Perfiditas

by Alison Morton

  I frowned at him. I’d involved her because I thought she was mature enough to keep a level head, but young enough to keep clear of the serious part. Instead, I’d released Lucrezia Borgia on the world. ‘You didn’t help, egging her on.’

  He attempted an innocent face, but I wasn’t fooled.

  ‘My respects, Countess,’ interrupted Somna. I jumped, almost spilling the last of my coffee. Her lizard eyes had a strange shine, almost animated. Crap, I realised she’d seen it all.

  ‘I hope, Colonel, you haven’t made a recording.’

  ‘No, but we watched.’ She must have seen the black look on my face. ‘For training purposes.’

  Yeah, and I’m a dancing monkey.

  Lucy reappeared, face repaired. Longina took her out of my reach and handed her a bottle of water and a frown. Lucy threw a baby face back at her. I’d talk to Lucy later. She’d crossed the line, but helped us significantly in producing an excellent outcome.

  But who was the woman Cassia whose name Superbus let slip? It was a common enough name, but I didn’t believe in coincidences.

  XXXIII

  Released from my temporary posting to Colonel Somna’s IS team, I was back in my strategy office. Conrad had prioritised the training programmes. I delegated the strategy one to Drusus and Fausta. They were perfectly capable of producing the first draft and we’d refine it together.

  First, I needed to find Daniel. Herding cats would have been so much easier but I eventually tracked him down in the field equipment room.

  ‘Daniel.’

  ‘Major Stern to you, Captain.’

  ‘Don’t be like this, please.’ I could see the hurt in his eyes.

  ‘I don’t know what game you’re playing now,’ he said, ‘but then I don’t seem to have known anything, do I?’

  ‘It was a long-term legend, built up layer upon layer.’ I sounded like I was making excuses. ‘Your antipathy to Pulcheria was essential and couldn’t be simulated.’

  ‘Oh, great, now I’m a patsy!’

  ‘You know how it works.’

  ‘How can I believe anything you say to me now? I’ve always told you everything. Now I find out the little tart I’d most like to take down is the other half of my best friend.’

  Rage spiralled off him, hitting anything it touched, mostly me.

  ‘Let it go. Please.’

  He said nothing, shoved past me and stomped out.

  I was due at the courthouse at 11.00 the next day. Dressed in my number one uniform – grey skirt, black jacket with silver buttons and insignia – I grabbed my side cap and made for the mess hall and some breakfast. As I chewed and swallowed, I couldn’t stop the bitterness of losing Daniel’s friendship rising to defeat my appetite. I pushed the rest away and drank my equally bitter coffee.

  Flavius and I gave our testimonies before the examining magistrate. It took all day. She warned us that the defence would no doubt submit a long list of questions, so we should be prepared to come back to make further depositions. If they were being especially picky then we’d have to be prepared for a live cross-examination in closed chambers. That was something to look forward to.

  We collected our bodyguards afterwards and drove back through the evening gloom and rain. I was mentally exhausted and not a little depressed, and went for an early night. Propped up in bed, not watching the newscast, my mind returned to Superbus and how he’d clammed up when he mentioned a woman called Cassia. How could a woman have been part of their patriarchalist conspiracy?

  A knock at the door jolted me. Conrad.

  He smiled his crinkly smile. ‘I didn’t know if you were asleep yet. How did it go?’

  I waved him in and closed the door. ‘Long and boring,’ I said. ‘And it’s going to be another one tomorrow.’ I grimaced. Family Day. Juno!

  He helped himself to a beer from the tiny fridge and sat opposite me. ‘You don’t need to worry. Aurelia and Junia had it all organised before they went to the country. All we have to do is turn up and smile. You were scary yesterday with Superbus.’ He raised his bottle to salute me. ‘I can’t think you’ll have a problem with anybody else.’

  I wasn’t so sure.

  He looked down and spent a few moments studying the bottle. The laugh had fled from his face.

  ‘Carina, I—’ He swallowed, but not the drink. ‘Don’t stay away from me.’ He set the bottle on the desk and stretched out his hand. Mine was already there to meet it. He pulled me up to him and his mouth crushed hard on mine.

