Secrets of the Dead

The slave shrugs. ‘Whatever it is, it’s still happening.’

It isn’t far to Constantine’s room, but the slave doesn’t take me there. Instead, we go down a flight of stairs to where Fausta’s children sleep. The door’s open, and the guards outside have drawn swords. I glance at them as I enter, and though I’ve stood on more battlefields than I can count, I shiver. Is this about me?

One look at the room says it’s much worse than that. Constantine, Crispus and Fausta are all there, together with Fausta’s three sons, a dozen guards and various slaves. Claudius, the eldest son, has a blanket around his shoulders. It hangs open, revealing blood that’s run down his neck and drenched his tunic. He looks as though he had his throat slit a second before I walked in and hasn’t realised it yet: he’s still standing up, pale but unassisted, a walking corpse. Fausta stands next to him, ready to catch him if he falls. Her nightdress is smeared with blood, though I think it must be her son’s. The two other boys cower behind her, wrapped in their bedclothes. Constantine stands opposite, flanked by guards, while Crispus waits in between. There’s blood on his hands.

Constantine looks at me. With all the confusion and blood, it’s the weariness in his face that makes me realise how serious this is.

‘Can I rely on you?’

‘Always.’

‘Search Crispus’s apartments. Anything you find, bring it to me here.’

Fausta’s face is hard, her dark eyes alive with passion. ‘How do you know Valerius wasn’t part of this?’

‘I trust him.’

‘I don’t. Send Junius with him.’

Junius is a smug, heavy-lipped courtier who never smiles except in a mirror. One of Fausta’s favourites. He accompanies me back up the stairs to Crispus’s room. I still don’t know what’s happening, but I’m starting to put the pieces together. A boy with a wound and a man with bloody hands. We haven’t come to look for proof of Crispus’s innocence.

Crispus’s room is neat and spare; it doesn’t take long to search. The bed’s been slept in, with the covers still thrown back from when he got up. Yesterday’s clothes have been folded and put away; tomorrow’s are set out on a chest. A sheaf of papers sits on a desk where he was working before he went to bed. He’s always been diligent.

Junius makes straight for the papers. I get down on my knees and look under the bed. The lamplight doesn’t reach: I flap my arm about in the darkness. There’s a pair of boots, a few rags that have fallen out of the mattress – and a slim tube that feels like cold lead when I put my hand on it.

Junius sees me slide it out and pounces. ‘Let me have that.’ I fend him off with one arm, like two hounds scrapping over a bone. I remember what Fausta called me yesterday: Constantine’s faithful hunting dog. This is what happens when terror gets loose in the palace.

It’s a thinly beaten sheet of lead that’s been rolled into a scroll, like papyrus. A gold pin has been hammered through the soft metal to fasten it. The moment I see it, I recognise it for the terrible thing it is.

Despair makes me falter. Junius snatches the lead from of my hands, pulls out the pin and reads greedily. He licks his lips.

‘Wait until the Augustus sees this.’ He can’t hide his glee; he’s already imagining the promotion he’ll get. I’d like to hit him, hard enough to break his neck, but that would be a mistake. There’s blood in the palace and the wolves are hunting. The only way to survive is to keep perfectly still.

Downstairs in the boys’ bedroom, nothing’s changed. Junius presents the scroll to Constantine, who shies away from it like poison. He beckons a slave to hold it up so he can read it.

‘We found it under the Caesar’s bed,’ Junius says.

‘There was nothing under my bed except my boots.’ Crispus stares at me, imploring me to support him. There’s nothing I can say. Except – in the pause while Constantine mumbles the tablet to himself – ‘What happened?’

Fausta answers. ‘I’d come down to check on my children when the Caesar’ – she points to Crispus – ‘burst in. He had a knife in his hand; he was wild. When he saw me, he told me that the army had deserted the Augustus, that my husband would be dead before dawn. I could join him, or my children and I would die.’

Half the men in the room – those who owe their position to Fausta – let loose with shock, outrage. The other half stay silent.

‘It’s a lie,’ says Crispus. He’s looking at his father, but Constantine won’t meet his gaze. Neither will I. I’m staring at his bare feet, wondering what sort of conspirator tries to seize the empire and leaves his boots under the bed.

‘Of course, I could see he was lying.’ Fausta bores on with remorseless intensity. ‘He didn’t expect me to be there. He’d come to kill his brothers, so there would be no rivals when he killed the Augustus. I told him so; he flew at Claudius in a rage and tried to cut his throat. Thank God the guards came in time.’

Crispus shakes his head slowly, like a man trapped under a heavy yoke. ‘She came to my room and told me my brother Claudius had hurt himself. I went with her straight away and saw his ear was bleeding. Before I could do anything, her guards had wrestled me to the floor.’

He stares around the room, defying us to disbelieve him. There must be two dozen people, and not one of us will meet his gaze. No one except Fausta, who eyes him with the clear-eyed venom of a serpent.

Constantine looks up at me. ‘Have you read it?’

The slave turns, so I can see the words scratched on to the black metal.

To the great god Nemesis, I Crispus Caesar curse my father Constantine Augustus and give him into your power. Drive him to his death, allow him neither health nor sleep nor happiness until the empire is mine.

It’s a curse tablet – the sort of thing jilted lovers and burgled shopkeepers throw down wells to invoke the gods