head. "Maybe. But I think he wants it legal, for some reason. Call it intuition. I have plans if this fails, but think of the position I'd be in if I were installed in Constantius's house and didn't have to share his bed. Less freedom of movement, but it would be a wonderful place to build a network of people from."

"Dangerous," he said. "Very, very dangerous."

"It's like to get me killed if I slip, or if I get unlucky, or if any number of things happen. But it gives me a chance, just a chance, to come out of this with my life intact if Geras decides to force my hand."

He moved over towards her, and looked down on her as she looked up at him. "Livia, I think you may be insane. But you also may be right." The mage took a long breath, and then leaned down towards her. "I'll help you," he said quietly. "Just let me know when."

Livia rose from her chair, and took both his hands. "It's not just for this that I want you, Darius. Please believe me. I almost lost you last night. I--" Her voice failed her, and she stumbled over her words. "Every moment might be our last. If I'm going to die tomorrow, I want to truly live today."

Darius didn't answer, only folded her into his arms and held her. She clenched her fist in his shirt, leaned into him, and closed her eyes. It seemed like forever that they stood there, as the sunlight streaming through the window crept across the floor.

After a long time of silence, Darius asked, "You mentioned a note from Constantius?"

Livia stepped back, loosing herself from his arms, and nodded. "It's what we thought. He's blaming Faydren. He wants me to come and meet with the two of them this afternoon. I'm bringing you with me. I need to know what you know of Zaran."

"Zaran. Part soldier, part mage. A bit like me in that respect. He handles weapons well and knows how to maximize the effects with spells. He usually votes with Faydren but sometimes not. He likes his politics to be quick and clean and will vote sometimes to expedite things. Specializes in things that hurt other people."

"Is he at all noted for being involved in shady things, or demon summoning?"

He nodded. "He is involved in all things shady. Demons, not really. He likes to get his hands dirty and not watch someone else do it."

Livia dropped back into the chair she'd been sitting in. "I wonder if there's anything I could say to Faydren that would implicate him in Fausta's death. Perhaps just a mention that his name seems to come up a lot when I'm talking to people about Sextus. I want to lead Faydren towards a new scapegoat, if I can, and I don't like Zaran."

Darius sat as well, stepping around the table to do so. Livia noticed scrolls around him, each of them open, something she'd missed in her nervousness before. "Might work. But I would let them talk and see what goes down, first. Do you know if it's just Faydren, Constantius and you or someone else?"

She shook her head. "Constantius didn't mention anyone but him and Faydren, but I wouldn't put it past either of them to surprise me."

"Nor would I."

"I wonder if I should take that gem with me." She wished Sextus had been in the habit of leaving her notes about these things. Perhaps one labeled Open Me If You Find a Large Purple Gem, or something.

"I think I would. You might consider wearing the whole thing."

She blinked. "Putting them together, you mean? I haven't taken it to Julia yet, but..."

"Yes, I think he left it for you to wear but I can't be sure either." The mage spread his hands. "Its probably subtle, if it does anything."

"It's risky, but worth it. We both need to bathe, and then we should go. I'll get the bracelet before we leave."

A wash did much to restore Livia to a feeling of well-being. She stretched afterwards and decided that intrigue or no intrigue, she desperately wanted to go have an actual bath tonight, complete with a long soak. During her mourning period, she hadn't attended the baths very often, but now that she was out of deep mourning she could go, though she wouldn't be expected to participate much in the talking and games for a few months yet.

Orla had brought some food while she was scrubbing herself, and surprisingly Livia found that she was actually hungry for the first time in weeks. She fell to with a good appetite, suddenly realizing that she'd been doing quite a bit more physical activity than she was used to and not eating to make up for it.

When she retrieved the gem and the bracelet from its hiding place, she looked at the link to see how the gem was held in. It seemed as if it would just snap into place, and when she tried it, it worked with a small but audible click. She put the bracelet on her wrist and felt a subtle warmth in the skin under the jewelry.

Other than that, it did nothing. Livia raised her wrist to look at it in the light, and then dropped her hand. Whatever it was doing was silent. Good enough for me.

She checked on Diya, still out cold with the sleeping potion, and then found Darius. He, too, was freshly washed and in clean clothing, the Nerius family badge displayed prominently on his chest. They called for a litter and then were carried the relatively short distance to Constantius's house. Guards ushered them into the garden, to where they had viewed the evidence that Maranis had killed Sextus. Livia steeled herself. Angry, she thought. You are pissed as hell that Faydren stopped looking too soon.

