Nilla spat in her great-grandmother's face. 'I reject it.'
About to step into his litter, Claudius saw this and went white. He hid himself inside.
'I want nothing of what you schemed your life away for,' Nilla said. 'I despise everything about it.'
Livia shrugged and smiled, letting the spit drip from her cheek. 'You will want it in time,' she said. Her own litter had arrived. 'You will want what I have wanted — and desperately. And you will gain it, too, Nilla. You will become me.'
'I won't,' Nilla hissed. 'I will never be anything like you. You are evil.'
But Livia only chuckled as she stepped into her transport. I caught the look on her face for a moment as she adjusted herself, and it was clear she was tired. I tucked her up against the cold.
'To the Capena Gate, domina?' I whispered.
'Good gods, no. With all those stinking crowds? Little Boots can see himself into Rome — I won't be there to fawn on him.'
I laughed. 'Where, then, domina?'
She was vague. 'Perhaps a quiet path along the Tiber…'
I turned to see Nilla step into her own transport and go. If only she knew of the plans I had already made to become indispensible to her.
Livia pinned her veil, ready to drift off to Somnus in the litter. I instructed the lictors to clear the way and took up my walking position alongside, where I could see my domina if she needed me. The litter was picked up by the bearers, and the sounds of exulting Romans began to echo in our ears as Little Boots neared the distant gate. I glanced at Livia through the litter's curtain to see if she was taking even the smallest pride in his day of days. But I was struck by a sudden change in her features. Her face seemed to be shimmering — her skin had become a milky mist, dispersing into the air.
' Domina?'
'Is something wrong?' she asked me, stirring.
Livia was transforming before my eyes. 'No, domina,' I whispered. Her features had vanished. She was left with nothing but bright, white bones.
'Then let me lie here undisturbed,' she murmured. 'I am enjoying my view of Rome.'
I did not stare — I knew better than that. But I kept her face in the corner of my vision as I walked beside her down the Palatine Hill. Only her eyes remained unchanged. Onyx black, they stared ahead, seductive and deadly, a viper's eyes.
Two glittering stars in a fathomless, infinite night.