Chapter 21

Corvus found himself wondering why he'd decided to throw his graduation party in the dungeon under the Arx Terminus. The lighting was awful. It made his classmates look sallow and worn out. Someone had closed the door to the cell where the band was playing so that the sound barely escaped at all. And no one seemed to care that they could lose their franchise if Doctor Durmius or General Gallicus decided to close a door.

Worse, somebody had fallen down on the decorating job. Cheap cardboard Saturnalia decorations were pinned to the walls with thumbtacks and every flat surface was covered with little plastic statues of Saturn, Ops, and Lua along with little sheafs of wheat.

When he spotted his cousin Romulus coming in the opposite direction, he looked around for Quad or another member of his security detail, wondering how his cousin had gotten back in. He spotted one guard walking the other way and ran towards her, but as she turned, he saw the smeared provenance mark on her cheek and turned to run back away away, running into another woman...

He gave a startled cry and opened his eyes, having awakened in his darkened room to the sensation of Crispa climbing back into his bed. Still half in a dream state, he twisted to pin her to the mattress, his mouth finding hers and kissing her fiercely. Startled, she cried out his name, but he swallowed it and she ended up laughing and kissing him back.

"Corvus..." she admonished when he broke the kiss. "You nearly scared the life out of me."

Corvus grinned down at her. "I thought you were another assassin."

A flicker of worry crossed Crispa's features as she reached up to stroke his cheek. "And your first instinct was to kiss me? I'm not sure that's the best way to subdue an assassin."

Corvus laughed. She'd been naked when he fell asleep but was wearing a navy blue silk robe from Clover's collection now. It had fallen open most enticingly and he slipped a hand under it to cup a breast. "How is it for subduing a mistress?"

Crispa drew his head down for another kiss. "If you want me subdued, you're heading in entirely the wrong direction."

" ... may I serve?" Clover asked sleepily.

Crispa laughed and looked over at the young slave. "Gods, Clover. Are you still wearing those garters he put you in?"

Clover blinked sleepily and looked down. "I am."

"Let me get them off you." Crispa gestured her closer and Clover rose enough to knee-walk within the young widow's reach.

Corvus frowned. "I really like the garters."

"So do I, but I've fallen asleep in that sort myself and it's not comfortable." Crispa unhooked one garter and started to roll it down slowly with both hands before tilting her head back to give Corvus a sultry smile. "You don't mind. Do you?"

Corvus rolled to one side so he was no longer pinning Crispa. "By all means. I was hoping I'd get to watch you unwrap your present. It is the first day of Saturnalia, you know."

Crispa winced. "I have a gift for you at home, but in between the houseful of plebeians and the assassin, the holiday rather slipped my mind."

That got a grin from Corvus. "Finish unwrapping yours and I'll consider it gift enough for now."

Crispa turned and kissed the inside of Clover's knee, then looked up into the slave's eyes. "Will you be expecting us to wait upon you today?"

Clover's eyes twinkled with mischief. "I expect to serve your pleasure. If it pleases you to recreate the old traditions, I will serve gladly."

Corvus raised an eyebrow. "The old traditions? That sounds nefarious."

Crispa kissed Clover's inner thigh. "It could be. Tonight is the feast of Sol Invictus - when slave owners traditionally provide a great feast for their slaves. In the really old traditions, the citizens would actually cook and serve the meal, but that's been out of favor for centuries. And you are so kind to your slaves, I can't imagine what they could do that you'd punish them with my cooking." She rolled the stocking down an inch further and kissed the newly-exposed skin. "Stand up, Nurse Clover."

As Clover rose, Corvus shook his head. "I didn't know any of this. I keep promising Paphian I'll let her train me to be a proper slave owner, but I haven't made time. Still, I wish I'd known."

Crispa gestured and Clover placed her stockinged foot on the surface of the bed, the stocking clinging enticingly to her calf. "You can't expect your girls to tell you. It's a bit like expecting someone to remind you their birthday is coming up."

She rolled the stocking down to Clover's ankle, then leaned in and kissed high on the slave-girl's thigh causing her breath to catch. "We ... are grateful for whatever affection our masters show us, but we are not so vain as to expect to be catered to each year, particularly not with the general and his new wife away for the holidays."

