Free The Raven and the Rose by Doreen Owens Malek

water before setting it back on his rack. When Marcus turned away he saw Septimus coming toward him, his hand raised in greeting.
    Marcus smiled at his friend, resolved to keep his scandalous thoughts to himself.
    * * *
    “Margo, did you get these lampreys from the piscinae on my grandfather’s estate?” Julia asked, examining the platters of food set out for the gustatio , or appetizer. “My sister is especially fond of those.”
    “I did exactly as you requested, mistress,” Margo replied patiently, as Julia fluttered around the anteroom of her suite in the Atrium Vestae, making sure that everything was in readiness for Larthia’s visit. The Vestals were not permitted many guests so this was a special occasion. Only female relatives could be received in a Vestal’s private apartment; male relatives and all others had to be seen in the common room off the main hall, in the presence of Livia Versalia or Junia Distania, the official greeter. A chance like this to talk in private with someone close to her own age was a rare treat for Julia.
    “And the honeyed wine?” Julia said.
    Margo indicated the ornamental jug on the table. “Are you sure you don’t want me to remain and serve you?” Margo asked.
    “No,” Julia said firmly. “I am perfectly capable of pouring wine and passing a tray of sweetmeats across a table. You may retire to your room.”
    Margo bowed and retreated, and seconds later Junia Distania entered with Larthia fast on her heels.
    “Little Rosalba, how well you are looking!” Larthia said, embracing her sister and kissing her on both cheeks. Junia bowed and left, and Larthia looked over her shoulder to make sure she was gone before saying, “I don’t know how you can bear it here, this place is loaded with spies.”
    Julia made a face. “Larthia, how you exaggerate.” She indicated a chair of carved mahogany drawn up to the serving table and Larthia sat in it.
    “Do I? What about that servant of yours who is always lurking in the shadows, taking notes?”
    “I dismissed Margo for the evening.”
    “Good.” Larthia reached for a shelled walnut and popped it into her mouth. “This place is deadly dull, Julia, I always feel like I’m entering a tomb when I come here. How do you tolerate such a cloistered existence?”
    Julia sat across from her sister and said dryly, “I have no choice. Do you have anything else complimentary to say before I pour the wine?”
    Larthia shrugged dismissively. “You know how I’ve always felt about your life being tossed away in the service of some statue in a temple,” she said.
    “Lower your voice,” Julia hissed. “Such statements can be construed as heresy, not to mention treason. And my life has not been tossed away, I’m still breathing.”
    Larthia reached for a silver serving spoon and helped herself to several of the eels. “You can’t tell me you’re happy here,” she said insistently.
    Julia did not reply as she lifted the jug of Falernian wine and poured it into two goblets. Larthia picked up her cup and sipped from it gingerly, then took a bigger drink.
    “Very good,” she said approvingly, nodding. “I like honeyed wine.”
    Julia nodded. “It was too strong, the Falernian generally is, so I asked Margo to temper it.”
    Larthia sat back and surveyed her sister, a younger, more sanguine version of herself. “You must be wondering why I sent word that I wanted to come and see you.”
    Julia waited.
    “Our grandfather has supplied me with a bodyguard,” Larthia said.
    “What, a slave?”
    “A slave.”  
    “You already have hundreds of slaves, Larthia, what do you mean?”
    “He’s a Gaul, to be exact, but his assignment is to watch over me when I go out to make sure I don’t come to harm.”
    Julia stared at her sister. “Is someone trying to hurt you?” she asked.
    “According to grandfather, it’s a possibility.”
    “Why?”
    “His politics, and I suppose my late husband’s. Caesar’s faction is growing in