The Flower That Shatters the Stone

Livia brushed kohl onto her eyelids, then used ochre to color her lips. Surprisingly, her hands were not shaking.

She was about to do something that would either save her, or damn her and all of her people. As she flicked a little powder onto her cheeks, she prayed that it was going to be the former and not the latter. She looked at herself in the mirror, seeing a small, tired-looking woman with shadows beneath her eyes, and her chin set stubbornly.

It will be over soon, one way or the other, she promised herself. Then she rose and pulled on her palla, draping it over her shoulders. "Are you ready?" she called.

"About," Darius replied from the other room. Soon enough, he stepped through the door, freshly shaved and changed into a clean shirt. "Shall we?"

Livia nodded and rose. They had only a short walk ahead of them, and Livia spent much of it wondering if this was the right thing to be doing. It could so easily go wrong, what she had planned, if she had misjudged Faydren by even a hair. It was the only thing that could see her through this, and if it worked...Constantine will learn a very bad lesson about backing me into a corner, she thought grimly.

They arrived at Faydren's house, and were shown inside by a disinterested servant. Faydren was at home, he said, and would see them in the library momentarily. They settled into some chairs before the lanky mage appeared and sat down opposite them.

Livia had thought about leaving Darius at home, in case Faydren decided to kill her. But if she died, so would he in short order, no matter where she was. She wanted his silent presence near her, in case the worst happened.

She and Faydren exchanged pleasantries. Livia took a breath, hoping her nervousness did not show, and said, "I had a talk with my younger daughter this morning. She mentioned that you had been teaching her magic."

No real reaction from Faydren, only a cool look. "Yes. I did."

"Are you planning to continue?"

He folded his hands. "I never stopped."

Livia took a breath and said, very carefully, "Ah. Understand that I'm not upset, Faydren. Just disturbed that nobody thought to tell me that my five-year-old can work magic powerful enough to affect artifacts."

"She couldn't until I taught her how to." He was giving her a thoughtful look, now. "Besides, you and I. I never knew where we stood."

How true. She gave him a faint smile. "Honestly? Me, either. Nobody in this game is ever who they seem to be."

"And now?" The question hung in the air between them. This was the last moment Livia had to change her mind, she knew. She could back away from her plan now. If she said what she had come here to say, she would be committed.

She spread her hands, making her decision. "I'm still not sure. However, I've come to propose an alliance. Constantine and Pollius had my husband under their control until his death. Constantine, I believe, is about to restart the purges."

A faint shadow of a grimace passed over Faydren's impassive features. "According to Aphe, he already has."

Oh, no, we're too late. Again. "Damn! What has he done?"

"The Sassenids are dying by the droves in their quarter," he replied quietly. "Constantine claims the plague."

"He probably poisoned their well. He does plan to take down Hagia Sophia, as well." Her heart ached. All of those lives, all of those people...innocents dying because I was too slow to act.

Faydren shrugged. "It's a forgone conclusion that he will take out Hagia Sophia. He can't let the tower stand."

He was very calm for someone with a death sentence hanging over his head. Livia frowned. There was another game afoot, right enough. "If there was a way to stop him--would you help?" she asked.

"This may be hard to do, but if you wait until the attack on Hagia Sophia is complete, I will help." He was still giving her that thoughtful look.

Ah. I think I understand. "Why until after?" she asked.

The mage met her eyes. "Because tonight we all die."

She felt Darius stiffen beside her, and without thinking she laid her hand on his arm. "Ah. I presume bodies will be found that look like yours, but are not."

Faydren nodded. "Quite. And Hagia Sophia will be no more."

"Leaving you free to...work behind the scenes? Leave for Britain?"

"Depends really. Might teach, your daughter needs it. Politics, I am done." He dropped his gaze, and Livia saw fatigue on his features, his shoulders slumping slightly. "After tonight, Faydren is no more."

Do I trust this? Can I trust him? Do I have a choice? "And the rest of Hagia Sophia is in on this?"

"Most but not all. Didius won't survive the night."

She raised her brows in surprise. Didius was someone everyone had thought was working for Faydren. "I take it he's working for Constantine?"

