Chương 50: Chapter 1.50: Cold-Blooded

The first man to beeline toward them from the crowd was someone Favius had been told to expect. Serpens Aurelian Varro, the leader of the radical Constitutionalists, Marcus's closest enemy and ally. The man's robes were the color and sheen of fresh blood. His eyes were unfocused in an unsettling manner. He spread his arms and called out, "Marcus, my old friend." Marcus returned the grin and embraced the man like a long-lost brother.

"Serpens," he said. The other senator smiled.

"I'm glad that you could fit it into your schedule to attend this party, despite the late hour." Marcus inclined his head.

"And I'm glad that you are so enthused to see me that you saw fit to take Valeria's right to greet me as the hostess. Truly, there must be something vital on your mind for you to act with such urgency." The man replied with a lipless grin, which made Favius shudder.

"What can I say? I simply had to step forward after that introduction. I was not aware that Valeria's attendants could be bribed." He gestured at the children.

"After all, to claim all of them are cultivators? At their age?" He snorted. Marcus slapped the man on the shoulder.

"Ah, it is truly sad to see how little time you get to spend on your cultivation. After all, it is plain to any refined sense that I told no lies." The man's eyes narrowed, and Favius winced alongside his sisters as the electricity of the man's aura stung him. An atavistic shiver ran down Favius's spine at the feeling of wet scales touching him all over his body.

"Truly," the senator murmured, stroking his chin.

"All three of them. Well, the traitor you took into your household was a well-regarded talent after all. Still..." His eyes hardened.

"You gallivanting around with the blood brother of General Ahenopugnus is something that has been the cause of many questions recently." Favius observed Marcus's smile. I think that might be the first sincere expression since we entered this building.

"Well, we came to a mutually beneficial arrangement for the sake of our familia. After all, what but the fate of the familia ought to drive a man?"

"Ah yes, your family." The rival senator ran his eyes over the children. He dismissed Urania in an instant, lingered on Caliga, whose shoulders tensed visibly, then remained on Favius. He could see nothing but cold hatred in the man's soul.

"Favius, was it? Tell me, Caliga, how does it feel to suddenly have your inheritance and birthright usurped by a traitor's spawn?" Marcus's expression darkened, and Caliga swallowed. After a moment, she gave the man a toothy grin.

"Oh, it is quite pleasant. It has allowed me to focus on what truly matters, to avoid duties like interacting with unpleasant people out of political necessity." Serpens's laughter was loud and shrill.

"Tell me, Marcus, where in your household did this girl learn to have a spine?" Marcus's face remained expressionless, yet his shoulders betrayed his fury.

"Serpens," he said, his voice carefully neutral. Favius's mind ran over the conversation. Marcus told me to remain quiet, but maybe... no, I know too little. Also, this isn't anything out of the ordinary. He is just probing for weakness.

"Let us get to the core of the matter, Marcus. There was a reason why all the branches so close to the Dictator were carefully pruned. Yet you profited from regrettable necessity. Thus, you profited from the dictatorship." Marcus narrowed his eyes.

"You know well my situation. And the children are young. They will be educated properly, as true Republicans."

"True Republicans?" interjected Serpens with a sharp laugh.

"Indeed," Marcus replied, stepping into his rival's personal space.

"Ones with, as you put it, a spine. Not all among us cultivate meekness as a virtue."

"Meekness?" the man hissed, his mask cracking for the first moment.

"Not all of us were protected from the Tyrant's wrath by familial relations. You would do well to remember that."

"Now, now, boys," a voice interrupted. While Favius noticed the carefully curated diction, the first thing that hit him was the rich floral smell of spirituality. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. He looked over at the woman, and his mouth fell open.

"Aelia," Urania murmured beside him, and Favius had to blink twice. Marcus had told him that his grandmother was an extraordinary woman, but he had thought it was the extraordinariness of a female CEO. Nothing could have been further from the truth. The shifter clans' matriarch appeared like a vision of a fae queen.

Unlike the enchanted robes that marked the elites in the room, her dress was not woven but grown from verdant leaves and flowering vines, heavy with a spirituality that overpowered the plants the owner of the house displayed so proudly. It matched, or even exceeded, the power he had felt near the fig tree in the forest. As his grandmother walked up to join the other two senators, he briefly glanced over her other features. The same orange eagle-owl eyes his siblings had. Sharp taloned hands.