  A little later than planned, we set off next morning to go home, complete with my bodyguard. I asked Conrad why he couldn’t count as my guard over the weekend.

  ‘I know we have Superbus in custody, but can we guarantee he hasn’t corrupted any of the other Mitelae?’

  I guessed he didn’t want to trust anybody at the moment.

  ‘Surely not?’ I said. ‘Superbus was an anomaly, wasn’t he?’

  ‘You tell me.’

  So Trebatia, the chatterbox in open country fatigues, trotted along behind us.

  In the car, I activated the new smartplex privacy screen. Conrad tilted his head to one side, smiled and raised an eyebrow.

  I shook my head. ‘It’s Superbus,’ I said. ‘I’m not sure it’s anything, but after you and Lucy left he said something weird. When I told him he was stupid to have gotten involved with Petronax, he said none of us understood, “even that Cassia woman”. Then he just dummied up. He was too scared to say another word.’

  ‘Ah.’

  ‘Oh, please,’ I said, ‘it’s a common name. It can’t possibly be his Cassia. Wrong side, remember?’

  He didn’t reply. We rode the rest of the way home in uncomfortable silence.

  The hairdresser came in to do artistic things and tutted at the condition of my abused hair. But when he’d finished, a completely different person stared out of the mirror: formal, elegant and unreal. He’d inserted a gold filigree band across my head with diamonds and sapphires caught in gold webs. It matched my blue gown and gold palla. My nails and face were next. I usually resented all this pawing, but this time I submitted passively.

  Helena, looking like some model out of Vogue, brought Allegra to see me. She was so lovely in her first formal outfit, I almost burst into tears.

  ‘Hello, Mama,’ she said looking up at me. ‘You look beautiful.’

  ‘Hey, you’re pretty wonderful yourself!’

  ‘Some are arriving already,’ Helena informed me, ‘but you don’t have to go down quite yet. It’s only just eleven.’

  ‘Where’s Aurelia?’

  ‘In her sitting room, fortifying herself with French brandy.’

  I took Allegra’s hand, and we went up the back stairs to the level above our wing and along a narrow service corridor. I knocked on the door at the end and surprised Aurelia’s assistant.

  ‘Sorry to startle you, Marcella,’ and we barged in.

  My grandmother, dressed in her finery, was downing a generous glass of Remy Martin.

  ‘Hey, Nonna, going to share?’

  She chuckled and poured me a glass. Allegra took up position on one of Aurelia’s gilt chairs and watched us set a bad example.

  I swallowed mine quickly and put my glass forward for another. Aurelia looked at me sharply, but said nothing. The three of us sat there, sharing a quiet moment. Nothing could start without us.

  After making appropriate speeches of welcome, i.e. short, Aurelia and I mixed, smiled and talked with the swarm of relations assembled in the hall. Trebatia, now in a calf-length gown Marcella had found her, trailed around in my wake. With her slight figure and fresh complexion, she looked more like somebody’s kid sister than a bodyguard, but she scanned everybody and everything, her hand fixed on the gold-embroidered purse containing her semi-automatic.

  Around four hundred Mitelae packed the atrium, a little under two-thirds of the recorded number of cousins to the second degree. It was a tribal meeting, supposed to remember the links of blood and loyalty ac
ross nearly sixteen centuries. That was a romantic idea. In reality, those here today were because of careful, often conniving and sometimes bloody manoeuvring to protect and promote the family so it survived over those years. Like most organisations, it was the pedantic, boring people who kept the records and sat on the family council, but you had to give them their due: they’d held it all together. Over centuries and against the odds.

  We spilled out from the atrium into the back garden to eat – a huge relief as the noise was way above reasonable. Junia had mobilised the household to produce so much food that Abundantia could have refilled her cornucopia from it. Once the drink started flowing, the noise and testosterone levels had ramped up. Despite the mobile crowd, I managed to find Superbus’s wife. I’d sent a car for her earlier that morning. She and her two children were sitting alone, largely ignored by the rest.

  ‘Hello, Valeria. Fabia, Caius.’ I waved over one of the older house servants, who I knew had grandchildren, to take Fabia and Caius to find Allegra.

