I smiled. “That is good to know, Euphemia.”
“You think so? A high and mighty senator of Rome likes the idea of a slave girl having more power than him?”
“I believe this world needs warriors, men and women alike. And I’d like to think that she—”
The heat of my dragon flared in my chest. He was so close now, almost as if he wanted to edge me out and take my skin for merely talking about Lela. And why was I talking so much about her?
“Never mind,” I said abruptly.
Euphemia cackled and walked toward the curtains. I followed her through to the front of the shop.
“Do not fret.” She turned on me with a knowing smile. “I believe the goddess will find favor in you.”
I set a coin on the counter. “Why is that?”
“A feeling.” She shrugged a thin shoulder.
Not in the mood to riddle out Euphemia’s cryptic words, I nodded as I opened the door. “I’ll send Koska with my reply in a day or two.”
I’d have a letter of my own to send to Julian soon enough. Hurrying down the steps, Koska fell in slightly behind me from where he’d been leaning against the stone wall, waiting.
Koska was a well-built Macedonian, a free man, who lived in Rome and served us in the camp on many campaigns. He’d served Julian in particular, constructing his tent, as well as those of the other officers, and tending to whatever our needs were while on war campaigns. After Julian fled Rome, I realized I needed someone I could trust to assist me.
While I’d made sure I was the first to inform Caesar of his nephew’s betrayal, it wasn’t enough to ensure my loyalty to him rather than to my general, Julian. I needed to be sure Caesar didn’t suspect that I’d been, and still was, allied with Julian. So I’d quickly taken up speaking in the forum before the senate house about the danger of traitors like Julian.
It had worked. I was elected tribune to the senate within a week. It couldn’t have been more perfect if I’d planned it. Emperor Igniculus sanctioned my honorable discharge from his armies, especially since the general I worked under was a criminal traitor to Rome and he believed me a trusted ally, loyal to him. It was the perfect guise.
As we walked up the street, a prostitute dressed in only a sheer red skirt stood in front of the brothel next door to Euphemia’s shop. She placed a hand on her hip.
“Need some special attention, dominus? I can help remove that frown on your face.”
“Not today, darling,” I told her as we passed.
“Bad news?” asked Koska.
“What? No. All is well with our mutual friend.” I wouldn’t dare say the name Julian on the street.
“Something else, then?”
“Someone, yes.”
Koska remained quiet the rest of the walk through the busy streets. I had a meeting with Agrippa, a well-respected senator from the House of Media Nocte and friend of my grandfather’s. More importantly, a trusted ally. We’d planned to meet by accident near the Curia. If we talked near the columns of the senate house, no one would bother us, believing we discussed private politics.
And we would. Just not the legal kind.
The crowd thickened as we entered the forum. The weather had begun to turn cooler, so the smells weren’t as pungent as usual. A vendor selling bath oils shouted his wares. Along the outer circle of the forum were the fruit vendors. I walked along this edge to avoid the throng milling around the slave and animal auctions toward the center.
The praeco stepped up onto his dais near the forum center next to the statue of the she-dragon suckling Romulus and Remus. With his booming voice, the crier began the midday announcements.
I ignored them, moving around them until I heard the name of General Drussus.
“The barbarian hordes who killed innocent Romans in the provinces of Moesia have been surrounded on the northern border of Thrace,” he bellowed.
I suppose Quintus and Valerius were right. I’d wanted to seek out this clan led by a Germanic warrior. Julian had encountered him face-to-face, and that was the most he knew about him. Other than the fact he was sure that he’d seen dragon fire flicker behind his eyes.We’d also predicted that his army was wholly or partly made up of dragons. Considering how many bastard-born dragons had been sold or smuggled out of Rome and other parts of the empire, it was indeed possible.
“While the traitor Legatus Julianus Dakkia could not capture this enemy,” the crier went on in a theatrical tone, “Legatus Drussus will certainly defeat this foe who has burned yet another Roman province. We expect a swift triumph from the noble and glorious Legatus Drussus. And for mighty Rome.”
I hoped not. If the marauders had moved on from Moesia to Thrace, then they were closer to Rome.
