To Love Again

Chapter 7

“I do not believe it!" Phocas Maxima said, surprised. "This cannot be the same girl you purchased in the market this morning, Jovian. That creature was a filthy, sore-ridden horror. This girl is lovely. Her skin is like cream. There isn't a mark on her, and that hair! The rich auburn color, those marvelous little curls!"

They are one and the same, brother dear," Jovian Maxima said in smug tones. "You are a true businessman; you have absolutely no imagination, Phocas. The moment I laid eyes upon the girl, I knew she was a treasure. All it took was hot water and soap to clean her up. Not only that, her Latin is flawless, but for a slight provincial accent which can be corrected-although some may find it most charming." He looked to the slave girl who accompanied his new purchase. "Isis, remove her tunica, please."

Phocas Maxima stared hard at the girl when she finally stood nude before him. "She's a bit slender for my taste," he noted, "but we can fatten her up. I don't imagine she's been getting a great deal to eat recently. Her feet looked dreadfully roughened."

"She's done a lot of walking, I would imagine," Jovian replied.

"We can eventually correct it," his brother said. "Her breasts are very nice; small, but well-formed. Well, I must admit it, you did get us quite a good bargain in this girl. Does she understand what is expected of her, or are we going to have to train her? She is pagan, I hope."

It was as if she did not exist except as an object, Cailin thought as she listened to the two brothers chattering back and forth about her and her eventual fate. Not that it really mattered. Nothing mattered anymore. It was all so confusing. She didn't even understand why she was still alive when all she wanted was to be dead; but something inside her would not allow her to die. It made her angry, but there was naught she seemed to be able to do about it.

She thought back over the many days that had passed since she had Iain in labor at Antonia's villa. The last thing she remembered was the cry of a baby as she sank into unconsciousness. When she came vaguely to her senses, she was in a dirty room in a strange house. The woman who brought her food told her she was in Londinium, which amazed Cailin. She had heard of Londinium, but had never thought to see it in her lifetime. As it turned out, she did not see it, for when she asked what she was doing in this place, she was told that the lady Antonia had sold her to Simon, the slave merchant, and that shortly she would be transported to Gaul and beyond.

"But I am no slave!" Cailin protested.

"That is what the lady Antonia said you would say," the woman replied sourly. "She says you're real troublesome and have ideas above your station, girl. Why, you even seduced her late husband, and bore his bastard. Well, she'll have no more of you, wench."

"Where is my baby?" Cailin demanded.

"The brat died, I'm told," was the cold reply.

Cailin began to weep hysterically. "I do not believe you!" she protested. Before she knew it, a bitter liquid was being forced down her throat and she was sliding into darkness again.

For days afterward she drifted between reality and nightmare. When she finally was allowed to come to herself again, she was in Gaul, traveling south with a shipment of other slaves down the backbone of the land, toward the Mediterranean Sea. Not long after, one particular beautiful young woman attempted to escape, for unlike many of the slaves traveling with them, she wore no collar, nor was she chained. She was quickly recaptured, being unfamiliar with the land.

The slave master debated on her punishment. To beat her would mark her fair skin, and that same fair skin was an asset that could bring him a pretty penny for the girl. He elected to make his point by raping her, which he did before the entire party of travelers. "Run again, bitch," he threatened as he jammed himself into her, "and I'll give you to my men! Perhaps you'd like that, wench, eh?"

The look of terror on all the women's faces told the slave master that he would have no more difficulty with any of them. Indeed, after that Cailin went out of her way to make herself invisible. She allowed her hair to go unwashed and uncombed. Her tunica, which was the only garment she possessed, grew more worn with each passing day. She did not dare wash it for fear that it would disintegrate and leave her naked, like some of the other women. She did not expect she would be supplied with other clothing if she lost what she possessed.

When they reached the coast, the slaves were separated, some being put aboard ship for a town called Carthage, while Cailin and the rest were being sent to a place called Constantinople. It was, she later learned by listening to others, the great capital city of the Eastern Empire. The male slaves in her group were chained to the oars of the galley. They would be sold when and if they reached their destination, but in the meantime they would provide the manpower to get there. The women were penned below in barely habitable quarters; a square space with no sleeping accommodations but the floor; a wooden bucket for their needs; little light, and less air.

Each night, the first mate would arrive grinning, and select several of the women, whom he would take away. They returned with the morning, usually laughing, with extra food or water for themselves, which they usually chose not to share. Their own survival was paramount. Cailin instinctively hid herself in the darkest corner when the first mate came. She did not need to be told what the women were doing, or why they were given gifts. She grew thinner with the meager rations supplied her, but somehow remained alive to reach Constantinople.

The morning of their arrival, the slave master came to carefully look over the women. He selected several who appeared more attractive than the others. They were immediately removed. Some of those not chosen tried to plead with the slave master to take them, and they wept when he roughly shoved them away.

"Where have the others gone?" Cailin asked of an older woman.

The woman looked at her and replied, "They are considered the best of us. They will be taken to a private slave market where they will be bathed, perfumed, and clothed in fine raiment before being auctioned off. They will get wealthy masters, and live comfortably if they please those masters."

"What will happen to us?" Cailin inquired curiously.

"It's the public market for us," the woman said fatalistically. "We'll be bought as house or field slaves, or for some waterfront brothel."

"What is a brothel?"

The look of astonishment on the woman's face was almost comical, but before she might answer Cailin, the slave master's minions came below and began herding the women up onto the deck. They blinked uncomfortably in the sunshine, their eyes unused to bright light after their many days at sea spent in the semidark of the hold. Gradually, as they adjusted to the daylight, they were led off the vessel and through the city streets to the public slave market.

Cailin was astounded by the four and five-story buildings along their route. She had never seen buildings so big. And the noise! There seemed to be no quiet in this place. She couldn't imagine how people managed to live amid the cacophony and such dirt. The streets were strewn with garbage, and both human and animal waste was littered all about. Her bare feet cringed with every step.

At last they reached the open slave market, where little time was wasted. One after another, the slaves who had traveled with her were put up upon the block to be quickly sold off. Again Cailin hid herself among the others, until finally there was no longer any place to hide. She was roughly pulled by the arm onto the little platform.

"Here's a fine, strong young girl, good for house or field," the slave dealer said. Turning to Cailin, he ordered, "Open your mouth, wench." He peered in, and then announced to his audience, "She has all her teeth. What am I bid?"

The spectators looked up at the creature offered. She was tall and pitifully thin. Her hair, of an undistinguishable color, was filthy and matted. There was nothing at all about her that could be considered attractive. Despite the slave merchant's spiel, she did not look particularly strong or healthy. They shuffled their feet, and several began to slowly drift away.

"Offer me something," the slave merchant pleaded with his audience. "She speaks good Latin. Cleaned up, she would make a good nursemaid, or tavern servant. Smile, girl!" he hissed angrily at Cailin.

She ignored him. If no one bought her, perhaps they would kill her, and then she would be out of her misery. Then suddenly into her view came the most astounding creature Cailin had ever seen. He was plump, with rosy cheeks and merry dark brown eyes that surveyed her quite carefully. He was dressed in a plum-and-gold-striped silk dalmatica. His round head was covered in a profusion of tight black curls. The creature pursed his pink lips thoughtfully, and then said in a clear, sweet voice, "I will give you two folles for her."

"Two folles?" The slave merchant pretended outrage, although he was relieved to be offered anything for the wretched creature. He was just about to accept the gentleman's offer when the elegant spoke again.

"Oh, very well, I shall give you four folles. I'll not have you whining afterward that I cheated you. You slave merchants are all alike when a man snatches a bargain from under your very noses. You cannot see the value in what you have-but if someone else does, you howl and cry to the gods-er, God," the gentleman amended.

"Jovian," the plainly dressed gentleman who accompanied the elegant said irritably, "the girl isn't worth five nummi, let alone four folles."

"She is worth a dozen solidi, brother, even if you cannot see it right now. Trust me. You know I have an eye for such things," the curly-haired man murmured, extracting the coins from his purse and handing them to the slave merchant. "Here, fellow, is your coin. Will you accept it?" He pierced the merchant with a direct look.

The man snatched the money from the elegant's fingers and shoved Cailin toward him. "Go with your master now, girl," he growled.

Jovian's nose wrinkled with distaste as Cailin approached him. "The gods, girl! When was the last time you bathed?"

"What is today's date?" she asked bluntly. "One loses track of time in the hold of a slave galley, sir."

"It is the ides of April," he answered her, curious. She was not at all a subservient creature. Indeed, she gave every indication of being strong-willed. It was all to the good, he thought, pleased.

"Then it has been almost eight months since I last bathed," she told him. "Will I be able to bathe wherever it is you are now taking me, sir? I would be grateful to know that I could bathe properly again."

"Eight months!" both men chorused in unison, looking horrified by Cailin's revelation. Then the more somber of the two said darkly, "You have made a dreadful error, I fear, Jovian."

