Saylor, Steven - Roma Sub Rosa 01 by Roman Blood (v5.0)

Author:Roman Blood (v5.0) [Blood, Roman]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-05-19T06:18:40+00:00

'It's true, then?' I said, staring into Sextus Roscius's eyes and trying to make him blink before I did. 'Every word of the story Titus Megarus told me? But if that's so, why didn't you tell us in the first place?'

We were seated in the same stuffy, squalid room where we had met before. This time Caecilia Metella, having been told the tale in brief, came with us. The idea that her beloved Sextus had been proscribed as an enemy of Sulla was absurd, she said, obscene. She was eager to hear what his son had to say about it. Rufus sat close beside her, and one of her slave girls stood quietly in the corner fanning her with peacock plumes on a long handle, as if she were a Pharaoh's queen. Tiro stood at my right arm with his tablet and stylus, fidgeting.

Sextus stared back at me, unwilling to blink. The effect became as unnerving as the heat. If he was hiding something he gave no sign of it: Most men, stalling for time to think up a He or evasion, will glance away, shifting their gaze to something, anything, that doesn't stare back at them. Sextus Roscius stared me straight in the eye with no expression on his face at all, until finally I blinked. I thought he smiled then, but I may have only imagined it. I began to think he might truly be mad.

'Yes,' he finally said. 'True. Every word.'

Caecilia made a peculiar titter of distress. Rufus stroked her wrinkled hand.

'Then why didn't you tell Cicero? Did you. tell Hortensius when he was your advocate?' 'No.'

'But how can you expect these men to defend you if you won't tell them what you know?'

'I never asked either of them to take my case. She did.' He rudely pointed at Caecilia Metella.

'Are you saying you don't want an advocate?' Rufus snapped. 'What chance do you think you'd have if you stood before the Rostra alone, against a prosecutor like Gaius Erucius?'

'What chance do I have now? Even if I somehow escape them in court, they'll find me afterwards and have their way with me, just as they did with my father.'

'Not necessarily,' Rufus argued. 'Not if Cicero is able to expose the lies of Capito and Magnus in court.'

'But to do that he'll have to drag in the name of Chrysogonus, won't he? Oh, yes, there's no way to pick the fleas without wrestling the dog, and no way to do that without pulling at the master's leash. The dog may snap, and the master isn't going to like being publicly embarrassed by an upstart advocate. Even if he wins the case, your precious Master Chick-pea will only end up with his head on a stick. Don't tell me that there's an advocate in Rome who's willing to run the risk of spitting in Sulla's face. And if there is such a man, he's far too stupid to handle my case.'

Rufus and Tiro were both exasperated. How could

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