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Chapter Text

Aunt Antonia said no matter what happened, accomodate the change instead of fighting it.

Change is inevitable. If you don't see that, you're doomed. Look at Seianus. Look at your own starry eyed father. You don't want to end up like them, do you Agrippina?

She didn't, and still doesn't. Change happens, and she goes with it tight in her own control.

Agrippina meets Messalina for the first time shortly after she returns from her forced exile.

It's a warm summer day, and the new emperor Claudius is having a garden party. Most of the senate turned up, along with people simply invited for their entertainment value.

This is the dawn of a new age. And with the way everyone is acting, you could be deceived into thinking this is true.

Naturally, they have bought this "new age" with murder, but since it worked out well for Agrippina, she doesn't feel particularly upset.

It was her brother, Gaius, the last emperor, who was stabbed to death by the daggers of his own guard. Claudius was in on it, of course, apparently hiding behind a curtain until the storm was passed, giving a show of the stupid, idiot uncle too harmless to bother with.

Agrippina doesn't know much of the details, being as she was exiled on an island at the time.

They don't really talk about Gaius, or his wife and baby they killed, they just tell the stories of the monster who tormented them.

Agrippina remembers those same men referring to her brother as a golden prince not so long ago.

She has just arrived in Rome, tired and ill from the long sea voyage, but the new emperor has extended his formal invitation to welcome her, and attendance is expected.

Her sister-in-law Domitia was waiting for her at the docks in Ostia with little Lucius, framed by an adoring crowd of onlookers. The common people have always loved the children of Germanicus, they even loved Gaius all the way to the end.

Little Lucius didn't recognise Agrippina, his own mother, and squirmed uncomfortably in her embrace. His haircut didn't match his face and he was constantly on the verge of crying.

Agrippina hopes that this was just because of the day's excitement and isn't an indicator of her son's overall character. He needs to be tougher than that to survive...

Gaius had all her possessions sold, so she had to borrow a decent stola from Domitia. There had been no time for an elaborate hairdo, but she notices that her plain appearance seems to generate respect among the guests.

Her sister Livilla, recalled from exile just as she, looks much the worse for wear, leaning on her husband's arm like she's drowning, but Agrippina isn't surprised. Livilla was never strong, and she certainly wasn't smart.

A freedman in an expensive tunic leads them through the garden were everyone is frolicking and generally having a good time (or pretending to, at least).

Messalina is Claudius's wife, an attractive young thing barely out of her teens. Agrippina startles a little when she recalls she herself is only five years older than her.

While Claudius lounges on his couch, Messalina rises gracefully to greet Agrippina and Livilla.

The sun reflects on the surface of her large, dark eyes as she laughs and talks about how lovely it is to finally meet them, how great to have a few more women in the family.

Agrippina has years of experience when it comes to lying, polite pretend and concealed rivalry.

Messalina, she realises, means every word. She is actually happy to see them.

Claudius acknowledges them with cautious disinterest. He never liked his nieces much, but he remembers Agrippina's plot against Gaius that got her exiled.

The foolish act of a beginner, Agrippina thinks now with the benefit of hindsight. She should've gone with Claudius instead, and she certainly won't underestimate him again.

Gaius had absolutely hated "ugly Uncle Claudius", and he mocked and humiliated him with the relentlessness of a cat playing with a fieldmouse.

Agrippina suspected that Gaius was angry, angry that their own father, mother and brothers had had to die, while bland little Claudius had escaped every family feud thus far.

Gaius made the mistake of thinking Claudius wasn't dangerous, that he was a powerless victim to his emperor.

Gaius should've learned his lesson with the first failed conspiracy against him. Emperors bleed like anyone else and more frequently at that.

Agrippina thinks on this as she regards Claudius, giving a short bow. Livilla almost stumbles doing the same.

"Why don't you let dear Livilla go home and rest.", says Messalina to her husband. "What she's been through must have been truly dreadful."

Claudius complies, Livilla and her husband shuffle off and Messalina actually casts a worried glance after them.

Agrippina is certain that woman is a featherbrain. You can't belong to this family and have compassion unless you're deranged.

But for once, Agrippina soon has to correct her assessment.

"You have our apologies at the inconveniences you suffered at Gaius's madness.", says Claudius.

Agrippina frowns. This is the first time she has heard someone refer to Gaius as insane.

"Yes.", one of the senators watching interjects. "It grieved me greatly to see you and your sister treated so poorly." She recognises the voice. It is Annaeus Seneca, an old friend. He put on weight since the last time she saw him. "Alas, the deseased mind of Caligula will plague Rome no more."

Caligula was an old nickname Gaius detested. They called him that in jest, sometimes, before Mother's arrest destroyed the world of their childhood. In retaliation, he tickled Agrippina viciously until she was breathless with laughter.

Centuries ago...

Agrippina nods. "I'm glad the time of tyranny is over."

They're very pleased with her reaction, especially Claudius. There is no trace of sarcasm in her words, none of her dead brother's stinging wit.

They offer her a place to sit and bring food and drink. Seneca catches her gaze before walking off. It seems Agrippina has already gathered an ally, and it makes her rest a little easier.

"My condolences on your husband's passing.", Messalina says. "You must've been devastated."

Claudius agrees, patting Agrippina's arm absently, and suddenly Messalina winks at her over is head.

Agrippina can barely conceal her surprise, and Messalina starts to smile that knowing smile, again, like they're friends or something.

Of course, Agrippina wasn't devastated at the news of Domitius's death. The only thing she regrets is that she wasn't there to watch the suffering of his last hours herself.

Messalina seems to have a good enough grasp on city gossip to know what a monster Domitius was, and she feels happy for Agrippina. What has she done to deserve the sympathy of this stranger?

"I just feel sorry that my son Lucius has to grow up without a father.", says Agrippina.

"As you should. But just between you and me, what can compete with a mother's love? We are closer to our children than any man could ever be." Messalina winks again, which Claudius doesn't see, but he heard her, of course.

"Well, you love them, but my name gives our children greatness.", says Claudius.

There it is. The first blow. Messalina seems to feel it, a shadow crosses over her lovely face for a very short moment.

She has the blood of the family of Augustus as well, but her branch is inferior to that of Claudius and Agrippina.

It is inevitable that this will become a problem, at least to Agrippina. Messalina doesn't come off as stupid as in the beginning, quite the opposite, so how does she not see it?

She will, it occurs to Agrippina. She is watching a losing battle against the hard truth, against the kill or be killed reality of being a part of the house of Caesar.

Which means Messalina is dangerous, though she herself doesn't know it yet.

Messalina and Claudius begin a conversation about the Etruscans, she keeps caressing Claudius's cheek and giving him little kisses.

Her beauty seems almost grotesque in the arms of ugly Uncle Claudius, though ultimate power has given him a few improvements in bearing.

Agrippina thinks Messalina is being smart, learning what her husband cares about to impress him.

