LOVE AND RAGE [Lucius V. Aurelius]

II

SMOOTH IS THE DESCENT, EASY IS THE WAY

MARCUS ACACIUS won the war in Numidia and the emperors decided to organise games in his honor. In a few days, Rome would host so many people who wanted to see them.

But not everyone was happy about all this. Marcus Acacius was the first, and his daughter was the second. But doing what the emperors wanted was part of the plan.

Caecilia knew it very well, and so did her father. But despite this, he didn't want her to be in danger. «Where are you going?» Acacius asked her daughter the moment he saw her almost walking away from their house. He actually already knew it. Because it might be only one place she would go that day.

«You need someone to keep Geta and Caracalla busy today, don't you?» Caecilia shrugged, before looking at Lucilla and noticing her smiling. The daughter of Marcus Aurelius was such a smart woman.

«Geta invited you to join to the celebrations.» Lucilla spoke, giving voice to Acacius's thoughts. «And you accepted.» she then said, after looking at her husband for a moment. She knew how Acacius had been forced to accept his daughter into his plan.

He wanted to protect her, and Lucilla was aware of that. She herself had forced her son to leave Rome years before to save his life, so she felt like Acacius. But she also felt like Caecila, because she was like her.

She was not a girl like the others. She wanted to be involved in her father's plan because she wanted to be an active part of the plan. Even though Caecilia was not her own daughter, she remembered her a lot of herself.

«I'll give you all the time you need to talk to the Senators.» Caecilia explained to them, while she was straightening her dress. «You have your job, I have mine.» she used a firm tone, especially to let her father know how much she wanted to be into his plan.

«If I didn't know you, I'd start to think you enjoy spending time with Geta.» Acacius was teasing her, holding back a little smile. Her daughter was so determined, just like him.

«He's kind to me, I cannot deny it. But he should take more care about the people of Rome.» Caecilia said, thinking of how much Geta and Caracalla cared more about their power and their greatness than about the health and well-being of their people.

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Caecilia was a little late. She did it on purpose, she had to pretend to be late. She knew how much it mattered to Geta, so she wanted to joke with him in a certain way. Caecilia needed Geta to care about her more than he already did.

She looked around, until the moment she heard someone calling her name. «Caecilia.» it was Geta. He had been waiting for her for almost an hour, listening to his brother complain about the calm of the celebrations.