Chapter 80: Livia of Massilia

By the time Titus moored the galley against the docks of the capital’s industrial quarter, Valeria was astonished.

She stood on the deck, taking in the Forge Master’s domain. Chimneys pierced the sky, billowing plumes of steam and smoke. It was alien to the halls she had grown up in.

Titus tossed a mooring rope to a dockworker, turning back to point a finger at Valeria.

"Listen to me carefully," Titus warned, his voice tight. "I am going to register my cargo with the port authorities and try to secure a sulfur contract. You stay right here by the gangplank. Do not wander into the city. Do not speak to the guards. Do not do anything that draws attention to the fact that I smuggled a Governor’s daughter into a rebel stronghold."

Valeria offered a wave of her hand. "I understand, Titus. We have rehearsed this for three weeks."

Titus grunted, unconvinced by her attitude, before turning and marching off down the pier.

The moment Titus vanished into the crowd, Argus the peacock decided he had endured enough of his basket.

Using his beak, the bird popped the latch and shoved the lid off.

He fluttered up onto the railing of the galley, fanning his tail feathers and letting out a screech that echoed over the clatter of the docks.

"Argus, no!" Valeria hissed, reaching for the bird. "Get back here!"

Argus ignored her. He took a look at the pier and launched himself off the railing, fluttering over the heads of the dockworkers and landing on the roof of a pavilion.

Valeria groaned in frustration. Grabbing her cloak, she hoisted her skirts and marched down the gangplank, intending to drag the bird back to the ship before Titus returned.

High above the docks, standing on the balcony of the praetorium, Lucius was taking a reprieve from his drafting tables.

He was staring out over the harbor, calculating the required tonnage for the glass shipments, when a flash of blue caught his eye.

Lucius leaned forward against the balustrade, squinting into the morning light.

Sitting atop the roof of the pavilion was a creature that did not belong in the heart of Gaul.

"An Indian peafowl?" Lucius muttered, his brow furrowing in bewilderment.

He had seen peacocks in his past life, wandering the lawns of corporate retreats, but in the third century, they were rare pets imported for the highest echelons of the Roman aristocracy.

For one to be wandering loose on his docks meant a patrician had sailed into his capital!

Lucius turned away from the balcony, grabbing his spatha from his desk and buckling it to his hip.

He didn’t bother summoning a *Custodes* escort. He threw a cloak over his shoulders and descended the stairwells, making his way down toward the riverfront.

When Lucius arrived at the docks, he spotted the peacock perched on the pavilion roof. Standing below the bird, looking exasperated, was a young woman.

She was dressed in a traveler’s cloak, but the moment Lucius looked at her, he recognized the posture of nobility.

Her hair was pinned up in an aristocratic style, and her skin was unweathered by the winter.

Lucius watched as the young woman shook a handful of dates at the bird.

"Argus, I swear by Jupiter, if you do not come down here right now, I will leave you to the harbor gulls!" Valeria shouted, her voice ringing with the cadence of patrician education.

Argus tilted his head, let out a squawk, and refused to move.

Lucius chuckled as he stepped out from the shadows of a warehouse, approaching the noblewoman.

"I have found that bribery rarely works on creatures imported from the east," Lucius remarked, stopping a few paces away. "They tend to possess an inflated sense of their own diplomatic immunity."

Valeria spun around. She had been focused on the bird she hadn’t heard the man approach.

She took a look at the stranger.

He was tall, dressed in a tunic, but he carried a sword at his hip.

His hands were calloused and stained with charcoal, yet his posture radiated an authority that made her stand up straighter.

Valeria forced a smile, remembering the cover story she had practiced in the galley cabin.

"The bird is stubborn, but he is my companion," Valeria said. She offered a nod. "I am Livia of Massilia. My family trades in olive oil, and I have traveled north to establish contracts with the merchants of this city."

Lucius stared at her for a moment. His mind dissected the lie.

She claimed to be a merchant’s daughter from Massilia, yet she possessed a peacock worth a hundred pounds of silver, and her Latin carried the educated accent of the senatorial elite, not the dialect of coastal traders...

Lucius recognized that she was a patrician in hiding, fleeing a political scandal in the south.

The intrigue of a runaway noblewoman held no interest for the Forge Master.

"Well, Livia of Massilia," Lucius replied. "I wish you luck with your olive oil contracts. The merchants’ guild is located three streets down from the central forum."

Valeria blinked, thrown off balance.

She had spent her life surrounded by men who tripped over themselves to flatter her intellect or her beauty.

Yet this stranger had assessed her, found her lacking in value, and was preparing to walk away.

It was insulting... And intriguing!

Before Lucius could turn his back on her, Argus let out a screech and fluttered down from the roof, landing between them.

The peacock puffed its chest and pecked at the hem of Lucius’s cloak.

Lucius looked down at the bird, amused despite his desire to leave. "Your companion is bold."

Valeria stepped forward, seizing the opening. "He is an excellent judge of character. Perhaps he recognizes a man of influence. You possess authority in this city. Tell me, do you know if it is possible to secure an audience with the Forge Master?"

Lucius paused, looking back up at the young woman. "The Forge Master is not accepting diplomatic audiences, especially not for olive oil contracts. His schedule is consumed by the industrialization of the province."

Valeria lifted her chin. "That is why I must speak with him. I have read the scrolls of Archimedes and the engineering treatises of Vitruvius. I have seen the plows churning the fields on my journey up the Rhone. Whoever this Lucius Cassius is, he is applying mechanics to agriculture on a scale the Senate cannot comprehend. I wish to understand his mind."

For the first time in the conversation, Lucius was surprised.

A patrician woman who not only recognized industrial mechanization but wanted to discuss the physics behind it?

Lucius offered a smile. He decided not to reveal his identity.

"You possess a sharp mind for an olive merchant, Livia," Lucius noted, his tone shifting back to curiosity. "If you are interested, I suppose I could arrange a tour of the praetorium’s drafting halls. Come with me. We can discuss Archimedes over a meal."

Valeria’s eyes lit up with excitement. She had talked her way into the heart of the rebel stronghold.

She accepted the invitation, falling into step beside Lucius as he led her away from the docks, leaving Argus to waddle behind them.

Valeria was oblivious to the fact that she had abandoned Titus at the harbor. She was oblivious to the fact that she was walking side-by-side with the warlord she had sailed across the Mediterranean to find.

As they ascended toward the praetorium, she had no idea she was about to be thrown into the orbit of Lucius Cassius and his Gothic queen.