Agrippina certainly had few lessons from Domitius, they were a little different in nature, however. He was no amateur historian like Claudius, his pleasures were...less refined.

But Messalina's interest isn't faked. She brings up her own arguments, recounts facts that fascinate her, like the Etruscan double battle axe that is used surprisingly little by gladiators these days.

Agrippina can see her and Claudius, hiding out from the storm of emperor Gaius in their villa, bickering playfully.

Agrippina can't deny her growing fascination with this genuine, warm-hearted and intelligent woman, because despite the danger, she can't wait to see that kindness turning into burning, wrathful hatred.

Messalina hugs her goodbye, she's wearing the most expensive perfume on the market and her silken stola brushes Agrippina's hand.

"I hope we can be sisters.", Messalina says, eyes glowing happy.

"Oh, you poor thing!"

Agrippina hadn't meant to say it out loud, of course. She blames it on her exhaustion from the journey and the worries about Lucius that won't leave the back of her mind.

Messalina stares at her, and there is that shadow on her face again, just before confusion hides it.

~~~~

While it is fortunate that Domitius is dead, Agrippina needs a new husband now. If this had anything to do with what she would prefer, she would never marry again.

She certainly doesn't want any more children, who could grow up to be rivals for Lucius. She won't have siblings destroying each other.

However, a husband can give Agrippina safety, a shield to hide behind in case the family turns against her again. Even Domitius was good for that.

Her sister Drusilla asked her back then how she could stand to live with such a beast, why she didn't divorce him. Livilla had suspected she bore Domitius' abuse because she was somehow hopelessly in love with him.

Only Gaius had known the truth. Those were the days of emperor Tiberius, a paranoid, hateful old man who stood by as their mother and brothers died in agony. One wrong word could have brought the axe down on them as well.

They say Tiberius was a different man in his youth.

Well, weren't they all?

Being part of Domitius's family saved Agrippina from the curse of her own.

Now, she needs a new ally, like Seneca, but richer and more influential. She spents a lot of time with Domitia, discussing potential candidates, while Lucius darts around between their legs.

He turned out to be a happy, fair-haired child who likes rough housing. When Domitia's husband comes home, Lucius runs into his arms to be waved around, laughing hysterically.

Agrippina is glad that they've treated him so well, but at the the same time can't help hearing Gaius's vicious final words to her as she watches them.

"It will be you who ruins him in the end, not your cruel husband. The only kindness I can do that boy as his uncle is take him away from you. This way, you can still pray he grows up as a Domitius and not a Caesar. "

Typical for Gaius's nonsense, it's insightful and completely ridiculous at the same time.

Passienus Crispus is the name of Domitia's husband, and Agrippina quickly determines that he would be an ideal candidate for marriage.

He is rich, has been consul twice and he adores little Lucius. Since he already obtained the highest honours, he likes to spent time away from Rome in his country villa. A good sign, there might be a storm to weather in the future. There is something genuine, something unconstrained in Crispus's manner that reminds her of the emperor's wife.

Messalina is as nice as ever, but it is only a matter of time until the cracks start to show.

A daughter of Germanicus is not a prize to be ignored, and Crispus agrees to divorce Domitia without fuss. He even tells Agrippina that he loves her and seems to mean it.

Domitia is less pleased, she slaps Agrippina across the face, hard, and Agrippina considers that she should've been standing a greater distance away when she broke the news.

"I curse the day I ever let you into my house as a friend! I hope your ambition poisons your own blood and grants you a horrible death."

Domitia leaves the city, but not until a conference with her niece, the daughter of her elder sister, Valeria Messalina.

~~~~

Chapter Text

A dinner at the emperor's, never ending trays of food and wine.

Messalina rests beside her husband with tear streaks on her face which Claudius studiously ignores.

The senate proposed to bestow upon Messalina the title "Augusta", a the female equivalent to the emperor's title. Claudius refused.

Agrippina isn't sure why, perhaps he didn't want to offend the senate, perhaps he thinks Messalina's pedigree isn't noble enough.

The reasons are immaterial to Messalina, who can feel the influence running through her fingers like sand. It's written all over her face, flushed by frustration and the fourth cup of wine this evening.

Agrippina doesn't know who poured the poison into her heart, but it hardly matters at this point. There's already a death toll, in the form a wealthy eques who committed suicide after being accused of incest with his daughter. By sheer coincidence, he left his entire estate to the emperor.

People only whisper of Messalina's involvement, but it's not looking like she's going to stop. There's another feud going on with a prominent senatorial family, by Agrippina's estimation the first arrest is a few days away.

Not becoming Augusta will spur Messalina further into action, and Agrippina wonders if it might be time to take a vacation from the city with her new husband Passienus.

Messalina thrusts her goblet into some slave's face who refills it immediately. Agrippina watches how she swallows greedily, a small trickle of red running down her pretty pale throat.

"She's embarrassing herself.", scoffs Passienus, who followed her gaze.

Agrippina herself learned early that alcohol has an unusually strong effect on her. That, coupled with her good sense to never lose control, made her start drinking as little as possible during feasts from a young age. At her own leisure, she takes wine heavily watered.

Messalina is different, she seems to relish in living her emotions, to exacerbate them with intoxication . It's an utterly foreign concept to Agrippina, though she's seen it before.

Gaius wasn't stupid either, but he was a fool. Messalina appears to suffer from the same deficiency.

She shakily rises to her feet, and the assembled company watches as she stumbles a few paces. Agrippina makes an internal wager wether she will plunge face first into the indoor fishpond. She doesn't account for the slave who catches Messalina and attempts to steady her. She shoves him violently away.

Claudius sees it fit to intervene at this point. "Niece, bring my wife safely to her rooms, will you?"

Agrippina isn't sure if he means her or Livilla, but Claudius doesn't really distinguish between them in general.

Livilla has always been the helpful one, and she would no doubt take over the task, however, she and her husband are engrossed in a conversation with Seneca of all people.

Seneca should choose his friends better. Neither Livilla nor that opportunist Marcus Vinicius will help him in the long run, and Agrippina is intelligent enough to be a sufficient ally within the imperial family.

That intelligence seems to drain from her at the moment, though, because suddenly she is on her feet and has walked over to Messalina. She has been watching the emperor's wife all evening, with so much single minded concentration that she thinks she can feel her musings and fears as if they are her own.

Might this have awakened some fatal sort of sympathy inside her?

Agrippina wraps an arm around Messalina's waist, wondering why her maid isn't doing this, but then she notices said maid in Claudius's lap and gives up on the idea.

Besides, a request of an emperor is an order.

Surprisingly, Messalina goes without much protest, swaying against her like the ground is uneven. Her attendants -minus the maid- follow at a respectful distance, trained to be so unobtrusive as to be hardly noticeable.

"Take care of your sister!", Claudius calls after them.

Agrippina is enveloped by the scent of Rome's most expensive perfume and has to blink to clear her mind. This has to be a poor attempt of her uncle's to get them to bond or something, and she already hates herself for reacting instead of waiting for Livilla to do it.

