Chapter 8. Before Luca #2
I watched the woman from the corner of my eye, tracking her through the crowd until she stopped beside someone I did recognize.
Magistrate Casperia, the host of the feast, was making her rounds with the guests.
The woman stayed close to the Magistrate’s side as we continued the greetings, and I only half listened as Kastor introduced me to another string of faces.
He listed my sellable qualities in the same order every time, a rehearsed speech he’d been practicing for weeks.
But as we moved through the villa, my gaze was pulled again and again to that emerald-green stola and its gold adornments.
My jaw ached from smiling by the time I finally spotted Vale. He and the Consul were enveloped by a throng of admirers at the top of the gallery steps. When Vale caught my eyes, he politely excused himself from his father’s side to weave through the crowd on the staircase.
I exhaled, feeling my shoulders draw down my back when he reached me. His dark red toga was the color of garnet, the brooches at his shoulder studded with blue gemstones. I eyed the ornate bracelets around his wrists, smirking.
“You look just as ridiculous as I do,” he muttered, clasping his hands behind his back and turning to face the room. He gestured to my uncle, who hadn’t noticed I was no longer standing behind him. “Wasn’t sure you’d make it.”
“Neither was I. It seems not even death is stronger than his fear of losing the Forum’s respect. He thinks I’m doomed to embarrass myself.”
Vale kept a close watch on his father from where we stood, ready to be summoned at any moment. “He’s not the only one.”
“What?”
He discreetly turned toward me, gaze roaming the atrium around us. “The closer your uncle comes to the end, the more concerned my father is about you. He’s asked me to be sure that you’re worthy of the seat.”
My jaw clenched, an embarrassed flush warming my face.
It wasn’t like Vale to talk about his father, especially anything that might have been said in confidence.
He’d despised the man as long as I’d known him, because the Consul had cast Vale’s mother from the city, forcing her to give up her citizenship when he was just a boy.
But Vale also had the sense to fear Saturian.
For the most part, we steered clear of the political web we both lived in.
But if Vale was mentioning it now, it was because he was worried.
“Well, you can tell him that the dust of the Lower City isn’t contagious, if that’s what’s bothering him,” I muttered.
“It’s more than that. You know it’s more than that.”
He met my eyes knowingly, making me swallow hard.
Kastor’s seat wasn’t just any seat. It was the seat that ruled the Forum majority.
The fabric of Isara’s leadership was precariously constructed, and the faction leaders were an important part of that.
If I lost the majority, it would go to Casperia, and although the Consul was supposed to be impartial, he wasn’t.
It was in his best interest that our faction control the votes.
The door to the street opened again, making the garlands sway as the air turned, and again my eyes found the young woman with Magistrate Casperia.
As if she were a flickering light I couldn’t help staring at.
My gaze followed the valley that ran from the nape of her neck down to the divot of her lower back, exposed by the draped opening of her stola.
A single gold godsblood chain was suspended there, a delicate rope of links that glimmered in the low light.
It was the same glow that emanated from the rings on her fingers, the earrings that dangled over her shoulders.
Everything from the pin in her hair to the straps of her sandals was an overt display of extravagance.
It was as nauseating as she was beautiful.
I leaned in closer to Vale. “Who is that?”
He followed my gaze. “Magistrate Casperia’s daughter.”
That explained my uncle’s warning. Casperia was his rival on the floor of the Forum and leader of the opposing faction, so there was nothing to be gained by an arrangement between our families. If anything, it would be dangerous.
Vale stiffened when his father gestured to him, and he gave me another look before he left me, making his way up the stairs.
When I turned back to Kastor, he was still deep in conversation with a Magistrate, but his posture was rigid, his attention half pulled to the other side of the atrium.
Kastor pretended not to be aware of Magistrate Casperia and her daughter as they slowly made their way toward us, but there wasn’t a single set of eyes that wasn’t on them.
And I understood why. They were both the kind of beautiful that was hard to look away from, but that wasn’t what made my stomach drop when I saw Casperia’s daughter.
It was that look in her eyes—something almost violent.
She was missing the feigned gentleness that the other Magistrates’ daughters had.
Like at any moment, she might actually open her mouth and scream.
