Page 62 of Of Love and Treason
“Look the other way,” Quintus pleaded, limping to his desk and dropping into the chair with a grimace.
“I’m not certain I can. This sort of thing might have slipped through before, but Prefect Heraclianus is a stickler for the law. Not to mention this whole edict is a joint effort between the emperor, augurs, and priests to use the gods to win the war.” Titus leaned a shoulder against the iron door and crossed his arms. “Emperor Claudius Gothicus plans to draft all unmarried men. Don’t you see? What Valentine is doing directly affects the number of soldiers we’ll have and may affect the outcome of the war if other notarii follow suit.”
“Still. You can’t arrest him after what he’s done for Iris.”
“Ican’tarrest him.” Titus stalked to the shelves across the room. “You’ve already done that. And as for lavishing him withgifts, may I remind you that you have nothing, and I can’t retrieve my pay? Between us, we have nothing to offer him.”
“Nothing but his freedom.”
“I’ve already told my trecenarius it was him.” Titus shook his head. “Even if you release him, he’ll still be arrested for questioning as soon as he returns to work.”
Quintus crossed his arms, speaking between gritted teeth. “Then we’ll have to think of something, because you know as well as I do, we willnotmurder the man who healed Iris.”
Titus’s jaw tightened. Quintus was right. He should be grateful that his part in the accident need not continue to eat at him day after day. He heaved a sigh of relent. “If we get caught helping a man guilty of treason, we’ll face the same fate.”
Quintus lifted his chin. “I am in his debt. So be it.”
Titus raked his hands through his hair and cursed. “Easy for you to say, when you’re planning to disappear. I’m grateful to him but I don’t know if I’m ready to throw away my career as a thank-you.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
There was only one option.
Quintus tipped his head toward the ironclad door and chewed the side of his thumb.
Titus yanked open the door, his hobnailed boots screeching against the stone steps as he descended. The sound hurt his teeth.
Valentine sat leaning against the wall, legs straight out before him, head lowered, fingers steepled in his lap. As Titus approached, he looked up.
“Investigator.” He stood with a wary look.
Titus crossed his arms, the lantern light catching the gold ring on his middle finger as it curled over the swell of his bicep. His father’s ring. It bore the image of the Praetorian lioness hunched for attack, surrounded by a wreath of laurels.IXhad been etched into the ring beneath the laurel wreath. The Ninth. His father’s cohort. Titus lifted his fingers; the slight motion caught the light again and illuminated the engraving. If he let Valentine go, he might as well release his dream of being a Praetorian tribune like his father. This was his chance to prove himself. To stomp treason beneath his boot with the single-minded brutality of a guard, loyal to none but the emperor.
Titus sighed and shut his eyes. He was not only loyal to the emperor. “You healed my dearest friend.”
“My God did.”
Titus fought the urge to roll his eyes and gave a curt nod. “As you say.” He lowered his gaze, meeting the calm eyes of the prisoner nearly a full head shorter. “I know what you’ve done, Notarius.” He waited for the usual look of guilty fear, but it did not cross Valentine’s face.
Valentine met his gaze, unflinching. Calling his bluff. “Is that why you’re here?”
Titus shook his head, lips quirking in a wry smile as he scratched the back of his neck. “No.” He gave a huffing laugh. “I’m here because of Iris.” He turned and paced the distance to the stairs and back. Theywere alone. No one would hear this conversation, and even if Quintus overheard, he wouldn’t speak of it. He turned back to Valentine.
“I am grateful that Iris’s sight has been restored.” Titus hesitated and spoke the next words grudgingly. “I cannot in good conscience repay you by bringing you to the Castra Praetoria.” He gritted his teeth. “So I’m offering you time to depart.One day.”
He didn’t elaborate. A notarius would know what he meant. Often, instead of capital punishment, criminals were exiled outside of the empire. It was cheaper and there was that alluring bit of not having to deal with a dead body.
Valentine squinted, a wary look in his eyes, as if waiting for the catch in Titus’s offer.
“My men are already looking for you, Notarius.” Not the truth, but close enough. “If Quintus can find a way to release you, you will not return home or to your job. You will not stop to say goodbye to your family, your friends, your lover. You will leave the city immediately and never return and certainly never work as a notarius again.” Titus lowered his voice and stepped inches from Valentine, who did not shrink back. “If you stay, gods help me, I will do everything in my power to hunt you down and arrest you on charges of treason. Charges punishable by death. Are we clear?”
Valentine gave a single nod.
“Then may your god find a way to get you out of this hellhole.”
Deal made, Titus spun on his heel and marched out of the prison, certain he would regret it.
XXVI
