We parked in the usual place, outside the park. A crowd gathered by the gate. I noticed Berti and the Remus pushing out ahead of them. My mentor and I had never gotten along, never found that connection that she had with Hayley. But for some inexplicable reason, the sight of her now signaled something to me—that we were finally out of danger. It was the first time seeing Berti had ever come with a sense of relief, instead of adding to my stress.
That moment when I wasn’t at odds with her made me think of what she’d taught me. To question everything, to avoid making assumptions, to think critically. I hadn’t even realized how much it was, until then. I’d been so focused on what she hadn’t given me. Maybe I should’ve been more grateful for what she had. And just like that, I gave myself permission to ask an uncomfortable question.
As Tony climbed out of the car, I moved to intercept him, letting everyone else go on ahead. “Do you really think the House of Aeneas doesn’t want conflict?” I asked, keeping my voice low so no one would overhear.
He hesitated. “I want to believe that Luca was telling the truth. Societies and cultures can change. But if you’re asking me what to expect from a culture that glorifies their founder...You often read about Aeneas at the head of an army.”
That was all we had time for without someone noticing that we’d fallen behind. It wasn’t auspicious, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it yet. So Tony and I joined the others.
Berti awkwardly patted me on the back. And the Remus actually hugged me. Naturally, I froze from total incomprehension, and slight discomfort.
“You all must rest, before we talk,” the Remus said.
We gratefully took him up on that offer. Everything weighed on me so heavily, I didn’t know if I could do any more.
That night, I dreamed I was back in the bloody room at Tivoli, but this time I was responsible for the blood, standing over the sentry’s body with a knife. Alcides was cowering in a corner and crying.
I WOKE UP EXHAUSTED, with a sheen of sweat dampening my skin. The knowledge that I’d bought my safety with someone’s life, that his son had seen the body, bloomed into a full realization I’d been too tired to feel the day before. I stumbled into the shower and tried to imagine the guilt washing away with the water. Tried to lock away the emotions for after, assuming there was an end to all this.
By the time I readied myself to leave, I’d almost put it out of my mind. Making it to the door, my muscles weak and shaky, I left the room—only to find Luca heading my way down the hall.
He caught sight of me and stopped. “Hey,” he said, uncertainly.
“Hey,” I replied. No more assured than he was.
“Can we talk?”
I nodded. “Sure.” Gesturing for him to come in, I returned to my room
He seated himself on the couch, and I hopped onto the bed. Then followed an awkward silence.
“I’m trying to think my way out of this,” Luca said. “There has to be some middle ground between staying as we are, with the disaster you described earlier looming over us, and setting us up for conflict.”
“Okay,” I said. “But we need to be clear on our ultimate goals, here. Collaboration between Italian cities would enable us to protect more ground. I like that idea. I don’t like legends feeling excluded—but do any of you even want to be included?”
He hesitated. “I do get the argument for collaboration. I don’t like it that it has to happen, but I see why things have to change. I don’t know how it can happen without damaging my society, though, and I can’t allow that.”
I knew what the right thing to do for us, for humans in Italy, was. I knew what the right thing for my family was. How was I supposed to turn that into a win that didn’t hurt Luca’s family?
Mom wouldn’t be any help. Everyone can’t always win, she’d say. We have to protect our own.
It’s not a zero-sum game, dad would say. A community can be big or small, homogenized or diverse, as long as the people in it agree they all belong to it. There was an idea in there, somewhere.
The right path is usually the hardest one, Tommy would say. Changing hearts and minds? That’s hard. But hard isn’t the same as impossible.
“What’s wrong with being like the House of Remus?” I asked. “Joining in?”
Luca didn’t answer for an uncomfortably long moment, something in his eyes growing distant. “And hand over our independence to another governing body?”
Okay, that was clearly a non-starter. “So, let me get this straight. Human communities need to secure and expand their farmlands in order to keep up enough food production to survive. And legends are...threatened by this? Even just the bare minimum we need to live?”
A long sigh escaped from Luca. “We don’t know what your bare minimum is, Jordan. And there’s no reason to think you won’t push for whatever you think you can get away with—every side is looking for their own advantage. Right now, the balance of power is tilted slightly in our favor. If Rome gets more land, if Romans develop superior technology, and especially if multiple independent Italian communities unify under a more centralized authority—all of these things are a drawback for us. And we will move to cut them off, because we won’t allow it to get to the point where we have to rely on your goodwill to not take advantage of us. Goodwill always runs out. Maybe not for individual people, but for societies? Always.”
I racked my brain for another angle. “So if our society gains resources and control, you want your society to gain those things at the same time?”
A pause. “That would be an acceptable comprise,” he said, carefully. “I’d like something like that, personally. But to be clear, equality is a threat, too. It just distributes the danger fairly.”
I stared at him, trying to understand what he’d just told me. “Did the words ‘equality is a threat’ actually just leave your mouth?”
“Why is it so hard to achieve?” Luca challenged. “Tell me you wouldn’t prefer it if Rome gained enough strength that you’d never need to worry about your legend neighbors. Tell me that wouldn’t make you feel safe.”