Faydren and Constantius were both in the open-air dome in the center of the garden. Livia heard the tinkle and splash of a fountain behind them, heard birdsong that she hadn't noticed before. She ignored Faydren for the moment. "Constantius, I am so sorry. Fausta will be missed." She nodded to Faydren, then. "Lord Mage."

both men had their own bodyguards standing behind their shoulders, and she could feel Darius at her back, a solid warmth. Constantius inclined his head. "Yes, she will, and I will grieve for her after this is settled." He turned to Faydren, storms in his eyes. "You concluded that Maranis was the summoner and yet here lies the body of another demon. And my wife."

Livia added, "And it was evidently after my daughter."

Faydren's eyes gave nothing away. At that moment, Livia vowed that she was going to make the damn mage lose his composure. For one moment, it wasn't about political maneuvering. It was about wanting to hurt this man who had caused her so much pain. Faydren nodded. "So it appears. I may have been in error. We will launch another investigation."

Archly, Livia asked, "And how do we know that this time you'll get the right man?"

He glanced at her sharply, his thin face darkening. "You don't. I will happily assign someone of your choosing to investigate."

Did she dare? Perhaps. "It would need to be someone powerful, and someone not on Hagia Sophia's council."

"Have you someone in mind?"

"There was someone--ah, I forget her name. She retired a number of years ago, but she still researches. Julia, that was the name, I recall."

Faydren nodded. "Julia, the one that assigned Darius to you."

Livia smiled. "Yes, her. Darius has worked out well, and my husband spoke highly of her once or twice."

"I am sure that he would. It will be done. You may arrange to meet with her, if you want." Livia nodded, and then Faydren asked, "Do you know anything of the events last night? Where were you?"

"Asleep. Neera is a marvel."

Faydren showed no reaction to her words, only saying, "Ah, yes. That she is." He turned back to Constantius. "And Constantius, you said you lost four guards last night to the demon as well as your wife?" The regent nodded. "But Zaran was here as well, and he states that a group of four ran from the servants' quarters. He shot at least two of them with arrows."

Livia gave Constantius a confused glance. "Did he give you a description of the four?" she asked Faydren.

"Four Sassenids, he thought. Two male and two female."

Constantius's brow was lowered. "I know nothing of what Zaran did or did not see."

"He also said that the guards were killed by blows from weapons, not a demon. Though the bodies of the four are already cremated." Faydren took a step closer to Constantius, and if looks could kill both of them would have been struck dead on the spot.

My life would be much less complicated if that happened, Livia thought. She broke in, asking the both of them, "Excuse me, but what was Zaran doing here last night? Was he one of the ones guarding the house? I've heard his name before, in places."

Constantius answered, "He was still implementing some security on Optata's room."

She turned to Faydren, and said in a voice low and poisonous, "Ah. It's too bad he wasn't still by her room. He might have stopped the demon before it killed Fausta."

The regent broke in. "What I do with the bodies of my guards is my decision but they all get cremated as soon as they are killed. Stops the spread of bad humors. I am a regent, after all, and do not need to explain my actions. You need to explain your lack of attention to detail and finding the truth."

Faydren's eyes blazed, and for a moment his whole being was suffused with anger. "Zaran was resting to regain spells." With evident difficulty, he brought himself under control, though his eyes still held fire. "You are quite right, regent. I will assign Julia now and she will be calling on you. I am sure she will want to see everything that the demon touched. Good day to the both of you. Regent. Livia."

He turned and walked away, his body stiff with rage. After he was out of earshot, Constantius said in a low, angry voice, "Arrogant ass."

"I agree. Can't admit when he's made a mistake." Though we pissed him off, she thought with no small amount of pleasure. That might kill me later, but I daresay it was worth it.

Constantius had returned his gaze to Livia, and was looking at her speculatively. "Julia? She's old. And was removed from the council for heresy."

Livia shrugged. "I'm afraid that if I picked someone Faydren has a lot of influence over, whoever it was would simply find what he told them to find. And someone pointed her out to me at Faydren's gathering. She doesn't look that old. Well-preserved, I suppose."