  ‘Please tell Allegra that Mama has asked her to keep special care of these two.’

  Watching them go off, Valeria turned to me. ‘Countess Carina, how can I thank you?’

  ‘Oh, Valeria, none of this is your fault.’ She looked pretty miserable, though. ‘What do you want to do? Can I help with anything?’

  ‘Oh, I’ll divorce him. He’s a waste of space.’

  Excellent plan.

  ‘He was so stupid. I didn’t know he was up to anything special until two weeks ago when that man appeared.’ She looked down the garden at the chattering crowd.

  Petronax, I’d bet, come to finalise his plans.

  ‘I was crossing the atrium after seeing the children to bed and saw Superbus on the far side with a visitor. They looked like cartoon characters: Superbus fat and fussing, and the dark man tall and calm. Then the man’s head swivelled round – he must have heard me. I’ll never forget those black eyes.’ She caught her breath. ‘They bored into me. I don’t think I’ve ever been so frightened in the whole of my life.’ She gave me a tight smile. ‘Perhaps it’s nothing. I haven’t seen him since.’

  The noise buzzed around me like a swarm of angry wasps on adrenalin.

  No.

  Nearly one million people lived in the city. Amongst a people descended from Romans, there must be a high proportion with dark eyes. There was no way it could be him. I batted it out of my mind. I had other stuff to concentrate on today.

  Valeria glanced at me, then stared down at her hands. She seemed uncertain what to do next. I jumped up, pulled her arm through mine, and took her with me. As we circulated, I made sure people saw us together. I left her talking to some cousins of her own age, including the magnetic Dalina.

  I saw Allegra queening it over a children’s party area, watched over by Junia’s deputy, Galienus, recovering from his injuries. They had magicians, games and races laid on, so they probably had the best time. The weather was outstanding, warm for early October. Most of the teenagers disappeared, probably to the maze. Whether they’d emerge intact in the strict sense was anybody’s guess.

  The band left off easy listening and started playing some classical dance music, and the middle-agers stampeded onto the temporary wooden dance floor. The trellis over it was decorated with swathes of silk, white flowers, ribbons and fairy lights, and looked pretty in a kitsch way.

  But, almost surprising myself, I’d discovered for the first time how much pleasure there was in reinforcing and nourishing these family links. I wanted to hear about problems, perhaps even throw in an idea or two to help. I laughed and smiled at the gossip; I rejoiced about the triumphs, whether a child’s school success, a business deal or a published novel. I relished making connections between two cousins, introducing unknown ones, finding a useful contact for somebody.

  Around six o’clock, parents started gathering their children up, who by now were sick, crying or sullen, and their elders who were maudlin about “the olden days”, and carted them off home. The professional middle-agers started “networking” over generous amounts of champagne. I saw Conrad, having gotten rid of his heavy toga, escort more than one to a hedge or shrub where they could quietly throw up. I sighed. We were down to the hard core.

  My grandmother had taken up position on the terrace with a group of cronies, Allegra had gone, and Helena. I evaded Trebatia and made my way down to the walled garden for some peace. I let myself in and sat under the myrtle tree. I could hear faint shouts and giggling from the maze. The odds against Lucy not being in there leading the mayhem were pretty slim.

  I shut my eyes and breathed in the last myrtle scent. But, when I did, I only saw black eyes set deep in a fine-boned face and projecting an ironic expression. As I brought my hands up to my face, I saw they were shaking.

  XXXIV

  The temperature had dropped along with the light. It was half past nine. I hurried back and found my grandmother indoors, saying goodbye to half a dozen of her contemporaries.

  ‘Thank the gods, that’s the last of the oldies. Fancy a nightcap?’ She picked up a bottle of champagne from a bucket and two glasses and pulled me along to the small back office. There was some kind of dubious card game going on in the main sitting area off the atrium and rather too much flesh was emerging for her liking, she said. Best to leave them to it.

  ‘A successful day, don’t you think?’ She shucked off her sandals. They were gorgeous: silver with large pearls and semi-precious stones.

  I emptied my glass in two gulps and was watching the drops clinging to the inside surface struggling to join and split from the others. Nothing stayed the same for more than a few moments.

