Chapter 19

When Plautus Iunius made to climb into the limo that was supposed to take him to the airport and put him on the plane back to Europe, Corvus was already in the car waiting for him.

Plautus froze for a few seconds with one foot in the car and one outside. Finally, he shrugged. "Well, I doubt you'd assassinate me yourself in your own limo. What's the game?"

Corvus gestured to Tansy. He'd watched their tearful farewell in the driveway and she was still looking at Plautus with misty eyes like she would miss him terribly. "Ride with us."

Tansy climbed in and curled up on the seat next to Plautus, resting her head on his leg and looking like nothing so much as a young slave girl seeking the comfort of a few more minutes of contact with a man she'd become attached to. As the ambassador stroked her hair, her eyes drifted closed and her breathing grew slower.

Corvus waited until the car was moving. "War's coming to Europe again."

Plautus smirked and seemed to relax a little. "I know, which is funny because I didn't have a hint of it when I was actually in Europe. It's almost like it has nothing to do with what's going on over there at all."

"Europe is a big place. Maybe word just hasn't reached Bohemia."

"That seems like a more logical explanation than suggesting the proconsul is starting a war simply because it serves her purposes back home."

"But you are suggesting that." said Corvus. Plautus looked around like he was afraid they were being recorded. Corvus gave a wave of his hand. "I had two teams sweep the car for bugs this morning and the driver can't hear us through the partition. We can speak freely."

Plautus closed his eyes and took a deep breath, squeezing the bridge of his nose. "If Barbatus Rufius had gotten control of the Home Guard after that attack on Regulus Agricola, he would have been as good as guaranteed the purple. He would have held the interior and the capital. The senate would have granted him the same extraordinary powers they instead granted your father. He could have squeezed out all the other contenders at his leisure and then harassed any who stood in opposition one by one. The proconsul called Gaius home to hold the capital both with his own troops and the Home Guard, at the same time denying it to Rufius."

"A neat little theory, but why a war after you called your best general home?" Corvus betraying nothing of what he knew even though Plautus seemed to have worked out the truth on his own.

"You don't need good generals to win a war in Europe. You barely need generals at all." Plautus scowled. "They have swords and bows and superstition. We have guns and planes and tanks. We could march from Ys to Edo and not break a sweat. There are a dozen German states alone begging to surrender to the Empire if we would have them. We don't need strategy or military acumen to conquer the world. The Legion could do it with you or me at its head. Only the Hebrews in the north have the technology to give us a real fight, but there are too few of them and they're too fractious to even present a united front."

Corvus smirked. "So, why have we stopped with only England and Italy? If it's so easy to rule the world, why don't we?"

Plautus shook his head. "I said conquering it was easy. Ruling it would be nearly impossible ... and expensive. It's taken twenty years and hundreds of millions of denarii to modernize even part of Londinium to the point where it's anything other than a joke to call the people who live there Roman citizens. Every place we conquer becomes our problem. Constructive engagement is a lot cheaper than conquest. The only reason to start a war is to bleed off some ambition or discontent or patriotism or something equally toxic. Conquest is expensive, but it still costs less than fixing things at home."

Corvus frowned and shook his head. "I'm still missing something."

"Barbatus Rufius has the votes to recall my mother from office and Atellus is positioned to take her place. A war makes her unassailable long enough to finish out her term and have a replacement lined up. Bringing your father home, throwing him a triumph, praising him to the skies at his wedding, it takes away a lot of the incentive to try removing her. Even if Atellus became proconsul, he'd never get the votes to take away control of the capital from Gaius. Barbatus will lick his wounds and bide his time until he has an overwhelming advantage again." Plautus gestured at the small refrigerator embedded in the seat. "By any chance, is that thing stocked?"

Corvus shook his head. "Water only, I'm afraid."

Plautus gestured. "If you please."

Corvus handed him a water bottle. "What will you do now?"

Plautus drank thirstily. "Go back to Bohemia, lick my wounds, bide my time, I imagine." He sighed. "War brings opportunity."

