Luke Devenish - Nest of vipers

She was horrified. 'This is what destroyed my mother — this male ambition is obscene in a woman of Rome!'

'Nilla.'

'It's true, you know it is — you were there to see it.'

'Your mother was hotheaded and reckless, and consumed by grief. It made her blind to her real enemies — and blind to herself.'

'Burrus!'

'You have none of those flaws. None of them.'

Nilla was enraged. 'I am consumed by grief! I am ruined by it. I am my mother's daughter in every way.'

Burrus looked to the floor. 'Then you have something she never had the benefit of: you are aware of it.'

They fell quiet for a time. Then Nilla said quietly, 'No ambition, in a man or a woman, can ever be achieved without the Praetorian Guard.'

Burrus flicked his eyes at me. 'That's true,' I whispered.

'But it is not insurmountable,' said Burrus.

'Please,' Nilla beseeched him. 'How could I achieve even my mother's mistakes, let alone her successes? I am weak,' she cried. 'I am broken by Fate!'

I stepped softly forward. 'You have not been broken by Fate,' I said. 'You are merely being tested by it. And as time begins to pass, you will see that you are really a child of destiny, marked for triumph.'

Nilla just looked at me. Then she burst out laughing. 'How can this be? I have done nothing to earn this. I have no protectors and no supporters. I am no one.'

It was true. 'But when you have fought and defeated the cruellest of your enemies, supporters will flock to you. By then you will have earned your destiny. And you won't need anyone to protect you, because you will be Empress of Rome.'

Nilla couldn't believe what she was hearing. 'Who is this enemy? Is it my husband?'

'No,' I said. 'He will easily be defeated when the time comes. He isn't worthy of you.'

'So it's his family, then? They hate me.'

She was getting closer to the truth. 'You will face a battle with the other three Aemilii in turn, but none will be worthy of you. They are your inferiors. No, your true enemy is she who will exact the greatest cost from you before you win victory.'

Nilla slid from the bed with her fists clenched at me. 'Who is she?' she demanded. 'Tell me so that I am warned, Iphicles!' Anger was flushing pity from her heart.

I stood aside to let her see through the door behind me. The child Messalina sat staring over the balcony into the garden below. She had heard nothing of the conversation, but she sensed the hush and turned to us, innocently projecting her beautiful smile into every corner of the room.

I bent to kiss Nilla's hand. 'It is time for me to tell you things about your great-grandmother Livia,' I whispered. 'It is time for me to tell you the truth.'

I left the House of the Aemilii and found my domina waiting for me in her litter.

'You told Nilla everything?' she asked.

'Just as you instructed, domina. She now knows all there is to know.'

' All of it? You told her of all the deaths? You told her that it was my hand that caused them, and you told her why I killed?'

'I did,' I replied.

There was a pause as she studied me through her slender eyes. 'Liar. You left things out. You did not tell her everything.'

I smirked, amused at how easily Livia could always expose me. 'I told her everything she needed to know about your crimes, domina — and of my own, and what came from them. But of the future, well… if I am Veiovis made mortal, then I would be remiss not to hold a few things back. It will make her stronger to discover them for herself.'

Livia flashed with anger and I waited for her to strike me. But then she could only laugh. ' The end, the end, your mother says — to deception now depend…'

I was pleased. 'You quote the prophecy at me, domina?'

'I accept your judgement in these matters, knowing that I will continue to depend upon your wisdom when I am gone.'

I was brought up short. 'Gone, domina? Where are you going?'

She was evasive. 'The end is coming for my schemes. The second queen has been readied, although she will not embrace her destiny for some time, of course. While we wait, we must prepare for the crowning of the second king. A far lesser monarch, obviously, but still of my womb. And he is the means by which Nilla will attain everything.' Livia chuckled. 'If only he knew it.'

'What should I do, domina?'

Livia smiled sadly. 'You should comfort me, slave. It will soon be time to farewell my son.'

The physician Charicles had taken the precaution of filling his loincloth with sawdust before giving his report to Macro. He thanked Asclepius for this foresight as he helplessly pissed himself with nerves before the Prefect had even spoken a word to him.

'The "herbs" the Emperor has been ingesting to hide his returned dependence upon the flower will reach a critical amount,' the physician said.

'About time,' said Macro. He despised the Greek.

'He will then begin his final decline.'

'How long?'

Charicles shifted uncomfortably and a little shower of sawdust fell to his feet. 'I am reluctant to provide specifics of time, Prefect.'

'How long?' Macro repeated, slamming his fist on the table.

Charicles cleared his throat. 'A year. Perhaps a little more.'

'The gods help me,' Macro groaned. He hated the eternal waiting, but what choice did he have?

Dismissing the physician, Macro strode out of the villa looking for Tiberius, seeking any sign that the old man might be showing of the herbs' destruction. He spied the Emperor and Antonia seated together on a stone bench on the far terrace, looking out to sea.

'For all the world a pair of decrepit, star-crossed lovers,' Macro sneered to himself.

As if Macro's words were portentous, the Emperor leaned across and kissed the matron's lips. Antonia looked as startled as Macro. Tiberius cringed with embarrassment at his spontaneous act, searching for words of apology just as Antonia recovered herself and kissed Tiberius of her own accord. The Emperor beamed.

Shuddering, Macro left them to it.

As he neared the villa again, Macro passed Little Boots and Aemilius, lounging in abject boredom upon the grass. He noted the Emperor's grandson was sitting on the cushion as usual and bit back his fury. He knew Livia was right. Until the boy understood the true meaning of the present, its gains would be hopelessly lost on him.

When Macro had gone, Little Boots got off the cushion. He stood staring at the embroidered words, reading them over in his head for the thousandth time. 'I sit… I sit… I sit.'

'What are you doing?' said Aemilius.

Little Boots picked up the cushion and moved across the lawns towards the terrace where Tiberius sat on the stone bench with Antonia.

Aemilius felt inexplicably alarmed. 'Wait. Little Boots — '

Tiberius was startled to turn and see the young man standing behind him with the cushion held out. Little Boots smiled the smile of the perfect grandson. 'That stone bench looks hard, Grandfather.'

'Yes,' said Tiberius.

'I thought you might like my cushion to sit on — it's very comfortable.'

There was a brief moment where the Emperor held the young man's gaze. Then Tiberius accepted the gift. 'Thank you, Grandson,' he said, slipping the cushion beneath himself. He and Antonia continued to sit, now hand in hand.

Little Boots returned to Aemilius and sat on the bare grass.

'You gave it to him?'

Little Boots nodded.

'So what, then? You understand what it's all about now?'

Little Boots despaired. 'I don't know why I gave it to him, Aemilius. Macro walked past us and the idea just came in to my head.'

'Now you've lost the stupid thing,' Aemilius admonished him. 'And don't think you'll ever get it back.'

'I thought it would reveal something to me,' said Little Boots in frustration, 'but it failed. I know nothing of what my great-grandmother meant by her accursed gift and I never will.'