One With the Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page A

get out. A memory? She pushed it down.
    She would buy a slave tonight. It would be a barbarian slave.
    Where had that thought come from? Really, her brain was feeling quite disordered. She shook herself mentally. Keep your mind on your task. Conspirators can’t afford to have disordered thoughts.
    There were perhaps still some slaves left from the “triumphal” march Gaius Caesar had staged two days before, upon the army’s return from the north. He had gone to conquer Britannia but lost his nerve. The army stalled on the shore of the channel. He had them gather seashells,proclaiming “victory” over Neptune. All Rome was whispering after the triumphal march of the soldiers followed by wagonloads of shells and a hundred slaves, some Gauls who had staged a brief, ill-conceived rebellion and some spies and scouts from Britannia. The army was deeply shamed. The Senate protested the waste of funds. It would make her job with the Senate easier.
    She was alighting from her litter when a clatter of boot heels on cobblestones and metal on metal alerted her that the Praetorian Guard was near. She glanced up and saw a troop of Caesar’s personal army coming up the street. They looked like evil insects, armored entirely in black, each helmet sporting a black brush of horsehair. Short swords were strapped to their thighs, and they wore greaves that covered their legs to their knees. The crowd skittered aside for them as they marched forward. What were they doing at the night market?
    As they drew closer, she saw that the captain of the Guard, in charge of Caesar’s personal safety and one of his closest confidants, was in their lead. The whole city feared Cassius Chaerea almost as much as they feared his master.
    Livia feared Chaerea for another reason entirely. Let him not stop , she thought. He mustn’t even look at me.
    But he raised a hand. His cloak swirled back. The troop stopped, took one marching step in place, and stilled. Chaerea had a face hardened by years of battle and more years of palace intrigue. It had deep lines carved around the mouth and an ax blade of a nose. His eyes had seen every cruelty Imperial Rome could present.
    “Livia Quintus Lucellus,” Chaerea said, nodding crisply, “I heard that you were attacked last night by three men.” He did not even acknowledge Titus.
    “It was nothing. I was unhurt.”
    “You lead a charmed life.”
    He was right about that. It was a fact she did not want blurted to the world. “They were bumblers,” she said, though they hadn’t been. They had been dressed as ruffians, but she was betting they were ex-army, the way they wielded swords. She realized others near her were listening intently to her and Chaerea’s exchange. Soon the whole city would be buzzing about her too-miraculous escape. “Several generous bystanders helped me,” she lied by way of explanation. “And did not remain that I could know their names and thank them properly.” Even Chaerea must not know how she had vanquished her attackers.
    “Alas, the Guard apparently cannot keep the city entirely free of brigands. My apologies.”
    “I am here to buy a bodyguard,” she said, to reassure him.
    “I would buy a troop of them, if I were you.” He nodded again. Then he held up his hand and motioned the Guard forward.
    Titus breathed a sigh of relief. “That man makes my stomach churn,” he muttered.
    Surrounded by several burly slaves armed with short swords, he led the way into the busy market. The air was filled with the chatter of bargaining, the cries of the vendors hawking their wares, and the smell of cooked meat, spices, and cedar boughs. Dyed cloth in many colors, produce from the lands beyond the Tiber, carved wooden bowls—you could buy anything at the night market. The slave vendor stalls were at the back, surrounding a simple raised platform on which stood several posts with shackles for the auctions held once a week. The place was a warren of stalls. You could buy scribes,