"I will ... provide a feast at least," Corvus looked up at Clover. "I want my girls to know how much they mean to me."

Clover's smile was beatific. "We know. All service is a gift, but service in the house of Corvus Gallicus is a greater gift than most slaves will ever know."

"Even so, I will follow the old forms I think - not the cooking part, but I'm sure I can manage to wait a table for the night. It won't be the first time." Corvus offered.

Crispa looked back over her shoulder. "Well, don't look at me. I don't think my cooking actually killed my husband, but it may have driven him to return to Europe where he died. If you want me to keep the spirit of Saturnalia alive, I could play the younger girl for Clover ... not tonight, though. I think it would ruin the spirit of the nurse outfit. Where did you get it anyway?"

"The same place you got your lawyer costume. The Butterfly Club must do a brisk side business in selling the costumes they make." Corvus leaned in behind Crispa. "What does it mean to 'play the younger girl?'"

Crispa didn't answer right away, focusing on drawing the sheer white stocking off Clover's foot. "Have you ever wondered what women do alone together in bed?"

Something about the look on Clover's face told Corvus exactly what Crispa was talking about. "You mean cunnilingus?"

Crispa laughed, surprised. "Well, yes ... among other things ... all of which one girl receives while the other girl gives. If one of the girls is a slave, the roles are obvious. If both are from patrician families, the younger girl usually takes the slave's role."

"And you would be willing to do that for Clover?" Corvus kissed the back of Crispa's neck.

Crispa chuckled. "I might ... during Saturnalia. Would you like to see that?"

Corvus gave a low, throaty chuckle and didn't bother to deny it. "I would. I think I very much like the idea of seeing my mistress and my favorite slave together in as many permutations as we can think of."

Crispa laughed, gestured for Clover's other leg, and unhooked the other garter. "And here I was afraid that you might lack the spark of the perverse necessary to keep this fun." She kissed high enough on the thigh that Clover closed her eyes in surprise.

Corvus lowered the robe from Crispa's shoulders and kissed the crook of her neck. "I don't think a lack of imagination was ever my problem, my love. But if that spark ever gutters low, I trust you will be there to fan it into flame again."

Crispa nodded, not wasting any words as she lowered Clover's other stocking inch by inch and kiss by kiss. As she did, Corvus lowered her robe, hands moving slowly over her back and chest.

"Coming up here and finding Nurse Clover was just what I needed to keep me from descending into hysterics," said Crispa. "A patrician with a house full of plebeians and an assassin pretending to be a slave was all terrifying real, but once you added a slave girl dressed as a sexy nurse to the mix, it clearly became a marvelous bedroom farce."

"So, you feel ... safer because Clover is here?" Corvus ventured.

Crispa shook her head. "I feel safer because there are a half dozen security guards between here and the bathroom. I feel calmer because Nurse Clover is here. You really are a wonder, my dear."

Clover smiled down at her. "How may I serve?"

"I ... might need a full check up," offered Crispa.

Clover knelt on the bed next to her and ran her hands over Crispa's shoulders. "Why don't you show me where it hurts?"

Crispa grinned. "Well, that's just the thing. It ... sort of moves all over my body. It's..." She pointed to her decolletage. " ... here at the moment."

Clover leaned in and kissed the spot. Crispa moved her finger to her ribs. " ... and here."

Crispa pointed out her stomach, her thigh, and finally one nipple, Clover following with kisses. When his mistress arched her back into his slave's mouth, Corvus cupped her other breast, teasing the nipple between two fingers. When his hand moved between Crispa's thighs, he found Clover's hand already there and pressed it deeper, his larger fingers covering hers.

Between them, Crispa moaned low and deep. Corvus traced her tenderest flesh with twinned fingers. "I ... think we found the source of all her problems, nurse. She's burning up down here."

Clover kissed her way down as Crispa opened herself wide. When Corvus slid his hand out of the way of the slave-girl's kisses, he wrapped his arms around Clover from behind, holding her tight and letting her pleasure echo through him as it rose and fell.

