Locusta

Locusta, a character in the A Courtesan of Rome book, is a protege of your mother. She is first seen in Chapter 3.

Appearance
Locusta has shoulder length red hair, gray eyes, and fair skin. She wears a headdress adorned with an animal skull, feathers, and fur. She wears Gallic woad paint that marks her as a wise woman and priestess of Tsirona.

Background
Locusta was a wise woman of one of the Gallic tribes before she was taken into slavery by the Romans. She escaped and later built her shop in the city.

A Courtesan of Rome

 * Chapter 3: The Aid of the Gods
 * Chapter 4: The Hunt
 * Chapter 7: A Fighting Chance
 * Chapter 8: The Goddess of Watching
 * Chapter 10: Snakes in the Grass
 * Chapter 15: Best Served Cold (Mentioned)
 * Chapter 16: Triumph
 * Chapter 18: The Die is Cast
 * Chapter 19: A Warrior's Death
 * Chapter 20: The Liberators (Mentioned)

Main Character
On Lena's behalf, you go to the apothecary to purchase charms to hang on the scholae's doors to ward off soldiers and meet Locusta. She immediately knows you are of the Catauni. She tells you that if you need anything from her, if it's in her power, she will grant it. She offers to be a "mother" to you if you will think of her that way, and to teach you about the plants, herbs, and potions she concocts. Because she considers you "family", she doesn't charge you. In Chapter 7, she gives you advice on how to deal with Marc Antony. She says you'd be better asking your favor for Syphax directly because if you fail to manipulate him, he will be set against you. In Chapter 8, she prays with you for a positive outcome for Syphax. In Chapter 16, she provides you with a paralytic for Aquila or if you choose, a love potion that would drive him wild. In Chapter 19, she realizes that one of the poisons she sold was used on Main Character. She tries to give her the antidote, but is stabbed in the process and later dies.

Delphinia
Locusta is a protege of Delphinia's. Although the former was reluctant at first, she saw the latter's wisdom and connection to the gods.

Lucanus Flavius
Lucanus Flavius discovers that Locusta gave Main Character the antidote and tries to prevent her from taking it. Locusta is stabbed by him.

Trivia

 * Locusta was a real Gallic apothecary in the Roman Empire, although she actually lived in the first century CE, not BCE as in A Courtesan of Rome.


 * When Madeleine is poisoned in The Royal Romance, Book 3, Mara calls a "Code Locusta" in reference to her.