“Nearly twenty minutes—”
He was cut off by the sound of shouts inside the Curia. The doors swung open. A cluster of soldiers led Sejanus down the Curia’s short flight of stairs. I recognized the soldier in front, a man previously always by Tiberius’s side, a general named Macro who was even larger than Sotas. He towered over Sejanus and the other guards.
Then I couldn’t see over the screaming mob. All manner of items were thrown at the traitor. The Praetorian Guard lifted their shields to protect themselves from the flight of rocks and rotting fruit. The vigiles pushed the crowd back to let the soldiers pass.
“Back off!” one of the soldiers yelled. “You’ll get your turn in time. Let them by!”
The soldiers swept past us, moving Sejanus through the Forum, the crowd in tow, joined by the throngs of senators leaving the Curia.
I caught sight of Trio in the crowd. He had recently been elected senator and would have seen all the proceedings. I dragged Tycho through the throngs. “Trio!” I shouted, hoping he would hear me and stop.
“Thrasius! Good to see you.” He slapped me on the back, as friendly as ever, almost as though we weren’t in the center of a mob of people.
“Where are they taking him?”
“The temple of Concord. We’ll try him at dusk. I suspect it will be a short trial after the letter we just heard.”
“What did it say?”
Trio took me by the elbow and pulled me off to the side to escape the rush of people. “It was a strange letter, praising Sejanus at first and talking about some of the laws we are trying to enact. Then the letter turned and Tiberius appointed Macro as Praetorian prefect! He accused Sejanus of treason, stating that he had evidence that he was plotting to overthrow Caesar. It was magnificent! We couldn’t have wished for a better end to that bastard.”
“Truly,” I agreed, elated.
“We must celebrate. Tell Apicius I expect a grand cena tomorrow after Sejanus’s body lies broken on the Gemonian stairs!”
“I will!”
? ? ?
We stopped at the temple of Hecate on the way to the villa to arrange for the sacrifice of a bull in thanks for her help in bringing Sejanus to his knees. Later I planned to do the same for Nemesis, Averna, and Mercury for fulfilling the curse, be it years after it was made.
They were sacrifices I would never make.
When I reached the villa, Apicius was sitting in the peristylium with Apicata.
Apicius seemed to be in shock. When I approached he only said, “I can’t believe it, finally I will be rid of that bastard.” Then he looked downward to the tiles again, his hands wringing the edges of his toga.
Apicata sat next to him, her arm around his shoulders. Her eyes were swollen from crying.
“Apicata, are you all right?” I thought she would be elated that Sejanus was getting his due.
“They have Capito and Strabo.”
Horror overtook me, crushing the breath out of my lungs. How had I not foreseen this? Of course. If they killed Sejanus, they would kill his children and eradicate his bloodline. Oh, dear gods, what had we done?
I had no words to say. After standing there for a space of time, empty, watching Apicata sob against her father’s dazed body, I left, unable to bear their heartache.
When I returned a bit later, after meeting with the kitchen slaves and dismissing them for the night, Apicata was still crying. Apicius was holding her with a tenderness I had not seen for many years—years before Aelia had passed.
“Why did we go to Antonia? Why? Why?” she sobbed. The kohl lining her eyes had been reduced to smudges. “My boys! What will they do to my boys? Oh, they will kill them! I know it!”
“Do not fear, daughter. I’m sure all will be well.” Apicius stroked her hair but it did not calm her.
“Send another messenger,” he said to me when he noticed my presence.
I had already tried. I touched Apicata on the shoulder. “Macro has given orders that no one is to leave or enter the villa. But do not worry, I’m sure that as soon as the trial is over they will be released. By this time tomorrow you will have them in your arms.”
Apicata looked up. “Do you think so?”
“Yes, I do,” I lied to her. Apicius gave me a knowing look. We were only prolonging the inevitable, but what were we to do?
She sat up and wiped her eyes. “I hope you are right.”
Apicius helped her straighten her shawl. “It will do you no good to cry, daughter. We won’t know anything until the morrow. I’m sure they are safe. They have locked the doors as a precaution to make sure there are no traitors in Sejanus’s house.”
Apicata seemed to accept this. Her eyes, now dry, hardened. “I want to watch.”
Apicius looked at me. “I think we all do.”
I saw Sotas bob his head from his place along the wall. So many years later, our curse had taken effect. Oh, Minerva! And with consequences we could not have foreseen.
Tycho entered with a small scroll in his hand. “Master,” he said, bowing as he handed it to Apicius.
Apicius unrolled it. “It’s from Trio. They expect that Sejanus will be found guilty. People are already lining up to hear the verdict. He has reserved a place for us to watch at the top of the stairs.” His eyes flickered across the scroll and he smiled. “What great news!”
I knew him too well. There was something else on that scroll. His sudden cheer was unnatural. The scroll must have said something about Apicata’s children, but I didn’t ask. I did not want to know.
? ? ?
Late in the afternoon we headed to the Gemonian stairs, a massive staircase of marble rising from the streets of the Forum up between the Arx—the highest point of the Capitoline Hill—and the temple of Concord and the Tabularium behind it. Traitors to Rome were strangled, then thrown down the stairs, where they would lie for days, usually until the stench became unbearable in the nearby temples. After, they would toss the body into the depths of the Tiber. Sejanus would be thrown down the stairs if convicted, but no one had any doubt of his guilt.