The plump gentleman chuckled. "Nay, Phocas, I have made no error. Wait and see! Wait and see!" He turned to Cailin. "Follow us, girl, but be mindful not to become lost in the crowds. With us, you will suffer no ill treatment, but if you try to flee, you could find yourself in far greater difficulties. This is a cruel place."

Cailin needed no warning. Nothing could be worse than the last few months she had spent in captivity. She had come close to losing track of her own identity. Whoever these two men were, they were certainly not threatening, and at this point she would have followed anyone who promised her a bath. She wondered, in fact, whether she would ever be able to really get clean again. Before her captivity she would not have believed that anyone could become so filthy as she now was. Mindful of his warning, she hurried along after the elegant and his companion.

They walked swiftly through the noisy city, and everywhere she turned there was something to catch Cailin's eye. She wished she were not as she now was, that she might ask questions of the two men. It was all very overwhelming, and not just a little frightening. She was not at all used to the idea that she was a slave. As she followed the two men off the wide avenue and into a narrow, quiet street, she saw them turn through the wide gates of a large house. Well, at least they were wealthy and could afford to replace her worn tunic, which was practically falling off her as she walked.

A majordomo hurried forward to greet the two gentlemen, his eyes widening with shock at the sight of the girl following them. "My lord?" he questioned faintly. "Is this person with you?"

"Jovian has bought her in the public market, Paulus," the sterner man replied. "You will have to ask him what he wants done with her."

The majordomo looked to Jovian, and the plump man laughed at the servant's distress. "I shall take her to the baths myself, Paulus," he said. "Make certain the bath attendants are on duty. They certainly have their work cut out for them, don't they, but wait until we have finished. This filthy piglet I have purchased will turn into a peacock, I promise you. And I only paid four folles for her!" He turned to Cailin. "Come, girl. That bath you so desire is but steps away."

"My name is Cailin," she replied, following him.

"Is it? And what kind of a name is 'Cailin'?" They exited the large atrium and moved through a scented corridor lined with many doors. "And," he continued, "where is Cailin from?"

"My name is Celtic, sir. I am a Briton," she told him as they entered the reception room for the baths. Two attractive women came forward, bowing to Jovian and looking slightly dismayed by the sight of the girl accompanying him.

"You have a great deal of work to do with this one, my dears," Jovian told the bath attendants. "She tells me she has not bathed in eight months." He chuckled. "I shall join you while you attend to the girl. Her name, she says, is Cailin. I like it. We shall let her keep it."

"I will answer to no other name," Cailin said firmly.

"You were obviously not born a slave," Jovian noted.

"Of course not," Cailin replied indignantly. "I am a member of the Drusus family of Corinium. My father, Gaius Drusus Corinium, was a decurion of the town. I am a married woman of property and good reputation."

"Who is now a slave in Constantinople," Jovian answered dryly. "Tell me how you came to be here," he said as they entered the dressing room.

Cailin told him what she could remember and what she had managed to piece together during her months of travel, while the bath attendants undressed them and brought them into the tepidarium, a warm anteroom where they would wait until they began to perspire. The fact that she was now naked, as was Jovian, did not trouble Cailin. She felt no danger from this man. Indeed, she felt he might become her friend. Seeing their perspiration begin, the bath attendants scraped away the dirt and sweat with silver strigils as they talked.

"You were obviously betrayed by this Antonia Porcius," Jovian noted wisely. "A woman who believes herself wronged is a very dangerous enemy to have, my dear. Selling you into slavery was her revenge upon you, and upon your poor husband. No doubt she told him you were dead. If not, he would have forced her to reveal your whereabouts and come after you, I expect. The news of your death, however, would cause him the same deep pain that his execution of her husband caused her. She has been quite clever, this Antonia. It is a plot worthy of a Byzantine. You survive to suffer in slavery, not knowing what happened to your child, while your husband suffers anguish over your alleged death."

Cailin was silent. How succinctly Jovian had put it, and he was probably correct. What was worse, there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. She was helpless, and so far from her beloved Britain that she would never be able to get back. Until this moment she had not even considered it, but now she had no choice but to face reality. She was alive, and obviously likely to remain so. She had her future to consider.

"Why did you purchase me?" she asked Jovian as they moved on into the caldarium to be bathed.

"I could see that beneath the dirt you were beautiful, and beautiful women are my business," he told her, then turning, said to the bath attendants, "Wash her hair first, my dears. I want to see its true color. It is so mud-caked I cannot tell."

"My hair is auburn," Cailin told him. "I take my coloring from my mother, a Dobunni Celt." Then she could say no more, as the two girls bathing her began to scrub her head and scalp with great vigor. "Ouch!" Cailin complained as their fingers forced themselves through the almost impossible tangles her hair had knotted itself into over the last months. Finally her hair was rinsed with warmed water that smelled of a pungent substance. "What is in the rinse water?"

"Lemon," Jovian said. "The gods! Your hair is wonderful!"

"What is lemon?" Cailin demanded.

"I'll show you later," he said. "Come now, and let the girls bathe you, my beauty. No." He motioned to the bath attendants. "I shall care for myself. Devote your time to Cailin."

They washed her with a soft soap that seemed to melt the remaining dirt from her skin. Cailin could scarcely contain her delight at being clean again. They continued on into the frigidarium for a quick, cold plunge bath, and then into the unctorium, where they stretched out side by side on two benches to be massaged with sweet oils.

"How are beautiful women your business, sir?" Cailin asked.

The two bath attendants giggled.

"This is Villa Maxima, Cailin," Jovian explained. "It is the most elegant brothel in all of Constantinople. We serve, both ladies and gentlemen seeking entertainment of a more exotic, exciting kind."

"What is a brothel?" she asked him, annoyed to hear the two girls' renewed amusement. They sounded so smug.

Jovian raised his head up in surprise and looked at Cailin, who lay comfortably next to him, enjoying her massage. "You do not know what a brothel is?" he said, amazed.

"I should not have asked you if I knew, sir," Cailin replied.

"You say you come from Corinium," he began, but she interrupted.

"My branch of the Drusus Corinium family came to Corinium in the time of the emperor Claudius," Cailin told him, "but I was raised away from the town. I only visited it three times in my whole life, the last time being when I was six years of age. I am the only daughter of a good patrician family. I do not know what a brothel is. Should I?"

"Oh, dear," Jovian said, almost to himself. "Finish your massage, Cailin, and then I will explain to you what you need to know." Then he glared in an unusual show of irritation at the giggling bath attendants, who immediately fell silent. It was rare for Master Jovian to grow angry, but when he did, it was highly unpleasant.

When the bath attendants had finished their work, they escorted their charges into a warm dressing room, where Jovian donned a fresh dalmatica, this one of sky-blue silk. A fresh white silk tunica, belted with a gold cord, was supplied for Cailin.

"Come, my dear," he said, taking her hand in his. "We will have honey cakes and wine in my private garden, and I will tell you everything you need to know."

The garden was exquisite; small and surrounded by a wall covered in ivy. A little marble fountain was in its center, shaped like a shell, from which water dripped into a rounded basin. There were half a dozen damask rose bushes already coming into bloom, perfuming the air with their luxurious sweetness.

"Come, and sit by me," Jovian said, settling himself upon a marble bench. "Ahh, the wine has been iced. Excellent!" he said with a smile at the slave serving them. "Now, Cailin, to answer your question. A brothel is a place where women sell their bodies for the amusement of men. You do understand what I mean by that, don't you?"

She nodded, her eyes wide, and he noted their marvelous violet color. "I have never heard of such a thing," she answered him. "I know that men lie with women other than their wives, but I never knew women got paid for such things."

"Oh, there is nothing unusual in it," he replied. "It is done all the time, and has been done since the beginning of time. There are, however, varying degrees of such an arrangement. Some women sell themselves in the streets. They are called whores, or prostitutes. They couple with their customers up against walls and in alleys. They cannot be discerning about the men with whom they involve themselves, either. Consequently they end up diseased, and often dead at an early age, which is probably a blessing. It is not easy being a woman of the streets. They can fall prey to a single man who steers other men their way, but takes most of their pitiful earnings for himself. It is a hard life.

"Women in brothels are usually better off, although there are different sorts of brothels. Those serving the lower classes tend to treat their women little better than those poor souls plying their trade in the streets of the city. These brothels exist because there is always an unending supply of poor girls willing to take their chances making their fortunes within their walls, but alas, few, if any, do escape to live to a grand old age in comfort."

"Why do they do it, then?" Cailin asked him.

"Because they have no other choice," he told her frankly. "Villa Maxima, however, is not like most other brothels. We cherish our women, and pamper them in luxury. They are not common whores, but courtesans, highly trained, and skilled in giving the men who come to patronize them the utmost in pleasure. We also have handsome young male courtesans who are much in demand among certain wealthy women of the city and the court. There are men among our clients who enjoy-indeed they prefer-the company of other men; and women who would rather have a woman for a lover. We cater to every taste."

"It is all very strange to me," Cailin told him.

He nodded. "Yes, I imagine it would be, considering your former life in Britain. I know it will be difficult for you, but you will adjust to this new life if your mind is open. Are you perchance a Christian?"