“Isn’t that right, Matius?” My uncle’s voice pulled my attention back to him.
I’d missed what he’d said, but I nodded anyway. “Of course.”
Kastor went more rigid when Magistrate Casperia finally stepped into the circle around us, a thin smile on her lips as she cast her eyes on my uncle. There seemed to be a hush in the room as he extended his hand.
“Casperia,” Kastor said, dipping his head respectfully.
“Welcome, Matius.”
The woman’s smooth, raspy voice was familiar from the times I’d seen her speak in the Forum.
Her blue stola was held up over her sheer white chiton by a brooch at one shoulder, her long dark hair twisted back into an intricate knot of braids.
The Magistrate was known for her lewd relationships in the Citadel District, and there were a number of men who wanted into her bed.
The rumors had run through the recruits of the legionnaires for years.
Casperia’s daughter, on the other hand, had stayed out of the public eye. I knew absolutely nothing about her.
She stood only feet away now, the hem of her chiton swaying around her feet as the breeze coming from the terrace picked up.
My eyes followed the fabric up the form of her, tracing the shape of her hips and waist to her breasts and shoulders.
Her skin had a warmth to it that made her look painted into the room, and the more I looked at her, the more I could feel a heavy, hungry pit forming in the center of my chest. There was a prickle of heat dancing beneath the collar of my tunic as I studied the line of her throat, and when my eyes found hers, she was watching me.
My skin flashed hotter and I swallowed, feeling it redden my face again. If she was offended by my close examination, she didn’t show it. Her chin tipped to the side just a little, her eyes narrowing like she was almost amused by it.
“You haven’t yet met my son, Matius.” The formality in Kastor’s voice made the words sound like a song.
The introduction snapped me out of the locked hold my gaze had on Casperia’s daughter, and I cleared my throat, returning my attention to her mother. She was looking at me closely, eyes slowly falling from the top of my head to my feet, like she was sizing me up.
“I’ve seen you observing in the Forum,” she said, taking my hand.
She squeezed it, fingernails dragging against my palm before she let it go. The sensation made me clench my hand into a fist.
“He’s quite eager to take the seat when the time comes. I have no doubt he’ll make a formidable opponent in the Forum.” Kastor’s chest was puffed out, but I could see the curl of his lip.
“I hear you’re a novice under the Philosopher Vitrasian?” Casperia met my eyes directly as she licked her lips, the tip of her tongue poised at the edge of her teeth.
I nodded. “That’s right.”
“A strange placement for someone of your family rank.”
“He’s a legionnaire, first and foremost,” Kastor cut in again.
“Well, that must be a relief to you.” She smiled at my uncle. “An association with Vitrasian won’t do him good for much longer.”
I swallowed back a sharp reply. Rhea Vitrasian was becoming less popular with the Magistrates by the day. Her outspoken nature and controversial views were beginning to cost her the credibility her accomplishments had afforded her.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re forced to denounce her before long.”
Casperia’s words made Kastor almost visibly cringe.
This woman knew exactly where the opening in his armor was and she’d wasted no time putting her blade there.
The only thing my uncle cared about was his legacy.
The idea of his heir bringing him shame by his association with a pariah would be unbearable to him.
“Her fall has been painful to watch.” Casperia snorted. “Pathetic, really.”
My mouth was moving before I’d even realized I was going to speak. “I’d open my own veins before I ever denounced Philosopher Vitrasian.”
The words were so sharp, so precise, that they surprised even me. My blood was boiling hot now, a defensive rise of anger rushing through me, and all three faces before me looked unabashedly shocked.
“The Magistrates are quick to forget the work she’s done, and I can’t help wondering if it’s because they’re so good at taking the credit,” I said.
Kastor was breathing heavily beside me now, but Magistrate Casperia looked almost entertained, a wicked grin transforming her subdued expression into a sinister mask.
It made her even more beautiful. Her daughter, on the other hand, had a look I couldn’t even begin to interpret.
Her gaze dropped from my eyes to my mouth, down the center of my chest, as if she were searching for something.
“If you’ll excuse us, Casperia.” Kastor’s smile was still polite, but his tone was taut now. I knew what that meant.