Breakfast was surreal. Corvus and Crispa sat side by side at the center of one of two long tables set out in the south garden and held court for the plebeians who'd spent the night. They staggered out into the sunlight singly and in pairs and meandered over to the tables in no rush to eat or leave. The whole affair lasted into the early afternoon.

At the same time, security teams swept the grounds and crossed paths with Lucullus Memmius and his team of forensic accountants. Corvus kept anyone from commenting on all the activity by the simple expedient of paying it absolutely no attention as if it were just part of daily life in the Arx Terminus.

Instead, he focused on the body language of his new old friends - trying to guess who was now a couple, who would be soon, and who had been before last night, but had stopped hiding it. He wasn't sure the information would have any real value but rather, having learned to read a new secret language, he drank in the secrets it revealed for the pure joy of knowing.

He and Crispa gave as many signs as anyone - the way they stayed close to each other, taking every excuse to brush hands or shoulders, the small secret smiles and lingering glances. Having a mistress was a new world to Corvus too - and one he thought he would very much enjoy exploring.

They'd only been at breakfast about an hour when Quad gestured to Corvus that he needed to speak privately.

"I need your word that you're going to stay put for a couple of hours."

Corvus raised an eyebrow. "Define staying put. I'm not planning to leave the estate. Is that good enough?"

Quad scowled. "Stay in the south garden or the main house. I can leave a half dozen people here to protect you - which is enough as long as you're fairly stationary and don't go tearing off. We ... have some reliable information on Famu Ioshua and need to act on it immediately if we don't want the Home Guard stepping on our toes."

Corvus nodded. "Fine. Go."

"You haven't promised to stay put," Quad pointed out.

Corvus gave him a dark look. They were going to have to talk about how Quad approached him, but now clearly wasn't the time. "I won't go anywhere until you get back."

Quad nodded and gestured. Three quarters of Corvus's security detail detached themselves from the garden and followed him into the house. Corvus sighed and went back to the table. Crispa raised an eyebrow. "Trouble?"

"Yes, but we're the ones making it this time." Corvus poured himself a fresh cup of coffee.

"My favorite kind." Crispa grinned and wrapped herself around his bicep.

Breakfast passed into lunch and was still going on when Quad and his team returned to the estate. He again gestured Corvus over to speak privately. "The mission was a success. We should debrief you."

Corvus glanced back at the tables, now more than three-quarters full. "Is any of it something I need to know in the next hour?"

"Yes!" Quad's word came out rather strident. "I mean ... this is all information that gets less useful with each minute."

Corvus nodded. "All right. I'll ... deal with this. Sweep whatever space we're going to do this in."

Quad gave a sharp nod and trotted off, gesturing to his team in a series of complex hand signals that sent some off in different directions while four of them joined him. Corvus went back to the table and whispered in Crispa's ear. "Quad's back and I really need to talk to him now. Can you take over from here?"

Crispa's eyes widened in alarm. "You want me to ride herd on a group of plebeians by myself? I don't..."

Corvus kissed her before she could start to genuinely panic. "You'll be fine. Just keep charming them like you've been doing all along."

Crispa took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay. I ... think I can do that."

Corvus grinned. "Good. Just don't drink too much or sleep with any of them and you'll be fine."

Crispa shot him a dirty look. "Empty my quiver before you go, why don't you?"

Corvus chuckled and headed into the main house to find Quad, hoping the young widow had been joking.

Quad fell into step with him at the bottom of the stairs leading up to what Corvus thought of as the Legion wing because it was where General Gallicus tended to do his business. "You're not taking security very seriously."

Corvus scowled at the admonition. "Quad, I am taking security seriously. It's just not the only thing I have to take very seriously. I know it probably looks to you like I've spent most of the last twenty-four hours enjoying a party and a liesurely breakfast, but I promise you it's all about keeping me alive in the long term. If I escape assassination, but give my enemies an excuse to execute me with no counterbalancing power structure, I'm still just as dead."

"Executed? Isn't that a little dramatic?" Quad asked.

Corvus stopped on the stairs and turned to look at his head of security."You've met my mother. Right?"

Quad stopped and faced him with a sigh. "A fair point."