Cailin shook her head. "No. Are you?"

He chuckled. "It is now the official religion of the empire," he said. "Like a good citizen, I obey the emperor in all things."

Cailin laughed for the first time in many months. "What a prevaricator you are, sir. I fear I do not believe you."

Jovian shrugged. "I do what I must to avoid difficulty," he said. "This new church fights among itself as to what is correct and proper doctrine, and what is not. When they have settled it among themselves, perhaps I shall find my faith. Until then…"

"You will give lip service to it," she told him. "I know very little about the Christians, sir. I think, however, that I prefer my own gods: Danu, the mother, and Lugh, our father. They are represented by the earth and the sun. Then there is Macha, Epona, Sulis, Cernunnos, Dagda, Taranis, and my favorite, Nodens, the Goddess of the Forest. My mother particularly loved Nodens. The Christians, I am told, have but one god. It seems a poor religion to me that only has one god."

"You should learn about it, as you are to live in Constantinople," Jovian told her. "I will have a priest tutor you in the intricacies of the religion. We have several rather important clerics as clients."

"Am I to be a courtesan, then, sir?" Cailin asked him.

"Not immediately, my dear. You lack training, for one thing, and for another, I must be certain you are disease-free. The women who live in this house are healthy. I do not allow them to consort with men who are not. Some brothel owners are penurious when it comes to the health of their women. My brother and I are not. For a single solidus a good Greek physician can be purchased in the market. We own one who lives here and oversees to the health of all the residents of Villa Maxima."

"Then once he has decided that I am healthy," Cailin said, "you will have me trained to be a courtesan."

"Eventually," he answered. "Does it disturb you to know that you will be expected to entertain a variety of lovers, my dear?"

Cailin considered his words. In another time and another place, the mere thought of such a thing would have horrified her beyond anything, but this was not Britain. She was so far from home she could not even ascertain the distance. Her husband probably did believe her dead. Mayhap he had already taken another wife. Wulf. For a moment she saw his strong, handsome face before her, and tears sprang to her eyes. She quickly blinked them away. It would not be easy at first to take another man between her thighs, but she supposed in time she would grow used to it. "What future have I beyond my youth?" she asked Jovian.

For a moment surprise suffused his features, and then he said in admiring tones, "How wise you are, my dear, to consider the future. So many of them do not. They think they will be young and desirable forever. Of course, that is not the case. Well, I will tell you what that future can hold for you if you will trust me. Learn your lessons well, Cailin, and you will, I promise, attract the best lovers Constantinople has to offer to your bed.

"Learn more than just the sensuous arts, my dear. Many do not realize that to be truly fascinating a woman must be a clever and a knowledgeable conversationalist as well as a desirable female. Lovers will shower such a woman with expensive gifts, gold, jewelry, and other valuables. Eventually you will be able to purchase your freedom.

"At the beginning of each year we put a value upon each woman in our house. If during that year she decides she wishes to buy her freedom, there is no argument over price, for it is already set. Today I purchased you for four folles, but your value is already more now that your beauty is visible to all. You are worth at least ten sol-idi."

"How many folles is that, sir?" Cailin queried him.

"There are one hundred and eighty copper folles to each gold solidus. Eighteen hundred copper folles equals ten gold solidi, my dear," he said with a grin. "I am almost tempted to take you back now to that foolish slave merchant who allowed you to go so cheaply for want of a little water. No, I cannot. He will howl, and cry he's been cheated, despite the fact that I warned him. They are all alike, those people." He stood up. "Come, we will go and show my brother Phocas that I have not lost my ability to see a perfect gem beneath the mud in the road. Isis," he called to an attending slave. "You will accompany us." Then he turned back to Cailin. "You will address gentlemen who enter this house as 'my lord.' My brother, and myself, as well. 'Sir' is such a provincial mode of address, dear girl."

"Yes, my lord," Cailin answered him, following Jovian through the house to where Phocas sat awaiting them. When she was disrobed the elder of the Maxima brothers expressed his surprise at and his approval of her newly restored appearance. She stood silent as they spoke, until finally her garment was restored to her.

"Isis," her new master instructed the slave girl, "take Cailin to the quarters I have ordered prepared for her." When the two women had departed, Jovian turned to his brother, an excited look upon his face. "I have the most marvelous plans for that girl," he said. "She is going to make us a fortune, Phocas, and our old age will be secure!"

"No single courtesan, however well-trained," his elder brother answered, "can make us that much gold."

"This one will, and she will not have to personally entertain any of our clients. At least not for some time, brother dear," Jovian finished. Rubbing his hands together gleefully, he sat down next to Phocas.

They were a study in contrasts, these two brothers. Although they were of almost equal height, Phocas being slightly taller, no one who did not know them would have realized they were siblings, born of the same parents. Their father had been a courtier, their mother his mistress. Villa Maxima had been her home. Phocas favored the paternal side of his family. He was slender, with a long aristocratic face made up of a slim nose, narrow lips, and deep-set dark brown eyes. His hair was dark and straight, cut medium-short, and brushed away from the crown of his head. His clothing was expensive and simple. Phocas Maxima was the sort of man who could easily disappear amid a crowd. It was said by the women he owned that he was a lover of epic proportions who could make the most hardened courtesan weep with joy. His business acumen was admired citywide, and his generous works of charity kept him in favor with the church.

His younger brother, Jovian, was his opposite. Elegant, classically educated, a slave to fashion, he was considered one of the greatest wits of his time. He adored beautiful things: clothing, women, works of art, and particularly beautiful young men, of whom he kept several to see to his every need. His dark curls in careful and deliberate disarray, he was easily recognizable at the races, the games, the circus. The success of Villa Maxima was largely due to him, for although Phocas could keep the books and see to the budget needed to run the brothel, it was Jovian's wonderful imagination that set Villa Maxima above all the other expensive brothels in the city. Their late mother, a famous courtesan of her day, would have been enormously proud of them.

"What have you in mind?" Phocas asked him, his curiosity provoked by his brother's particularly excitable state regarding the girl, Cailin.

"Are we not famous the length and breadth of the empire for our entertainments?" Jovian said.

"Absolutely!" Phocas agreed.

"Our living tableaux have no equal. Am I correct?"

"You are correct, brother dear," Phocas answered.

"What if we took a living tableau a giant step further?" Jovian suggested. "What if, instead of a tableau, we staged a playlet of delicious depravity so decadent that all of Constantinople would want to view it- and would pay handsomely for the privilege. No one, brother dear, would be allowed to view this playlet at first but our regular clients. They, of course, would talk about it, intriguing their friends, and their friends' friends.

"Only those personally recommended by our clients would be permitted to enter here to view our little entertainment. Soon we would have so many requests for entry that we could charge whatever the traffic would bear, and thus make our fortunes. No one has ever before done anything such as I propose to you. Others will, naturally, copy us, but they will not be able to maintain the level of genius and imagination as we can. Cailin will be the centerpiece of the performance."

Phocas could fully appreciate his brother's plan. It was absolutely brilliant. "What will you call your playlet, and how will it be performed, Jovian?" he asked his sibling, fascinated.

" 'The Virgin and the Barbarians!' Is that not marvelous?" Jovian chortled, most pleased with himself and his cleverness. "The scene will open with our own little Cailin seated before a loom, modest and innocent in white, her hair unbound, weaving a tapestry. Suddenly the door to her chamber bursts open! Three magnificent naked barbarians enter, swords in hand, their intent quite plain. The frightened maiden leaps up, but alack! They are upon her, rending her garments asunder as she shrieks her protest! They violate her, and the curtain descends to the cheers of our audience."

"Boring," Phocas said dryly.

"Boring?" Jovian looked offended. "I cannot believe you would say such a thing to me. There is nothing boring about the scene I have described to you."

"Violation of a virgin is an ordinary topic of living tableau," Phocas answered, disappointed. "If that is all there is to it, Jovian, then it is boring."

"The gods!" Jovian exclaimed. "It is all so clear to me that I have not explained it in detail to you. Our virgin is violated by three barbarians, Phocas. Three!"

"Indeed were it one or three, it is boring," his brother repeated.

"All three of them at one time?" Jovian slyly elucidated.

Phocas's brown eyes grew wide. "Impossible!" he said breathlessly.

"Not at all," his brother answered, "but it must be choreographed most carefully, as one would choreograph a temple dance. It is not, however, impossible, dear brother. Oh, no! Not at all; and nothing like it has ever been presented here in Byzantium. Does not the church itself constantly decry the wickedness of man's nature? There will be riots before our gates in an effort to see the performance. This girl will make us our fortunes. We shall retire to that island in the Black Sea that we bought several years ago and have not seen since."

"But will the girl cooperate?" Phocas asked. "You are, after all, expecting a great deal of an unsophisticated little provincial."

"She will cooperate, brother dear. She is very intelligent for a woman, and because she is a pagan, she has no foolish qualms. Since she is not a virgin, she has no respectability to lose in this. Do you know what she asked me? What her future held after her youth and beauty had fled. Of course I told her she might eventually purchase her freedom if she were clever, and I believe she certainly is. With the proper training, Cailin will be the greatest courtesan this city has ever known."