Messalina's rose-coloured tunic -slippery silk again- makes it hard to hold on to her. It's belted with a thin cord, which digs into Agrippina's fingers as she struggles for purchase.

Messalina is basically dead weight in her arms, but Agrippina has strengthened her body in the last years. Between assassination attempts, abuse and impromptu flights it is sensible to prepare oneself. Agrippina can run as fast as a messenger, swim in wavy waters, and does tolerably well with a dagger.

Messalina's flesh is soft, untrained, Agrippina can feel it. It would be criminally easy for anyone to oberpower her, and if she would have to be honest, she'd tell Messalina that there might come a day when her rank and dignity won't be a shield to protect her.

Messalina's black hair is immaculately styled at the top of her head, not a strand is slipping down her swan-like neck, and that annoys Agrippina for some reason. She can see the pins glinting as Messalina leans sideways completely unhelpfully. She's probably trying not to vomit, which would also explain her silence.

Agrippina just stops herself from a reproachful comment, gesturing for one of the slaves to walk ahead and show her the way.

This was Gaius's palace, too, of course, she still knows where he slept with his wife, but she doubts that Claudius has taken the same bedroom where they threw a baby against the wall and also killed its mother mere months ago.

She turns out to be right, though she quickly wishes she wasn't, because the slave takes them to Drusilla's old rooms, the most beautifully decorated. Naturally, Gaius had given them to his favourite sister and his favourite brother-in-law.

Agrippina hasn't set foot in them since Drusilla's death, and she feels a stab of anger at Messalina for subjecting her to a knot of emotions too complex to untangle.

Oil-lamps have been lit, casting light and shadows on the frescoes of a hunting Diana and a mosaic of the three fates, which Agrippina always considered wasted on kind-hearted Drusilla in its sinister meaning.

Messalina reaches for her suddenly, burying her face in Agrippina's neck. It only takes a moment before the first sob shakes her body.

Agrippina feels the fluttering of her eyelashes, the wetness of her tears. She stands frozen, somehow unable to do the smart thing, which is patting Messalina's back, gently give her over to a slave girl and leave. Leave right now.

Messalina mumbles something, and she sounds like Drusilla in her last delirium, though perhaps that's just the influence of the room.

"What?", asks Agrippina sharply.

Messalina blinks up at her, face red, eyes huge like pools of ink. "They hate me, all of them.", she whispers. "They conspire and they plot, against me and my children, and Claudius-"

Agrippina presses a hand to her mouth, before Messalina can incriminate herself. Her eyes widen further, and Agrippina feels rather than hears her gasp against her fingers.

Agrippina takes an abrupt step back, the instinct to flee overwhelming. Messalina sags against her and they both fall to the floor.

Again, without thinking, Agrippina catches the other woman in her arms.

"Thank you, sister.", breathes Messalina, full of drunken sincerity.

What am I doing?, Agrippina thinks.

Their closeness is just too much to stand. A dark, violent feeling makes her heart clench together and she shoves Messalina off her in one motion before scrambling backwards.

"You're not my sister. ", Agrippina says. Her sister died in these rooms. And Livilla might as well be a stranger.

Messalina sits up and stares at her, all desperation gone from her gaze.

"You're with them, aren't you? You're just waiting to see me fall!", she hisses. "My husband told me how you conspired against your own brother, but I wouldn't believe it! I see now he was right!"

An emotional outburst, not a smart insult. It still hits something inside Agrippina.

"Funny, you seem to forget that your dear husband did exactly the same thing, trying to kill Gaius."

"That‘s not the same thing!", Messalina spits.

Agrippina's voice is calm. "Right, Claudius succeeded where I didn't. So he's emperor now, and you would be nothing without him."

Gaius would've congratulated her for the fearful pain on Messalina's face. He wouldn't have cared about the danger, not in his later years, at least.

Gaius is dead, Agrippina reminds herself, she isn't, and she won't be in the near future. She has to stop.

Messalina is drunk and full of rage. "I can have you killed, you and your whore of a sister! You will treat me the respect I'm owed!"

Agrippina rises to her feet, looming over her newfound rival. She feels malicious smile forming her lips.

"Well, then I respectfully ask for your leave, Augusta."

That must hit like a slap. Agrippina turns and walks out before Messalina can reply, her slaves rushing to help her to bed.

~~~~

She tells Passienus that they must be gone before sunrise. He can plead urgent business with one of his estates. Thankfully Lucius is already at the villa in Formiae. Agrippina didn't think bringing him to Rome would be a good idea, even though Messalina more than implied that her own son and Lucius would perhaps get along well.

As Messalina isn't stupid, she likely hoped a friendship would keep this generation from becoming the rivals they're destined to be.

She probably thinks differently about this now.

Agrippina won't make a mistake so obvious. With Gaius's death and Livilla childless as of now, her Lucius is the only heir to Germanicus's line. Which means there is a real chance he could be emperor one day, if Agrippina plays her cards right.

But that is in the future, they have to worry about self-preservation at the moment.

"Why did you antagonise Messalina?", asks her husband as their horse drawn carruca rattles out of the city gates.

The only true answer to that is "because I felt like it", which is unacceptable.

"It was her. She was drunk and she started insulting me out of nowhere."

Passienus frowns. "And you're certain she's going to move against you?"

"There have been family cleansings like this before, as you well know.", Agrippina reminds him. "Claudius may stop her, but I wouldn't count on it. She feels threatened and unprotected, so she will lash out."

"Did you warn your sister?"

Agrippina didn't even think about Livilla. There is a small stab of guilt, but it passes quickly. Livilla should know better by now than to rely on Agrippina. Livilla had basically dragged herself into the conspiracy against Gaius, and she'd turned out to be nothing but a liability who betrayed them.

"She can take care of herself. ", Agrippina says shortly.

~~~~

It turns out Livilla can't, in fact, take care of herself. She's arrested two days later and formally charged with adultery, a crime which gives her husband an out.

The husband takes it, retires to the country, and lets the senate hearing take its course.

Claudius as well doesn't lift a finger, but then, why would he? He never liked Gaius's sisters, and appears to listen to Messalina in this respect.

The man charged alongside Livilla is none other than Annaeus Seneca, Agrippina's ally and hobby philosopher. Messalina must've found out where his loyalties lie, since Agrippina hardly believes that Livilla, if she were to take the risk of adultery, would choose to sleep with Seneca. The man isn't exactly an Adonis.

Agrippina waits out the storm in Formiae. Lucius grows and thrives, though he seems to find the countryside boring. Maybe he is just mirroring Agrippina's own mood, for she's about ready to jump into the duck pond by the first week.

One would think that she would take the time to relax away from the excitement in Rome, but she feels like she needs that excitement as much as breathing.

The exile was different. She was living in a small, guarded villa with only two servants, an elderly couple, who only spoke Greek in a curious accent Agrippina never heard before. Her days were filled with trying to survive and ignore the fear that Gaius would deny her food and water one day.