  ‘Carina?’

  ‘Sorry, Nonna. Of course, a really good day.’ I set my glass down. ‘I think I’ll go up now. I’m tired.’ I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

  ‘Everything all right, darling? You look upset, not just tired.’ She scrutinised my face, looking for the least thing. I flushed, but didn’t reply.

  ‘Well, go and have a good night’s sleep. When they’ve all gone tomorrow, we’ll have a proper talk.’

  When I reached our apartment, I was so wired I made busy work by taking time to clean off my make-up, moisturise, brush my teeth, unbraid my hair, brush it out, hang up my gown, put away my shoes. This was pure displacement to stop my furious brain and jangling nerves making connections. I made a hot milk drink, I rubbed my feet, I found a cooling eyemask which eventually irritated me so much I threw it on the floor. When I did fall asleep, all I saw were a pair of black eyes.

  The hands were warm, stroking my neck, then my breasts, one across my stomach, the other over my hip, along the top of my thigh and gently into my groin. His warm masculine scent, slightly earthy, enveloped me. Warmth flowed through me, slowly building to heat. I wasn’t going to open my eyes. He held my wrists in his hand, pulled them over my head and entered me. I gave myself up to the glorious pleasure of sex. Conrad knew every inch of me intimately. He was as purposeful in ensuring we reached an explosive and mutual peak completion as he was in everything he did.

  We lay together afterward, he nuzzling my ear, me hiding in the curve of his body. I could feel the tears trickling slowly across my cheeks.

  ‘Hey, what’s up?’

  I sniffed.

  ‘You’ve been a little busy recently. You’ve led a successful operation, saved the world generally, and even survived Family Day. Our children are safe, Allegra made us so proud yesterday, and we’ve discovered a possible new recruit in the fearsome Lucy. Did I miss something?’ He smiled at me, but had a rallying tone in his voice.

  I shook my head. I couldn’t speak.

  He got out of the bed and came back a few minutes later with two steaming cups of tea. What a gift this drink was. No wonder the British had conquered half the world. I’d heard they’d given it up for soda and coffee these days. Bad move.

  He settled back in the bed, plumped up the pillows, and encircled me with his arm. We sipped compani
onably in silence for a few minutes.

  ‘You have something fairly weighty to say – I can see that.’ He looked down at me and briefly touched the tip of my nose with his finger. ‘You’re worried about discussing it with me, so it doesn’t take a logics professor to see that you think I’ll react badly.’ He smiled gently and kissed the back of my hand. ‘I promise I’ll try to behave myself.’

  I lay my head in that perfect place at the base of his neck and closed my eyes. It felt so warm and safe there.

  ‘After I came back from Apollodorus,’ I began, ‘you were very upset when you thought I loved him. Even after the rupture with him, I don’t think you liked it that I kept good memories of those times.’

  ‘Doing well so far,’ came a terse reply.

  ‘I’ve had to go undercover at other times, sometimes making new friendships, establishing myself in other environments. You’ve had to do the same. So why was it different with the Pulcheria operation?’

  He didn’t say anything for a few moments. I didn’t know whether he was composing his thoughts or himself.

  ‘I hated the idea you might have been permanently attracted by the values, the way of life, as well as the man. I thought I’d lost you.’

  I swallowed hard.

  ‘You’re not going to tell me he’s a DJ long-term sleeper,’ he said, ‘and one of the good guys, are you? Please not!’

  ‘No, no…of course not.’

  ‘Well, I never know with you.’

  ‘No, it’s a lot worse, if I’m right.’

  XXXV

  A sweet-sour smell of stale humanity and alcohol was mixed with citrus astringent cleaning product battling its way through the atrium. Picking my way through people wandering aimlessly, nursing heads or sprawled still in the arms of Morpheus, I went to find Trebatia. Macro, hurrying along armed with a brush and bucket, pointed me down to the basement.

  My lovely pool was full of bodies, jumping in from the sides, spraying water at each other, throwing inflatables about like hooligans. Scattered around the edges lay sodden towels, clothes, shoes and things I dreaded to identify. In the middle of it was Trebatia, supposedly my bodyguard. The noise was deafening.