Eleven years on, Livia is married to the powerful Gaius and pregnant again. Yet, she does not feel entirely secure. Gaius and his allies confer how the handle the lapse of his senatorial mandate as surviving triumvir, prolongation fails as general Piso from the republican faction refuses to serve as token reconciliation consul. Gaius ultimately decides to go for all or nothing: returning his powers, even the legions, and hope to swing enough votes for a permanent senatorial power, a game of playing factions. Meanwhile the mothers rival proxy their sons with promising futures. Marcellus wickedly killed simpleton Tiberius's race and pet turtle, yet refuses to let his lower-born buddy Lullus take the blame and simply confesses. Livia protects Antigone even after she slapped a noble heir in defense of a mere slave.
—KGF Vissers