Corvus laid a hand on Quad's shoulder. "And I'm her son. For better or worse, Lucretia has trained me to be like herself, only more so. While I don't expect anyone to be calling for my execution today, I'm accumulating enemies and friends both. Who knows what the world will be next month, next year, or in a decade? I appreciate you having my security foremost in your mind because somebody has to, but that somebody can't always be me."

Quad gave a faint shake of his head. "People get killed when you don't make security your top priority."

Corvus nodded, looking serious but not letting up either. "People get killed when you don't make politics your top priority, too. And that's not being melodramatic. If Barbatus and Atellus Rufius ever get what they really want, a lot of people will be killed for the sake of their ambition."

Quad frowned. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Corvus turned to finish climbing the stairs. "And I should fill you in on it - some time we're in a clean, secure room. You may not need to know, but you have a right to. Once you know the whole picture, you can judge for yourself how important it is to balance security, mobility, and effectiveness."

Upstairs, Quad indicated one of the bigger offices and waited for Corvus to proceed him. "I understand those things are important, but it's still my job to keep you alive first and I don't have the numbers to do that and be flexible in an emergency like last night and arrange special missions like the one we just got back from."

As they stepped into the room, every security guard inside rose to attention. Quad waved for them to sit down. Corvus counted ten. He didn't know if Quad had brought him here because it was freshly swept for bugs or because he wanted an audience for this conversation, but both served Corvus's purposes. He sat at the head of the long conference table and gestured at the guards to take seats. "Hire more, then."

"You told me two dozen would be pushing my luck," Quad reminded him.

"And then someone tried to kill me based on orders from a guy who's been dead for a thousand years," Corvus shot back. "That sort of thing has a way of focusing the mind on security issues. We can discuss the specifics the next time there's a free minute, but let's focus on today's mission first. Were any of our people hurt?"

The question seemed to take them by surprise and occasioned several seconds of looking back and forth at each other before someone said, "Lurco did get kicked in the nuts."

Everyone laughed. Corvus made a sympathetic face. "Will he recover?"

Lurco cleared his throat. "I'll ... be fine, sir. Balls of steel."

"Good man. Stay away from magnets," Corvus suggested. That got a good laugh.

Quad filled Corvus in with help from his team. Acting on information from the previous night's would-be assassin, he'd hired as many skip-tracers as he could find to descend on an abandoned warehouse in the Upper Brilliance accompanied by as many of his own men as he could spare. Just before they'd gone in, he'd tipped off a friend in the Legion that it was about to happen. Both the Legion and the Home Guard had arrived and created a perimeter guard by the simple expedient of grabbing anyone who tried to run out while they were trying to run in.

"We're pretty sure we swept up all the high-value targets." Quad slid an envelope full of photos to Corvus. "preacher, money man, plus a couple who are wanted for high crimes."

Corvus opened the envelope and started to flip through them. They looked a lot like the ones he'd already seen of other squats that had been raided. "Any trouble with the Home Guard or the Legion for stepping on their toes?"

Quad smirked. "They were more interested in stepping on each other's toes. For a few minutes, it looked like they might start shooting at each other over who got to arrest our leftovers."

"Well done." Corvus nodded, frowning at one of the pictures. It was a shot of cash stacked on a bed, but there was something tickling his memory. He drew it closer to get a better look. "Who has the ... high-value targets now?"

"We do," said Quad.

Corvus frowned. "We're ... holding prisoners?"

"My brother - the one who's a skip tracer - is." Quad looked very proud of himself. "That's the subtle and clever part of the operation. Before we went in, we purchased an option on the squat at the tax assessors office and used it to get a right-to-arrest from the court. That gives us twenty-four hours to prove the people we grabbed were guilty of something before we have to let them go."

"And if they're not guilty of anything?" Corvus asked.

"That would be a big problem," said Quad. "Fortunately, they're all guilty of trespassing at the very least. It's an old skip-tracer trick. Buy a right to the property, arrest everyone, then figure out which ones are slaves or ... in our case, cultists."

Corvus nodded. Something didn't sit right about Quad's statement, but his attention was divided by the picture of the money and he'd just figured out what had caught his attention. "This money ... still has the bands on it from the bank. In the other pictures, the money was bound up with rubber bands."

Quad grinned. "Even better, when we caught the money man, he still had a withdrawal slip on him. Take a look at the second-to-last picture."