Corvus considered him for a full minute before picking up a leather attache from the floor, unzipping it, and extracting a manila folder. He did it all purposefully, knowing he had Plautus's attention. "I have something else to propose."

Plautus didn't say anything, only held his hand out for the folder. Corvus handed it to him. The ambassador opened it and read, his face paling as he got farther down the first page. He flipped through all the pages, staring at them one by one. "These are papers to sign over all my holdings to my daughter. Why would I sign these?"

Corvus looked Plautus in the eyes. The ambassador was approaching fifty and hadn't led an easy life. There was a pattern of broken veins in the whites of his eyes and a general redness he'd acquired since yesterday. Coming to Rio for Gaius and Lucretia's wedding hadn't proven particularly fruitful and it might well be his last chance to put himself at the center of Roman politics before old age and infirmity took him out of the game for good.

"You'll sign them because I'm going to be emperor and I'm asking you to," said Corvus.

Plautus's head shot up and he laughed. "That's ... very ambitious of you, but blocking Barbatus's plans for the purple is a long way from taking it yourself. You're not even close to having all your pieces in place."

"I'll get them." Corvus spoke with absolute confidence. "Atellus Rufius will never be proconsul. His father will never be emperor. The Gallicii have the only real chance at the purple."

"But does Gaius have the will to use it?" Plautus challenged.

"I have the will. Let me worry about my father," said Corvus. "Crispa will be my mistress. I need her finances free and clear from yours if she's ever going to be more. I'm not going to make her empress just to inherit a scheming father-in-law. I want a clear line to the purple, but I need more distance from you before it's worth it."

Plautus didn't answer for a long time, looking over the papers again. Corvus held almost completely still, trying to guide his action solely by force of will.

"You might not be, you know." Plautus shook his head. "The Rufii still have a better position and they have the will to use it. Your father might genuinely be a good Republican."

"Let me worry about Gaius. I have the will."

That got a chuckle. Plautus closed the folder and handed it back to Corvus. "Sorry. Maybe you do, but Gaius has the armies. If you can find some way to put the two together, you might have something. As it is, I have to pass."

Corvus didn't take the folder back. He considered the ambassador for a few long seconds. "What's your game, Plautus?"

Plautus shook his head. "No game. You don't hold the stronger position and I like to keep my options open. If you're serious about your ambitions and improve your position, we'll talk again."

Corvus shook his head. "No we won't. This is a one-time offer. Another ten years in Darkest Europe and you'll be dead or too old to be of any use to me, but for now you're too dangerous a man to leave at loose ends. If we're not friends by the time you get on the plane, don't unpack your bags when you land because I will find a posting so remote it makes Bohemia look like a paradise. There are places in Europe where it never stops snowing and every senator in Rio wants to do me a favor right now."

The look of amused tolerance on Plautus's face was replaced with a fierce scowl. He fired back, "Not every senator."

Corvus gave a faint smile of acknowledgement. Inside, he was scrambling for some handle he could use to bend the ambassador to his will. Everything he had studied or learned about politics and human nature told him Plautus Iunius was a drowning man and would grab any rope thrown to him. Still, he might be deluded enough to think he had better footing.

He had to hammer the ambassador's position home to him. "We may not be friends, but even the Rufii would help me bury you. They consider you an embarrassment - in the capital a week and the only thing they wanted from you was some reassurance that you wouldn't raise a stink while they cut you out. They don't want your counsel. They don't want your insight. The don't want your experience. All they want is the purple in your blood and they'll take that from Crispa and leave you with nothing."

Plautus allowed himself a long, slow sigh. It was probably meant to suggest he was exasperated by dealing with Corvus, but it came out much more heartfelt than that. "You're weaving yourself a marvelous little fantasy, but that's not how things are."

Corvus sat back and smirked, willing himself to relax as if he didn't have a care in the world. "Am I? If the Rufii value you so much, where are they? If you have other allies, why didn't they take the opportunity to approach you while you were here after years away? If Barbatus Rufius really wanted to join his line to yours, why is he throwing Vitula at me and not at you?" Each question might have an answer, but fired at Plautus one after another, they piled up. Corvus didn't know if Plautus remembered what he'd said the night before while drunk, but he exploited the fears expressed, not giving him a chance to regain his equilibrium. "If they value you at all, why am I the only one who thinks you're dangerous enough to threaten?"