"He was working for someone and not me. I can only surmise at this point." He sat back in his chair, stretching out his legs in front of him. "Just before the dinner hour tonight Constantine's guards will crack the well into Hagia Sophia. Its waters will mix with the Sassenid quarter and the water will be polluted. Our monthly meeting is tonight and we will all die from the poison."

Livia gave him a tentative smile. "And away you all go."

Faydren returned her smile, nodding. "Yes, I and Aranis will start again as we should have these many years ago."

Now she understood the timing, and why Faydren was choosing to give up rather than fight to the bitter end. I did the world more good than I knew, restoring Aranis. I suppose it makes up for what I accidentally took from him. "That sounds like an excellent idea to me. That changes the landscape a bit, but...Constantine's still a danger. And with the Tower gone, he'll probably notice me."

"Darius first." He shook his head. "Purge the magic."

The smile on her lips felt sharp, and feral. "He'd have to go through me to get Darius." She tightened her hand on Darius's arm briefly.

Faydren inclined his head. "So your plan becomes?"

She thought forward for a few seconds. This news didn't change much of anything, really. "A little sleight of hand. Replace one emperor with another, at least for a while.

His eyebrows raised. "Who?" he asked.

She shrugged. "A mage I know. Not on the council. Strong enough to avoid suspicion at least for a while."

"Do you need help?" he asked.

"It would make it easier if I had help, yes. Specifically, I hadn't yet worked out how to remove the body from Constantine's house without suspicion."

"Not a problem. Go to Constantine's house at sunset exactly, I will be there." He paused, and added, "Even if you don't see me."

She nodded. "I will. I have some betrothal arrangements to discuss with him."

"Good, I'll see you there." He paused, and then smiled. "And by the way Livia, yes I knew you took the gem. Sextus gave it to me."

The implications of that particular statement took her breath away for a moment. Then he knew that she had framed Maranis...and had not done anything about it. I wonder how much more he knows. I'll bet that he knows I was behind Pollius's death, as well. Among other things. She said, "I wondered. Did you have the bracelet it goes to, as well?"

"No, he didn't give it to me."

She tilted her head. "You really found it on Maranis?"

Faydren nodded. "I did."

She took a long breath. "Sextus is still a bit of a mystery, even after all this. I wish I were able to get my memories back, they might enlighten me. Ah, well, spilled milk now."

"For now. Linaeus might be able to help." He rose from his chair, and she and Darius did as well. "I will see you tonight, Livia, Darius."

"Tonight, then," she echoed, and when Faydren offered his hand, she took it briefly before she turned to go.

Outside, Darius said quietly, "Interesting."

"That's one word for it." She glanced up at him. "We've got some work to do before the evening."

They did that work, and the evening eventually came. Livia told Diya that she was going to go speak to Constantine about betrothal arrangements--earning herself a dark look from her stepdaughter--and she and Darius walked towards Constantine's house, Hadrius with them, trailing them under a veil that caused people's eyes to slide right off of him.

She was admitted to Constantine's study, and she thought bitterly that she had once considered herself in this man's confidence. This ends tonight, she thought fiercely.

"Good to see you, Livia," he said as they sat down, leaving Darius and Hadrius standing near the door. "I assume you are here about the betrothal?"

Livia nodded. "I wanted to arrange a little gathering, so Diya can meet Cyricus. And I wanted to apologize for my...outburst the other day. I was upset, Linaeus was a friend of Sextus's. I spoke out of turn."

He waved a hand. "Already forgotten, Livia. You are only a woman, after all."

Livia smiled gently. "And you are only a man, Emperor Constantine."

His eyes widened, and then he went white with shock as around Livia forms shimmered into being. Faydren was standing beside Livia, Julia was on her other side. Thalea was beside Julia, and Aphe, still veiled, was beside Faydren. There were two others that Livia did not recognize--the flamboyantly dressed woman behind Constantine had to be Quintia, and the rakish gentleman at her shoulder was probably Tetius.

"You're dead," stammered Constantine. "I killed you."

Faydren smiled. "You did. Did you think a little thing like death would stop us, Constantine?" He raised his hands. "Goodbye."

Livia Stepped forward, looking Constantius in the eye. "I hope you go to the same hell that I sent Pollius to." She saw his eyes widen, and smiled. "Oh, you didn't know I killed Pollius? He made the mistake of threatening my daughter."