That is how their mother died under the reign of Tiberius.

This situation couldn't be more different. Agrippina busies herself with reading and overseeing the management of the estate with Passienus.

Her husband is in excellent spirits and enjoys taking her and Lucius on little excursions and visits to friends. Those friends are harmless and without ambition, which makes them duller than watching the progress of a turtle through the gardens.

"Let's stay a little longer.", Passienus mumbles into her hair on the first day. "Finally do I have you all to myself."

Passienus gets his wish. Both Seneca and Livilla are found guilty of adultery and banished to separate islands.

And so another falls because of Messalina.

By the time the niece of the old emperor Tiberius is accused of incest immoral conduct, Messalina's game is clear.

Her branch is inferior, but it will become superior if it is the only one left.

Agrippina would do well to stay away.

Only she can't, because Claudius issues a formal invitation to Rome for her and Passienus. She is to bring Lucius this time so he may play with his cousin.

Messalina's handwriting is all over this, mostly because Claudius is conquering Britannia right now, his son even got the the fancy new name "Britannicus".

So Messalina wants to see Agrippina, does she? Well, she can have her, but not Lucius. He will stay safely in Formiae, Agrippina is not about to take him into a snake pit.

Passienus is worried about disobeying, though Agrippina already knows how to spin this. She isn't a beginner when it comes to that kind of thing.

(Oh I'm so sorry, I have no idea why Lepidus is so out of sorts this afternoon.

I was ill in bed, Domitius, I didn't see anything.

I can't believe there is a plot against you, Gaius, not when crushed that last conspiracy with such ingenuity.)

She goes to Rome, ready for battle.

~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Text

When Agrippina arrives at the palace, Messalina does not receive her in person, nor does anyone else. She is merely shown to her rooms like an errant child and told to wait.

Which Agrippina does, for hour after hour. She of course recognises this for the power play that it is, but she is still livid by the time dusk approaches.

A daughter of Germanicus is not treated as if she were a common servant, pushed aside into a corner until someone has use for her.

On the other hand, Agrippina knows she has to tread carefully. She will not end like Livilla, in exile or worse. There is the future to be thought of. Messalina is merely a passing storm, the end of which can already be charted (hopefully, a tiny voice in her head adds).

Messalina sentences people to death with the wave of a hand, yet all the dead senators in the world will not make her foundations stronger.

Dusk passes, the sun goes down.

At least it's not Drusilla's rooms they put her in.

Agrippina has to hand it to Messalina, by the time the door opens she is about to contemplate suicide. Not because she wants to die, but as a painless alternative to whatever Messalina might have planned for her.

All the waiting has clearly gone to her head.

An old woman is at the door, behind her a hooded figure who quickly steps forward.

"Sister.", Messalina says, and in that one word is an entire declaration of war.

She yanks back her veil to show her face. Her lucious hair streams openly down her shoulders. Her eyes shine deep and dark with accentuating make-up. She looks like a wild thing, a nymph of the forest, not the emperor's wife.

Agrippina feels the effect most powerfully, but her face betrays nothing.

So, what is an appropriate reaction to such an attack?

"Augusta.", Agrippina says, sweet recklessness making her heart beat faster.

Messalina gives the hint of a smile, which could mean anything, but Agrippina thinks it shows she feels it too.

"You will come with me.", Messalina orders. "We're going on an adventure."

Agrippina, who still hasn't entirely dismissed the possibility of this being the lead-up to her own execution, snaps: "Don't talk to me like I'm a child. Surely you can do better."

Messalina's smile deepens. "I will talk to you however I like. I am the emperor's wife, while you are nothing. Now come."

Bold move, but sloppy. Again, something Gaius would have liked. Perhaps Messalina married the wrong Claudian.

The old woman thrusts a rough woolen cloak into Agrippina's hands.

"Disguise yourself. Remove all expensive jewelry."

Intrigued despite herself, Agrippina dresses in the cloak. She goes as slow as she can to agravate Messalina, although it is clear she has the upper hand for now.

Agrippina removes her necklace and earrings, feeling reassured by the press of her knife against her thigh. She too keeps one of her rings, which is filled with poison -a quick means of suicide in a bad situation she is not completely sure she isn't about to go into.

Whatever Messalina plans, it has to be some elaborate scheme to at least humiliate her.

They file silently out of the room, the old woman in the lead, then Agrippina, and finally last, Messalina, who should never allow herself to walk behind like a common slave girl. Agrippina has half a mind to tell her, but then there are silently joined by a pair of burly armed guards and fear closes Agrippina's throat.

They walk through the palace, then leave it through a side entrance and Agrippina doesn't know what to think about this.

The darkened streets of Rome pass, but at least they don't go in the direction of the carcer where her brother Drusus starved to death under Tiberius.

They walk and walk, Agrippina's feet begin to hurt in her corked heel sandals and the flickering torches of the guards make it hard for her to keep a sense of direction.

There definitely beginning to descend into the seedier parts of the city, and with it comes a distinct unease.

As a woman of high birth, the Roman nightlife has largely been closed off from Agrippina. Domitius had liked to partake, of course, but Agrippina had mostly been glad to see him out of the house and his vile self using someone else as a punching bag for a change.

What in the name of Castor and Pollux is Messalina doing here? What does she want?

Agrippina casts a look over her shoulder, but Messalina is silent under her veil. Her delicate fingers form a curt gesture for her to walk on, and Agrippina does. There isn't a choice here.

Perhaps she really is nothing. Germanicus is long dead, her siblings are all gone, their family drowned in hatred....

No, Messalina wants her to think this, wants her to doubt. Agrippina won't give her the satisfaction. She is already surprised Messalina got her this far at all. The woman has a strange, strange power over her, that Agrippina can't deny. Under no circumstances can she let it show.

They walk past drinking celebrants and brothel doors, which reminds Agrippina of story they tell about Gaius, that he had sold women of the aristocracy as whores in his palace.

She isn't really sure about the truth to this; on the one hand, they tell all kinds of lurid tales of mad Caligula now, on the other she knows her late brother's sense of humour and the value such women could have made as hostages. Especially since Gaius viciously antagonised their husbands on the daily.

Has Messalina perhaps taken some inspiration from Gaius in that regard? If true, Agrippina maybe should've planned for different, yet infinitely worse outcome than death from this night.

The truest way to humiliate a woman....

Agrippina feels herself automatically standing straighter, head held high, like her mother had when they'd brought her away to starve on that island.

The old woman turns to watch Messalina for a moment before knocking on a door, beside of which there's a particularly graphic statuesque depiction of Europa and the bull.

Agrippina barely has time to take it all in before there filing inside, past a small entrance chamber into a sumptuous back room full of couches and silken draperies.

Prostitutes - mostly women but there are a few young men as well- lounge all over the room, talking to and caressing the numerous guests. Occasionally, a pair disappears up the stairs, though some seem to find the space right here sufficient for a coupling.

