The night after his conversation with Crassus and the others, Nathan chose not to return to his quarters in the Senate Castle. Instead, he sought solitude atop the vast Roman estate belonging to Crassus — the roof that overlooked the sleeping city of marble and firelight.
The stars shimmered faintly above, their glow washed in the orange hue of torches that still burned along the avenues. From up there, the entire sprawl of Rome seemed to breathe; the whispers of distant laughter, the clatter of a late-night carriage, and the occasional bark of a hound reached his ears like echoes from another world.
He could have gone back to his chamber in the Senate Castle — the thought crossed his mind more than once — but he dismissed it. Sleeping in the open air felt safer, wiser. Perhaps even freer. He was quite arrogant enough to do that but he wouldn't.