A flick of the eye and a faint shake in Plautus's hand holding the folder told Corvus he'd gotten through. He pushed along that line. "You play too many sides, Plautus. And you keep your options open when no options truly exist. You have to choose between the Gallicii and the Rufii and it's really not a choice. They're offering you nothing. I'm the only one here."

"You're not offering me anything either," Plautus growled. "You're just making demands."

Corvus shook his head. "I'm offering you my friendship and to take your counsel. If I can call in favors to move you farther from the action, I can call in favors to move you closer to the front too - somewhere lesser men would consider a punishment, but where the opportunities of war are thick on the ground."

"I'm sick of Europe. I want a posting to the capital."

Corvus was so relieved to realize Plautus had gone from denying him to negotiating that he was tempted to agree, but he wanted Plautus out of his hair more than he wanted the man's help and his arrogant, imperial posture wouldn't work if he suddenly became accommodating. "I have more than enough friends in the capital. I need one in Europe who knows Europe. Do you have a secure means of communication? I don't trust the transatlantic phone lines."

Plautus nodded. "I have couriers - men who travel back and forth on business and for the empire."

Corvus nodded. "There's a girl in my office - Fusa Sergius. She's just bright enough to act as a dead drop. Your couriers will communicate with her, not me."

Plautus frowned and held up the folder. "We haven't agreed that they'll communicate with anyone yet. This is too much. I need something to live on."

"You don't live on those properties now. You let Crispa use them. She collects the income from them. The only difference would be that she owns them free and clear. If she owns nothing but her blood, my enemies will say she's no real Iunius. She has to hold the deeds to her house and the ancestral lands. You have estates in Britannia and Bohemia and dealings elsewhere."

"I do draw from those incomes back home once in a while. My European holdings aren't always enough."

Corvus gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Weren't you just touting the opportunities war brings to me? If you're the man I believe you to be, you'll be expanding our holdings in Europe soon."

"Our holdings?" Plautus raised an eyebrow.

Corvus nodded. "Of course. I don't just need intelligence. You'll find the opportunities. I'll provide the funding."

"And we'll split the profits?"

"Not even close. For every five denarii I invest, I'll loan you one to buy in as well."

Plautus sighed and held up the folder. "As you pointed out, I could be dead or retired in ten years. I don't intend to retire in Europe. I doubt my daughter would be as generous as you're asking me to be. A sixth of a thousand denarii here and there won't cut it."

"Will the opportunities be so small?"

"No, but your budget must be. The Galicii aren't exactly known for their wealth."

Corvus smirked. "Is this where I'm supposed to brag to you about my income because you pretend you don't already know how much it is? At what point did I give you the impression that I would fall for such an obvious ruse?"

"You are very new at this," Plautus pointed out.

Corvus just sat and stared at Plautus, waiting him out. This was a crucial moment. Whatever web he'd spun could all come unraveled if Plautus really thought about how little experience Corvus had with political intrigue and correctly came to the conclusion that this was his first real foray into that domain. Both men watched each other, neither blinking much or looking away. It was down to a battle of wills.

Plautus broke first, drawing in a long breath to speak. Corvus deliberately interrupted, "I've put aside fifty thousand denarii for ventures in Europe. I'll put aside another ten to loan you."

"You can raise that much?" Plautus looked surprised.

"I have that much. I can raise whatever we need."

Plautus seemed to consider questioning him about the source of the funds or how he could raise more, but finally said, "One out of six isn't enough if I'm going to take all the risks."

They negotiated a while over the ratio and terms of repayment for a while, finally settling on one much more generous than Corvus had offered. The young patrician started to feel like Plautus was deliberately drawing out the negotiation to force him to rush over some points once they reached the airport. To Corvus, the terms of the larger agreement were more important than the money. He cut the discussion short by accepting worse terms than he could have gotten and asked Plautus for a pen to write down the details so he wouldn't forget.

