I took his palm and steadied myself as I ducked through the short door into a room with two flat mattresses on the floor, perpendicular to one another. A small oil lamp burned in the corner alongside a corked jug, a bucket, and something wrapped in muslin cloth.
Sitting on the mattress closest to the lamp, I leaned back againstthe ship’s wall, while Gaius and Trajan struggled through the small door into the room. It was barely tall enough for them to stand, but large enough I didn’t feel too cramped. I removed my veil and set it aside, my heart still aching at having to leave the white dragon in that cage.
I’d wanted to argue with Trajan and demand we find a way, but I knew he was right. If we’d delayed and attempted to free her, we would’ve been caught and thrown in cages ourselves. Still, the pain of it, seeing her there, mournfully crying up to the moon, steeped me in a gloom.
Gaius sat on the other mattress and Trajan took a seat beside me.
“Not the most luxurious accommodations,” said Trajan, looking down at me.
I replied with a touch of bitterness, “Getting out of the city alive will feel most luxurious.”
As if the captain heard me, the ship suddenly moved, no voices above as we slipped away from the docks.
“How did you find these smugglers?” asked Gaius.
“Koska found them for us.”
“We’re fortunate they didn’t question us further before they let us on board. I was surprised they didn’t interrogate or downright refuse us, seeing as we’re nobility.”
“The only reason they trust us at all is because I paid them ten times what I imagine the going rate for smuggling is.”
Trajan reached for the muslin and opened it to find a hard, round loaf of bread. He looked down his shoulder at me. “Hungry?”
I shook my head. “What happened at the celebration? Why was everyone running from the palace?”
Trajan tore off a piece of the bread and handed it to me. “You need to eat.”
Rolling my eyes, I took the bread. “Tell me what happened.”
He tore off another piece and handed it to his grandfather. “Praetorians carried in your handiwork left at Fausta’s. Hektor’s head.” He bit into a hunk of bread. “I’m starving.”
Gaius frowned at me. “You did that?”
“Not me exactly,” I explained hesitantly.
“How exactly then?” he asked, tearing a piece of the bread off and putting it in his mouth.
Trajan stared at me, taking another bite. “If you want to tell him, you can. You can trust him. But you don’t have to.”
My heart fluttered at the realization that Trajan had kept my secret to protect me, allowing me the choice to reveal my gift to whom I wanted. It was a dangerous gift. One that could get me branded and executed as a witch.
Gaius chewed and waited patiently, watching me with no expectation. He was unlike so many aggressive, bullying Romans I’d known. Patient and wise. I understood why he was so respected in the senate. I could also see now how Trajan had become the truly noble man that he was.
“I have a gift. Some call it a witch’s power,” I told him. “My grandmother told me it comes from the goddess Minerva. If I taste someone’s blood, I can control them.” I shrugged when he stared openly, seeming to wait for more. “I don’t know how exactly. They simply obey me.”
“That is how you killed Valerius,” he said.
“I did.” Something suddenly occurred to me. “He’d had many senators visit his home over the years, but I never saw you there before.”
He made a disgusted grunt. “I’d never go to that awful man’s house.”
Trajan growled next to me and reached for the jug, uncorking it and taking a sniff. “Ale. Good.” Then he took a swig.
“They call what I am a bloodsinger,” I added.
“Ah. The code you gave. I’d wondered.”
“You’ve heard of this magic before?”
