'More than that. I trust him with your life,' Rufus said evenly.
In the end it was decided. Cupido would seek a meeting with Chaerea in some neutral place, repeat the story as Rufus had just told it and show him only the slightest glimpse of the silver box. If Chaerea reacted as they hoped, Cupido would tell him he wanted nothing to do with his plots, and leave him in no doubt that if there was any further interference in either his or Rufus's affairs, the information would reach Caligula.
'You must convince him it will come from someone in power,' Rufus repeated for the third time. 'If he thinks a senator like Claudius, or Helicon, the chamberlain, is ready to denounce him at your signal, he will not dare act against us, for to do so would be death.'
'It is your death I will think on if I am left with Chaerea thanking me for the gift of a pretty jewel box for one of his whores,' Cupido said wryly.
'You won't be. But don't rush into the meeting. Set it up for four days from now and let Chaerea fret about your intentions. He is still looking over his shoulder after the last attempt on Caligula's life. This will unsettle him even more.'
Cupido nodded, his expression grim. 'I have something to give Narcissus in return for this gift.'
Rufus stared at him. Cupido seldom revealed information about his dealings with the Emperor. This was a sign of the true extent of their peril.
'The guard is split. Cassius Chaerea has suborned many with his promises of wealth and position, but not all. There are some who see him for what he is, a jackal who feeds on the carrion others provide. They know it will be Chaerea who dons the purple if his plan succeeds, and not the mysterious other he claims to support. And when he does, they understand what will happen to his enemies. Some of these are officers held in high esteem by their men. They are not innocents, but Caligula has disgraced them by using them as executioners instead of soldiers. He has lost their loyalty. They will not act against him directly. They wish him gone, but not to be replaced by Chaerea. They need someone to follow, someone worthy of their support. Claudius.'
Rufus's head spun with the enormity of what he was being told and the opportunity it represented. Then reality intervened.
'But Claudius would never agree to be Emperor. Remember what I told you of his conversation with Bersheba. He wants a return to sanity. A republic.'
'I understand that, but the Guard, those who are against Chaerea, will not support a republic. They believe it will weaken the Empire and lead to anarchy. They seek a return to the prosperity and security Augustus brought. Only one of Augustus's blood can provide it.' He shrugged. 'Claudius is not perfect, but he is available.'
'But I told you. He will not do it.'
'What if someone engineered it so he had no choice?' Cupido suggested. 'Someone who had much to gain if his master rose to the very pinnacle of power?'
Someone like Narcissus.
But before Rufus could arrange a meeting with the Greek, their lives would hang by a thread…
He and Livia were sitting in their little home three nights later. It was the eve of the sacrifice of the October Horse and there was a festival air to Rome which had even penetrated the room behind the barn. The couple had mellowed lately, and Rufus was trying to come to terms with the enormous upheaval about to occur in his life. An upheaval that drew closer each day as Livia's belly grew rounder and fatter. His stomach was just dealing with the disturbing detail of childbirth when the door burst open.
His hand darted for the knife he kept beneath the bed and he rose ready to use it. But he froze when he saw the figure in the doorway.
This was an Aemilia Rufus barely recognized. Her eyes were wide and her blond hair was matted, with small twigs and leaves tangled among it, as if she had just spent a night on a forest floor. Her breath came in short, desperate bursts and her chest heaved against the thin cloth of the expensive dress she wore.
'I didn't know where else to go,' she gasped. 'You must help me.'
The words were directed at Rufus and it was apparent that she had not even noticed Livia was in the room.
Rufus opened his mouth to reassure her, but it was Livia who spoke. The Palatine was a small community and she knew Aemilia by sight, knew too that she was Cupido's sister. But they had never met and she slightly resented the girl's position in Milonia's household.
'What has happened that you must enter our house without invitation in the dead of night?' she demanded in a voice that was, if not frosty, certainly not welcoming.
Aemilia looked from the tiny figure to Rufus as if she was a deer seeking escape from a pack of hounds.
'Enough of this,' Rufus said. 'She has come to us for aid and we will give it. Bring water. Aemilia will explain herself in her own time.'
'But she is right, Rufus: you must know. My presence here is a danger to us all.' Aemilia's voice shook and her head drooped so she did not have to meet their eyes. 'The Emperor. I was dining with Milonia — a favour to her, she said. He came to her quarters as we ate and placed himself on the couch beside me. I was a fool, because I was honoured by his attentions. Then he began to touch me. First my hair.' She took a handful of the golden mass in her fist as if she wanted to tear it from her head. 'Then my skin. He touched my skin and it crawled as if a serpent had been placed upon it. Then he spoke to me of things I did not understand, or want to understand. Of the nature of love. What do I know of love, or care, in this place where each of us is a commodity to be bartered? He said I must share their bed. I looked to Milonia for aid, but she only smiled, and there was something in her smile that chilled me. She knew. She knew and she approved. The Emperor took me by the hand, and said, "Come." But I could not. I shook myself free, and I ran.' She sobbed, a great heart-wrenching breath from deep in her body. 'I have nowhere else to go.'
Rufus listened in silence. He was appalled. Not because of his sympathy for Aemilia's ordeal, but because she had placed them in mortal danger. And for no reason. How could she be such a fool? This was no sanctuary. It was a trap.
As if the gods were able to read his mind there came a thundering knock at the door.
'Open up, quickly.'
He breathed a sigh of relief. Cupido. Cupido would know what to do.
Rufus opened the door cautiously and the young German, wearing a long cloak over his armour, bustled past him.
'I heard she had come this way, and I decided to check before the patro-' He stopped, open-mouthed, staring at Aemilia. 'You? I was only told it was a girl.' He shook his head in disbelief. 'I didn't… No one said…'
Aemilia ran to him, crying his name, and he took her protectively in his arms. But the eyes that met Rufus's across her shoulder were filled with confusion.
'You must get her out of here, now.' Livia's voice was cracked with tension. 'The child… If they find her here, you know what they will do.'
'It is too late,' Cupido said, and Rufus heard something in his tone that was as out of place in Cupido the warrior as snow in a Tuscan summer. Defeat.
He was right. Already they could hear the clash of weaponry as the soldiers of the Emperor's guard made their way down the slope from the palace.
'Wait. I will talk to them.' Cupido tried to thrust Aemilia away from him, but she held tight and forced him to look at her.
'No,' she said. Her face was set in a savage expression that reminded Rufus of tales of fierce women fighters who were as deadly in battle as any man. 'Kill me.'
Cupido recoiled as if he had been punched. 'No. Never.'
'Kill me,' she repeated. 'If you cannot save me, at least save my honour.' But he shook his head helplessly, and she pushed him away. 'You were a coward when we were taken and you are a coward now,' she said, her voice dripping with scorn.
Cupido's face turned ashen, and she looked at Rufus.