Agrippina tries not to stare, she really does, but she has so few frames of reference for this. She suddenly wishes she had paid more attention to Gaius`s idea of a good time, which often featured loads of naked people.

Messalina quickly removes her cloak and veil and passes it to the old woman. She is wearing an almost sheer, red silken tunic. Her beauty is so breathtaking that Agrippina wonders why the entire room hasn't paused to look at her.

“Ah, that's better.“, Messalina says. “Why don't you remove all those cumbersome layers as well, sister?“

The order, phrased like a question.

“I'm not your sister.", Agrippina says while carefully stepping out of her disguise. She feels almost naked already and has to fight the impulse to cover herself with her arms.

Messalina has her sitting down on a couch in one corner of the room which has the best overview of the brothel. She then thrusts a full cup of wine into her hands.

"Drink.“, Messalina orders, downing a cup of her own in one gulp.

Agrippina takes a sip, never leaving Messalina with her eyes. Messalina`s gaze burns back.

“More. Don't be boring.“

The undiluted wine runs smoothly down her throat, making her tongue heavy. It seems Messalina stumbled onto another weakness. But maybe being drunk will give her more of a stomach for what is to come.

Messalina flops down on the couch next to her sigh, as if she were just taking a leisurely break from life in the palace.

They watch the debauchery around them and drink. Agrippina feels ants crawling on her skin.

Naturally, sex isn't foreign to her, quite the opposite. A woman of her standing needs to know how to use sex to her advantage in order to survive. But there is a distinct difference between using sex and taking pleasure in it, Agrippina muses as she watches a man go down on a laughing prostitute one couch over. Pledging oneself to reckless abandon, giving into impulses soon becomes uncontrollable. And Agrippina needs control as much as breathing.

Messalina seems content to just watch, for now, a mysterious smile on her face she has to have practised in front of the mirror.

Now that Agrippina has had time to think, she realises in what baffling danger Messalina has put herself in by merely being here. If this gets out, if Claudius catches even a whiff of this story, Messalina's entire life could be forfeit. Why would she do such a thing?

Is she mad? Is putting Agrippina in her place that important to her?

"Will you tell me now what we are doing here?", Agrippina says carefully.

Messalina shoots her a warm, wine-heavy smile. “Isn't it obvious?“

“It isn't to me!“, Agrippina snaps, unable to hide her agitation any longer.

Messalina laughs, then, and Agrippina gets it: this is exactly what she wants. To see her striped of all composure, down to her very bones.

“Well, aren't you ladies beautiful.“

There is a man. He walked over to them and is now looking at both of them with undisguised lust.

“How dare you-"

"My friend and I thank you for the compliment!“, Messalina interrupts easily. “Would you like to have just her or us both, my dear?“

Agrippina is absolutely lost for words. She also finds the man's countenance familiar enough to guess he is of high rank, maybe even a senator. All of her senses scream danger. Nearly the entire senate must have seen both her and especially Messalina up close at public ceremonies and private dinners. Does the man recognize them? Was it perhaps the resemblance to the emperor's wife and niece that drew him over to them in the first place?

He rakes his eyes over their bodies hungrily. “Both, if you don't mind. Upstairs.“

Now, Messalina has to end this. She can't actually mean to do more than playact at being a prostitute, can she? Agrippina doesn't expect to be saved as well, but she has her knife and intends to use it before anyone lays a hand on her, senator or not.

However, Messalina surprises her yet again. She rises and slowly runs a hand down the man's arm, just saying: “Upstairs, of course.“

There is no movement from their guards nor the old woman, they just stay at their places as if they do this sort of thing every night.

The man takes Messalina by the hand and beckons for Agrippina to follow.

Disbelieving, she gets up and at the same time reaches for the knife, which she conceals in her right sleeve.

As they walk upstairs, the man throws an arm around Agrippina's shoulder and pulls her close. She spares a thought to the stupidity of behaving so at ease with anyone, and an unknown whore at that.

A senator should know better, really. Maybe Gaius had a point when he called them pitiful opportunists with the mental capacity of a fly.

And oh, how he would laugh and laugh if he could see Agrippina right now, getting dragged up the stairs by a whoremonger to get fucked.

But the knife, Gaius, she thinks, don't forget the knife.

They accidentally stumble into occupied rooms twice -a woman taken from behind, a moaning mess of three bodies in which no position is discernable. Agrippina personally wishes she could erase those images from her memory. There is a messy quality to sex that the pretty frescoes she is used to can't quite catch.

At the same time, it all gets to her in a strange way she cannot really comprehend. She feels like a wild and savage thing, drawn into a state she never knew before. Before, all there ever had been was control.

Messalina, meanwhile, keeps beckoning and giggling like some deranged and high-brow version of a venus-girl.

The man pulls Agrippina even closer, though his eyes are fixed on Messalina. She opens another yellow-curtained room, empty this time and waves them in with a flourish of her arm.

Agrippina has her knife at the ready when the curtain swishes closed behind her, but to her surprise the man pushes her away from him.

Messalina moves to sit on the bed, beckoning again, yet the man does not Follow. His posture straightens, and Agrippina feels a more acute kind of terror than ever before.

“Well, Messalina, what do you think Claudius will say about this once he finds out you're making a whore out of yourself?", he says quietly.

Messalina makes an expression which would be more suitable to annoyance at a mosquito flying in the room than having her entire being and future threatened, but it has been just previously established that Messalina may be insane like they say about Gaius, if not more.

“The stupidity of womanly passions really knows no bounds.", the man continues.

Agrippina doesn't know whether she should be relieved or offended that he obviously does not know who she is and thinks he just caught Messalina.

Then again, Agrippina has been living in reclusion out of the public eye as of late, while Messalina has been holding court, not to mention the multiple statues of herself all over Rome.

Messlina raises an eyebrow. “Your stupidity clearly knows no bounds...Avinius Pullo, is it?"

"Asinius Pollio.“, the senator corrects her acidly. “And you will fall for this."

Messalina laughs without joy. "Oh, am I now?"

Agrippina watches from her corner, tight as a bowstring. The knife burns in her hand.

“You walk around your palace as if you have all the power, and you're not even an Augusta! You and your freed slaves sentence innocent men to death who are a thousand times better than you, and now you will pay. I will shout this sorry scene from the rooftops if I have to. And I have a witness.“ He points at Agrippina, who does her best to seem... surprised? Uninvolved?

"Shout all you like.", Messalina says. “Do you think anyone will believe you? And Claudius... where is Claudius? Not here, that's for sure.“

“He will return. And then I-"

"My dear, do you honestly think you will live that long?"

Agrippina sees the man reach into his tunic, sure to pull out a dagger. She moves.

Asinius Pollio makes to turn in her direction, and just then Agrippina plunges the blade into his neck.

There is a fraction of moment where they're all frozen in shocked silence, Messalina on the bed. Blood gushes from the wound, staining Agrippina's sleeve and drowning the hand which holds the knife.