"Have you decided upon the men involved?" Phocas said, now all business. "And how often shall we schedule this spectacle?"

"Only twice weekly," his brother replied. "The girl's physical well-being must be protected, and the unique nature of the performance involved considered. Better our clientele be left begging for more than our little playlet become too ordinary too quickly. As for the men, I saw just the trio I will need at Isaac Stauracius's private slave market two days ago."

"What if they are already sold?"

"They will not be," Jovian said. "I thought I might want them then, although I wasn't certain. I gave Isaac five gold solidi to hold them for me. I was to tell him by tomorrow, but I shall go today. They are quite magnificent, Phocas dear. Brothers, all identical in features and form down to the last detail. Big, blond Northmen. They have but one tiny flaw. It is not visible to the eye, but Isaac wanted me to know. They are dumb. The fool who captured them had their tongues torn out. A pity, really. They seem intelligent, and hear quite well."

"Go and fetch them, then," Phocas replied. "Do not let Isaac cheat you, Jovian. After all, he does not know how we are going to utilize these young men. Their physical defect should certainly lower the price he will ask appreciably. But wait! What of their male organs? They are large? No matter how beautiful these creatures, they must have big manhoods. How can you be certain of that without Isaac suspecting something of the use to which we will put this trio?"

Jovian looked drolly at his elder sibling. "Phocas, my dear brother, you wound me deeply. When did I ever purchase any male slave for this house that I did not inspect their attributes most thoroughly first? At rest the manhoods of these three hang limply at least six inches. Aroused they will lengthen to eight, if I am not mistaken, and I rarely am."

"Your pardon, brother," Phocas said with a brief smile.

With an answering smile and a bow, Jovian departed his brother's presence. Calling to his favorite body slave, and current lover, to come and join him, he walked swiftly through the gates of Villa Maxima and out into the street.

Chapter 8

Cailin had always believed that the home in which she had grown up was luxurious, but life at Villa Maxima was a revelation to her. No windows despoiled the outside walls of the building facing the street. One entered through bronze gates that led by way of a narrow passage into a large, sunny, open courtyard. The flooring in the courtyard was designed of square blocks of black and white marble. Great pots were set about the perimeter of the space. They were planted with small trees and pink damask rosebushes. There were always attractive slaves on duty within the courtyard to welcome visitors and to direct them up the two wide white marble steps onto the colonnaded portico, and through it into the atrium of the villa.

The atrium was magnificent. It had a high, curved, vaulted ceiling divided into sunken panels that were carved and decorated in red and blue, and gilded with gold. The walls were decorated with panels of white marble, and the baseboards were overlaid in silver. The entry to the atrium had two squared columns and four rounded pillars in red and white marble, all topped with gilded cornices. Above the entry were three long, narrow, latticed windows.

The doors leading from the atrium were of solid bronze, and the door posts sheathed in green marble, carved and decorated with gold and ivory. The floor was of marble tiles of various, contrasting shades of green and white arranged in geometrical patterns. In the recessed wall niches set about the room were marvelous marble sculptures of naked men and women, singly, or in pairs, or groups, all in erotic poses calculated to titillate the viewer. There were marble tubs filled with brightly colored flowers, and several marble benches where clients sat waiting admittance as their identities and credit were checked.

What little of the rest of the villa that Cailin saw in her first weeks in Constantinople was equally magnificent. The walls were all paneled, and centered upon them, painted pictures in frames. The subject of most of these paintings was erotic in nature. The ceilings were all paneled, and decorated with raised stucco work which was gilded or set with ivory. Doors were paneled and carved with colorful mosaic thresholds. The floors were either of marble of various hues, or mosaic pictures made of pieces so tiny that they appeared to be painted. The floor of the main chamber where the entertainments took place had the story of Leda and Jupiter illustrated in exquisitely colored pieces of mosaic that gave a jeweled effect.

The furniture found at Villa Maxima was typical of a wealthy household. Couches were everywhere, and they were ornately ornamental in design. Wonderfully grained woods were used for the legs and the arms, which were often carved. Tortoiseshell, ivory, ebony, jewels, and precious metals were used to decorate them. The couch coverings were of the finest fabrics available, embroidered in both gold and silver threads as well as sewn with jewels.

The tables were equally beautiful, the best being made from African cedar. Some had bases of marble, others of gold or silver, and yet others of gilded woods. There were chests for storage, some simple and others of elegant design. The candelabra were of bronze, silver, and gold, as were the lamps, both on the tables and hanging. There was nothing that could be considered lacking in grace or beauty about the villa and its furnishings.

Cailin had been assigned a charming little room with a mosaic floor whose center decoration was of Jupiter seducing Europa. About the walls, frescoes showed young lovers being encouraged and bedeviled by a host of amusing, little winged cupids. There was a single bed, a lovely little decorated wooden chest, and a small round table to furnish the space, which had but one window looking out over the hills of the city to the sea beyond. The room was sunny most of the day, and the light gave it a cheerful outlook that made Cailin feel comfortable for the first time in almost a year. It was not a bad place to begin her new life.

For almost two weeks that life was uncomplicated and pampered. She was fed more food than she had ever before eaten. She was bathed and massaged three times daily. Her feet and her hands were attended to, the nails pared, her skin creamed to soften it. She was made to rest continuously, until she thought she would die of boredom, for Cailin was not used to being idle. She saw no one but Jovian and the few servants who attended to her. In the evenings she could hear laughter, music, and merriment from elsewhere in Villa Maxima, but her chamber was very isolated from the rest of the house.

One day Jovian came and took her in a highly decorated-and to Cailin's taste-flamboyant litter to tour the city. He was a font of fascinating facts and general information. A town had been founded a thousand years before by the Greeks on this very site, Cailin learned. Located at the junction of the east-west trade routes, the town had always flourished, even if it was not particularly distinguished. Then, just over a hundred years ago, the emperor Constantine the Great had decided to leave Rome, and chose for his new capital the town of Byzantium. Constantine, the first emperor to embrace Christianity, consecrated the city on the fourth day of November in the year a.d. 328. The city, renamed Constantinople in his honor, was formally dedicated on May 11, 330, with much pomp and ceremony. Already building and renovation was then in progress.

Constantine and his successors were always building, and little remained now of the original Greek town. Constantinople currently had a university of higher learning; its own circus; eight public and one hundred fifty-three private baths; fifty-two porticos; five granaries; four large public halls for the government, the senate, and the courts of justice; eight aqueducts that conveyed the city's water; fourteen churches, including the magnificent St. Sophia; and fourteen palaces for the nobility. There were close to five thousand wealthy and upper-middle-class homes, not to mention several thousand houses and apartments sheltering the plebian classes, the shopkeepers, the artisans, the humble.

The city had been built on trade, and trade prospered there. Since it was set where the land routes from Asia and Europe met, Constantinople's markets were filled with goods of all kinds. There was porcelain from Cathay, ivory from Africa, amber from the Baltic, precious stones of every kind found on the earth; silks, damask, aloes, balsam, cinnamon and ginger, sugar, musk, salt, oil, grains, wax, furs, wood, wines, and of course, slaves.

That afternoon, they traveled the length of the city to the Golden Gate, and then back along the Mese past the forums of Constantine and of Theodosius. They skirted the Hippodrome and moved on past the Great Palace. As they were carried by the great church of St. Erine, Jovian said, "I have not yet chosen a priest for you, Cailin. I must remember to do so."

"Do not bother," she told him. "I do not think I could be a Christian. It seems a difficult faith, I fear."

"Why do you say that?" he asked her, curious.

"I have been speaking to your servants, and they tell me that to be a Christian you must forgive your enemies. I do not think I can forgive mine, Jovian. My enemy has cost me my family, my husband, and my child. I do not even know if that child was a son or a daughter. I have been taken from the land I love best, enslaved and generally terrorized. We Britons are a hardy race, which is probably why I have survived all of this, but I am angry, and I am embittered. Given the opportunity to take my revenge upon Antonia Porcius, I would gladly do so! I cannot forgive her for what she has done to me, or taken from me."

"Your fate is now here," Jovian told her quietly, and reaching out, he took her hand in his, squeezing it to comfort her.

Cailin's violet eyes surveyed him calmly. "I have learned to put my trust in no one, my lord. It is wiser, and I shall not be disappointed."

How cold she is, he thought, wondering if her husband had ever been able to ignite passion in her. Yet she was exactly what he needed for his new entertainment; a perfect marble Venus. Beautiful. Untouchable. Icy. And heartless. She would be a sensation, and her performance would bring all of Constantinople to its knees in their admiration. "Tomorrow," he said, "you will begin your training. You will be taught to do certain things that may at first frighten you or seem repugnant to you, but you can believe me, Cailin, when I tell you that I will not allow you to be injured in any way. In this one instance you may put your trust in me. I have too great an investment in you to allow you to come to harm, my dear. Oh, yes. You may trust Jovian Maxima, but no other."

"You have an investment of four folles, my lord." She laughed. " 'Tis hardly a great amount, as you yourself explained to me."

