Trajan shook his head. “The risk is too great. One of us needs to remain here in safety.”
“Then let me go,” said Julian.
“No. The German barbarian knows me and made the oath with me. Besides, we’re entering the city during Lupercalia and at night. It will be the easiest time of all to move around the city without being detected.”
“What is that?” Malina asked. “Lupercalia.”
The men shared a look but Trajan gestured for Julian to explain.
“It’s a fertility festival that lasts days beginning on the first of Februarius every year.”
“Then the festival begins in three days.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “It happens to be one of my uncle’s favorites.”
“Why is that?” I asked.
“Because it’s a debauched, drunken orgy in the streets,” Julian answered. “Some people wear masks and costumes so that they can misbehave with other people’s husbands and wives without being recognized.”
“That sounds,” Malina began, searching for the word, “awful.”
“It wasn’t always so hedonistic,” said Trajan. “But Igniculus enjoys the depravity. He’s the one who encouraged the wearing of masks.”
Julian grunted. “It typically was only the priests who wore satyr-like costumes with horns during the fertility ritual that opens the celebrations. But my uncle noticed that the populace sank to new levels of debauchery when they could hide their faces.”
“Which he began encouraging patricians and plebeians alike to do,” interjected Trajan.
“There still is the matter of getting into the city. How do you plan to do that?” Malina then asked.
“I’ve found that ship captains can be bought quite readily.” Trajan looked at me. “Lela, my grandfather, and I figured that out together.”
“What if that same ship we bought isn’t sailing back up the Tiber when you need him?” I asked.
“We’ll find another. Coin is convincing. That’s the safest way in and out of the city. Apparently, Caesar isn’t paying as much attention to the port as he is the gates on land.”
I imagined Trajan hiding on board a ship and being arrested the second he set foot on land. All it would take was a little blood in the air and I could protect him. I knew that now, my confidence in my magical abilities growing every day.
“I’ll go with you,” I said.
All heads swiveled to me. But it was Trajan who spoke.
“No.”An emphatic, defiant retort.
Sighing, I said, “Think of it. With my gift, no one could stop us all the way through the city.”
“Those guards back at Caesar’s palace stopped you easily enough,” he snapped back.
Malina scowled with concern. “When were you at Caesar’s palace?”
“Trajan, the only reason I couldn’t is because I had no way to get to their blood. If anyone stood in our way, you’d cut them, then I’d make quick work of them.”
“No,” he repeated angrily.
“Now that I think of it,” I added, “we don’t need you, Julian. All he needs is me to help him through the city.”
“Lela, you can’t go. I just found you.” Malina gripped my hand in hers and held me tight, the fear in her expression making my heart ache.
“Good,” growled Trajan. “Listen to your sister. Even she thinks it’s a bad idea.”
