Daughter of the Sea

by Mira Zamin

Avaritus was pleased with the progression of his plans. His eyes swept over the property appreciatively: the immense grounds, the neatly manicured gardens, the bubbling fountains, the graceful statuary. Then, there was the additional property coming to him by way of his patrician future wife—a villa in Rome, a villa in Capri, vineyards in Greece, estates in the Roman countryside, and the occasional, patrician-appropriate business investment. All of this would be his and no one would recall that another man had ever governed here. It was a gamble, certainly, but for a man with nothing and with so much to gain, it was one worth taking.

  And then there was the thrill of the kill.

  Raising his chalice, Avaritus drank deeply to his future.