"Ahh, but remember that having cleaned you up, I told you that your worth had increased to ten solidi. Once you are trained, your worth will be a hundred times that, Cailin."

She was fascinated by what he was saying. She had absolutely no idea what her training was going to involve. She had no idea exactly what went on at Villa Maxima during those long evenings when the enticing noises from the main part of the villa teased at her sleepy ears. All she knew about brothels was that bodies were sold for a night's pleasure. There was obviously a good deal more, if her instincts proved correct.

The next morning she was brought by the slave girl Isis to an interior room where Jovian awaited her with several others. All of them but Jovian, resplendent in a red and silver dalmatica, were naked. There was a beautiful dark-haired woman of Cailin's height, and three tall young men with long golden locks. For a moment it was as if a hand had clutched at her heart, Cailin thought upon seeing them. Although there was nothing in the trio other than their size and coloring to remind her of Wulf, it was more than enough. For a moment she was angry at Jovian, but then she realized he could not know, so she steeled herself for whatever was to come because it meant the first step along her road to freedom.

Yesterday, discussing her anger with Jovian, Cailin had suddenly known that what she desperately wanted was to return to Britain, no matter how far away it was or how difficult the journey. The realization of such a dream was impossible without gold and power behind her. She knew not if Wulf was dead or alive. Even if he lived, he might not want her back. But her father's lands were hers, and there was that faceless, sexless child, too, who belonged to her. She wanted them back, and she wanted her revenge on Antonia Porcius. Only by becoming famous here in Constantinople did she have the slightest chance of returning to Britain and foiling Antonia's evil scheme. In her innocence, Cailin vowed she would do whatever she had to do to attain her goal.

"This is Casia," Jovian said, introducing the dark-haired woman. "She has been with us for two years and is most popular with the gentlemen. I have asked her to join us because she will demonstrate what I have in mind for you. Remove Cailin's tunica for her, Isis, and then you may leave us."

Cailin swallowed her apprehension at being nude before strangers. No one else was embarrassed. It was obviously a normal procedure in circumstances such as these. The obvious admiration for her in the blue eyes of the male trio was flattering. "Who are they?" she asked Jovian.

"Your fellow players," he said smoothly, and then asked her, "How did you and your husband make love, my dear? The positions you assumed, I mean," he further explained. Then he continued, answering his own question, "You lay upon your back, I surmise, and he rode you?"

Cailin nodded, swallowing silently. She was suddenly cold.

Casia put her arm about her. "Do not be frightened," she said in kindly tones. "No one is going to hurt you, Cailin. You are really very fortunate to have been chosen by Jovian for this entertainment."

"Surely you are not fearful?" Jovian fussed at her. "I told you that in this one matter you could trust me. It is simply the unknown that distresses you. Very well then, let us demystify your fears. Your fellow players cannot speak, although they hear. I have decided to call them Apollo, Castor, and Pollux. The physician tells me you are healthy in all respects, and more than ready to receive a man's homage. These three are to be your lovers."

"They are slaves as I am," Cailin said. "Where is the profit in that my lord? How can I earn my freedom lying with slaves?"

Jovian chuckled. She might be afraid, but she had not lost sight of all he had told her. "Your lovemaking shall be an entertainment for our clients, Cailin. Twice weekly you four shall perform a playlet of my devising." He then went on to explain what would be required of her: "I realize that you have never had a man enter through your temple of Sodom. That is why Casia is here today. It is a particular specialty of hers. If you see her carrying out this manner of lovemaking, you shall see there is nothing to be apprehensive about. Casia, take your position. Pollux and Castor, attend her. Now watch carefully, Cailin. You will be required to do what Casia does."

Casia fell to her knees. Castor, standing before her, rubbed his male organ against her lips. Opening her mouth, she absorbed him before Cailin's shocked eyes. She suckled strongly upon his manhood.

"She is arousing him by means of the sucking action, and by teasing his flesh with her tongue," Jovian explained matter-of-factly. "See, he is already engorged with his lust. He's an eager young fellow."

Casia could no longer contain the Northman within her mouth. She positioned herself on her hands and knees. Castor moved behind her and knelt. Using his hand to guide himself, he pushed between the tight half-moons of her bottom. Casia groaned softly, and as she did, Pollux tipped her head up with one hand while offering the girl his manhood to entertain within her mouth. Grasping her hips in his big hands, Castor very slowly inserted himself within the kneeling Casia. Then he began to pump her with equally slow, long, majestic strokes of his manhood.

"I cannot possibly do that," Cailin protested.

"Of course you can, and you will not only do that, but more, my dear," Jovian assured her. "You will note how careful he is with her. As filled with lust as he is, he is tender. He must be lest he damage her. He would forfeit his life if he did, and he knows it." Jovian suddenly put an arm about Cailin, and drawing her next to him, he put a hand between her nether lips, to her shocked surprise. "Ahh, good, you are already moist with beginning desire, despite those maidenly protests you are going to make to me. Apollo, come here and sooth our little novice. Lay her on her back and give her a good fucking."

Strangely, it was the gentle pity in Apollo's eyes that hardened Cailin's heart that day. She realized then that if she were not the mistress of this situation, the three brothers would bully her in their performance ever after. She lay down upon a mat placed on the marble floor and, spreading her legs wide, observed to Jovian, "He is as ready to couple as I am, my lord. His manhood is certainly a fine one, though I have seen bigger. Come, Apollo, and do our master's bidding."

She felt absolutely nothing as he reamed her vigorously. She was as cold as ice. Finally Casia, her own performance concluded, knelt by Cailin's head and softly instructed her, "You must always let a man believe you are feeling passion such as you have never felt before, even when you are not. Thrash your head back and forth. Good! Now moan, and claw at his back." She smiled up at Jovian as Cailin complied. "She is an apt pupil, my lord."

I am dead, Cailin thought, and this is Hades. But it was not. For several weeks she was instructed in the erotic arts, and to her own surprise, she seemed to excel in them. Finally came the day when Cailin and the trio of young Northmen brought Jovian's playlet fully to life before his delighted eyes. Two days later they performed a dress rehearsal before all the residents of Villa Maxima. Afterward both Cailin and Jovian were congratulated; Jovian for his creative abilities, and Cailin for her acrobatically inclined performance.

"Next week," Jovian said enthusiastically. "We begin our performances next week. There is just enough time to let our special clients know that something extraordinary will be happening. Oh, my brother! We are going to be rich!"

The Virgin and the Barbarians was an immediate success. Never had anything like it been seen in the history of Constantinople. It was all going exactly as Jovian had predicted it would. Phocas, in a rare show of excitement, could scarcely contain his glee over the thousands of gold solidi piling up in their strongbox. Twice weekly the playlet was performed before several hundred guests, each paying five gold solidi apiece to view the performance.

One night Jovian sought out his elder brother and told him excitedly, "The empress's brother has come, and General Aspar with him! I have seated them in the first row for the best viewing. The gods! I knew I was right! I am going to start designing another playlet, Phocas."

I wonder if this is as fascinating as the rumors insist," Prince Basilicus murmured to his companion. The prince was an elegant man with fair skin, black hair, and deep brown eyes. Cultured and educated, it was unusual to find him in such an atmosphere, particularly given his public piety and his circle of religious friends. "I am going to be sorry that I allowed you to drag me here tonight, Aspar."

The general chuckled. "You are too serious, Basilicus."

"And I should be more like you? A lover of plays and public spectacles, Aspar? If you weren't the finest general the empire has ever seen, you would not be tolerated by the court."

"If I were not the finest general the empire has ever seen," Aspar said quietly, "your sister, Verina, would not be empress."

The prince laughed. "It is true," he admitted. "You made Leo emperor even as you chose Marcian before him. You would be emperor yourself were it not for my friends in the church. They fear you, Aspar."

"They are fools, then," was the reply. "Thank God for my lack of orthodoxy, Basilicus. I should rather be an emperor-maker than an emperor. That is why your friends really fear me. They do not understand why I choose to be as I choose to be. Besides, times have changed. Byzantium needs a great general more than she needs a great emperor right now; and the days are long past when a single man could be both."

"Your modesty touches me," the prince said ironically. "My God! Is that Senator Romanus's wife with that muscle-bound boy? It is!"

Aspar chuckled. "We probably know half the people in this room, Basilicus. Look, over there. There is Bishop Andronicus, and just look whom he is with. It is Casia, one of the finest courtesans Villa Maxima has to offer. I have enjoyed several evenings in her company. She is a charming and a most talented girl. Would you like to meet her one day? I do not think I dare intrude upon the bishop tonight, however."

The room was totally filled now. Naked young boys and girls began to move about, snuffing out the lamps until the room was in total darkness. Aspar smiled to himself, hearing the low moans and heavy breathing about him. Already some in the audience were taking advantage of the darkness to make love. Then the heavy curtain shielding the stage was drawn aside, revealing a second diaphanous curtain. The stage was very well lit, with lamps set along its rim and several others that hung down from the stage beams.