Asinius Pollio falls to his knees, tries to speak but cannot, and finally drops to the floor, still bleeding and silently gasping.

Messalina has jumped to her feet and opens her mouth to scream, however, Agrippina is faster.

In seconds, she has pushed Messalina to the floor and has the knife at her throat. Messalina makes a smothered gasping noise, shifting without fighting.

Agrippina pins her to the ground and keeps the knife in place. It is about then that she wonders what she is even doing, rather belatedly.

"What, sister? “, Messalina gasps out. "You're gonna kill me? Is that it?"

She struggles to free herself, but she has no chance against Agrippina who has trained for situations such as these.

Agrippina can see the fear in her eyes, yet it isn't just fear that lurks there. The wild thing, the thrum of something deeper.

“I am not your sister!", Agrippina hisses, pressing down a little on the blade. A few small drops of blood run down Messalina's beautiful neck.

“What then?“ Messalina barely dares to speak, though Agrippina understands her perfectly.

For a the barest hint of a moment, Agrippina considers slitting the other woman's throat. Messalina no more. Agrippina killed the emperor's wife, haven't you heard....

But of course it is madness.

At the same time, Agrippina already feels half mad. Her ability to reason is dulled, and the immediacy of her fight for survival has stopped her mind from perceiving anything past her current field of sensation.

Messalina's body below. Her eyes in Agrippina's eyes, drowning.

Agrippina lowers the knife away but keeps her grip on the other woman. Messalina stares defiantly, invitingly upwards.

'Go on, I dare you.', her gaze says.

Slowly, Agrippina bends down, bringing their faces together. Just before their noses brush, Agrippina changes course further down to the hollow of Messalina's throat. Another pause, during which she can see Messalina swallow.

Agrippina presses her lips to the other's skin, tasting blood.

Messalina gasps again and Agrippina freezes. Then Messalina moves again, or tries to, straining toward Agrippina this time.

She supposes this is the clearest signal Messalina will give her.

Agrippina starts to kiss up Messalina's neck, dragging her tongue over salty and soft skin, tasting and licking.

Messalina makes little sounds between her teeth. She's struggling against the grip again with a different purpose.

After she has arrived behind Messalina's ear, dragged the lobe between her teeth, Agrippina raises her gaze. Understanding passes between them, or something like it with a little more bite.

The bloody knife hits the floor with a clink, forgotten as the body of Asinius Pollio is for now.

Finally, Agrippina finds the other's lips, and they start to kiss, slowly. Agrippina dips her tongue into Messalina's mouth, while Messalina keeps lifting her head to control the kiss, but Agrippina won't let her, not yet.

Messalina is warm and soft beneath her, inviting to roaming hands and Agrippina shifts her grip.

Immediately, Messalina presses closer, framing Agrippina between her legs, making her grind down.

Agrippina bites her lip in retaliation, and Messalina groans with a sharp in-breath that the other woman swallows.

Agrippina feels like her entire body is on fire, burning from the inside out, burning everyplace Messalina touches.

She tears at Messalina's clothes with both hands, at the same time pushes closer.

Losing reason, worshipping at the altar of madness.

Messalina seems to be of absolutely the same state of mind, at least, letting Agrippina pull her garments away from her, trying to do the same.

Agrippina barely gets to enjoy the sight of Messalina naked, bared before her, before she descends with hungry lips and hands.

This has to stop.

This has to-

Messalina throws her head back and moans, magnificent and unashamed and Agrippina is lost.

The night begins to fracture, her senses awakening, everything else losing itself in her passion.

The next thing Agrippina knows, she has her head between Messalina's legs, tasting that most intimate place while Messalina writhes above her.

Agrippina uses her tongue to lap up the other woman's juices, rolling her clit between her teeth. Messalina is begging, straining against her, her hand buried in Agrippina's hair, pulling.

Agrippina feels her come around her with a scream.

Then they're kissing again, gripping each other hard enough to bruise. With a great deal of effort, Messalina manages to turn them around so she is on top.

Her hair streams down unbound, framing her breasts, her make up is smudged and she looks more alluring than anything Agrippina has ever seen.

She is also watching Agrippina, her reactions, her quiet shudders that turn into strangled moans when Messalina uses her fingers on her, thrusting inside her warm wetness.

Agrippina wants to crawl out of her skin, she wants to scream, but she cannot. That last ounce of abandonment won't come and she is teetering on the edge, dangling though not falling.

Messalina smiles, feels her struggle somehow and leans over so her lips are brushing Agrippina's ear.

“Let go.", she whispers.

She starts to kiss Agrippina's neck, then biting at it and the pain is so exquisitely sweet that Agrippina wants to weep.

She clenches her teeth, lifting off the ground as Messalina twists her fingers inside her.

" Let go!", Messalina says again, a command this time.