Constantius snorted. "We all know that he owns most of Hagia Sophia. Julia is well into her fifties and possibly sixty by this point. Magic makes her look younger."

"Must be nice to be a mage. The rest of us have to content ourselves with trying to grow old gracefully." Livia's voice was still angry."

"And some of us die before we get the chance. Fausta will never have the chance."

"And Sextus." Livia sighed. "It does get better, eventually," she offered. "That's what everyone keeps telling me."

The regent inclined his head. "So they say. If you will excuse me, Livia, I fear that my place has just come under the scrutiny of the tower. I need to prepare."

She smiled at him. "All right. May I stop by to see Optata? I'm certain she's scared by the fuss."

"Anytime." His eyes were not on her but somewhere beyond her, planning.

"Thank you, lord." She bowed and turned, walking out of the garden. Darius fell in by her shoulder, and they walked together into the house and up the stairs that led to the second level, and to the women's wing. The guards on the women's wing looked at them with a gimlet glare, then saw the badge they both wore and relaxed, opening the doors. "Touchy," Livia murmured.

"Do you blame them?"

She shook her head and then paused as she saw a figure step into the end of the hall. It couldn't be--but, yes, it was.

She reminded herself, I don't know him, I've never seen him before,, raised her head and walked forward. She glanced at his face, which was reasonably pleasant but not remarkable in any way, and her gaze settled on the Hagia Sophia badge out on his chest. Zaran, the man she had seen kill Esayis and wound Darius, walked towards them.

They passed him in the hall, Livia nodding neutrally, as she would to any mage of uncertain standing. As he went by, Zaran said in a voice that was surprisingly rough, as if he had taken a throat wound at some point in the past, "Ah, Darius, I would know that sword anywhere." He did not wait for a response, but simply swept by towards the door out of the women's wing.

Livia glanced at Darius, but did not speak. They met a guard at the door of Optata's nursery, who recognized Livia and let them both in.

Hedea, Optata's nurse, rose from her chair as they came in. "Lady! This is a pleasant surprise. It is good to see you."

"And you. How is she?"

"Napping. She doesn't know anything of what happened last night. I slept in here, and I didn't hear a thing. I only found out when I was woken in the morning, and I've kept it from the girl."

Optata nodded. "I'm sorry to do this, but I'm going to go wake her. I don't have much time, and I'd like to see her."

Hedea smiled, and inclined her head. "Of course. She'll be vcranky for the rest of the day, but she'd be very sorry to have missed you." She rose and left the room, murmuring a word to the guard at the door.

Livia walked into the small bedroom off the nursery. Optata was curled up on the small bed, wrapped in a blanket, her thumb in her mouth. Kneeling beside the bed, Livia reached out and laid her hand on Optata's shoulder. "Sweetling, wake up. Mama's here to see you."

She stirred, her dark eyes opening and looking up into Livia's. Livia felt a twist in her heart, a surge of powerful love and longing for this small girl who was in the center of events she could know nothing of. "Mama," she muttered. "Mama!"

She threw her arms around Livia's neck and buried her face into the crook of her neck. Livia picked her daughter up and carried her into the nursery where Darius was still standing, looking as if he felt distinctly out of place. Optata was babbling, still waking up, then insisted on being let down so she could retrieve a butterfly wing that she'd evidently found in the gardens. "For you, Mama!"

The wing was large, iridescent blue and green in a pattern oddly familiar. Livia couldn't remember ever seeing this kind of butterfly before, but then she'd never paid attention to insects. "It's lovely," Livia said. She closed her hand gently around the wing. "Sweetling, I have some bad news to tell you. Come here."

Optata's eyes went wide, and her face was stricken. Livia's heart ached. She'd forgotten that she'd used almost that exact same phrasing when she'd told Optata that her father was dead. The child came to her and climbed up on Livia's lap, wrapping one hand around one of the dangling braids in her hair. "I'm sorry, sweetling. Your new mama has gone to Heaven, last night."

The child was sobbing now, not asking for any details, weeping as if her small heart were broken yet again. Livia wondered how hard this must be for her, to have everything be pulled from beneath her, to wake up one morning and discover that her father was dead and that she had new parents. Now her adoptive mother, a woman that Optata had always adored, was dead, and though she did not know it, her adoptive father was a man who would kill her without hesitation if she no longer had any use as a pawn.