After he made the note, he held out Plautus's pen for him and, when Plautus took it, held on just a second longer, holding the ambassador's eyes.

Plautus sighed, clicked the pen, and opened the folder. "I always hated the fucking Rufii anyway." He signed one page after another, clicked his pen again and closed the folder.

Corvus allowed himself a faint smile as he reached for the folder. "Well, now we can hate them together ... profitably."

Plautus lowered the folder to his lap instead of offering it to Corvus. "You'll marry Crispa of course."

Corvus shook his head. "I can't yet. She'll be my mistress while I secure other alliances through marriage."

"Then why does it matter who owns the Iunius lands now?"

"Those who want to claim I bought Crispa's estates from you with our new arrangement will have a harder time if the memory is dim by then." Corvus gestured at the folder. "And it's your way of choosing sides, Ambassador. We have words in limitless supply, but this tells me you've made a choice in a way I can believe. You'll stop trying to marry her off to all comers and she and I can secure our alliance. As a widow living on the kindness of her family, she's only interesting as mistress. As the scion of the Iunii, she could be a real partner."

"You're making an awfully big assumption if you think she's yours because your lawyers are talking to each other. Even if I keep out of it, she might have her own ambitions as to who she'll marry. She does have the blood of empresses in her veins."

Corvus shook his head. "Our contract is a foregone conclusion. Crispa will be my mistress and if she gets any funny ideas, I can make sure no other pretender to the laurel wreath will want anything to do with her."

At the sharp look from Plautus, Corvus thought he might have overplayed his hand. The ambassador might view his daughter as a political tool, but Corvus had just issued a threat against her and he was her father. But in the end, Plautus just chuckled and handed Corvus the folder. "You know, my biggest concern about you was that you might not be enough of a bastard to do what will need to be done."

Corvus accepted the folder and, without looking at it, slid it back into his document case. "Now you know."

He extracted a thin, tan letter-sized envelope and extended it to Plautus. Tucked inside were ten hundred denarius bills. "You'll need an operating budget. Use this to get started. The first order of business is to replace all your couriers. They're known to your old allies and I don't want to use anyone they can identify."

Plautus tucked the envelope into his jacket without opening it. "I'll use different couriers for you and my former allies. What else?"

Corvus shook his head. "No. Get rid of your old couriers. Stop using them all together. You won't be contacting your old allies anymore, Plautus."

"I can feed them misinformation. They consider me reliable."

"No. You play too many sides, Ambassador. If you stay in contact with them, eventually they'll find a way to tempt you to betray me. And I want the right people to understand that you're my man in Europe now. They'll have to get their own."

Plautus frowned, but said, "If that's how you want to play it..."

They'd arrived at the airport and were rapidly approaching the departure terminal. Corvus nodded. He'd gotten what he wanted from the conversation and timed it so that there wasn't a lot of time for awkward follow-up conversations. "That's how I want to play it for now at least. When you're approached about renewing your ties with them, I want to know. It will tell me who's serious and who's just playing games for their own sake."

Plautus gave the faintest smirk. "How long have you been plotting, Citizen Gallicus? You haven't come up with all of this since your elevation yesterday."

Corvus hadn't considered that specific question in advance and kept his face carefully neutral while he tried to come up with an answer, hoping that it would look like he was considering how much to reveal to his new ally.

With no other guidance, he decided that a big lie was better than a smaller, more specific one here. Even as he said it, he wondered if it wasn't true. "This goes back before I was born, Ambassador. My mother and General Gallicus have known each other a very long time. I'm not the plotter. I'm part of the plot."

Plautus seemed satisfied with the answer. He nodded and shook Corvus's hand as the car pulled up to the curb and the driver came around to open the door. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"I will convey your thanks to my father."

The ambassador shook his head. "If you must. Although I was speaking of the use of Tansy, I now suspect you had more than a little to do with the warm reception I received on my return to the capital. Gaius Gallicus would never have done that on his own."

Corvus inclined his head in acknowledgement. "He did seek my counsel on the matter."

