Page 24 of Brother at Arms

Aemil’s temper splintered further. “Brother? What brother? They wanted Xerxes, said his name plain as day. So Plinius claims. If you want to run to the ludus and beat Plinius until he tells a straight story, fine.” He scowled. “No, wait, he’s had enough for the day. Leave him alone.”

“Ask Septimius,” I said. “A man looking just like Xerxes approached him, and Septimius sent him to me.”

“Did he? I will shake him. Xerxes never mentioned a brother. But you knew?”

I shook my head. “I only learned of him yesterday morning. Xerxes never told me about his brother. Did he you?” I asked Marcianus.

Marcianus popped his mouth, which had hung open, shut. “He did not. Looks just like him, you say? A twin?”

“One year older.”

“Ah.” Marcianus did not bother to hide his disappointment. Twins fascinated him.

“You are saying these barbarians came to my ludus and pounded my guard because they were looking for Xerxes’s brother?” Aemil demanded. “Only, they were confused and called him by Xerxes’s name?”

“Or Plinius heard wrong,” I said.

“Plinius stated: They swarmed me and demanded I let them in to grab a gladiator called Xerxes. Can it be any plainer?”

No, it could not. Plinius, the stoic gate guard, didn’t have the imagination to invent such a thing, so the men must truly have been looking for Xerxes.

Because they thought Xerxes could lead them to Lucius? And they hadn’t, like Lucius, realized Xerxes was dead?

Or, had everyone, including Lucius, been searching for Xerxes for a reason to do specifically with him?

“The hired toughs work for a man called Julius Herminius,” I stated.

Marcianus’s brows rose. “The silk merchant?”

Aemil, by his glare, had never heard of the man, but Marcianus knew much about everyone in Rome.

“Xerxes’s brother worked for him,” I said. “I asked questions about Herminius, and then the men attacked me in my bathhouse.”

Aemil regarded me with disgust. “Leonidas, when will you learn to leave the wealthy alone? They don’t like you prying into their affairs. And then, somehow, I get dragged into your mess. Come back to the ludus and train my gladiators. You’ll lead a much simpler life.”

A life I no longer wanted. Also, if I moved back into a cell in the ludus, even as a free man, I couldn’t bring Cassia with me.

Marcianus’s eyes held understanding. “Leonidas is comfortable where he is, I think.”

“I live more luxuriously than he does.” Aemil heaved a sigh. “Keep them away from my gladiators, Leonidas. Regulus enjoyed himself on them, but if he’d been hurt …”

Then Regulus might not be fit to fight in the upcoming games. Regulus was a favorite, and Aemil could lose much money if the games’ sponsors decided not to include him.

I folded my arms, knowing better than to promise Aemil anything. “Xerxes was already a gladiator in your ludus when you brought me in. How did you find him?”

Aemil shifted his large body irritably. “I don’t remember. It was a long time ago.”

“Did he come straight from a farmer?” I persisted. “Xerxes’s real name was Manius Aelius. How old was he?”

“Leonidas, you ask the most confounding questions⁠—”

“He was eighteen,” Marcianus broke in. “Xerxes told me this when I examined him the first time. He might have been lying, because Xerxes made a joke of everything, but from his bone structure, he was that age or near enough. He never gave me his true name.”

“Because he ceased being Manius Aelius the moment I took him from the market,” Aemil growled. “Even I forgot that name. I found him at an auction near Veii.” He named a town north of Rome. “I don’t recall why I decided to go to that auction, but when I saw Xerxes—big and so full of arrogance—I realized he’d make good gladiator. It took time to make him respect me, but I was right. He was one of the best.”

He trailed off nostalgically.

Aemil’s method of earning respect was regular beatings and locking new gladiators into their cells until they’d learned obedience. After that, he could be lenient, even compassionate, but the gods help any gladiator who tried to defy him.