She stepped back and nodded to Faydren. "Do what you need to do," she said. Faydren nodded, then pale fire sprang from Faydren's fingertips, and Constantine took one last breath and crumbled into dust.

There was not a sound, not a breath in the room as each of them stared at the place where the Emperor had been a few moments before. Then Livia turned. "Hadrius," she said quietly. "It's time."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Faydren start at the name. Hadrius stepped into the room, Darius at his shoulder. He glanced at Faydren, then wordlessly he raised his staff, and became shorter and thinner, his hair bleaching to silver-threaded gold.

The new Constantine sat down behind the desk, giving only mild glances to the council members he brushed past as he did so. "Well, then," he said calmly. "I hear you've given up politics, Faydren."

The mage twisted his mouth. "This was the last move, and only as a favor to Livia, and to the Empire. Faydren is dead, as are the rest of us. Our bodies have already been found. The Tower has fallen, at last."

"You finally came to your senses," said Hadrius.

"I did. As did the rest of us. And now, it's time for us to depart." Each of the mages began to murmur words, and their forms twisted and changed. Five strangers and Aphe, who was still veiled, now stood in the Emperor's study. The one who had changed the least was Thalea. Her new form looked as if it might have been a sister to her old one.

The one who had been Faydren said, "I will see you, I am sure, Livia."

"Do me a favor?" she asked the heavily built man who looked at her from where Faydren had stood. "Don't sneak in. You are welcome to teach my daughter, as long as you're willing. But I'd just like to know when you're there, so I know when I can expect explosions."

Faydren chuckled. "I will. Shall we, everyone?"

"Wait." Constantine stood abruptly. Before you go--" His gaze fell on Aphe. "It's good to see you. Aphe," he said to her. "I've missed you."

A choking sound came from the veiled figure, then Aphe was flying forward to throw her arms around her former mentor. "I missed you too," she said, and her voice was cracking. "I never thought you were dead."

"You know me, little one," he said, with affection in his voice. "Death takes one look at me and walks away whistling. The gods don't want me on their hands yet."

Around them, the mages were fading from view, and Aphe stood on her tiptoes to kiss the man who had been Hadrius on the cheek, the lines of her face showing briefly through her thin veil. "Don't be a stranger," he told her. "You know where to find me."

"I will," she said, and there was a brilliant smile in her voice. Then she, too, was gone.

Livia stood silent, feeling almost stunned. Darius and Constantine were both looking at her, concern on their faces. "Livia?" asked Darius. "Are you all right?"

She took a long breath, and then let it out, her whole body feeling as though it were sagging into the ground. Her knees were weak and trembling. She would not think about what she had learned from Constantine's memories. She could not, not yet. "It worked," she said. "By all the gods. It worked." She looked up at Constantine. "Thank you for doing this. There's a hell of a mess to clean up."

"I'm up to it," he said, and gave her a wry smile. "Go home, Livia. There's nothing you can do here now. Why don't you and Diya come over a week from now, and we'll introduce Cyricus and Diya. It'll take about that long for the uproar to die down over here. Then I'm sure nobody will be surprised when I name you an imperial advisor."

Livia nodded. "I will see you then." She gave him a smile and added, "Lord Emperor."

He returned her wry smile, and then Darius stepped forward and took her arm.

While they walked home, each step that took her closer to her children lightened her heart, and she thought that it would take her some time to get used to the fact that there was no pressing danger threatening her family and her people.

She had risked everything, and won an empire.

*****

The smell of funereal pyres was heavy in the air. The wind from the ocean, usually a constant, had largely failed in the last few days, making the smoke from the pyres burning hundreds of Sassenid dead hang in the air as an unwelcome reminder of what had passed. Most of the nobles had left the city for the moment, though Livia had declined to go with them.

It was a week after the Tower had fallen and Constantine had been replaced, and Livia was in the house she had shared with Sextus, preparing herself to go over to Diya's, formerly Constans's house to escort her daughter to meet Constantine's son Cyricus. Orla was braiding her hair, pinning it up in loops.

