rather have shaved her head than wear her hair without those daisies.”
“Ludovicus,” I called, “did Tessa come to you on or before the Vulcanalia?”
“Answer,” Crassus said when the battalion commander hesitated.
“She did, but ...”
“Sabina,” I asked, did you find a daisy in Ludovicus’ room and assume they were lovers?”
Before the healer could answer, the dog held down by Malchus howled in obvious agony and scrambled free. It ran in circles, panting and flinging spittle in all directions before it stopped, vomited and fell to the ground, shaking violently.
“Put that animal out of its misery,” Crassus ordered. Malchus slit its throat.
“This is ridiculous,” Sabina said, unnerved. “All right, yes, I admit I was jealous. And perhaps I wanted to make her sick. But kill her? Never! Walking barefoot in lykotonon can’t kill you.” Livia was staring open-mouthed at her mother.
“It can with a little help from your poison antidote.”
“You are a fool, Alexander. You said it yourself: theriake cures poisoning, it doesn’t cause it.”
“May I explain, dominus?” Crassus nodded. Lykotonon slows the heart and breath. The primary ingredient of theriake is opium, which depresses most bodily functions, including respiration. To administer this medication to a person knowing they were suffering from lykotonon poisoning can only be construed as an attempt to kill them.”
Finally, the healer was silent. “I am so sorry, Sabina,” I said. “Forgive me, Livia, I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice!” Livia shouted through her tears.
Sabina looked up at me with such hostility that I understood in that instant that I had never known her. She leered at me and made to put her arm about her daughter, but Livia jumped as if she’d been bitten. “Get away from me!” she screamed. She leapt up and fled the peristyle. No one, not even Crassus, made an attempt to stop her.
Sabina’s face melted from hatred to humility. “Marcus Licinius Crassus,” she said, “master of this familia, I beg mercy. I confess to jealousy. I confess to hatred. Of these things I am guilty. But I do not confess to murder. I did try to save Tessa’s life. I swear. Anyone could have poisoned the soil. The evidence before you is tattered, full of supposition, spoken by a man who would do anything to keep my daughter near him.”
“Now I am convinced,” Crassus said. “You are right, slave, there is evidence here of a circumstantial nature. But this is not a court and I am in need of no proof in order to pass judgment. Yet shall you have it. The single unassailable, indisputable fact in all that I have heard today is that Alexander himself has brought this case against you. What more proof do I need of your guilt? He loved your daughter. She has fled, not just from you but from him. Look at what he has sacrificed in the name of justice.
“Alexander, I do not like being wrong, and I do not like apologizing. More than once you have placed this meal before me and forced me to eat.” He rose from his gilded chair and sighed. “Before this assembly, before my familia I say to you – apologies.
“Now, to Sabina I say this: you have killed an innocent girl. You have committed a heinous and brutal murder based on an assumption. Did you even confront the commander with your suspicions? It matters not. An attack on a member of my family is tantamount to an attack upon my person. But I want to hear you say it. So tell me, tell everyone here assembled: did you kill our Tessa?”
Sabina held Crassus’ gaze but remained silent. A guard who had moved up beside her prodded her with his finger. Almost imperceptively, she nodded. “Say it,” Crassus commanded.
“I killed her.”
“Do you have anything to add before I pronounce judgment?”
Sabina turned to me. “Alexandros of Elateia, I curse you. You have betrayed a sister to these Roman scum. May Hermes give you no rest, no peace of mind, no love for all your days. I curse you, and bind it with my blood. May all the gods below harken to me and conspire against you.” With her teeth she tore at her hand in the fleshy part between thumb and forefinger. She spit a bloody glob in my direction. “Dominus, I am finished.”
“I should have you crucified on the street and let the children throw stones at you to assist in your agony.”
From somewhere in the crowd, a voice shouted out, “Do it! Crucify the fucking whore!