Joannina said Antonina had, as in the past, supplied Theodora with potions and cosmetics. She could have sent something poisoned. Equally Gaius could have been responsible by accident by making a mistake in what he prescribed.”
He sat down again and thought for a while. “Anyone on the palace grounds could make a potion if they had the knowledge. Anyone could steal the ingredients from the gardens. I could have been responsible, given Hypatia is knowledgeable about herbs.”
A thought struck him. Cornelia! She has a hasty temper, and she knew how much Theodora hated him. Surely not. She had left the city shortly after Theodora’s death. Where was she? Why hadn’t John heard from her?
These thoughts he kept to himself, unwilling to share them even with Zoe.
Obviously he had drunk too much.
He took another large gulp of wine and forced his thoughts away from Cornelia.
“Poison might be introduced by bribing a servant,” he continued, aware now of the slight slurring in his words. “So let us consider matters from that angle. Take Vesta. Devoted to her mistress and determined to see her marry that feckless boy Anastasius. Furthermore, she is being taught to make various preparations by Antonina. Has she learnt to make those that are harmful? She lives on the palace grounds and can easily obtain the necessary ingredients. Then too Theodora’s lady-in-waiting Kuria said Vesta always brought a gift of fruit for the empress.”
John frowned. “I suppose it would be possible to poison fruit even if Gaius thinks it unlikely, but then Kuria said she and Vesta ate it. She could be lying.”
But why would Vesta wish to poison the empress when her mistress’ marriage depended on Theodora’s continued existence?
“A good question, Zoe,” John remarked. “But let us leave it for now and proceed to examine Kuria, also constantly in attendance on Theodora in those final days. Kuria seems unlikely, don’t you think? The only protection between her and a life on the streets was retaining her post as a lady-in-waiting to Theodora. And why is Felix behaving in such an odd fashion? What is he hiding? Anatolius has already lied to me. Is there anyone I can trust?”
He laughed softly. “Why, I am even suspecting Cornelia when it is clear Theodora was not murdered in the first place. That is merely Justinian’s fancy. Why not suspect everyone of the crime that didn’t happen? Is there anyone in the city that didn’t want the empress dead? No crime and endless suspects!”
He looked over at Zoe. Her sad expression seemed to say he ought to talk to Felix again. Soon and at length. Even though he is your brother in Mithra and a close friend, he appears to be avoiding you.
“I must speak with Felix,” John agreed, draining his wine cup. “It’s almost the middle of the night so I should be able to catch him at home. And tomorrow I will question Vesta further. And Kuria too. Vesta said she was with the empress more than anyone. Yes, Kuria might have valuable information. First, though, I will go to see Felix.”
***
Kuria woke screaming, lying on her back in darkness. She smelled blood and ashes.
Where was she? Was she blind?
The nightmares that had driven her from the refuge of unconsciousness bled into the nightmare that had preceded what she had been certain would be her death.
She gasped at the searing pain as she rolled onto her side. Her body might have been filled with hot coals. It felt as if a spike had been driven into her temple.
Her groping hands stirred ashes. She choked, coughed, spit out a piece of tooth.
Maybe she had died. This was the underworld. Hell. A fitting final destination for a whore.
Why had the beggar insisted on beating her?
She had accommodated enough men she didn’t want. That was nothing, really, if only he had not been so brutal. Had not been like a demon.
Well, at least she had stabbed him with her brooch more than once before she passed out. She hoped the pin had hit him in the eye.
Had she? Had he blinded her in return?
She could feel her fine green stola was in shreds and almost ripped off. Oddly, as far as she could tell in her sightless state, her assailant had not taken any of her necklaces, bracelets, or rings.
She rolled onto her stomach with agonizingly slowness, whimpering in pain, hearing the rustle of ash beneath her.
Her bones did not seem broken. She pulled herself around until, suddenly, she was facing a glimmer of light.
She could still see.
She lowered her face and sobbed. “Thank God. Thank God.”
Never had she been so devout while at Madam Isis’ refuge.
She began to crawl toward the light.
A doorway, she realized, opening into the night. Opening onto the Mese, she remembered.
So she was not blind, not in hell.
“Thank God, thank God,” she muttered again.
She crawled straight into the arms of the waiting demon.
Chapter Forty-six
Felix lived close to the Chalke Gate, not far from the main barracks where most of the Great Palace’s excubitors and silentiaries were billeted. John was well-known at the house, so though he came calling in the small hours of the night he was immediately admitted.
Felix appeared from the darkness of a hallway, resembling a shade in his rumpled white tunic, running his hands through disordered hair and tugging at his wild beard, as disheveled as if he’d been fighting battles in his sleep.
“Trouble?” he growled.
“That’s what I wanted to ask you.”
Felix made a grunt of displeasure. “You could have asked me at a civilized hour.”
“Except lately you always seem to be hurrying off somewhere,” John replied. “And when you aren’t rushing away you’re hard to find. Your absence from the mithraeum has been noted.”
“I’ve been kept busy. Ever since Theodora’s illness worsened Justinian has been nervous. With good reason, if you ask me. When change is in the wind traitors are most likely to take their chance and strike.”
The men’s voices sounded hollow, lost in the dimly lit marble atrium. Felix did not invite John into a more hospitable part of the house but walked over to the impluvium and sat on the basin’s wide rim. The water caught a faint reflection from the single wall torch and cast it up onto the excubitor captain’s haggard face. John remained standing.
“I’m sorry, John. I need to be up early tomorrow, and I’m exhausted. I can’t spare much time now unless it’s urgent.”
“You don’t consider finding Theodora’s murderer urgent?”
“In my opinion Justinian has you chasing a phantom of his own disordered mind.”
“And are your excubitors chasing the phantom also?”
“No. We have enough to do without-”
“You haven’t been investigating the supposed murder behind my back?”
“No. Why would I?”
“You keep asking the questions I want to ask, Felix.”
“What makes you think I’ve been wasting my time on your investigation?”
“Your excubitors searched the room of Joannina’s lady-in-waiting and found supposedly incriminating evidence. I’ve just rescued the unfortunate child from the hands of the torturers.”
“Oh, that. I heard something about it.”