Sitting still under Orla's competent hands, Livia had a chance to reflect on the events of the past week. In the chaos that had surrounded the Tower's fall, Statilla's death had gone almost unremarked. The plant mage had died where she had been the happiest, in the middle of her garden, surrounded by her plants. Oddly enough, she had left her house to Optata, naming Livia to hold it in trust for her until she was of age. It is little enough that I can do now. Not enough to pay my debts, but perhaps the goddess will be gentle with me when I reach her, the note that Statilla had left for Livia read.

Livia knew what debts she spoke of. There was an apology in there for what Statilla had done to her, which might never be undone. Linaeus had told her, when she spoke to him, that he could indeed undo the memory charms. Gaining her memories back would be dangerous, though--there was every chance that no matter how careful Linaeus was, undoing the charms would damage her mind.

She would need every ounce of intelligence she possessed to accomplish what she wanted in the next few years. She was still thinking about it, but she rather thought she could live with the missing memories. She knew now parts of what those memories had held, and they were upsetting enough to watch from the outside. Re-experiencing them from the inside was something that she thought she could live without.

She had made a visit to Pollius's house, a few days after the Tower had fallen. It was deserted, his wife and son having seemingly disappeared into thin air, taking most of the valuables of the household with them.

In the cellar below the house, there were indeed the cages that Linaeus had mentioned. In one of them had been the body of a boy.

He had been thin and slight for a twelve-year-old, and on his body were marks that spoke eloquently of what sort of torture he had been put through. The torture had not claimed his life, it appeared. Simple starvation had done the job, sometime in the day or so before they arrived.

When they brought him out into the light, Livia saw that the boy looked very much like a young version of Geras. So much potential, completely spoiled. She hoped Pollius was having a good time in whatever hell he'd found himself in, and regretted not sending him there sooner. They would bury the unnamed boy tomorrow, near where his father was buried, and on the stone would be simply carved, One too little known, who died far too soon.

Then there was the Sassenid quarter, which she had made herself walk through the evening after they'd found Geras's unnamed son. She had to look it in the face, to bring it home to herself what her quiet war had wrought in the end. Darius had gone with her, silent at her side as they walked through the decimated quarter. There was hardly anyone moving, except for those who were loading bodies into carts and taking them out of the walls. Fully three-quarters of the people who had lived here had died, from children to elders. A few had been out of the city when the well was poisoned, some had not drunk the well's water by happenstance, and many of the very youngest babies had been spared, those that were still at the breast.

"This will never happen again," she had said quietly to Darius. "Not while there is still breath in my body to prevent it."

"I know," he replied, looking around at the too-silent streets. "I do know, Livia."

That evening, she had called Darius into her room and haltingly began to find words for the things she had learned from Constantine just before he died. She had been terribly afraid that something in her story would prove the last straw for Darius, that finding out she had been a mage--a mind mage at that, and Pollius's daughter--would be the thing that would push him away.

In the end, it had not. He demonstrated wordlessly just how much her revelations had not pushed him away, and that had begun what turned into a very enjoyable evening indeed.

She was brought abruptly back to the present by Orla accidentally pulling on her hair a little too hard, making her eyes water as what must be one of the last braids was pinned up." Rusticus knocked on the doorframe. "Messenger came and left this, mistress. No need for a reply, he said. I'll leave it with you."

"I'm done, dear," Orla told her. "Good luck managing your girl tonight." Her tone was a bit reproachful, but she left it at that and hurried out of the room. Livia sighed. Orla was never going to forgive Diya for attempting to attack Optata, even though Livia had explained several times that Diya had not been herself, and the man responsible was dead.

She picked up the parchment and broke the imperial seal on it. As she read, her eyes widened and a smile crept across her lips. It was a copy of a decree, signed in Constantine's hand.

Darius appeared in the doorway. "Are you ready?" he asked her.

"One moment," she said. "Let me read this to you. 'By my hand, let it be known that Darius of the gens Aulus, for his unstinting service to the Empire, has had all rank restored to him. Lands will be granted to him, to be named later.' It's signed with the imperial seal."

Darius looked as if someone had hit him with something heavy. "Constantine has done what?"

"Made you a noble again," she said. "I thought you would be pleased."

"I am. It's just a shock." He sat down heavily in one of the chairs. "I never thought I'd live to see the day, honestly."

