David Wishart - Sejanus

I gave him the details, as far as I knew them. No doubt the Wart had already got Drusus's doctor Eudemus. And Lygdus; but I tried not to think about that.

'Then we've made a clean sweep.' He grinned again. 'Cleared the nest out. And the credit, my boy, is entirely yours.'

I shifted on my couch. 'A clean sweep?'

'You didn't know that either? About Sejanus's children?'

I felt Perilla stiffen. Oh, Jupiter! Jupiter, no! 'What about the children?' I said. There were three of them, two boys and a girl.

'They were executed,' Lamia said. 'Two days ago, by order of the senate. The mother committed suicide.' He paused. 'A genuine suicide. We had no quarrel with her, and she and Sejanus had been divorced for years, of course; but she seemed to find it necessary.'

My brain had gone numb. I said, and heard my voice saying from very far away: 'The daughter couldn't've been more than twelve. A virgin. The law doesn't allow the execution of a virgin who's also a minor. Your bloody senate knows that.'

Lamia had the grace to drop his eyes. 'The law was not broken, Valerius Corvinus. The executioner…remedied matters before he strangled her.'

Perilla gasped. I looked at her. Her whitened knuckles were pressed hard against her teeth, and I could see blood between them.

Gods. Oh sweet, suffering gods. The bile rushed into my throat, and I forced it down.

'Get out,' I said softly. 'Get your stinking, fucking broad-striper carcass out of my house. Or I swear to you, Lamia, I'll kill you where you lie.'

He was staring at me, the eyes bright in his skull-like face. 'But we had to do it, my boy,' he said. 'We couldn't let them live. Not Sejanus's children.'

Bathyllus was standing frozen with the wine jug in his hand. I didn't dare speak, I only pointed. Bathyllus helped the old man off his couch and led him to the door. There, Lamia turned.

'It had to be done,' he said. 'For the good of Rome.'

When he'd gone I went over to Perilla's couch and lay down with her. We hugged each other for a long time, and I let her sob herself quiet against my shoulder while I stared into nothing.

The credit is entirely yours. We had to do it, for the good of Rome.

The good of Rome. Oh, Jupiter. The kid hadn't been Marilla's age, and she'd died for the good of Rome…

There was nothing I could do, not now. Tomorrow I'd get Bathyllus to check the sailings to Piraeus. It was nearly the end of the season, but there would be something. If necessary I'd get the Wart to lend me a fucking warship: he owed me that, at least, and he'd probably do it just to be rid of me. We could sell the house through an agent. Palatine properties sold easy, and I knew I'd never want to see Rome again. Not ever.

Marilla…

Her father would get the Rock, that was certain: even these days it was the statutory penalty for incest, unless the guy had clout, and Marius had no clout left with Sejanus gone. And now the god-rotting senate had found a new taste for blood they'd vote him it nem. con . Sure, she still had family in Spain, but after what she'd said about her uncle I'd fight that to the death. Further.

'Hey, lady,' I said gently. Perilla stirred. She'd stopped crying now, but her face was still pressed hard into my tunic. 'How does Valeria Marilla sound for a name?'

There was no answer. I hadn't expected one; not yet, not this early. We'd have to give it time. Maybe lots of time.

It wouldn't lay all the ghosts, sure; but then I doubted if anything ever would.