Finally, her tears dried, and she began to talk about other things, about the things she was doing with her days. Though Livia could tell that she wasn't forgetting the news, Optata was also unwilling to waste the little time she had with her mother on more tears.

They played with her, Optata finally growing comfortable enough with Darius's presence to demand a ride on his shoulders. "I'm tall, Mama!" she giggled. "Look at me!"

Livia watched Darius walk with Optata on his shoulders, and thought that she had chosen the father of her next child well. He'll be good with Optata once he gets more comfortable with her. If I had to choose someone not Sextus, Darius wasn't a poor choice at all.

Finally, Hedea returned and they took their leave, Livia kissing her daughter soundly before she and Darius slipped out, exiting the women's wing. They took another set of stairs on their way out, and saw a pair of women scrubbing at the flagstones. There was faint metallic smell in the air, though the smell of soap nearly covered it. Livia would bet that that was the place where Fausta had died--or the place where Geras's men had laid her corpse so he could "discover" her this morning.

When they were well clear of the house and in the litter, heading home, Livia said, "I think we can assume Zaran told Faydren about our little trip last night."

The litter lurched and swayed. Darius held his voice low. "Maybe. Zaran likes to make sure he is right about something before acting on it. I think that might have been a move to see if I would flinch. But he suspects that I was at least one of them. We have to get to him before he gets to us."

Livia sighed. "We certainly do. At this point, I think we're going to need to catch him alone and do some damage to him."

"Not going to be easy."

"No, it's not. I think I'm going to need to talk to Julia about him. And the gem. It was just warm, I don't know if it did anything."

"Not a flashy magic, whatever it is."

She drew a deep breath. "Well, hopefully Julia will be able to tell me more. She might have been the one that made it."

He nodded. "I would think so. She may have."

"It would make sense. I'll have to send a message to her, asking her to meet me." She shifted in her seat. "At least I don't have to be secretive about it any more."

"You might want me to go and get her. Faydren is probably done telling her and she will probably want to go see the evidence right away. As far as she knows, it's what Constantius said."

She inclined her head. "If you'd be so kind, I have a few things at home I've been neglecting."

Darius nodded. "Kind of a blow up between Constantius and Faydren, wasn't it?"

Livia's smile was tight and controlled. "Yes, it was, I see that Linaeus was right. They're working at cross purposes now." I'm still going to strangle you, priest, she thought.

"But what are they doing? And Linaeus as well. What was he doing in that alley?"

She shook her head. She couldn't bring herself to lie to Darius, but she didn't want to tell him what she'd learned from Lukas. "It's all very tangled, Darius."

The litter bumped and was set down. Darius exited first, as always, then Livia followed him. He turned to her and bowed slightly. "By your leave, lady. I will get Julia. You can bring her up to date. Try to relax for a few hours."

"Go ahead, Darius. I'll see you when you return."

She entered the house, retreating to her husband's--now her--study, closing the door behind her. She ought to go see if Diya was awake, see if she could persuade her to eat if she was. But she didn't have the energy right now. She sat at the table, her head in her hands, the butterfly wing her daughter had given her on the table in front of her. Anger chased sorrow chased just the thinnest thread of joy in her heart. Part of her wanted to know how she could possibly feel any happiness so soon after her husband, the man she'd loved with her whole heart, had died.

And another part of her just wanted to feel something, anything, that was not sorrow or anger or guilt. Any pleasure, any happiness, a smile on her daughter's face, a kiss shared with a man she'd only recently come to know, the hope of another child sometime soon. She could so easily hate this darkness that was overtaking her, hate herself for accepting it as what must happen, what had to be. She needed something to hold on to, to remind her that she was still human, still alive.

Finally, she sighed and shifted. She rose and fetched from the cupboard some tally-sheets, making notes to herself on a wax tablet. She was coming up with a wide-ranging plan, contingencies in case she either was killed or was forced to marry Geras, ways to keep her property out of the hands of people she did not want to have it.

An hour later, she straightened and then put away her papers and pen. The butterfly wing, which had been sitting on the table, went into the cupboard that held Sextus's papers, in the secret compartment. She went to wash her face and change her dress, and speak to Orla about dinner. Diya was awake and had secluded herself in the workroom, and for the moment Livia let her be. She remembered the dark days after Sextus had died, and ached for the girl.

