Fortune Favors

Chapter 2

Marcus Laberius stumbled from the most elegant brothel that could be found adjacent to the harbor in Ostia. That is to say, the establishment wasn't terribly elegant but it had served its purpose. The sun was reaching its Zenith, and Marcus squinted and shaded his tired eyes with his hands. Taller than most young men by a good measure but with square-jawed and elegant Roman features, Marcus would have been the picture of a well-born young man had his toga not been impossibly wrinkled and dirty and his hair askew.

Marcus didn't bother trying to smooth out his toga. They were impractical and annoying garments on a good day, and Marcus avoided wearing them. The night before, however, they had been required at dinner. He was staying with one of his father's most trusted men, who had a house not far away. Marcus could have returned there, but was in no mood to put on a charming front. Besides, it would have been rude to return to his host with his clothes in such a state.

Marcus stopped at a small shop that peddled wine out of vats and bread out of an oven that one could take away. A rotund woman behind the counter cheerfully explained the various selections and then served him his choices.

"Ah, you've got some Northern blood, I see," said the woman when she saw his eyes. "Very pretty indeed."

Marcus smiled. His mother had been from the Gallic city of Nardo, and he had inherited her light eyes, which were somewhat rare in this part of the empire. Everyone he met seemed to comment on them.

He took his wine and bread and thanked the woman before leaving the shop and finding a harbor side bench to sit down upon. The port was busy, with ships of all sizes from all corners of the empire crowding the harbor.

The great thing about Ostia was that this wine was as good, if not better than that which was served in his host's home. Harbor cities always offered the finest in food and wine, especially seafood. Oysters fresh dug from the sea tasted so much better than the ones served in Rome.

Once he had finished eating and not knowing what else to do with himself, Marcus walked along the harbor toward the edge of the city. He soon reached a section of the harbor where smaller ships, usually carrying passengers as opposed to goods, could dock.

He looked around. He recognized ships of Greek and Egyptian design, as well as one he assumed was Nubian but wasn't sure.

His father, Maximus Hadius, had insisted Marcus tour multiple cities and inspect their family warehouses. Marcus had no expertise in this area, but his father had sent slaves with knowledge of shipping and accounting with him. They were doing the work, while Marcus tried to be charming to the various merchants and traders.

Normally, his half-brother Eolus would have made this trip, and Marcus wondered why he had been sent. He suspected that his father and brother wanted him out of town for a reason. He also believed that reason had something to do with the fact that he had witnessed his brother flirting with the Lady Sabina at Jupiter's Temple. The image, burned in his mind, made Marcus simmer with anger. Eolus most certainly did not love her, but Marcus suspected that Maximus and Eolus loved the idea of her dowry, which was rumored to be substantial.

Marcus, on the other hand, loved Sabina. Fate, however, had been cruel. For Marcus was not a legitimate Hadius. His mother had been Maximus Hadius's mistress and had been married to another citizen, one Lucius Laberius. Her husband had been dead for two years at the time of Marcus's birth, and his family had decided that Marcus should be exposed after his mother had died in childbirth. But Maximus Hadius had loved Marcus's mother and sent men to rescue the doomed baby that Marcus had been. Maximus had raised Marcus raised a Hadius, but he technically wasn't one. He existed in a strange nether zone. He was a citizen, born of two patricians, but he was an outcast. Marcus's father may have loved him, but he had never adopted him, never taken steps to legitimize him.