Pile of Bones by Bailey Cunningham Page A

watch appear at an empty house? It seemed improbable that someone as busy as the aedile would send a group of miles to recover jewelry. And if it was destined for the basilissa, what need would he have to intercept it?
    It did light up. And the salamander knew that they were coming. Why would she tell the gnomo that I had a dangerous talent?
    Morgan took this as her cue to rejoin the conversation. She walked over to their couch and stood in front of Babieca, as if to bodily prevent his words from reaching the domina.
    “We were hired to test the veracity of an item—something on its way to the basilissa. Roldan, as you’ve seen, has a way with lares, so he provided the proof.”
    “What sort of item?”
    “A fibula.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “Someone hired an auditor to test a brooch? That seems like a waste of a surreal conversation with invisible creatures.”
    I’m not an auditor—
    He didn’t say it this time. It was pleasing to be mistaken for one.
    “Deadly things can come in small packages,” Babieca said. “It practically caught on fire when Roldan touched it.”
    “We got it from an artifex,” Morgan continued. “She told us to deliver it to a friend of the basilissa, who was waiting for us in an empty house. The friend turned out to be a meretrix.”
    “That stands to reason,” Domina Pendelia replied. “Some of her most powerful allies happen to be members of that gens.”
    “The fibula burned with green light—it must have come from the salamander that Roldan was sweet-talking. Immediately after, we heard voices at the entrance to the house. The aedile himself was at the door. We hadn’t been therelong, so they must have left around the same time we did. They knew of our meeting with the meretrix.”
    “Where was this house?”
    “Vici Secreta, fourth door of the second insula.”
    Her eyes glittered slightly. “Domina Niobe owns that entire block.”
    “Is she also a friend of the basilissa?”
    “She wishes as much. She’s a treacherous slut who enjoys playing games.” Domina Pendelia frowned. “What role might she be playing? If the meretrix is truly a friend of the basilissa, perhaps she hopes to increase her reputation by acting as go-between.”
    “There are already plenty of those,” Morgan said. “We’ve got an artifex, a meretrix, and an absentee householder.”
    “The artifex was nervous,” Babieca added. “She met us at the Hippodrome, where the crowd might act as a shield. As soon as Roldan took the fibula, she was gone.”
    He’d been floating slightly, due to the wine, but he looked up at the mention of his name. He remembered the dueling miles at the Hippodrome, the smell of the throng and their wild cries, the steady gaze of the spado.
    “Didn’t her warning about the basilissa seem a bit hollow?” he asked. “From what little I know about the family’s history, her mother was far more terrifying.”
    “She may know nothing of this gift,” Domina Pendelia replied. “The basilissa receives trinkets all the time, from her suitors across the city and beyond. She probably spends most of her day unwrapping shiny things from desperate people. One more fibula on the gleaming pile wouldn’t arouse suspicion.”
    “Could it be a weapon of some kind?” Morgan asked. “Or poisonous?”
    “I touched it, and I’m fine.” Roldan looked thoughtful. “It had some kind of power. Almost as if it were alive. I’ve never felt anything quite like it.”
    “Until today, you’d never stuck your hand into a piece of marble,” Babieca replied. “Those listening skills are taking you in all kinds of mad directions.”
    “Was she truly an artifex?” Domina Pendelia asked. “The woman who gave you the fibula? Or was she simply a gemsmith?”
    “She wore the tunica of the artifices,” Roldan replied. “And she looked exhausted, like most builders do.”
    “Aside from fixing the machines in the Arx of Violets, and minding the fountains, there aren’t many jobs for