Her bare forearms were covered in fluffy down where a human would have had hair, and her ears were pointed and high, just like those of an owl. Each step was accompanied by sharp clicking noises, sounds like high heels. He glanced at her feet and glimpsed taloned bird-like feet. If Lavira's movements on the day he had come here had been elegant and predatory, this woman moved with the certainty of an eagle approaching a pair of lone lambs. With a final clack of her staff, she came to a stop.

Both Marcus and Serpens inclined their heads deeply.

"Consul," they greeted her in unison. Favius finished his inspection by looking at the items that on any other person would have consumed his entire attention, but on his grandmother seemed like a mere afterthought. The staff. A circlet framing her gray hair. And two heavy bracers. They were made from the same black crystal Brutus had called adamant, but the artistry was incomparable. Gradations of black and blue played into finely detailed scenes of healing and life-giving.

Their endless multitude was only connected by the presence of a woman glowing with undeniable power. Favius ran his tongue around his dry mouth. So this... this is what a mage looks like? Belatedly, he realized that everyone had lowered their heads, and he scrambled to follow their example.

"Grandmother," he murmured. The woman chuckled gently.

"Greetings, children," she said, and Favius wasn't sure if she was only addressing him and his siblings.

"As you were done with your conversation, Marcus, allow me to steal away my grandkids for a moment."

"We weren't done," said Serpens, a hint of iciness returning to his voice. The woman turned her head. The gesture was simultaneously tired, owlish, and menacing.

"Oh? In that case, I may not have been done with your proposals for new regulations on imports with the Collegium of Potters." The man hesitated for a moment, and it broke his until-now near flawless facade.

"You wouldn't." Marcus chuckled grimly.

"Have you taken leave of your senses, Serpens? She has, and would do so again without hesitation." Favius bit his lip as he observed the exchange. He couldn't help but smile as the old woman's eyes, hard as steel yet with a glittering core of mischief, met his. She winked. Warmth welled up in his chest, and he grinned.

"It is nice not to be underestimated, Marcus. And I did so before, yet I believe it is important"—she did not raise her voice, but it suddenly seemed to carry—"to thank you for what you did for my grandchildren." A primal shiver went down Favius's spine. She is threatening an entire room of the most powerful people in this nation by thanking him.

"Now, if that is all. Children, with me." The three of them stepped forward. Suddenly, the kindly mask slipped. She raised a black taloned finger.

"Girl, you will stay with your father. I desire to speak to my grandchildren, not some distant relation."

"But—" Caliga began with her usual ill-considered and near-suicidal level of confidence. Before she could even finish the word, she flinched back two steps as if struck. Favius felt a faint tingling of presence.

"Girl," repeated the old woman, her voice perfectly gentle.

"Favius, Urania, come along."

"Grandmother, I don't mind, but..." He trailed off as Aelia glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. He swallowed hard. I just can't continue to speak when she does that. Holy... He shivered. But Caliga rallied and nodded.

"It's okay. Have fun with your grandmother. I'll..." Her eyes glittered briefly.

"Go find Brutus and begin our project." The senators reacted with various degrees of curiosity and suspicion, but Caliga scrambled away before anyone could ask questions. Favius and Urania fell in on both sides of their grandmother, and she brushed her hands gently over their shoulders. She led them through the hall, the crowd parting before the woman with reverential haste.

"Now," she said, her voice casual, yet Favius understood her intent immediately. This is for our audience. I need to act along.

"Cultor Bellator and Cultor Mentis." Her head swiveled from side to side, assessing each of them while twisting her neck unnaturally beyond ninety degrees.

"One decent bodily insight. But your mental insight..." She paused, her eyes lingering on Urania, but the tension in her hand making it clear she also addressed Favius.

"It's much stranger. And genuinely powerful. I never would have thought Ovinius Kestrelo capable of training someone onto that particular path."

"How?" Favius asked with narrowed eyes.

"How did you know that?"

"Oh, for a Vitaii of my power, sensing the truths of anyone's body is rather trivial." Favius missed a step and stumbled. Physiological awareness. His mind raced ahead, towards the inevitable conclusion. Oh fuck. Oh fuck. This means she... she's a walking, talking lie detector. Or can she also read thou— He slammed down on the train of thought and tried to think without thinking while his grandmother looked at him with a raised eyebrow.