Livia chuckled briefly. "Neither of us knew what was going to happen to us when you appeared on my doorstep that day. I'll always bless whatever instinct led Julia to assign you to me." She smiled, but it felt a little tremulous, and she looked down to try to hide the thought that had just occurred to her. Well, there was no helping it, she needed to ask. "What are you going to do?" she asked. "I keep meaning to ask. The Tower's gone, your assignment is over."

He just looked at her for a moment. "Well," he started, and then stopped speaking. Finally, he took a breath. "I really wasn't planning on going much of anywhere. If you still want me around, that is."

She looked up, feeling a brilliant joy come over her. "I told you before, Darius. There will always be a place here for you." She rose and stepped over to him, and they folded each other in their arms. After a silent moment, Livia said, "Our daughter will be born in the spring, and after that my mourning period will be over. If we still feel then, as we feel now..."

Darius silenced her with a kiss that was both question and answer in one. After their lips parted, he murmured, "I will, Livia. If you will have me, I will marry you."

She laughed just a little and smiled up at him. "Wait to give me your final answer until after the baby is born. If you can deal with me when I'm nine months pregnant and bitter at the world for making me be born female, then you can say yes."

He kissed her again, and said, "I'm sure my answer will be the same then. And much as I'd like to continue this conversation and see where it goes..."

"There is one very nervous Diya waiting for us to take her to meet her betrothed, I know." Livia sighed. "I'm afraid Cyricus isn't going to be much to her liking."

"No, but I'm guessing that the position of Empress will be. She'll come around, Livia. Wait and see."

She laughed and let him go. They did not leave arm in arm, but some day, months from now, they would finally be able to. There would be a new baby to raise, and perhaps more one day.

For the moment, she had what she most wanted in the world. Security for herself and her children, the power to make sure that the Empire would be well-run, and someone who understood her by her side. Despite everything she had lost, she had won much.

Indeed, for the moment all was right with the world.

*****

Seven months later

Fingers stirred the surface of the water, durturbing the reflection of the veiled woman who looked into it. Aphe was alone, sitting cross-legged on a cushion here in her bolthole, the place she'd created when she'd found that the fall of the Tower was more a probability than a possibility.

That had been seven years ago, and this place had all the comforts of home now. So many deaths had happened between then and now, so many vicious fights with Faydren when she had been one of the few people who had dared give him bad news.

"The Tower will fall," she'd told him. "And you will let it, because doing so will accomplish a greater goal."

He hadn't beleived her, not truly, not until the last when Aranis was restored to him and he'd found that his heart was no longer in the game of politics. He had done what she had hoped he would, and let his eternal sruggle against the world come to an end.

Best to leave the politics to the ones suited to them. Like the one she was looking at now. Livia Neria was playing with her daughter, laughing delightedly at something Optata had said. She was heavily pregnant, and she was glowing, suffused with happiness. The gemstone she still wore flashed at ehr wrist--that was the only lie Aphe had ever deliberately told the noblewoman. Faydren had adjusted it so Aphe alone could see through its protections.

"I won't spoil it," Aphe murmured to the image of the woman. "But there are things that Optata will need to know."

She cleared the water with a sweep of her hand and began to call up more images into it.

Constantine was speaking to Pollius in his study, both men holding goblets of wine. "Sextus married, did you hear?" he was saying. "There's a girl he was courting, a mage student, well-placed. He finally convinced her to leave Hagia Sophia for him."

"I--have met her," Pollius said sourly. "Bright girl. I can see what Sextus sees in her."

Constantine raised an eyebrow. "Is she going to be a problem?"

"Maybe. We'll see. For the moment, let's leave her be. Sextus has been getting erratic lately, could be that he just needs to get laid regularly to keep him stable." The mage sniggered. "Or it could be that he hardly knows which end is up any more."

"It's your business to keep him useful, Pollius. If the girl helps, then let her be."

Aphe cleared the water and the image moved forward. It was another evening in Constantine's study, Pollius speaking to Constantine. "Remember how I didn't know if Livia Neria was going to be a problem? She is. I tried to do a little clouding on her today, she's starting to get suspicious."

"And?" asked Constantine."

