hand against the cool stone wall. “Why did Kephalos tell you so much? Was he not suspicious of your questions?”
Cassia sent me a quick smile. “I pretended to commiserate with him—a scribe and accountant of his talent forced to work for a rather feckless gentleman. Priscus is highborn yes, but will never amount to much.” Cassia lost her smile and flushed. “I’m afraid I told him I knew what it felt like, to have to work for a man of no scholarship.”
She peered at me anxiously, but I felt a well of mirth stirring inside me. Whoever had paired us had a strange sense of humor.
“That was wise of you,” I said. “Kephalos looks at me like a turd stuck to his sandal.”
“I rather played on his pity,” Cassia said in a small voice.
I barked a laugh, loud in the small room. “You were clever.”
Cassia relaxed as though she’d feared my anger. “My father taught me how to assess a person and discover what will appeal to them. They will tell you much more than when they are hostile to you, he said.”
“Kephalos was hostile to you, I thought.”
“He was annoyed he couldn’t cheat us of our fee. I explained that my adamance to collect the entire amount was so you would not be brutal to me. He believed me.”
She said the words lightly, but I heard the slight tremor in them. Cassia had lost much of her worry about me, but still, she could not be certain.
I sat down, as I’d grown accustomed to doing, and regarded her across the table.
“I learned as a boy that I was very strong. Aemil’s training made me stronger still. I understand how easy it is to hurt and kill. I would only be brutal to you if you were a gladiator attacking me in an amphitheatre. Then I’d fight for my life.”
The rambling explanation appeared to puzzle Cassia more than reassure her. I drew a breath and went on.
“I know I can kill anyone I have a mind to, or at least hurt them badly. I decided long ago that I wanted to have more friends than enemies, so I fight only in the arena—or when I’m attacked on the street. But not with people I take care of.”
Cassia ran her fingers along a tablet, tracing its square wooden cover. “I was sent to take care of you.”
I shrugged. “We must take care of each other. Neither of us knows how to cook.”
That won a tiny smile. “That is so.” Cassia stilled her fingers. “We must hurry and make certain you are not accused of this crime. Priscus’s fee will last only so long.”
“I should take another job, you mean.”
“Indeed. I will search for another generous man in need of protection. Perhaps heading to a finer destination than Ostia.”
“We can’t expect to always be paid highly,” I pointed out. “I’ve done plenty of guarding, and some don’t pay much at all.”
“True.” Cassia’s trepidation fled, and the businesslike gleam returned to her eye. She’d called Kephalos a snake, but Cassia resembled a hawk regarding prey when she turned her attention to our funds. “What we will do is make you a very special guard—men will pay handsomely to say they had Leonidas watch over their steps. Yes—let me think on this …”
I left her to it. I had already learned never to stand between Cassia and her interest in accounts.
The next morning, Cassia asked me to take her to see Marcianus. She wanted to speak to him about the poison that had been given to Floriana, she said—how strong it was, how long it took to work, what it was comparable to, and so forth.
I ceased understanding her after about the fifth word and agreed to walk with her to the Aventine.
When we reached Marcianus’s shop, he was not there. At the ludus, Marcia told us. She wore a palla even more plain than the one I’d seen her in on my last visit, and had bundled her hair into a simple style. She looked young and uncomplicated.
“Can you tell me about the salad Floriana ate that night?” Cassia asked after we’d exchanged greetings and spoke of Marcianus. “Who prepared it for her?”
Marcia’s eyes widened into frightened ovals then she flung herself past me and tried to flee into the street.
Chapter 18
I caught Marcia around the waist and pulled her back into the shop. She struggled, but I held her fast, her feet off the ground.