Kushiel's Scion - Jacqueline Carey [261]
All knowledge was worth having.
"Right," Gallus said when he had finished. "You've leave to go, all save those I've asked to stay. I'll expect complete inventories and a list of the new militia on the morrow."
Almost everyone filed out of the basilica. We stayed, although Gallus hadn't asked us; but he didn't order us to go, either.
Gaetano Correggio stayed, and Helena with him. A handful of other noblemen stayed and a priest in a conical white hat, accompanied by several acolytes. I thought I had glimpsed them before in the temple of Jupiter.
"That's the flamen dialis." Claudia frowned. "What's Lucius up to?"
"Claudia Fulvia." Gallus beckoned to her. "Since you claim to speak for the Tadeii, you may serve as a witness to my wedding."
"What?" The word escaped my lips involuntarily.
Gallus Tadius grinned at me. "You put the thought in my head, fancy-boy. Why not? The lass was wed against the will of her paterfamilias. On Gaetano's word, the priest can decree a divorce and free her to wed me. It will undermine Valpetra's claim to Lucca and reinforce mine." He shrugged. "Might not have as much effect as we'd hope. He'll argue against it, and he's mad as hell since you lopped off his hand. I doubt he means to give any quarter. But it might help turn his troops against him, once they learn I'm bedding his bride. She's soiled goods, but I don't mind. Every weapon that comes to hand is fair game in war."
I glanced at Helena Correggio, and wished I hadn't.
She was terrified. The moment I looked at her, her gaze locked onto mine, mute and pleading. Begging for a hero to rescue her. All I could do was heave an inward sigh. This business of being a hero was a good deal more difficult than I'd reckoned. I'd saved the maiden from the villain and all it had done was infuriate the villain, complicate my own standing, and thrust the maiden into the arms of another villain—the one on our side. The man with two faces.
Was he a friend?
One of him was.
With a silent prayer to Blessed Elua, I steeled myself to make an enemy of Gallus Tadius. But before I could speak, Claudia intervened.
"My lord priest," she asked in concern. "Is this lawful?"
The flamen dialis looked profoundly uncomfortable. "Under certain circumstances, yes. If the paterfamilias seeks it. I trust the wedding was not confarreatio?"
"What does that mean?" I whispered to Deccus Fulvius.
"It's a binding form of marriage," he said, then hushed me.
Claudia turned to Helena. "Tell us," she said gently.
Betimes, men who know one another's minds have no need for speech. It is different with women. They need not know one another to communicate without words. I saw Claudia's subtle nod, and I saw Helena's eyes widen in understanding. Only slightly, so slightly. If it were not for Phèdre's training, I doubt I would have seen it.
"He took me to a village." Helena clenched her fists at her sides, then pointed. "Southwest. I don't know the name. The priest—his priest—was waiting there. The flamen dialis of Valpetra." She bit her lip. "I didn't want to do it! But he said he would kill me."
The priest frowned. "How was it done, child?"
She told him.
A sheep was sacrificed, and there was a red veil and an oatcake; witnesses assembled, vows recited, and a contract written and signed. The details meant nothing to me, save that they seemed to fulfill the requirements for a confarreatio marriage—one that could not be dissolved.
Helena Correggio didn't lie well.
I daresay it was her sheer terror that sold her tale. Whatever else was true, she had been abducted and forcibly wed against her will, and the details she began to divulge of her nuptial evening held the ring of truth. The marriage had been consummated with violent glee on the part of Domenico Martelli. The flamen dialis cut her off and turned to Gallus Tadius.
"It is confarreatio" he said formally. "I do not have the authority to decree a divorce."
The news didn't sit well with Gallus. His face darkened with fury.