Agrippina does. She pulls Messalina close, smashing their lips together one last time, and then she is coming, everything shattering inside her.

~~~~~~

Chapter Text

There is, of course, still the dead body of Asinius Pollio to consider.

There is a lot to consider, really, but Agrippina is past any form of rational thought at the moment.

She lies in Messalina's arms, trying to catch her breath, weighed down by the heavy scent of sex and the other woman, that sweet perfume mixed with her own musk.

Agrippina tries to think but can't, her head heavy with the wine and something else, something beyond words.

Messalina is stroking her hair, seemingly full of affection, despite the fact that they're mortal enemies.

'You don't cling to your mortal enemies, Agrippina.' , a voice that sounds remarkably like aunt Antonia pipes up. 'You don't fuck them, either.'

“See?", Messalina says, kissing her forehead. "That wasn't so hard, was it?“

Agrippina wants to scratch the smile of her face, wants her bare and shaking, wants to make her come again. She feels on the ground for the knife and rises on her knees, deliberately wiping the blood off with Messalina's tunic. She feels dizzy.

“We should leave.“, Agrippina says, staring at the body of Asinius Pollio.

She feels shocked, somehow. Not at taking a life, exactly, but with the quickness of it, the few split seconds it took him to die. Or maybe she's just kidding herself.

She caused deaths before, just like Messalina, if not exactly on the same scale. But doing it yourself is different, more raw, less calculated. She suddenly wants to vomit.

Messalina at least seems to sober up a little, looking at Agrippina like she can't believe she held her in arms moments ago.

“Yes, we should.“, she says absently, getting back into her tunic.

At first, Agrippina feels like she can barely stand, let alone walk, but somehow she manages to stamp down her queasiness. She wants to take Messalina's hand but stops herself. What a thing to do.

“What do we do with the body?", Agrippina forces out.

She is suddenly very worried of Asinius Pollio's shade coming back to haunt her in revenge. She wishes she had a coin for the ferry man to lay on his tongue. Which wouldn't be easy to get at, because he lies facedown in his own blood.

Messalina stares at the sorry sight, clearly pretending to be at ease. “We leave it here.", she says at last. “When they find him, we'll be long gone."

“Let's hope what you say is true.“, Agrippina says. One last look and she turns away.

They step over the body and the substantial pool of blood spread around it, filing out of the room as inconspicuously as possible. Thankfully, no one seems to have seen the three of them walk into the room, though Agrippina worries Asinius Pollio has friends waiting downstairs.

Aunt Antonia speaks up again: 'I'd worry about Messalina, if I were you. You're now bound together by murder and this entire trip. How are you going to get yourself out of that one?'

Agrippina feels herself shaking and with resolve banishes the Messalina-problem to the back of her mind for now. First, they need to get out of here.

Downstairs, the old woman and the guards are still waiting discreetly in the background, silent and menacing.

Messalina snaps her fingers and they move to follow her, the old woman handing her and Agrippina their cloaks. They're just about out the door when they hear a scream upstairs. Agrippina meets Messalina's eyes and she grimly orders everyone to walk on and quickly.

The nightly streets of Rome feel decidedly less threatening now, even though Agrippina doesn't know if she can trust the guards to keep her out of harm's way.

They arrive back at the palace in silence and Agrippina is again shown to her rooms like an errant child. She does not have the strength to argue about any of it and just collapses on the bed, utterly spent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daylight streams through the windows when Agrippina wakes, a headache pounding in her temples. She has a moment of unwelcome confusion before she vividly remembers what happened last night, and she almost wishes back the confusion. Almost.

She makes herself stand up and dress decently, the sweat and soot of the brothel still clinging to her skin. One thing is certain: she will not sit here and wait to go mad again, and so she opens the door - it's unlocked, thank the gods- and steps into the empty hallway.

The palace his calm and busy like it always is, everyone going about their business as if the world hadn't nearly ended for Agrippina yesterday.

It might still: If Claudius finds out about any of this, she is finished. She and Messalina both, she amends, and doesn't know how to feel about that.

She is finally stopped by a servant who tells her the empress is relaxing in the bath, won't Agrippina join her? Agrippina recognises again the order phrased like a question well enough and goes, willing her composure to settle.

Messalina is frolicking in the hot pool, completely alone for some reason. She should be surrounded by maids, but even the one who brought Agrippina just bows and leaves the two alone. Messalina is naked, of course, and Agrippina can see the marks and bruises from yesterday. That's why she send the staff away, Agrippina surmises. She wonders how long something like this could work.

Even if the old woman and the guards are completely trustworthy, someone else is bound to notice something. Their lie stands on shaky feet.

'You gave her those marks, Agrippina.', says aunt Antonia viciously. 'There is your complicity. And still all you can think about is doing it all again, foolish girl!'

Agrippina stands at the edge of the pool, staring down at Messalina. She is enjoying her superior position, and Messalina almost squirms.

"Get in the water.", she says. “I can't stand you hovering there.“

Agrippina drags her eyes over her face, her breasts, her stomach. "No.“, Agrippina replies slowly. “I don't think so.“

Messalina frowns angrily. “I could make you.", she says, advancing closer in the water. “Call in the guards, have them strip you naked.“

Agrippina smiles, picking up the metaphorical ball. “Really, Augusta, by now you must've realised you don't need guards to see me naked.“

“My lesson has reached you, then.“, Messalina says, returning the smile.

Agrippina slides down, perching herself on the edge of the pool. She reaches out for Messalina's face, taking it roughly between her hands and yanking her forward.

“What lesson?"

“I thought it was obvious.“, Messalina pants against Agrippina's lips. Agrippina can feel her frustration at her superior strength, how she feebly struggles against it.

“Between idiotically putting your entire existence on the line and murdering a senator, it isn't really clear to me what the lesson of it was, no.“

Despite her headache, Agrippina feels hungry. She wants to have Messalina again, right now, right there. She wonders how she can use this desire and at the same time be completely a slave to it, how she will get out of this on top.

“Well, you murdered the senator.“, Messalina gloats.

"Saving you.“ Agrippina just about stops herself from kissing her. She feels her legs though, dangling in the water, drawing Messalina closer.

“I could've handled him.“ Messalina puts a hand on Agrippina's hip and starts stroking lightly. Then she slides it under the fabric of her clothes.

Agrippina feels taut with tension. “I beg to differ."

“Of course you do.“, Messalina says, fingers finding Agrippina's cunt, rubbing over her clit.

Agrippina hisses. “What would you have done?“, she presses out. “Talked him down from going to Claudius? Screamed for help?“

She, again, stops herself from moaning at Messalina's questing fingers, from rutting against them, but only just.

“Oh, you sweet fool.“, Messalina breathes, reveling the shift of power in her direction. Agrippina still holds on to her cheeks, digging her nails into them, but Messalina doesn't stop. Not that Agrippina wants her to.

“You mean you would have seduced him?“, Agrippina gasps as Messalina starts to steadily thrust her fingers in and out of her wetness, just like last night.

Finally, she lets her own hands slide down from Messalina's face, first to her shoulders, then further down to her breasts. She can feel Messalina's nipples stiffening under her palms and starts to rub them.

"Why do you have such a problem with living your emotions?“, Messalina asks instead of answering. “You're so unbearably... tight" - there she drops her voice, twists her fingers- “with control, it almost hurts to watch.“

Agrippina isn't about to explain to her how emotions are dangerous, how control saved her life (as seen by the evidence of her losing it last night), and that she won't be subject to such "lessons" again any time soon ('As if you have choice in this'...).

Instead, she finally kisses Messalina on her plush lips, groaning into it. Just once, she thinks. One more time.

Messalina opens her lips, returning the kiss and pulling at Agrippina with her free hand to get her into the water, but Agrippina stops her decisively.

This may have been a mistake, because the next thing Agrippina knows Messalina is levering herself out of the water, crawling on top of her, and taking Agrippina's stola with her. She tuts when she sees Agrippina's bound breasts and quickly rids her of the cloth, just like she does her underwear.

