[Note from Cass: This scene was in the next-to-last draft of The Bloodstained Shade, the one that went to my editor. (So, spoilers if you haven't read it yet!) It takes place between the second and third nights of the Lemuria, and in this version of the manuscript, I hadn't yet amped up the social aspect of the Discordian strike against Latona. That meant Marcia hadn't been cursed and in conflict with her. When I added that, this scene became unsuitable -- but I do still like a lot of what happens in here. So, this is after Latona finds out Sempronius's secret, it's after Vibia has been briefly possessed by lemures, and it's while they're trying to figure out how to take down the Discordians on the final night of the Lemuria.]

That evening, when Sempronius broached the idea of calling upon the Vitelliae for dinner, his sister roundly disabused him of the notion. “That woman is holding herself together with the grace of Juno alone,” Vibia said. “She cannot afford distraction right now, and frankly, neither can I.”

“You were the one,” Sempronius felt compelled to point out, “who insisted I unburden myself of my secrets.”