The sheer draperies were slowly drawn back to completely reveal a beautiful young woman seated at a loom. Her face was serene, but it was her charming, long auburn curls that Aspar found delightful. The girl was dressed in a modest white tunica; her slender feet were bare. She worked knowledgeably at the loom. Her very demeanor was of purity and innocence.

Soft music played in the background from unseen musicians setting the peaceful scene. The general gazed about him. Among the audience, lovers were beginning to become quite entwined. Senator Romanus's wife was seated facing the stage, upon her lover's lap. Her gown was pulled well up, as was the tunic of the young man upon whom she sat. Their activity was obvious. Aspar smiled, amused, and turned back to the stage. The girl looked up from her weaving, and Aspar saw that her eyes held no expression at all. For a moment he wondered if she were blind, but he could see she was not. The vacant look touched him in a strange fashion. He realized he felt sorry for the beautiful young woman.

Then suddenly the door to the little theatrical chamber burst asunder. The audience gasped as three naked, oiled warriors strode onto the stage. They were all identical in features. Each wore a helmet with a horsetail, and carried a sword and a decorated shield; but it was their large male organs that intrigued both the men and the women in the audience.

"God in his heaven!" murmured Basilicus. "Where did those three come from? Surely they aren't going to… ah, yes, they are!" He leaned forward, fascinated, as the three barbarians began their violation of the hapless virgin.

Cailin's gauzy little garment was torn violently from her voluptuous body. Raising her right arm, she pressed the back of her hand against her forehead while her left arm was positioned down and slightly back. This clever little piece of staging allowed her audience a perfect view of her beautiful naked body. For the briefest of moments the three barbarians stood silent, as if they too were admiring their victim. Then suddenly one of them grabbed the girl and kissed her fiercely, his big hands roaming over her lush form, fondling it vigorously. A second barbarian tore the maiden from his companion and began to plunder her lips, only to have the third man in their trio demand his share of the sweetness as well. For a few minutes the barbarians kissed and caressed Cailin beneath the collective hot gaze of their audience.

"Oh, the gods!" a faceless female voice half moaned in the darkness as the three golden barbarians suddenly turned to face the audience, revealing their engorged manhoods in all their epic proportions.

There were more lustful sighs and groans as the playlet continued onward to its conclusion. Clutching the girl to prevent her escape, the three barbarians diced to see who would take the virginity contained in her temple of Venus. Unknown to the audience, this was the one part of the act that was left to chance each time the quartet performed. Jovian believed if his male actors played exactly the same role in each performance, they would become stale in their parts, and hence boring.

Apollo won the first toss, and grinned delightedly. He had been relegated to the role his brother Castor would play tonight for the last three performances. He groaned with genuine pleasure as Cailin was forced down upon his manhood. Pollux knelt down behind the girl, grasping her hips tightly while she balanced herself upon her hands, and slowly inserted himself in her temple of Sodom. The audience chuckled as Castor, apparently left out of the fun, looked downcast. Then a wicked smile crossed his face. Walking over to the entwined group, he stood over Apollo, and reaching down, lifted Cailin's head up. He rubbed himself against her lips until, with what appeared a demure reluctance, she opened her mouth and took his manhood in, at first shyly, and then with a noisy suckling. Carefully, the other two men began to move on the girl as well. Her ravishers howled with their pleasure.

It was clever, the general thought. The girl looked as innocent as a young lambkin. The blankness in her eyes, however, told him that she was doing what she had to do to survive. She was certainly not enjoying the three men now pushing themselves into the three orifices of her lovely body. About him Aspar saw men and women in the audience slack-jawed and wide-eyed with lustful enjoyment. Several couples, physically involved themselves, were moaning their own pleasure as the players upon the stage were bringing this little piece of depravity to its natural conclusion. As the quartet collapsed in a heap of entwined limbs, the curtains were drawn back across the stage.

Jovian appeared, to the cheers and shouts of the audience. "You have enjoyed our little entertainment?" he asked coyly, a winsome twinkle in his eyes.

They shouted their approval at him, and he beamed, pleased.

"Are there any ladies here tonight who would like to enjoy the special attentions of one of our handsome young barbarians?" Jovian inquired slyly. He was immediately bombarded with eager requests. The three brothers were quickly auctioned off, appearing from behind the curtain to join their happy partners for the night. To Basilicus's astonishment, Senator Romanus's lusty wife gained possession of one of the players, and disappeared with both him and her young lover.

"What about the girl?" came a shout from the audience.

"Oh, no!" Jovian answered with a little laugh. "Our virgin is not for anyone else's amusement-for the time being. Perhaps one day, gentlemen, but not right now. My brother and I are pleased that you have all enjoyed yourselves at our playlet. There will be another performance in three nights. Do tell your friends." Then he disappeared behind the curtain like a small fox popping back into its den.

Aspar stood up. "I have some business to conduct," he said to his companion. "Will you remain, Basilicus?"

"I think so," the prince said. "After all, I am here."

Smiling to himself, Flavius Aspar left the small theater. He had sought light amusement at Villa Maxima for a number of years, and he knew precisely where he was going. He found the two Maxima brothers in a small interior room, gleefully counting their proceeds from tonight's performance.

"My lord, it is good to see you!" Jovian hurried forward while Phocas looked up just long enough to nod at the general. "Did you enjoy our little entertainment? I saw Prince Basilicus with you."

"Nothing escapes your sharp eyes, does it, Jovian?" the general said with a laugh. "The performance was unique. A bit hard on the girl, I would say. Is that why you limit her appearances to twice weekly?"

"Of course, my lord. Cailin is very valuable to us. We would not want to harm her in any way," Jovian said.

"I want to buy her," Aspar said quietly.

Jovian felt his heart jump in his chest. His eyes met those of his brother nervously. This was certainly not something that they had even considered. "My lord," he said slowly, "she is not for sale. Not now, perhaps later." He felt a tiny bead of perspiration begin to slide down his backbone. This was the most powerful man in the Byzantine empire. More powerful than the emperor himself.

"One thousand gold solidi," Aspar said, and he smiled to show he was unoffended by Jovian's refusal.

"Three thousand," Phocas answered. There was no sentiment in Phocas Maxima. Jovian might protest, but another girl could be trained to take Cailin's place. Besides, the playlet was no longer fresh.

"Fifteen hundred," the general countered quickly.

"Two thousand," Phocas replied.

"Fifteen hundred," the general replied firmly, indicating the bidding was done. "Have the girl delivered to my private seaside villa. It is just five miles past the Golden Gate. When you arrive tomorrow, the majordomo there will have your gold for you. I trust that will be satisfactory, gentlemen." He did not for a single moment believe he would be denied.

"We would prefer, my lord, if the gold were delivered here to us. I do not think either of us relishes returning from beyond the city walls laden with such a treasure," Phocas explained. "When the purse is brought to us, we will gladly send the girl to you." He bowed politely.

"Very well," Flavius Aspar answered, and then seeing Jovian's downcast features, he said, "Do not be sad, my old friend. The Virgin and the Barbarians was becoming quite commonplace. Shortly no one will believe that your little protege-what did you call her?-is a virgin. Create a new playlet for your audience, Jovian. You will lose nothing by it. Those who have not seen this playlet will be twice as eager to see the next one, and those who have seen it will be equally eager to see what is next."

"Cailin. Her name is Cailin. She is a Briton," Jovian said. "You will be kind to her, my lord? She is a good girl fallen on hard times. If you ask her, she will tell you her tale. It is most fascinat-ing."

"I did not purchase her to hurt her, Jovian," the general told him. Then he said, "Gentlemen, no word of this transaction is to be gossiped about, even to my friend Basilicus. I do not want anyone to know of my purchase."

"We understand perfectly, my lord," Jovian said smoothly, now beginning to recover his aplomb. Knowing Cailin's history, he had always secretly felt a bit guilty about making her the centerpiece of his entertainment. He realized that as General Aspar's mistress she would be far safer, and possibly even happier. "We will see less of you now, I expect," he finished.

"Perhaps," Aspar answered. Then nodding to the two men, he departed the chamber, closing the door behind him as he went.

"The gods!" Phocas exclaimed. "We have had the girl in our possession less than three months, brother dear. Her performances made us fifteen thousand solidi, and her sale has brought us another fifteen hundred solidi. An excellent return on a slave who only cost us four folles to begin with, even considering the cost of her keep, which was really quite negligible. I salute you, Jovian Maxima! You were correct!"

Jovian smiled broadly. A compliment from Phocas was as rare as finding a perfect pearl in an oyster. "Thank you, brother," he said.

"You will tell the girl?"

"I will speak to her in the morning. On the nights she gives her performance, she bathes, and goes to her bed immediately following it. She will be sleeping now, and she always sleeps like the dead afterward."