Corvus flipped to the end and back one. It was a close up of a withdrawal slip with an account number written on it by hand and the name of the bank printed on it in clear letters.

"How ... big is Banco Ipanema?" he asked.

"No idea, but that's not the really interesting bit." Quad grinned. "We've got their account number. We can shut them down."

Corvus nodded, still sounding distracted. "Yes. Very well done. You should ... get right on that. I need to talk to Lucullus Memmius."

Quad frowned and dismissed his team, sending one to go find the forensic accountant. When the two of them were alone, he came around to look down at the picture of the deposit slip over Corvus's shoulder. "You spotted something?"

"Maybe. It might be nothing. Have you ever spent any time in Ipanema District, Quad?" When the security chief nodded, Corvus went on. "I spent a lot of time there during school holidays. I don't remember there being a Banco Ipanema. I've only heard the name twice."

Quad frowned. "I'm sure there are a lot of little banks you've never heard of."

"I know. So, what are the odds that the same little bank I've never heard of is associated with Famu Ioshua and Labeo Vitellius?" Corvus looked back at him. "Like I said, it may be nothing, but I want to see what Lucullus thinks."

"You ... think the accountant who handled the Senate's money was funding a death cult?" Quad ventured.

Corvus shook his head. "I don't think anything ... except that it's worth handing this information to someone who finds patterns for a living."

Quad scratched the back of his neck. "Guy kind of weirds me out."

Corvus was saved from having to make excuses for Lucullus Memmius by his entering the room at a brisk walk. "You wanted to see me?"

Corvus offered him the picture of the deposit slip. "What do you think of this?"

Lucullus held the picture for a long time without speaking, just staring at it. Finally, he asked, "Where did you get this?"

"From Famu Ioshua - a Christian death cult," said Corvus.

Lucullus tapped the picture with one finger. "There's something familiar about this account number. I ... may have seen it somewhere before."

"Among Labeo Vitellius's papers?" Corvus found himself holding his breath.

"Maybe," said Lucullus. "There's something ... off about this number, but I've heard it somewhere before ... maybe among the unassociated data ... the numbers we found among Vitellius's papers that didn't seem to match anything else."

"Can you look for it?" Corvus asked.

"I can ... if you don't mind my not doing anything else for the rest of the day," said Lucullus. "We don't have a lot of time before your parents come back from Europe and we have a lot of buildings to search."

Corvus frowned. He'd just added people to the search of the grounds. He didn't want to slow it down. For a few seconds, he seriously considered dropping the matter. It was ridiculous to think there was any connection between Labeo Vitellius and Famu Ioshua other than that he was investigating both of them. But he shook his head. "This feels important. Give it the rest of the day, please."

As Corvus left his rooms to meet with Aquilina, he found Crispa at his elbow dressed in white and gold, her hair done up in an elaborate series of braids.

To his unspoken question, she said, "You don't have a wife, so it falls to your mistress to play hostess when you have guests."

Corvus smirked. "Aquilina isn't here as a guest, Crispa. This is a business meeting."

"And are you two planning on having sex during this business meeting?" Crispa asked innocently.

"The agenda isn't set it stone, but I'm pretty sure we're just planning to talk about my media strategy," said Corvus.

"Then there's no reason I can't be there to serve some wine and light snacks. Is there?" Crispa pointed out.

Corvus laughed. "And if I said yes ... that we were planning to have sex during this meeting?"

"If you are, I should probably go home for a day or two and see to some personal matters. I haven't really been there since you handed me the deed." Crispa gave him a wicked smile. "I was hoping to show you the new outfit I picked out for bed tonight, but I suppose it can wait for another night."

"Ah, I see. Maybe I should say yes, then." Corvus put his arms around her and drew her close. "I do enjoy when you blatantly manipulate me with sex."

"It has proper sleeping garters," offered Crispa.

Corvus closed his eyes and chuckled. "And you'll wear it just for me if I promise to behave myself with Aquilina ... which I already told you I planned to do?"

Crispa kissed him softly. "I will wear it just for you regardless, Corvus. I'm your mistress. I will do as you desire."

Corvus raised an eyebrow. "Will you be nice to Aquilina if I ask you to?"