"She resisted it entirely. Completely shrugged it off as if she didn't even notice it. Thought there were only three people in Constantinople who could do that. She's number four."

"She's like you?"

"I looked in the records of Hagia Sophia." Pollius's mouth twisted. "Her teacher noted that she seemed to have a talent for mind magic."

Constantine blinked. "And you didn't think of checking this before why, Pollius?"

The mage's voice was venomous. "Because she's tampered with anyone who might have cause to suspect what she is. Not even Sextus knows. Julia certainly doesn't, Julia hardly remembers that Livia was a mage student to begin with, and Livia was in one of her classes! That little bitch! I knew I should have strangled her in the cradle."

"In the cradle? Are you saying--"

Pollius smiled thinly. "Livinius Gaetulicus was on campaign in Italy for two years. His wife Lucina was young, beautiful, and quite lonely. She caught a child just before her husband returned. I didn't make an issue of it, especially when I found out the child was only a girl."

Constantine laughed. "You dog! Is there a lonely noblewoman in the city you haven't consoled? I'm surprised you don't have more brats running around than you do."

The mage grimaced. "Usually, I take care of things when it happens. Lucina was--well, never mind what Lucina was. I completely forgot about it until I saw Livia Gaetulica's name on the Hagia Sophia rolls, and realized that it really had been sixteen years since our affair." He took a breath. "Livia's daughter is going to be as much of a problem as she is in a few years. The brat's going to be as powerful as Faydren, if she grows up. Those two bloodlines--I always forget that Sextus has mage blood thick in his background. Any more children they have will be just as much of a problem."

The door slammed open. Sextus stood in the doorway, breathing hard. "Constantine!" he howled. "Constantine, you will pay for this. Controlling my mind through him."

Constantine shoved his chair back hard and stood. "And who exactly told you this?" he asked. "Who is making these accusations?"

"Livia told me, and of all the people in the world she would never lie to me," he snarled. "You can't do this to me--"

The regent gestured, and Pollius stepped forward. Sextus collapsed, screaming. Pollius reached down and grabbed the front of Sextus's shirt, hauling him to his feet. "Listen to me," he said, and his voice was icy. "Your Livia has become a problem. I'm afraid she's going to need to die, unless you can convince me that she shouldn't." Sextus screamed again, and Pollius shook him sharply. "Stop that."

"Just kill her," said Constantine. "What does she matter?"

Pollius twitched the corner of his mouth. "A moment, lord," he said. He looked at Sextus again. "I will make you a bargain. You've been fighting me lately, which is assume how Livia realized you were under my control. You submit absolutely to my control, or your pretty little wife and your little girl both die. And isn't she pregnant?"

Sextus shuddered. There was blood running from the corner of his mouth, where his teeth had cut his lip. "What--what do I have to do?" he said, finally.

"Just give yourself over to me, and do not resist what I do. We will have to wipe her memory, remove any trace that may lead her back here. She and your daughter will live, and you will be our man, entirely."

There was a long moment as Sextus thought about his options. "All right. I'll do what you want. Gods. I should have left, Livia said we should just run. But I thought--never mind what I thought. As long as she and Optata live, I will do what you want."

"Good." Pollius loosed Sextus, and he fell to the ground. Then he began to cast a spell.

Afterwards, Pollius and Constantine had carried Sextus into the house that Sextus and Livia shared, and laid him on a low couch. Livia, alerted by a watchful servant, came rushing in, and stopped dead when she saw Sextus lying on the couch. She glanced at Pollius and Constantine. "What happened? Is he all right?" She was pregnant, perhaps four or five months along, and her hands were shaking though she showed no other sign of fear.

"Livia," said Constantine, his voice low. "He has given himself up to us, in order to save your life, and the life of your daughter. You know too much now. You will have your memory wiped, so that you will never suspect that anything has happened today, that anything is out of the ordinary with Sextus. You will not rediscover what he was doing. Ever."

She was staring at the regent, her hands pressed against her mouth. She glanced at Sextus, who nodded once. "I--I don't know..."

Pollius snarled, "Do it, or your daughter dies." Livia fought, struggling with her decision, her eyes on her husband. Then she bowed her head in assent. "Go to Statilla," Pollius told her. "She'll do the spell. I hope I never see you again, Livia Neria."

