The first light of day came to find Lucretia awake. Today was the spring equinox, the one day when light and darkness were the same. The day she would be anointed as a Vestal.

Soon, they would come for her. She would enter the temple at the back of the courtyard first. The great six would come next, and braid her hair, and dress her in white, then leave. And she would pray to the goddess, offering her life to her, until the sun reached its highest point in the sky. That’s when Aemelia would come to veil her. And for that moment onwards, she would wear the veil at all times, except among her peers, for only other Vestals would ever see her naked face again.

She knew all this by heart. She had rehearsed the ceremony—her steps, the words, the gestures—a hundred times. S...

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