"Yes." She ran her hands up his chest to his shoulders. "But you may not want to ask. I'm not really nice to anybody and the muscles for doing so have atrophied. She would think I was being phony and it would just be more awkward than if we just sniped at each other openly as nature intended."

Corvus sighed. Crispa smiled and kissed him softly. "I will be magnanimous in my victory if she lets me. I would even be friendly if I thought it wouldn't come off as antagonistic. But, I won't hide myself away and pretend you don't have a mistress. If you don't plan to ask me to do that for your wife, how can I be expected to do it for your lover?"

He didn't argue. There would be times that it was worth arguing with Crispa, but this wasn't one of them. Worse, she was making sense.

"You're his mistress already? That's wonderful!" Aquilina leaped out of her chair and hugged Crispa.

Corvus was halfway out of his seat before he realized it was a hug and not a catfight. Crispa's startled look suggested she'd been ready for the same and that Aquilina was lucky not to have been accidentally kicked in the face. After a moment, she hugged Aquilina back. "Uh ... I'm going to say, 'thank you.'"

"This is a much better narrative." Aquilina grinned. "The plebes don't really like their politicians to take mistresses too publicly - not with the long, drawn-out contract negotiations and the more mercenary aspects - but a whirlwind romance made official. That's almost as good as marrying for love. And we can leak to the press that Atellus tried to muscle in on your romance for some reason ... let people come up with their own reasons. They always come up with worse than they're willing to believe if we say it out loud."

"I ... wish you wouldn't," Crispa said uncertainly.

Corvus frowned. "He did attack you in the arboretum. Are you sure you want to spare him the embarrassment?"

Crispa shook her head. "Not him. Atellus deserves whatever he gets and my own reputation is pretty scandal-proof at this point. But if people started poking at the real story, it could hurt a lot of people and some things are better left buried."

Over her shoulder, Aquilina gave Corvus a questioning look. He shook his head in the negative and shrugged to indicate he had no idea what Crispa was talking about. "All right. I can still work with this - whirlwind romance, no details, focus on how you two couldn't wait to be together. Don't connect it to Atellus. People will still speculate, but we stick to our original statement, which was basically that he was ejected from the reception for appalling behavior and it was up to him to come clean. Do you think he would ... reveal whatever you don't want people to find out, Crispa?"

Crispa shook her head. "Definitely not. It wouldn't put him in a good light."

"Great." Aquilina retrieved her notebook and wrote a few things down. "Next order of business - people are talking about your graduation party. It's largely positive with the usual lunatic fringe suggesting that you're corrupting the plebiscite. Is there anything we need to address or be ready to respond to if it comes up?"

"Was there any mention of an assassination attempt?" Corvus asked.

Aquilina shook her head. "Why?"

"There was an assassination attempt," said Corvus.

"Of who?"

"Of me." Corvus sighed. "If it comes up, the assassin was a disturbed young woman hearing voices. She was subdued by my security team and she's receiving the help she needs."

"Is that what happened?" Aquilina held her pen over the pad.

"Which part?" Corvus asked casually.

"Any of it."

"She was a disturbed young woman," said Corvus. "My team did subdue her. But she's actually part of a death cult and this is probably the second time they tried to kill me."

Aquilina stood trying to formulate words. "Where is she?"

Corvus sighed. "I'm not sure. My security team had her in custody as of this morning, but they may have handed her over to the Home Guard - in which case, they probably have her in one of the dungeons underneath the estate."

Aquilina shook her head. "You shouldn't make jokes like that. If somebody hears you, it can get blown all out of proportion."

Corvus didn't say anything. Crispa looked at him and opened her mouth to make a joke. Corvus still didn't say anything, but the look he gave her made her close her mouth again.

"You're serious?" Aquilina asked.

Corvus explained about the history of the estate, the Arx Terminus and the dungeons. "Apparently the Home Guard doesn't have enough detention facilities under their jurisdiction to handle their new responsibilities and they've started using the ones here. I assume it's with my father's blessing, but I can't get a hold of him to confirm anything while he's in Darkest Europe and even if I could, we can't talk freely because someone's probably listening in on the transatlantic phone lines."