The young orator, however, was far from innocent. Of course it had been Malricus who stood behind the afternoon chaos.He saw that his plan had worked. In order not to draw attention, he let Fvlvia grieve. He did not approach her. Her sister would comfort her.
He also had to return to Marcus, who had altered the letter so that it was written in Aurelius's handwriting with perfect precision. Malricus himself had composed the letter, including everything his imagination had ever conjured when he thought of the girl.
"You owe me a favor," Marcus demanded in return.
He had to hurry back to the villa with the letter so that Bato would not notice his absence, but once he was certain that his plan had succeeded, he returned to Marcus to repay this misdeed—just as he had promised.
He knew what had to be done. Marcus had hurt Octavia. Malricus had to fix this through mental manipulation. Marcus needed a little forgiveness—once again.
"Well, shall we go?" Marcus urged his friend.
Malricus did not want to spend the entire late afternoon and evening dealing with Marcus's problem. He had better things to do.
It took no more time to suggest Octavia than the moments it took to step into the garden or onto the street. Malricus persuaded a passerby to knock and ask the servants to call Octavia out. By tomorrow morning, she would forgive Marcus.
"Why don't you return to the demons?" his friend asked.
Since living in Livius's house, Malricus had not sought out the company of demons.
"I'm gaining experience," he replied.
Marcus nodded. Living among humans? That, too, was experience.
"Well then, good luck with the little one you've set your sights on," Marcus said in farewell.
"Thank you."
He was already about to leave when he turned back to his friend.
"Hey! Do you know anything about someone named Maximus?"
"I know a great many Maximuses. Tell me more," Marcus said.
Malricus told him what little he knew.
"Oh, then you must mean old fool Maximus!"
He described him in exactly the same way as Aemilia had—though the two had never met.
"We've searched the Subura night after night and found him nowhere!"
"You won't find him in taverns. He does not belong to the world of men," Marcus replied mysteriously.
"Then what is he?"
After days of searching, Malricus was genuinely curious about this Maximus.
"A marked demon," Marcus answered briefly.
He clearly enjoyed keeping Malricus's curiosity alive.
"Why was he marked, and who did it?" Malricus asked, confused.
"The demons marked him—for a good deed."
Malricus thought of his grandfather, whom he had never known. Perhaps he, too, had been marked by the demons, and that was why he had never returned home.
"What happens to someone who is marked?" he asked.
"He becomes an outcast. He remains a stranger in the human world, and the demons will never take him back."
"And is there no other path, if a demon commits a good deed?" Malricus pressed on.
"Only if he converts to the gods."
"And what does that entail?" he asked.
"I don't know. None of us has ever tried to convert to the gods," Marcus replied.
Malricus thought of Corina, but he said nothing about her to Marcus.
Now he was determined to find Maximus. He wanted to speak with the outcast.
"Where can I find Maximus?"
"Demons no longer know that," Marcus replied regretfully.
He would have liked to help his friend. He knew there would come a time when even he would need help.
"He'll seek you out himself—if he grows curious about you," he teased lightly.
Malricus was already leaving. He did not say goodbye with words, only raised a hand in farewell.
This was the first evening at Livius's villa when Malricus did not attend dinner.
He was always exhausted after using his demonic powers. He slept through the rest of the afternoon and the entire evening.
Then he awoke to the sound of someone moving about in his room. His demonic instincts sensed the presence of others even in his deepest sleep. He opened his eyes to a narrow slit. He suspected Thalvia had come to torment him again. Then the pleasant scent of roses and citrus reached his nose.
It was Fvlvia.
So as not to frighten her away, Malricus nearly held his breath.
"What could she want?" he wondered.
"'Sit down, my sweet' would never work on her," he mused.
Having no better idea, he remained silent. The gentle figure merely looked at him, and just as silently as she had arrived, she left. Malricus could not sleep for the rest of the night.
Toward dawn, he began thinking about the day's tasks. Once again, he decided suddenly. He would visit Corina that very morning.
"What does it mean for a demon to convert to the gods?"
Corina would surely know the answer.
Malricus heard the clients arriving early in the morning for the salutatio. He heard Livius's kind yet firm voice, the grateful murmur of the clients.
Then, after the atrium had emptied, he set out for Corina's villa.
This time he did not care if someone saw him, or if one of the servants followed him. After all, his intentions were honorable.
He wished to learn about matters of demons.
No one followed him, but his knocking at the villa door went unanswered. The house was empty; not a single servant opened the door.
"She has gone to convert to the gods," he thought.
And as if he had not only decided days earlier never to visit Corina again, he now decided that he would occasionally return to see whether the demoness had come home.
That same day, Aurelius's servant left a four-page letter with Bato. Malricus secretly read it in Bato's room. He laughed heartily. Even Aurelius's parents believed that their son had written that dense filth himself. And the parents, as Livius had requested, reviewed Aurelius's style.
Malricus did not know Aurelius, but the mere thought of the young man writing a four-page letter under parental supervision made his day.
What delighted him even more was that Livius threw the letter away unread and unanswered.
"Once was more than enough to read so much filth," he said with a conspiratorial smile to his daughter.
Naturally, Malricus discreetly followed the letter's fate.
"It was only a letter of apology," he thought.
That day, he blessed Marcus's demonic abilities several times.
He went about his day contentedly.
Only one thought cast a shadow over his mood: the parents had sworn an oath before the gods regarding the engagement of the young people.
"What do I care about an engagement?" he brushed the thought aside. "I'll claim the little one for myself, and then I'll leave Rome."
He sat down in his room, snacking on dried fruit and drinking milk.
Then he sought out Bato. He was glad they could head to the forum.
♡
As they walked toward the forum, Bato tried several times to strike up a conversation with Malricus, but he replied curtly. He was absorbed in his own thoughts.
"We could ask the vendors and traders about Maximus today," the boy suggested."Since we're already going to the forum."
Malricus thought for a few moments.
"Perhaps… if I devoted more time to oratory," he finally said.
"Do you think he appears at the forum often?" Bato asked.
"Perhaps I should deliver another speech about the gods."
Bato smiled to himself.
Malricus again recalled that Fvlvia's parents had sworn an oath before the gods regarding the engagement, and he grew somber once more.
His mood only improved when they received news of Maximus from the vendors.
"I saw him slipping away here the other day," explained one burly man.
"Hey, Quintus! Which day did that vagabond come through here?" he shouted to a nearby merchant.
"The other day—I don't keep track of such things," the man replied with a shrug.
"It's enough for us to keep track of our wares," a wrinkled-faced vendor chimed in.
"Indeed it is!"
Even though they had just abandoned their goods and surrounded the curious pair.
"He poured out grain in front of the Aemilius girls," the vendor continued.
That was when Malricus truly perked up.
"Grain?" he asked in surprise.
"From a clay vessel. Must've been taking it to the gods," the woman babbled on.
"Certainly not to Minerva. That's where the girls went," Quintus cut in.
"He said something to the girls first."
"I heard it too."
"One of the girls called him an old fool."
"By then, the vagabond was already gone."
Bato easily pieced together that Maximus had wanted to offer a sacrifice to some deity, had lost his way, asked the girls for directions—and dropped his vessel in the process. It was the only reasonable explanation.
Malricus silently questioned Bato's conclusion.
"A marked demon offering sacrifice to a god?"
He did not believe that Maximus had converted to the gods. After all, he had cursed them openly in the forum.
Now Maximus intrigued him more than ever.