I couldn’t. The idea of never having to fear someone like the Hercules, never having to wonder if any of our neighbors would turn on us, because we had the power—it appealed. I couldn’t deny the yearning for it, for that security, now that I thought about it.
“That safety would come at the expense of our safety,” Luca continued. “But to you, it’s the superior option. To us, having the power to do what we wanted regardless of human communities is the superior option. Equality is a check on all of our power. Like I said, I want it, because it’s the most fair for everyone. But most people want what’s best for themselves.”
Maybe. Unless there was a worse option, for everyone. “Food security is not an isolated problem. If we experience a shortage, we will get desperate—and it’ll destabilize the entire region. Legends aren’t any more immune to legimal encroachment than we are. Maybe we’re feeling it before you, or maybe we’re catching onto the problem first. But things are getting worse, and eventually, it will affect you, too.”
His eyes regarded me thoughtfully. “You’re framing it as a choice between working to keep a balance of power, or sabotaging Rome’s efforts—and assuring a mutual destruction.”
“You came here because you didn’t know what was happening. Now you do. Even if you don’t want to be a part of it, like the Remus, you have diplomatic options here. You can open up negotiations for the sharing of technology, or the use of land. Hell, you can partition what lands which society can attempt to reclaim, if territory bothers you. Treaties, alliances...maybe even some sort of council that lets all the local communities discuss and draw up agreements together.”
There was a moment of silence, as he sat there with furrowed eyebrows. What must have been going through his mind, I couldn’t imagine. He’d brought up things I’d never considered, things I didn’t want to consider, and I had no idea what he would throw at me next. But there was this growin
g glimmer of interest behind his eyes, an animation that gave me the slightest spark of hope. He raised his head.
“You’re right,” he said, almost as if he were surprised at himself. “The House of Hercules didn’t have to jump right to assassination. If some kind of reclamation is necessary after all, then maybe all of us should be communicating better. And if regional food security is at risk, that’s everybody’s problem.” He brightened. “That could be enough to convince my House that we have to cooperate. And then we could ask the House of Numa to set something up—negotiations are their thing.”
Well, that was a relief, that there was at least a possibility of future compromise. Not that it wouldn’t come with all sorts of hurdles I didn’t want to think about, right now.
“Hey,” Luca said, with a sudden nervousness. “That woman we met, from the House of Aeneas?”
Oh, I remembered her. The bizarre woman who wanted to know what kind of sandwiches we were eating for lunch.
From the House of Aeneas. From Luca’s House. Oh hell, why hadn’t I put it together sooner? She would’ve known the entire time that he was a spy, which did a lot to explain her suspicious behavior. Suspicious behavior that I’d completely misread.
“Well,” he continued, a bit hesitantly. “She’s my sister.”
I blinked. “She’s what?”
“My older sister. Julia meant well, but she’s a little...forward.”
I thought back on that conversation. “She thought we were dating.”
“She can be a bit presumptuous, sometimes,” Luca replied.
Honestly, this situation was getting ridiculous. Not only was I dealing with a brewing escalation in the local politics, and a potential partner with a conflict of interest, but now he had wacky relatives popping up out of nowhere. “You are so lucky my family’s on a different continent. Because I could easily win on the unsettling relatives front.”
“About that,” Luca said, with an embarrassed smile. I regarded him with wariness. “If we’re dealing with the House of Hercules, we need allies. And my House is a good option.”
Right. Because he was objective. I folded my arms and raised my eyebrows. The message I wanted to send him was pretty clear: explain yourself.
“We’re sensible,” he said, his voice growing more confident as he laid out his reasoning. “We like people. And we don’t have any kind of vendetta against Rome or the Remus. We’re natural enemies with the House of Hercules. Aeneas and Hercules fought on opposite sides of the Trojan War.”
Seriously? He was bringing up literal ancient history that may or may not have actually happened? Legends were weird. “Luca, none of this is enough to convince me they want to mess with a House that’s dealing with a problem you cared enough about to spy over.”
He clenched his jaw. “I’m explaining this badly. Look, Aeneas left Troy when it fell. He was perfectly willing to become immersed in the Carthaginian society. And then he left again, to go to Italy, and immersed himself and his people into another society. We’re good with starting over and changing. As long as we protect our people and play to our strengths along the way. And this will do it. We can recognize a lost cause, and if the food supply isn’t protected, our current lifestyle is a lost cause. If change is going to be necessary, we need to be on the side of it that’s advantageous to us. And that’s your side. If I can see that, so can they.”
I studied him. “You really believe that, don’t you?”
“Yes,” he said, softly but firmly.
And now I had to decide if I believed it. Having allies would be advantageous, but approaching the wrong people could be disastrous. As we’d all struck up a partnership of sorts, trust was a key issue. We had to trust Luca if we were going to work with him. I hesitated a moment, but I knew what I had to say. “How would you go about convincing them?”
He let out a breath of air in relief—which was premature, as I hadn’t said yes yet. “I won’t. I need to contact my sister.”