“You still smell like me.", Messalina breathes in her ear.

Agrippina can't stop herself anymore, she grabs Messalina by the backside and rubs their cunts together in a delicious slide that makes her toes curl.

Messalina moans and keeps talking, her voice loosening in pleasure. “How...are you...so gorgeous...so..."

Agrippina pushes her hips up. “I... hate you so much...", she hisses and Messalina shudders against her.

They keep on going, faster and faster, Agrippina scratching Messalina's back to add to her marks, making her groan and push Agrippina onto the floor with renewed force. Agrippina lets it happen, is starting to see stars. Never, ever was it this good before, never has she loved it more.

And she begins to see that perhaps Messalina could be a teacher in the delicious and labyrinthine art of pleasure. Just pleasure, without calculation.

'Which will be her downfall.', aunt Antonia observes. Agrippina forces the voice out of her mind, writhing off the floor into Messalina.

This time, she needn't be ordered to let go. She yanks Messalina down for a last, desperate kiss, biting at her lip until she tastes blood.

With the metallic taste in her mouth, she comes with almost a scream against Messalina's teeth.

Two, three breaths and Messalina follows her over the edge, while she clings to Agrippina like she's drowning.

Afterwards, Agrippina floats. She lets Messalina guide her into the pool after all, barely noticing how she calls in her servants. When she sees the maids advancing, Agrippina quickly rises and swims away from Messalina.

`Foolish girl.`,she doesn't know whether the voice means her or Messalina.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day is spent like they are the best of girlfriends relaxing together: First they bathe and get their legs waxed, then they have their hair done.

No one mentions the marks on Messalina, of course, but Agrippina is still certain Claudius will hear about them the moment he returns.

For herself, she thinks it would be best to go along with this pretend friendliness, as if she wasn't forced to be here by Messalina. Messalina whom she fucked. Really, what a mess.

There is also the continued presence of Narcissus, a state's freedman who aids Messalina in all her... murderous urges. They are both the masterminds behind the numerous executions.

Agrippina definitely sees the rising importance of all those powerful former slaves, it is rumored that another one named Callistus aided in Gaius's assassination, maybe planned the entire thing.

Yes, Agrippina definitely needs someone like Narcissus to improve her chances here, but so far she has put off that particular move for the future in favor of staying out of everything.

But now, there isn't any “staying out of it" anymore, is there?

They have dinner with a fair number of influential guests, many of them senators like Asinius Pollio. Agrippina feels ill every time she thinks of him and in those moments just wants to flee back to the country, to Passienus, to the dull safety of boredom.

After the first course, one of the senators rises and Agrippina immediately sees there will be trouble.

“I regret to inform this gathering of a most hideous crime that took place this night, but I can hold my peace no longer.“, the man begins.

“Who is he?“, Agrippina mouthes at Messalina, who watches the senator like he is some kind of hideous bug that dared crawl on her skin.

Narcissus leans over his couch at Messalina's direction and whispers: “Statilius Taurus, the chief augur.“

Agrippina knows him fleetingly, as well as the fact that he has a thing for fortune telling and other such magic, though he is very careful about it.

He also once called Domitius “a disgrace“, after he at a dinner saw the marks on her neck she hadn't hid fast enough. She hadn't quite forgiven him for seeing her weakness, and that it has to be him now makes her uneasy before he even continues his speech.

“Yesterday evening, my dear friend Asinius Pollio was found stabbed to death.“

There a gasps of dismay from those who don't already know about it, which is about half the gathering.

Narcissus barely twitches, and Agrippina wonders if he knows about Messalina's clandestine activities, if she was idiotic enough to tell him.

Statilius continues: "I hate to sully your ears with this travesty, empress, but I would wish that you launch an investigation into his death to bring this foul criminal who killed him to justice."

“To do that, you first have to tell the empress where he was found, do you not?“ A senator's wife (Sempronia Agrippina thinks she's called) interjects.

“Where was he found?“, Messalina asks, her contemptuous look faded in favor of righteous anger.

A wonderful actress she is, really, because she always seems to genuine, even more so than Agrippina when she lies.

“In a brothel.“, Statilius says grimly. “But I implore you, empress, such behavior was most unlike him. He was an upstanding citizen and this is surely the sign of some greater conspiracy.“

The calls of surprise around the table seem to support him.

Agrippina, for one, is quickly growing sick of this farce. Asinius Pollio certainly seemed comfortable enough in the surroundings of the brothel, and there is the question of what he was doing there in the first place. Had he just followed Messalina, he would have brought back-up with him.

You killed him, and now you want to question his character? You killed him...

Agrippina stamps down on her panic and focuses on Messalina, who takes a sip of her wine, maybe to buy herself time to consider.

"I grieve your loss with you.“, she finally says. "And I trust your judgement, which is why I'm putting you in charge of the investigation into Asinius Pollio's death. You will do as you say, bring this murderous criminal to justice.“

Of course, Messalina doesn't have the power to appoint a senate investigator, but in Claudius's absence, her word is as good as law, Augusta or not.

She could have easily dismissed Statilius because of the brothel, but it seems she plays a deeper game.

Does she want to use this to send Agrippina to her doom? But if they fall for this, they will fall together; she has to be aware.

Statilius thanks her and says he will begin immediately by questioning the brothel staff. Agrippina feels like she's been pushed down the stairs and hit her head, something that did happen to her once, thanks to Domitius.

She stares at Messalina, but Messalina avoids her gaze and moves on to the next course as if nothing happened.

Agrippina, too, pulls herself together and puts on a happy face, not because she doesn't want to let on that Messalina forced her here, but because the shadow of Asinius Pollio is looming over her and she cannot think of anything else to chase him away.

Although the unplesantness is far from over. There is a message, at the end of the dinner, hurriedly relayed first to Narcissus, who then walks over to Messalina to share it with her.

As she is still watching her closely, Agrippina can see her face fall, the quick, crestfallen look in her direction before Messalina grimly gathers herself.

Agrippina wonders why Messalina still feels so close, so raw. This is really her first illicit affair, because usually Agrippina is too smart for such things. She needs to remember why.

"My honoured guests.", Messalina begins. “I have the most welcome news that the adulteress Livilla has died in exile.“

All gazes come to focus on Agrippina, Livilla's sister. Livilla who has died like dog in the gutter, starved to death probably. And all because of Messalina.

There it all is in their eyes; the undercurrent of fear Messalina controls, something they usually pretend isn't there but now, in the face of the evidence of Messalina's deeds, it becomes impossible; pity and sympathy for Agrippina.

No one dares to say anything, until Messalina snaps: “Well? Isn't that great news, Agrippina?“

So she is actually going to force her to disavow her own sister in front of the assembled crowd.

Agrippina, it has to be said, never cared much for Livilla. Not once in the last hours has she thought to use her newly unique position in Messalina's affections to ask for mercy for her sister, it didn't even occur to her, though it likely wouldn't have worked.

But still, still Agrippina wants to stand up and tell Messalina she's nothing but pathetic murderess who wants to destroy the family of Germanicus because she is jealous of a greatness she will never achieve. Agrippina wants to spit on her, tell her to do what she will, "at least I will die a righteous death."

Leave them all to chew on that.

However, Agrippina is a survivor, and so this instinct in her is squashed as quickly as it came.

She turns to Messalina and says: “Great news indeed, Augusta.“

That will be enough to get her in trouble, at least judging by the way Messalina's face scrunches up in rage.

"I'm sure Agrippina misspoke accidentally.“, Statilius Taurus of all people comes to her defence.

Multiple senators nod, though very carefully.

“I'm sure she did.“, Messalina says. “Just like you forgot your husband and son at home, even though I told you to bring them. Well, I'm sure they can immediately start on their journey and so rectify your oversight."

You won't get Lucius, Agrippina thinks. Never, ever.

“I'm sure.“, Agrippina replies with a smile.

It's time for a new move in this game.

~~~~~~~~~~~