At the mention of her name, Tansy's eyes had fluttered open. She rolled on her back, head still resting on his leg. "You are going?"

Plautus stroked her cheek and looked down at her fondly. "I have to, but I may be back in the capital sooner than I thought. If Corvus will allow it, I would be most pleased to see you again."

As Tansy took his hand by thumb and forefinger, drew it to her mouth, and kissed the palm, Corvus smiled and climbed out of the car, shaking the ambassador's hand one more time before he headed off to his gate.

Tansy had climbed out as well to watch him go, eyes tracking him until he was almost out of sight, then continuing to stare at the spot where he'd disappeared.

Without her seeming to move at all, Tansy's distracted, sensual, simple persona disappeared and was replaced with Alyse. Corvus couldn't say what she did to make the transition, but it felt like a camera coming into focus, a vague image becoming sharper and more distinct. When she glanced at Corvus, he gestured into the car and she climbed in ahead of him.

Corvus sat across from her. "I think I might actually believe you're going to miss him."

Alyse shrugged. "Tansy will I'm sure. And honestly, he's been a fascinating subject - brilliant, but brilliantly flawed. If you do need Tansy when you host him again, try to give me a little advance notice and I'll make sure to be available."

"So, you're on to another assignment?"

Alyse shook her head. "I don't think I have anything else lined up just now. If you needed Tansy for something else, I imagine we could extend the contract."

Corvus had extracted the folder with the documents concerning the Iunius lands and property and looked them over to make sure Plautus had actually signed them. They were in order. He put them aside, fished out a sheet of paper and handed it to Alyse. She accepted it and with a glance said, "My writ of manumission. Is this your way of cutting me loose?"

"I thought you would want to hold on to that. As far as I know, it's the only copy left."

Alyse frowned. "Other than the one on file at my agency."

Corvus gave a faint shake of his head. "Your boss Tubertus offered to burn his copy for the right price."

Alyse smirked, leaned one elbow on the back of the seat and seemed to relax some of her keen alertness. "I wish that surprised me more than it does." She tilted her head at Corvus. "So, what happens now? Do I disappear and become Tansy for good?"

"You have her writ of manumission. If you like, I'll let you off wherever you like and leave you to deal with this news as you see fit."

Alyse considered the paper for a moment longer, then offered it back to Corvus. "Keep it somewhere safe where I can find it if you get yourself killed, please."

Corvus took the paper, genuinely surprised. "I ... haven't told you what I propose yet."

"No, but it's bound to be too interesting to turn down, so let's start from the assumption I'm going to say yes and work backwards."

Corvus considered the spy across from him, wondering if she wasn't at least a little bit insane. "I could want anything."

"But you don't." Alyse gave a head-shake. "Or you're playing a deeper game than I can follow. You bought out my contract and then handed me your primary bargaining chip. So you want me to trust you. I trust you enough to hand it back to you. Are you serious about being emperor, by the way?"

"I don't know. If the Rufii do make a move for the laurel crown and I have a chance to snatch it away from them, I will. But it will be a long time before I'm in such a position. More likely, that would fall to Gaius and I'd do what I could to support him. Most likely, this remains an ever-shifting stalemate with moves and countermoves for the rest of my life and it becomes a problem for my children to deal with."

Alyse contemplated that for a while before saying, "I want at least twenty percent more per annum than you gave that fat bastard Tuber to sell me out."

Corvus nodded. "At least."

"I don't know how long Tansy's cover will last - longer if you remember to always treat her as a slave. If there's work to be done, she needs to be a part of it. If she does something that deserves punishment, punish her. I think your girl's got the spirit of it now, but you need to follow suit."

"Crispa, too." Corvus pointed out.

"I'm not worried about Crispa. If she slips up and occasionally treats me like a plebeian, no one's likely to spot the difference. And she's already tried to bring Tansy to her bed once. Are you ready to do the same? You seem like the sort who might be squeamish about that sort of thing." There was a hint of a challenge in Alyse's voice.