"Wait," said Constantine. "I don't think she believes that I'll kill her." Livia's face had gone pale as milk, and she shivered as Constantine spoke in an icy voice. "I think she needs a demonstration." He reached out and took her upper arm in a hard hand. "Come with me, Livia. I have something to show you."

She pulled away from him, loosed herself from his grasp. "How do I know you're not going to take me away and kill me?"

"You don't, Livia. But if you do not...your daughter is almost four years old, correct?" She nodded. "There are certain houses in the city which cater to men with very particular tastes. A young child of obviously noble blood would fetch a very pretty price. They will train her, and then put her to work when she's a few years older." Livia stared at Constantine, seemingly lost for words. "Your good conduct will spare her from that fate, Livia. You have my word as regent that I do not intend to kill you this day, unless you choose to be difficult."

Her shoulders rounded in defeat. "May I have a moment to speak to Sextus?" she asked. Constantine nodded, and she went to where her husband was lying on the low couch, murmuring to him. He turned his head towards her, and they spent a few moments in quiet conversation, too quiet to be heard from Aphe's point of view.

Sextus murmured, "I'm sorry, love." He kissed her forehead, and then she rose.

Aphe watched as Constantine took Livia back to his own house, to the basement where there was a stone-floored room and a table in the middle of it. His guards stripped her roughly and tied her to the table, and then a man--a doctor, perhaps--stepped forward. Constantine stayed and watched the whole bloody mess, watched Livia scream and struggle and then finally subside, overwhelmed by pain as the doctor pulled from her womb a child far too small to ever breathe on its own. It died without a sound.

They let her up, then, and she curled up on her side on the table, her face grey with pain and streaked with tears, her hands cupping her belly, moaning. Her belly and most of the lower half of her body were covered in blood. Constantine stepped forward. "I will do that again," he told Livia. "I will take each of your children from your womb, if you do not find a way to stop becoming pregnant. Your living daughter will be safe, for the moment. But what I just did to you, I will do over and over again."

Aphe saw Livia take her hands from her belly and look at her bloodied hands with staring, uncomprehending eyes. "No," she whispered. "No."

"Then ensure your safety and that of your daughter, Livia. Forget everything. You've defied me once, you will not have a chance to do it again." He reached out to brush the hair back from her face, gently as a father. Livia was too far into shock to even flinch. "It's too bad you chose today to try to wrest Sextus away from me. The child would have been a boy."

He took his hand from her, turned, and walked away. He gave some curt instructions to the guards on the door, and went upstairs.

A few hours later, Livia was being carried into a place Aphe recognized as Statilla's house by a white-faced Sextus.

He set her down on a couch and Statilla herself came into view. "What happened to her?" she asked. She knelt beside Livia, who appeared to be passing in and out of consciousness.

"She lost the child," he told her. "The doctors gave her something to stop the bleeding, but it's not working."

"No wonder, she was too far along. Livia, dear, can you hear me?" Livia heard herself moan, muttering. "Livia, I'm going to need to take a look and see where the damage is, so I can stop the bleeding."

"Hurts," she sobbed.

"I know, dear. I can help with that. Sextus, hold her hands for me?" Statilla eased up Livia's blood-soaked dress, and Livia, moaned and tried to pull her legs up, to curl away from the priest-mage. "Hush, now. Let me see. I promise I'm not going to hurt you."

The examination took a few minutes, then Statilla said, "There's a lot of damage. There will be some scarring. It's going to be more difficult for her to carry to term after this."

"I don't care," Livia heard Sextus say. His gaze was focused on Livia's face. "As long as she's all right."

"Well, then." Statilla laid her hands on Livia's belly, and began chanting. A few minutes later, she lifted her hands away. "You'll live. Though that was no natural miscarriage, was it?"

A bit of color had returned to Livia's face. "Constantine and Pollius," she said. She tried to sit up, wincing, and Sextus helped her up and then sat so she could lean against him. "Statilla, I need to weave some memory charms. I can do much of the preliminary work, but I can't cast it on myself. Pollius said that you would."

Statilla's face darkened. "What are you going to be forgetting?"

