Page 48 of Trial of Bronze and Blood
“Thank you. Sabina helped.”
Marcus heads in their direction, visibly uncomfortable.Better get this out quick.“The Tredici woman in the middle—she said something when she blessed me.”
Cato cocks his head. “The high priestess? What did she say?”
“La morte affligge i coraggiosi. And she knew my name. My full name.”
Cato stiffens. “It means: ‘Death plagues the brave.’”
She considers this. “My being in this temple—or in Anziano—isn’t particularly brave. No more so than anyone else.”
Cato brushes his jaw in thought. “The Tredici are known to be clairvoyant when the mood strikes them. It’s possible she told you of something that has yet to happen.”
Sure they are.“But how did she know my full name?”
“That, I do not know.”
With Marcus in earshot, she lets it go; he doesn’t need to know about this, no matter how little she herself believes in it.
Marcus looks not at her as he approaches, but at the older woman poised between two of Cato’s guards. Her hair is a shock of white, a dark blue dress hanging on her thin frame. Still, she bears a shocking resemblance to Cato.
She puts out her hand, and Marcus kisses her palm.
“Regina Vedova Alessandra.”
“My mother,” Cato helpfully supplies to Dru. “Dowager Queen of Anziano.”
“Marcus,” she breathes softly, as if she doesn’t have enough air inside her chest to do more than that.
“If she’s your mother, why haven’t I seen her at the palace?” Dru asks.
“She hasn’t lived there since my father died. She can’t bear to be in that place when he is not. Instead, she’s taken up residence in this temple.”
Dru swallows and regards the regina vedova.
Alessandra speaks first. “You must be Drusilla, the woman my son found to train him for the Valorem Blood Trials.”
Dru nods. “I am. You have a wonderful son. Stubborn, but level-headed.”
“Like Father,” Cato murmurs low enough his mother can’t hear, sorrow choking his words.
She fails to hide her tired smile. “You’re just as Marcus described you.”
Dru’s attention shifts to Marcus, who looks away and clears his throat. “We should leave—we don’t want to linger too long after that display.”
Alessandra laughs softly. “Yes, it was quite something.”
“Are the Tredici normally so…” Dru trails off.
“Naked?” Mischief sparks in Alessandra’s deep golden eyes—Cato must inherit his blue eyes from his father. “No, they did that especially for the Imperium. If they want to paint us as savages and pit us against each other for sport, we shall show them savagery.”
Cato clicks his tongue. “Let’s not get carried away, Mother.”
“Even in death, I love your father. But he was wrong to agree to this.” Her shoulders curl in. “Once you let the Imperium in, they never leave.”
“I know,” Cato agrees. “I’m doing all I can.”
“Let’s get moving,” Marcus insists after a moment, nodding toward the gaping entrance to the temple.