Julia arrived about a half an hour later, and Livia received her in her office, Darius at her shoulder. Livia nodded to Darius and he stepped outside.

Livia looked at the woman across from her, all that she had learned in the last few days running through her mind. She heaved a sigh. "Well, the first thing that you need to know is that Constantius is dead. The person who wears his skin and has his voice is Geras." She saw the news hit Julia, her eyes opening wide. "It gets worse," she said shortly, and began to talk.

She left out how she had come by the information about Geras, her scheme to stay out of Geras's bed, Linaeus's connection to Esayis's death, and the fact that she knew that Julia was Linaeus's mother. Most of the rest--Diya, Maranis, Esayis, Zaran, what they had seen in the basement, and the fact that Faydren was trying to frame Julia. She glossed over what she'd done to get rid of her connection to the theft of the papers from Faydren's strongbox, but she saw Julia's sharp gaze and knew she had deduced how exactly she had gotten into that house.

By the time she was done, Livia's throat was dry and her head ached. Julia took a moment to close her eyes, steepling her fingers together. "Busy girl," she remarked. Her well-bred mouth twisted briefly.

"It's been a full couple of weeks," Livia replied, giving Julia a tired smile.

The mage took a breath. "So the investigation is a fraud. But pinning it on someone else is going to be hard as well. I might be able to pin it back on Constantius, but do you want that yet?"

Livia shook her head. "I'd like to leave it as an option, but not yet, I think. I have a feeling Faydren's a bigger threat than Constantius at the moment--well, to other people, not necessarily to me."

"I can drag this on for weeks, but I have to come up with someone sooner or later." Julia tilted her head, her light, compelling eyes regarding Livia with a deep calm. Livia found herself thinking that this woman reminded her of Lukas, sometimes. They had that same strain of calm centeredness. She remembered her dream, Linaeus calling Julia mother. Lukas and she were probably a wonderful match, she caught herself thinking. I wonder if they parted by choice, or were separated by what happened to Lukas.

She firmed her lips slightly. "There's someone I need to disappear, but I think we're going to have to make that happen before your investigation closes."

"Who is that?"

"Zaran. He suspects rather too much right now."

Julia frowned, then smoothed her brow. "Killing him won't be easy. And Faydren has to be mad about Maranis anyway. If you make him take out another of his council, he may do something drastic and damn the consequences."

"I wonder who would die if Faydren did something drastic. Lots of people, probably." Livia took a long breath. "He strikes me as a very dangerous person to corner."

"Probably. Zaran needs to disappear, if possible, and never return." The mage shook her head slightly. "Though that is going to be tough."

Livia turned it over in her mind. "Does he have any vices that you know of?"

Julia shook her head. "Not many. He has no wife or children. Killed years back. Doesn't seem to go to prostitutes. Does have a live in maid that I think he sees at night as well." Her voice was all business, almost brusque. "Rarely attends social functions. Kind of a loner. That may work against him, not that many people would realize if he was gone besides Faydren and the council. If you can get him sent on extended assignment away from here and we can intercept--it would be weeks before Faydren noticed, and then he may think the assignment killed him. Though what that may be is a good question."

She nodded. "I'll think about it. Maybe we can get him sent to the Sassenid empire."

"Good luck. I am afraid I am not much help here." The other woman inclined her head.

"It's all right," Livia said. "You're very useful elsewhere. Speaking of, can you tell me about this?" She pulled the bracelet with the gem on it out of a fold in her palla.

Julia smiled. "You found it. I made that, yes, years ago, and gave it to Sextus. It blocks whose who would look into your mind, and all sorts of mental compulsions. A useful trinket, that."

"I was wondering. It's come in handy so far." Livia raised her wrist and looked at the gem. "Pretty, too."

They spent a few more minutes talking, and then Julia took her leave. For a long few minutes after she left, Livia just sat with her eyes closed, trying to see the web she was weaving. I'm leaving something out, she thought. Perhaps when we go see the cleric Iraeus this evening, he will fill in some more for me.

Livia wondered if her days would ever seem shorter, if some day she would have some time to rest and recover. Then she chuckled, laughing at herself. I'm enjoying myself somewhat. I seem to like this sort of thing. I almost think I'm getting less scared.

It was both a comforting and disturbing thought. She wondered if she would like the person she was when all was said and done. Because, for sure, the Livia of several weeks ago wouldn't even recognize her...