Sleep. It was her only escape. Cailin had believed she was strong. She had almost convinced herself that she could do what they asked of her. But she did not think she could bear much more. It was not that anyone was unkind to her. Indeed, everyone went out of their way to make certain she was comfortable. She was pampered and fussed over by everyone at Villa Maxima. Jovian was almost devoted to her. Apollo, Castor, and Pollux adored her openly. They had even gone as far as to show her a lion designed in a mosaic, point to it, tap their chests, and then point to her. They were telling her, in the only way they could, that she had the courage of a lion. It was flattering, but it was not enough. She had recently overheard Jovian speaking about a new entertainment he was conceiving for her. It surely couldn't be any worse than what was happening to her now.

To her surprise, Jovian joined her the following morning for the first meal of the day. "I could not sleep," he told her, "and so I went early to the marketplace. See the fine melon I have brought you. We will enjoy it together while I tell you that you have had the most incredible piece of luck, Cailin."

"Fortuna is not a goddess who has been kind to me of late," Cailin told him, handing the melon to Isis to split.

"She smiled quite broadly on you last night, my dear," Jovian said archly. "Flavius Aspar, Byzantium's most powerful man, was in the audience."

"I thought the emperor was your most powerful man," Cailin replied.

"Flavius Aspar is the empire's most famed general. He has personally chosen the last two emperors. Both the late emperor, Marcian, and this emperor, Leo, owe their positions to Aspar."

"And what has your general to do with me, my lord?" Cailin took a slice of melon offered her by Isis. It was wonderfully sweet, and the juice ran down her chin. She flicked out her tongue to catch it.

"I have sold you to him," Jovian said, biting into his own piece of the ripe fruit. "He paid fifteen hundred gold solidi for you, my dear. Did I not tell you that your value would increase?"

"You also told me that I should be able to purchase my freedom eventually," Cailin said bitterly. "Did I not say I should trust no one? But you swore to me that you could be trusted, my lord!"

"Dear girl," Jovian protested, "we did not solicit your sale. He came to us aftet last night's performance and said he wished to putchase you. He is truly the most powerful man in the empire, Cailin. There was no way my brother and I could refuse him and continue to prosper. To deny Aspar what he wanted would have been tantamount to suicide." He patted her arm. "Do not be afraid, my dear. He will be kind to you. I do not think the general has ever kept a mistress. When he wished to have a woman other than his wife, he would come here, or to some other respectable house such as ours. You should feel honored."

Cailin glared at him. "How will I ever get back to Britain to take my revenge on Antonia Porcius now?" she demanded furiously.

"A clever woman-and I do believe you are clever, Cailin- would see the great opportunity offered her. Aspar will lavish gifts upon you if you please him. He may even free you one day," Jovian said.

"I have none of the skills of a courtesan," Cailin told him. "Those lessons were to come later. All I am capable of doing is…" She flushed angrily. "Well, you know what I can do, my lord Jovian, for you conceived the Hades I have been living in for the past weeks! Will not your powerful general believe he has been cheated when he finds out that the woman he bought last night is not at all skilled in the arts of erotica?"

"I do not think it is a trained courtesan he wants, Cailin," Jovian told her. "He is a strange man, Aspar. For all his military skills he is a very kind person in a very cruel world. Make no mistake about him, however. He is a man used to being obeyed. He can be hard."

At that moment Phocas came bustling into Cailin's small chamber. "The messenger has arrived with the gold," he said, attempting to restrain his glee. "I have counted it, and it is all there to the last solidus, brother dear. Have you told Cailin? Is she ready to leave us now?"

"I must wash my hands and face first," Cailin answered for Jovian, "and then I am ready to leave, my lord Phocas."

There was nothing else left to say. Isis brought a basin of water, and Cailin removed all traces of the melon from herself. Then bidding Isis farewell, she was escorted by the two brothers to the courtyard, where a litter was waiting. She wore a simple white chiton belted with a gold rope. The sleeves of the garment flowed gracefully to her mid-arms. Her feet were bare, for she had needed no sandals within Villa Maxima, and none had been given her.

Casia came out into the courtyard and said, "You cannot allow her to leave without these." With a small smile she fastened amethyst, pearl, and gold dangles in Cailin's ears. "Every woman deserves some jewelry. The gods go with you, my little friend. I do not think you realize how fortunate you truly are."

"Thank you, Casia," Cailin exclaimed. "I have never had lovelier earrings than these; and thank you for the rest."

"Be yourself, and you will succeed admirably with him," Casia promised.

"I will call on you soon," Jovian told Cailin brightly, and helped her into the litter. "'lake Casia's advice. She knows."

Cailin felt a momentary panic as the litter was lifted and the bearers moved off through the gates of Villa Maxima. Once again she was facing the unknown. It seemed so odd after the quiet life she had lived in Britain that within the space of two years her fate had taken such twists and turns. Cailin leaned back and closed her eyes as they hurried through the city. At the Golden Gate the litter stopped in the line of traffic waiting to be passed through. She heard a rough voice say, "And what have we here?"

"This woman belongs to General Aspar, and is going to Villa Mare," came the curt reply.

"I'll just have a look," the voice answered, and the litter's diaphanous draperies were yanked aside.

Cailin stared coldly at the soldier peering in.

The draperies fell back. "She belongs to old Aspar?" the guard at the gate said, whistling admiringly. "What a beauty! Pass on!"

The litter was picked up again, and moved forward. Cailin peeped between the draperies after a while. The road stretched across a flat, fertile plain with wheat fields, orchards, and olive groves along both sides. Beyond lay the sea. She could not see it, but she could smell it, the sharp, pungent tang of the salt air rick-ling her nose. She was beginning to feel better. The sea was a means of escape, and now that she was free of Villa Maxima, she would never again have to degrade herself as she had the last five weeks.

They moved along at a smooth pace, and then she felt the bearers slowing, turning. Peeking out again, she saw they had passed through an iron gate and were going down a tree-lined lane. She was in the country again, she thought, relieved to be free of the noise and stink of Constantinople. The bearers stopped and the litter was set down again. The curtains were drawn aside and a hand extended to her. Cailin stepped out to discover the hand belonged to an elderly white-haired man of small stature.

"Good day, lady. I am Zeno, the majordomo at Villa Mare. The general has bid me welcome you. This is your home, and we are all at your command." He bowed politely, his worn face breaking into a friendly smile.

"Where is your master, Zeno?" she asked him.

"I have not seen the general in several months, lady. He sent a messenger early this morning with his orders for you," Zeno replied.

"Is he expected soon?" Cailin asked. This was odd.

"He has not informed me so, lady," Zeno told her. "Come in now and take some refreshment. The day is growing warm, and the sun is very hot for late June. The city, I can but imagine, was a tinderbox."

Cailin followed after him. "I do not like the city," she said. "The noise and the dirt are appalling."

"Indeed," he agreed. "I have served the general for many years, but when he offered to make me his majordomo at Villa Mare, I kissed his feet in gratitude. The older I get, the less tolerance I seem to have, lady. You are not a citizen of Byzantium?"

"I am a Briton," Cailin told him, and accepted a goblet of chilled wine from a smiling servant.

"It is a very savage and barbaric land, I am told," Zeno said with utmost seriousness. "It is said the people are blue in color, but you are not blue, lady. Am I mistaken, then?"

Cailin couldn't refrain from one little giggle, but she quickly soothed the majordomo's feelings by telling him, "In ancient times the warriors among my people painted themselves blue when they went into battle, Zeno, but we are not blue-skinned by nature."

"I can see that, lady, but why did they paint themselves blue?"

"Our warriors believed that although the enemy might kill them and strip them of their possessions, as long as they were painted blue, their honor and their dignity could not be taken from them," Cailin explained to him. "Britain is not a savage land. We have been part of the empire for over four hundred years, Zeno. My own family descended from a Roman tribune who came there with Emperor Claudius."

"I can see I have a great deal to learn about the Britons, lady. I hope you will share your knowledge with me. I greatly value knowledge," Zeno said.

During the next few days Cailin explored her new surroundings. Villa Mare was very much like her home in Britain had been; a simple but very comfortable country villa. The atrium had a dear little square fish pond, and she enjoyed sitting there in the heat of the day when the outdoors was not particularly comfortable. Her bedchamber was large and airy. There were no more than half a dozen servants, all older. It was obvious to Cailin that General Aspar sent those slaves he wished to semiretire to the Villa Mare, where they would have a simpler and easier time of it. It seemed a kind act, and she grew more curious about the man who had rescued her from Villa Maxima; but he was not, it seemed, expected by his household at any time soon. It was as if he were deliberately leaving her in peace to recover from the ordeal she had suffered these last months. If this was indeed fact, Cailin appreciated it.

Zeno was fascinated by her stories of Britain. He had never, it seemed, been anywhere in his entire life but Constantinople and the surrounding countryside. Cailin was surprised to find he was a very cultured man despite his status. He could both read and write Latin and Greek as well as keep accounts. He had, he explained, been raised with the son of a noble of the court of Theodosius II, and had come into General Aspar's household when his master had died deeply in debt; then he, along with the other slaves of the household, were sold.

"You were not born a slave, my lady Cailin," Zeno said.

"No," she told him. "I was betrayed by a woman I believed a friend. A year ago at this time I was in Britain, a wife, an expectant mother. If I had been told that this would be my fate, I should have never believed it, Zeno." She smiled softly, almost to herself. "I will go home one day, and I will revenge myself on that woman. I swear it!"