“Please tell me you have another sister.”
Amusement flickered behind his eyes. “I have lots of other sisters. We’re raised communally, so we’re all siblings. Genetically, Julia is my half-sister. But in this case, I’m talking about her, yes. She’s not usually that bad. She’s an influential figure in the House, with a reputation for being reasonable.”
“Reasonable?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, incredulous at the description. But hey, sometimes people were odd about family.
“Like I said, she’s usually not that bad. She just doesn’t get to see me often anymore, since I live in Rome.”
Alright, Julia was his sister. Maybe that meant he’d known her long enough to know if she’d react favorably to an alliance like this, but I wasn’t so sure. There was no telling with younger siblings. Or siblings of any kind.
But if I never took any chances, I wouldn’t get anywhere. And if I couldn’t trust Luca, we might as well stop now. He knew his family best, after all.
“Okay,” I said. “But you run this by everyone first. We all agree, or we don’t take the risk.”
“No problem,” he said, with a lightness that made me wonder if he was taking my request seriously. Noticing my skepticism, he explained. “You know they’ll all be fine with it if you said it’s okay.”
Uh, why? “I don’t know anything of the sort.”
“Jordan, come on. You’ve taken charge the whole time I’ve been working for Berti. You got us away from the chimera. You insisted on collecting the evidence that we needed to solve the mystery of who’d done this. And you planned a successful escape from the stronghold of a particularly strong House, without getting you or Tony so much as scratched. They trust you. The only reason they accepted me as a legend so quickly was because you okayed it first.”
“I don’t remember okaying anything,” I grumbled.
“You walked up to them right next to me, and made it perfectly clear you knew what I was about to say. You acted like I still belonged and they followed your lead.”
Well, that did explain why they were so accepting. I was expecting a little more fuss, personally. They shouldn’t put that much trust in me. But in this particular case, I disagreed with Luca. My team would catch any problems with this plan, and they wouldn’t let them go just because I did. Listening to us argue even once really should have proven that to him.
“You’re still running it by them. If any of them hesitates, I want to talk out the problem before we do anything.”
He nodded. “Absolutely. I agree. I want everyone to be on the same page, too.”
Good. Then that was settled, and we had to hope for the best.
We would deal with the fallout when we came to it.
Chapter Seventeen
A FEW DAYS LATER, WE had a meeting with Luca’s sister. It went without saying that Luca and I would go, but I hadn’t been expecting the entourage I ended up with. Yet Hayley insisted our excursion was safe enough for her to tag along. Carter, oblivious to danger as usual, jumped at the opening to invite himself as well.
Tony waffled on whether or not to come. Recent experiences had made him cynical, and uncharacteristically cautious about meeting with legends. In the end, he decided to join us at the last minute, just as we were about to head out without him. This earned him various expressions of disbelief from each of us.
“Shut up,” he said, even though no one had said a thing. “I just don’t want to be responsible for saving you guys when it all goes to shit.”
We took off on foot, lest Berti notice a missing vehicle. Past the Circus Maximus, past the ruins of the Baths of Caracalla—an emperor of Rome assassinated by his own guard. I was afraid the whole time that someone would stop us, question where we were going. The open, deserted roads in front of the baths, where anyone passing through could spot us, were the most nerve-wracking.
But this wasn’t Tivoli, and the Remus wasn’t the Hercules. Much like we’d done when we’d gone for coffee and encountered a flood, we simply le
ft. And no one paid the slightest mind.
Next we reached a more secluded road, bordered by walls and trees. The thud of our footsteps against the cobblestones announced our presence as we went. I briefly worried about the House of Hercules, remembering all those moments they’d watched us without our knowledge. But that was ridiculous. They weren’t here, because they had bigger problems than us, now.
No, the only threat here today, was the one we’d invited.
A gated opening in one of the walls led us to a set of steps, opening onto a small park. Julia, dressed in a flowing white dress more appropriate for a different kind of secret rendezvous, was there to meet us. She gave us a friendly wave from her perch on a bench. As the rest of us made ourselves comfortable, I noted that no one—not even Luca—moved to share the seat with her.
Luca proceeded with introductions.
“Nice to meet you all,” Julia said, with a dignified gravity that fell away as soon as she turned to me. “And good to see you again, Jordan. I was hoping to talk more to the girl who’s dating my little brother.”
Well, look at how fun this was already. Maybe we could have had a telephone conference instead. Why hadn’t I thought of that sooner?
“But that’s enough for the chitchat,” Julia continued, sitting back. “Time for adult talk. Lucius, go hang out somewhere else.”
Whoa. Hayley and I looked at each other with disbelief.
Luca bristled. “This is a plan I have a vested interest in.”
“I understand exactly where you stand,” Julia responded, with a quiet authority. “Which is why I don’t require you here. I want to know where your—companions, let’s call them—stand.”
Luca continued to sit where he was, stubbornly crossing his arms. I was okay with that. His sister’s idea made sense from her perspective, but I definitely felt more comfortable having Luca where he could object if anything untoward happened.
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