"I would hardly say 'squeamish, '" Corvus protested. "But it's not like I bring all of my girls to bed. Tansy could be one of the ones I don't."

Alyse shook her head. "Tansy is exotic, young, pretty, and sweet. Nobody buys girls like her to type and file."

Corvus raised an eyebrow. "You know, I'm really not going to need a lot of convincing on the subject if you want it that way."

"Neither will your friends," Alyse smirked. "What do you need me to do next?"

"I'm going to have forensic accountants tearing my father's house apart for the next two weeks. Keep an eye on them."

She didn't look surprised, just nodded. "I can do that."

"And ... can you cook? It would save a trip home to find someone who can before we pick up Aquilina."

Alyse shook her head. "I can't, but Tansy can."

Corvus frowned. "How does that work?"

Alyse shrugged. "Fucked if I know. I'm good at what I do because I compartmentalize her from myself as much as I can. I barely know how to boil water."

Corvus didn't answer, but he couldn't help notice that, with each new addition, his household got stranger and stranger.

The house where Corvus picked up Aquilina was about the same size as his own, but much smaller than his father's. Where the former home of the Vitellii was two-thirds shuttered and lightly staffed, the Herrenius estate bustled. Waiting outside the front gate, Corvus counted more than a dozen slaves engaged in tasks to keep the place looking new and fresh - mowing the lawn, trimming the hedges, and painting the eaves. Corvus thought of his house as having a certain genteel neglect, but the Herrenius house made it seem like a dump.

Instead of opening the gate, Aquilina emerged from the house at a trot. She was wearing a simple sleeveless sundress the color of yellow saffron and flats. The outfit suited and flattered her, but wouldn't have looked out of place on one of Corvus's plebeian classmates. Where many patricians dressed to highlight their wealth, Aquilina Herrenius had nothing to prove.

As Corvus stepped out and held the car door for her, she leaned in against his chest and kissed him on the cheek like they were the most carefree couple on Earth. Corvus returned the kiss and gestured her into the car. Aquilina slid in and saw Tansy. "Oh. Who's this? Will she be standing in for Rose?"

"If you like. But if you start flogging her, lunch will be late." Corvus slid in next to her. "A lot of my girls were still out wherever they served last night when I left this morning. Tansy can cook and she was serving Plautus Iunius for me when I picked him up to take to the airport."

"Any more outbursts from the ambassador?" Aquilina asked.

"He was pretty subdued," said Corvus. "I don't think we'll be having any trouble out of him for a while at least."

"Well, that's one thing off our plate at least." Aquilina gestured to Tansy and the girl clambered across to sit at her side, facing her and leaning forward a little.

"How may I serve?" There was a hint of anticipation in Tansy's voice, like she couldn't wait to hear what Aquilina had in mind for her.

Aquilina chuckled. "Stay close. I'm sure I'll think of something."

When they reached the house, it was silent and all the lights were off. Corvus shook his head and frowned. "I wonder where Malcolm is now. I expected him to be here."

Aquilina just shook her head, indicating she had no idea. But as they passed the foot of the stairway that ascended to the second floor where the steward was temporarily staying, a low moan carried to their ears and she grinned. "Well, there we go. Mystery solved."

Corvus frowned. "And another one emerges. I expected Malcolm to be here alone. As far as I know, the rest of my household is still at my father's house."

Aquilina started to climb the stairs. "We should go see what he's up to, then."

"Aquilina," Corvus whispered sharply and caught her hand. "Just ... leave them be. We can find out who he's got up where when they come downstairs."

She just laughed and gave a tug, indicating he should follow her upstairs. "Come on. It could be fun and it's been hours since I watched anybody have sex."

It was a pointed reminder of what a good sport Aquilina was being considering what she'd seen just the night before and Corvus had no doubt she'd meant it as such. He sighed and allowed himself to be pulled upstairs. Still, he made one more try, "Perry probably found some excuse to come over. We should just eat lunch and let them have their privacy."

"Slaves don't have any expectations of privacy and Tansy hasn't even started lunch yet." Aquilina pointed out quite reasonably, then gave another tug at his hand. "Come on."