Chapter 65 #2
And then on the third, to my choking on his fetid breath with his nose almost touching mine.
He grunted sleepily and rolled onto his back as I shoved him away.
And as I vainly tried to haul his massive and somewhat comically unwilling form out of my bed, I finally registered that I wasn’t afraid of him.
Allowed myself to replay the nightmare of the Basilica, and realised just how targeted Diago was in his fury.
No hint of threatening me. No hint of even threatening Ostius.
Only the men who arranged for the deaths of my friends. Only the men who would have ordered mine, had they been allowed to leave that room.
The Sextus’s gaze slides from me, to Kadmos, to the alupi now, uncertainty colouring the wild hunger in his eyes.
I watch him carefully. I do think Tanrius is genuinely after Carnifex.
These others with him, though … the way they look at everything reminds me of the ravening mobs I’ve been fighting.
As if they are possessing everything with their eyes, and calculating how short a step it would be to make their desires reality.
The Sextus finally looks to the side. “As you say, Catenicus.”
I breathe an inward sigh of relief. Diago pushes his head against Kadmos’s side, and the Dispensator scratches his head absently.
It’s been a gradual relaxing around the massive wolf, since those first few days.
A mixture of increasing certainty that the alupi’s actions were in my defence, his ongoing calm obedience, and the growing necessity and comfort of his deterring presence.
I still don’t know exactly why he did what he did at the Basilica. Some effect of our strange connection that drove him to protect me, perhaps. But I am certain now that he was protecting me.
In these uncertain days, that has been enough for me.
“Catenicus!” Tanrius is calling from the next room, and I know immediately what it will be about. I take another sip of the tea, leave Kadmos with the watchful alupi, and make my way to the entrance of Ulciscor’s office.
“This door is locked.” The Quintus looks at me expectantly.
“And my father, wherever he is, is the only way in. Unless you think he’s the one you’re after?” I allow my gentle smile to falter as Tanrius continues to look dissatisfied. “Alright. You’re a Quintus. Smash away, I suppose. I’ve been wondering what was in there myself.”
Tanrius examines the door. It’s stone and wood, the majority of it covered in a beautiful relief of Etrius. The uniqueness of the art is meant to make it easier to imbue. “This looks expensive.”
I see his hesitancy. Wrack my brain. Tanrius.
He’s from a family of knights. New money.
“What do they say? Wealth is buying luxuries without having to think. Generational wealth is buying luxuries without thinking.” I give a rueful shrug.
“My father falls into the latter category, sometimes, I’m afraid. ”
Tanrius chuckles, nodding his like-mindedness.
Considers me anew. “I forget you weren’t always a Telimus, sometimes.
I hear your name so much, it feels as though you’ve been a part of the city forever.
” He sighs, waves his hand. “Never mind about the door. Our time will be better spent moving on. Thank you for your accommodation, Catenicus.”
My relief is strong enough that it threatens to show itself, but I nod calmly back, Tanrius calls his men, and we walk to the door. I happen to glance down. Spot a dot of red beginning to leak through the right side of my robe. I dangle my arm to hide it.
The Quintus’s nose wrinkles as we leave the atrium. “What are you drinking?”
“Tea. It is as unpleasant as it smells,” I assure him, keeping to his right and doing all I can not to seem like I’m shielding something from him. “But it helps with the aches.” I motion with my stump. Draw his eyes away.
“Ah.” Just slightly uncomfortable, as almost everyone is when I call attention to the missing limb. “Well. I have been placed in charge of capturing Carnifex, so if you hear or see anything …”
“I’ll make sure I get word to you.”
Tanrius smiles tightly. His eyes weary. Not like the men I’ve fought over these past weeks, maddened with greed or bloodlust or in some cases, simply lust. He really is just trying to find a man he thinks is dangerous.
The man he blames for tearing his world apart.
Hard not to feel for him, in that moment. “Stronger together, Catenicus.”
“Stronger together, Tanrius.” I shut the door behind him and wait a long ten seconds before sliding to the floor. A release of tension more than from pain or exhaustion, now. Kadmos’s tea is doing its work.
I discard the robe, grimacing at the blood seeping through Kadmos’s hasty bandaging. Check my metal shards are still hidden beneath the bench, then pull on the tunic the Dispensator gave me, and make my way stiffly into the atrium. The wound needs stitches, but it can wait a little longer.
“Well done, Master Vis,” says Kadmos quietly. There’s a cautious question behind the praise.
“You as well, Kadmos.” I move limbs experimentally, trying to decide what’s stiff and what’s injured. “Do you need me to explain?”
“No.” He inhales, then gives me a light squeeze on the shoulder. “And I won’t say anything.”
I nod. Put respect and gratitude into the motion, expecting the statement though I was.
“Then let’s go and greet our guest,” I say wearily.