She spread her hands. "Everything. I am going to become a different person, one who never belonged to Hagia Sophia, who has played by the rules her whole life. If I remember...this will happen again. Next time, it won't be just me but Optata, as well."

"You'll block your talent if you forget your whole life, you know," Statilla said, warningly. "It has a tendency to worm its way out, and it'll make your life miserable if it does so and you have no way to control it."

"I know," Livia said, and her voice was tight. "It must be done."

The scene in the water shifted now. This time, Pollius and Constantine were walking in the gardens outside of Constantine's home. "You should see her, my lord," Pollius said, smiling. "She is a changed woman. Doesn't have an ambition in her pretty little head, nor any trace of power whatsoever. Doesn't remember a thing about being a mage, or anything really. She even thinks her marriage to Sextus was an arranged one."

"Is there any chance that she'll remember some day?"

Pollius chuckled. "That's the amusing part. I knew she would put in some failsafes, and give Statilla the keys. I caught up with Statilla yesterday. She had some damage to her mind before, from fighting me. After today, let's just say she no longer lives quite in the same universe as we do. She will never remember the keys. Statilla also put some interesting cover memories in for her. Livia thinks you were kind to her as a young woman. If she starts to remember things, she'll come to you for counsel, just like Sextus made a beeline for you once my control over him was shaken."

The regent laughed humorlessly. "Make sure her mother doesn't talk, then. Has she done anything about the children?"

"Oh, yes, she was quite upset about what happened to her. She begged Statilla to put a block on her womb, to make her miscarry every pregnancy she has in the future. We won't have anything to worry about in the future." Pollius smiled. "I have to say that she's worked out for us. We have complete control of Sextus, and one very dangerous woman completely neutralized."

Again Aphe cleared the water, and another image floated to the surface. Geras and Linaeus were talking, somewhere out in the desert, their demon eyes glittering in the sun. "I will take everything that's his," he said. "A daughter to replace the one that should have been mine, a wife to replace the one he stole from me. The lands that should have been mine, and the position."

"There's a problem, Geras," Linaeus said. "You might not want that particular wife."

Geras raised an eyebrow at him. "You've found something out?"

"I was talking to one of my contacts at Hagia Sophia. She noticed something strange in the acolyte records, and went looking. Livia's father isn't her mother's husband. It's Pollius."

For a minute, Geras just stared at his half-brother. "That bastard. You're telling me she's my sister?"

"He never bothered to claim her, but she is." Linaeus shrugged. "Thought you should know before you decided to take her."

Geras only smiled. "A sister, one that escaped. No, I think this is still an excellent plan. I will give her a taste of what she missed out on, not being raised by our father. We will scare her into running to Constantius. She'll fall right into the trap, especially if she ever wants to see her daughter again."

Geras turned away, and Aphe could see pain flash across Linaeus's face.

One more flash in the water--a man, talking to Constantine. "Sextus Nerius is dead, lord," he said. "Killed by a gulagon."

"The family?"

"Alive. Constantius is going to take the daughter. The Tower will investigate the death, of course."

"Of course. Damn. He was an excellent instrument. Faydren's move, of course, Sextus was getting too close. Well, then." He learned forward, going back to the papers he had been reading. "Oh, if Livia Neria shows up on my doorstep--have her shown in immediately."

The water shivered and then cleared once more. Aphe waited for a few minutes, but no more images came to her spell. She broke the spell, and reached in and fished from the bowl a large, clear crystal that had a restless darkness swirling at its heart.

The veiled woman murmured a few words to the crystal, locking the images contained within into place. "Livia, your choice not to look into your own memories is your own. But your children will need to know what happened. Once you are dead and gone, this and the others will be for Optata."

She placed the crystal into the small casket beside her, next to six other crystals,lying cradled in linen. She shut the casket with a click, and another few words magelocked it. "I know what you were," Aphe murmured. "Little Livia, who like me escaped our father's house. We were lucky, my sister, that Pollius had no care for girl children. Especially not the bastard daughter of his Sassenid servant. You will never know how lucky you were, my dear. How lucky you still are."

Then she rose and smoothed down her veils. The sun was getting higher, and the day was warming. Aphe opened the windows, closed her eyes, and let the sun fall on her.

It was going to be a glorious day.