Wordlessly, the Priest steadied himself on the altar, then twisted one hand into the fumes. Nothing at first.
Then it shifted. The bird, and a second shape closing in: a hawk, talons outstretched.
Felix had seen that hawk before, pinned to Servius’s chest. Hot betrayal replaced cold fear, and he forgot all about the mountain. Clearly it was the lesser of the dangers facing Loren.
‘I fear his fate is not so certain,’ the Priest said. ‘But from a source I can’t parse.’
Chest tight, Felix gasped. One breath. Another. His knees shook, even as the trembling earth faded to the background. He couldn’t process. He couldn’t understand the feelings rattling his bones.
‘Go,’ the Priest ordered. ‘Do not worry about me.’
Their eyes met, Felix searching for approval. Leaving felt wrong, but the Priest’s watery eyes hardened with resolve. Felix backed away.
‘This does not have to be your end.’ The Priest settled back on his stool. ‘Go.’
Felix did. He ran for the exit as the sky darkened.
When the shock ebbed, chaos set in.
Felix wove through panicked, clutching crowds. People tripped over each other, stumbling for shelter or escape or for the sake of action at all. The ground still shivered, but Felix had grown used to running over unstable cobblestones.
Darius jolted from his stupor when Felix sprinted past him for the third time that afternoon, but it didn’t matter. Not when he was running back into the snake’s coil. Anger tinted Felix’s vision red, blocking out sure signs that this, of all things, was the wrong course of action.
Servius didn’t look up from his papers when Felix slammed into the study. Mercury’s helmet glared from its spot on the desk.
‘You lied.’ Felix jabbed a shaking finger. ‘You promised –swore– he had your protection. What did you do?’
Servius’s eyes focused first on the finger, then briefly on Felix before casting back to his work, uninterested. With a lazy wave, he signalled Darius, panting at the doorway, to grab, but Felix slipped out of reach, fury making him light on his feet. He danced to the other side of the desk, fists clenched.
‘I made no offer to protect them. I said your friends could pass to the nearest town with my blessing and my horses.’ Sighing, Servius leaned back, arms folded over his chest. ‘But you broke our deal first, so it was only fair to annul our bargain. I sent a rider after them.’
Felix stared at the back of the senator’s balding head. ‘Broke our deal?’
‘Our deal,’ said Servius, ‘was agreed upon without the knowledge that your friend is the absent son of Lucius Lassius. Lying by omission, however convenient, is still a lie.’
Shock stunned Felix to silence. Servius waved a bundle of parchment, and Felix snatched it. His eyes roved over the fresh ink, some contract he couldn’t comprehend, until he reached the bottom.
Two signatures. Two wax seals: a loopyF, and a vine-cinchedL.
‘Julia Fortunata’s estate was abandoned this morning after the quake. She left everything behind, including this transfer of property to one Lucius Lassius Lorenus. Stamped and sealed and in plain sight, she undeniably intended for me to find this. I’ll admit to my confusion. News along the grapevine, pardon my wordplay, said Lassius’s heir hasn’t been seen in years.’ Servius paused to scrawl in his notes. ‘Of course, that’s where Celsinus comes in.’
Felix’s focus wrenched from the contract. Surely he had misheard. Then his gaze settled on a small figure perched across the room, sitting so quietly that, lost in desperate rage, Felix hadn’t spared the boy a glance.
Celsi met his shock with a pouty frown. ‘Don’t look so surprised, thief.’
‘Celsinus has been useful,’ said Servius. ‘Not only did he fetch the contract, he confirmed Julia’s new heir is indeed who he signed as.’
‘Everyone underestimates me.’ Celsi’s pout became a defensive sneer. ‘But I’m cleverer than all of you. That ring he wore around his neck has the same mark as the bottles my father drinks. I’m the only one in the whole damned city who knew.’
‘Language,’ chastised Servius. ‘What would your father say?’
Celsi shifted, folding his skinny arms and settling into a deep sulk. A purple bruise bloomed across his forehead, half hidden beneath his mop of curls. ‘I saw Loren talking to you in the temple at the festival, and I know he’s been poking around about the helmet for days. Not hard to piece together. So I thought Senator Servius should know the full truth.’
Celsi was lucky Felix had enough dignity not to curse out a boy whose voice hadn’t yet broken. Turning back to the contract, his mouth flattened. ‘Julia set Loren up. She knew you were after her, so she moved your target onto him. Once you killed Loren, Julia would reveal his real identity.’
‘That I’d eliminated the Lassius heir, thus sinking my political career – and sparing her the work of taking me down.’ Servius pushed back his chair and stood, facing Felix with placating palms. ‘Yes. Clever woman. Oh, don’t crumple that. I still need it.’
He prised the parchment from Felix’s curled fists. As he smoothed it out on the desk, Servius’s mouth twitched in a bland smirk.
