Kushiel's Scion - Jacqueline Carey [200]
Erytheia of Thrasos stepped backward and eyed her easel.
She nodded—once, twice, and thrice—and laid down her palette and brush. "It is finished," she said simply. "Will you see?"
I was lost in my own thoughts, and it took a moment for her words to make sense. Once they did, I rose, stiff-jointed, wrapping the purple cloth about my waist and coming to gaze at the panel on her easel.
"That's me?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
It was strange—so strange!—to behold myself captured in paint. I cocked my head, gazing at the image. My own face stared out at me, indolent and predatory, all high cheekbones and languid eyes. A sensuous mouth, and firm brows. It was a compendium of contrasts. I felt at my face with my fingertips, trying to find the resemblance.
"Do you even know what you look like?" Erytheia asked curiously.
"No," I murmured. "I mean yes, of course, it's just…" I shook my head. "I don't look in the mirror very often. It's a long story."
The door rattled open to admit Claudia Fulvia.
"Lady Fulvia." Erytheia inclined her head in a formal greeting. "I am pleased to tell you that your commission is finished."
"Excellent." Claudia glanced at it. "Very nice. Magnificent. Will you keep it safe for me, Erytheia? I can't tarry." She caught my bare arm, and there was nothing playful or sensuous in the gesture. "Imriel, did you attend your lecture this morning?"
"No." I frowned. "Why? What is it?"
She sighed. "May we have a moment?"
The artist raised her brows, but made no comment, merely beckoning to her apprentice. The two of them stepped outside.
"Claudia, I need to talk—" I began.
"Listen." Claudia squeezed my arm. "I'm sorry, Imriel, but there's no time. I want you and your friends to stay off the streets tonight. It's not going to be safe in the students' quarter."
I stared at her. "Why?"
"Because," she said grimly, "one of Deccus' more hotheaded conspirators took it upon himself to call upon the Senate to enact a decree abolishing funding for the University this morning. And this afternoon, the consul of the citizen assembly stood up and agreed with him. The students are going to riot."
"They are?" I felt like an idiot. "We are?"
Claudia gave me an impatient look. "It's certainly going to look that way. Starting a riot's one of the easiest things in the world. Once there's bloodshed, the citizen assembly will back down. They don't have the stomach for it. Look, just heed my advice. Find your friends and convince them to keep their heads down and stay out of trouble." She gave my arm another ungentle squeeze. "And remember, I'm trusting you enough to warn you."
This was a different Claudia, one I'd never seen before, and she was deadly serious. I nodded and reached for my neatly piled clothing, with Canis' luck-charm sitting atop it. I strung it around my neck and began to dress. "I understand."
"Good boy." She gave me a swift kiss. "I'll send word to you later."
I managed to leave Erytheia's atelier without Silvio, which was a piece of irony. But I wanted to be able to move swiftly, and if trouble arose, I suspected he'd be more of a hindrance than a help. In the genteel neighborhood where Erytheia's atelier was located, all was fairly quiet, but by the time I reached the dense labyrinth of the students' quarter, I could sense the unrest.
All the wineshops and inns were full to overflowing. People stood around talking in knots, the way they had in the Old Forum when the pontifex and the aedile argued on the rostra. This was different, though. It had an ugly undertone, a low buzz of anger. I could feel it on my skin.
"Imriel!" Canis, perched cross-legged atop his barrel, called to me. "It is an interesting dilemma, is it not?" His brown eyes sparkled in his dirty face. "Myself, I have always found wisdom to be free, and thus there