It was obvious to him that she was of the upper class, but because Zeno had been born a slave, the son and grandson of slaves, he did not inquire further. It would have been a presumption on his part, and he could not, despite his curiosity, change the habits of a lifetime. It did not matter that she was also a slave. She was a slave who had been born a patrician. She was his better, no matter her youth.

"Tell me of your master?" Cailin asked him.

"You do not know him?" Zeno said. This was interesting.

"I do not even know what he looks like," Cailin admitted candidly. "The master of the house in which I served came to me one morning and told me that I had been seen and admired by General Aspar, who had bought me from him. I was then sent here. I find it all quite strange."

Zeno smiled. "No," he said, "it is the kind of thing he would do, my lady. We who have been with him for so long know his kind heart, although it is not his public reputation. He would be, should be, emperor of Byzantium, my lady, but instead he has placed Leo on the throne."

"Why?" she asked, curious. She motioned Zeno to sit with her by the atrium pond, encouraging him to continue.

"He descends from the Alans, my lady. They were once a pastoral, nomadic clan living beyond the Black Sea. The Alans were driven from their homeland by the Huns, a fierce, warlike tribe who until recently were ruled by an animal called Attila. Although the general is a Christian, he is an Arian Christian. Whereas the Orthodox Christians believe that their Holy Trinity, consisting of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one in three, and three in one, the Arians believe that the Son is a different being from the God Father, and subordinate to him.

"They argue back and forth over doctrine. Although some of our emperors are intrigued by the Arians, the Orthodox church holds sway in Byzantium. They will not allow an openly Arian Christian to be crowned emperor. The bishops respect General Aspar, and they know there is no finer military man alive; but they would not allow him to be emperor. I honestly do not think he wants to be emperor, my lady. The emperor is never a free man. Much of the general's heritage remains in him, I believe. He would rather be a free man than a king."

"Does he have a wife, Zeno? Or children?" Cailin wondered.

"For many years the general was wed to a good woman of Byzantium, the lady Anna. In the first year of their marriage they had a son, Ardiburius, and then later a daughter, Sophia. Nine years ago the lady Anna, after many years of barrenness, bore our master a second son, Patricius. The birth weakened her. She remained an invalid until her death three years ago. Villa Mare was bought for her pleasure because it was thought the sea air would be salubrious for her.

"We thought the general would remain a bachelor, but last year he married again. It is a political alliance, however. The lady Flacilla is a widow with two married daughters. She does not even live in our master's house in the city, but remains in the home she has had for many years. She is a woman of the court with powerful connections, but I fear she is a poor companion for the general. He is lonely."

"The trouble with old and valued servants," came a deep voice, "is that they know far too much about one, and are given to idle chatter."

Zeno leapt up and, kneeling before the man who had entered the atrium, kissed the hem of his cloak. "Forgive an old fool, my lord," he said, and then, "Why did you not send word you were coming?"

"Because this house is always in perfect order to receive me, Zeno," Aspar said, helping the old man to his feet. "Now, go and bring me some chilled wine, the Cyprian wine, for I have had a long, hot ride." Having dismissed the servant, he turned to Cailin. "You are well-rested?" he asked politely.

"Thank you, my lord." She tried not to stare.

"Zeno has made you comfortable?" he said. God, she is beautiful, he thought. He had bought her on a whim, out of pity, but now he realized perhaps he had not been foolish after all. It had been a long time since any woman had made his heart race and his loins stir with desire.

"I have been treated with nothing but kindness, my lord," Cailin told him softly. He is a very attractive man, she considered, realizing the place she would occupy in this house from his look. "Here, let me take your cloak," she said, unfastening the diamond button of the garment and laying it aside. He stood just two or three inches taller than she was. He was not nearly as tall as Wulf or the trio of Northmen had been, but his body had a solid, almost square look to it. He was obviously a general who kept himself in as good condition as his own men were required to keep themselves.

"What is the fragrance you are wearing?" he asked her. It was intoxicating him with its elusiveness.

"I wear no fragrance, my lord, but I do bathe daily," Cailin told him nervously, stepping away from him. "It is probably the scent of the soap that lingers on my skin."

"We will bathe together after I have had my wine. The ride was hot, and the city even hotter. Do you like it here by the sea?"

"I was raised in the country, my lord, and lived there until I came to Constantinople. I prefer it to the city." She answered him calmly, but her heart was thundering in her ears. We will bathe together. If there had been any doubt in her mind as to what position she was to hold in his life before, there was certainly none any longer.

Zeno returned with the wine, and Aspar sat down on the marble bench by the fish pond, sipping the cool beverage slowly and with obvious appreciation. Cailin stood silently by his side watching him. His hair was deep brown, sprinkled with bits of silver. It was cut short and brushed away from the crown of his head. It was a practical style for a military man. The hand holding the goblet was large and square, the fingers long and powerful-looking. There was a big gold ring upon his middle finger. The ruby in it was cut to resemble a double-headed eagle, the symbol of Byzantium.

He felt her stare and looked up suddenly. Cailin blushed, caught at her scrutiny. He smiled. It was a quick, mischievous smile like that of a small boy. His teeth were white and even, and the eyes that twinkled at her a silvery gray. The lines about his eyes that crinkled with amusement told her that he smiled easily. "I think my nose too big. What do you think, Cailin?" He smiled again, and her knees went just a trifle weak. He wasn't quite handsome, but there was something about him.

"I think your nose very nice, my lord," she replied.

"The nostrils flare a bit too much," he told her. "Now my mouth is very well-proportioned, neither too big nor too little. Our friend, Jovian, has a cupid's bow of a mouth, quite unsuitable for a man, don't you think? It was probably charming when he was a child."

"Jovian is still a bit of a child," Cailin observed.

Aspar chuckled. "So there is a keen eye, and, I suspect, an intellect to go with that beautiful face and form."

"I was not aware that my face was particularly visible when you saw me last, my lord, and my form was quite contorted, or so it felt," Cailin said humorously. Then she grew serious. "Why did you buy me, my lord? Is it your habit to purchase inmates of brothels?"

"I thought you the bravest woman I had ever seen," Aspar told her. "You were struggling to survive at Villa Maxima. I saw it in the blank stare you favored the audience with, and the stoic way in which you accepted the degradation visited upon you in that obscene playlet of Jovian's.

"The empire that rules the world, or at least most of it, is governed by those same deviates who found your shame entertaining. I am a member of that ruling class, but I find those people more frightening than any danger I have ever faced in battle. When I impulsively purchased you from Jovian-who by the way would not have dared to refuse my request-I was doing so because I felt your bravery should be rewarded by freeing you from the hell you so gallantly endured. Now, however, I think perhaps there was another reason as well. You stir my blood, it seems."

His frankness amazed her. Cailin struggled for composure. "There must be many beautiful women in Byzantium, my lord," she said. "It is, I have been told, a city of uniquely beautiful women. Surely there are others more worthy of your attention than myself, a humble slave from Britain."

His laughter startled her. "By God, I would not have thought coyness a part of your nature, Cailin. It does not become you, I fear," Aspar told her.

"I have never been coy in my entire life!" she sputtered indignantly.

"Then do not start now," he chided her. "You are a beautiful woman, I desire you. Since I bought you, there is, it would seem, little you can do except bear with the horrendous fate I have in store for you." He put down his goblet and arose to stand facing her.

"Yes, you own me," Cailin said, and to her dismay, tears sprang into her eyes which she seemed powerless to control. "I am bound to obey you, my lord, but you will never have all of me, for there is a part of myself that only I can give, no man can take!"

He caught her chin between his thumb and forefinger, stunned by her honest declaration and moved by her passionate defiance. Tears slipped slowly down her smooth cheeks like tiny crystal beads. "My God," he exclaimed, "did you know that your eyes glisten like amethysts when you weep like that, Cailin? You break my heart. Cease, I beg you, my beauty! I surrender humbly before your feet."

"I hate being a slave!" she told him desperately. "And why is it that you can penetrate the defenses I have so carefully built up around myself these last months when no one else could?"

"I am a better tactician than any of the others," he told her teasingly. "Besides, Cailin, although you tempt my baser nature, I find you fascinating on several other levels as well." He brushed away her tears carefully with a single finger. "I have finished my wine now. We will become better acquainted in the bath. I promise I will try not to make you cry again if you will not be coy. Do we have a bargain, my beauty? I think I am being most generous."

She could not be angry with him. He was really very kind, but she was a little fearful of him nonetheless. "I agree," she said finally.

"Come then," he said, taking her hand and leading her from the atrium.

Chapter 9

The bath at Villa Mare was unique in that it was not an interior room. It faced the sea, and had an open portico that could be closed off by means of shutters in cold or inclement weather. The view from the room was both beautiful and soothing. The walls were decorated in mosaic. One pictured Neptune, the sea god, standing tall amid the waves, a trident in one hand and a conch shell in the other, upon which he was blowing. Behind him silver-blue dolphins leapt. A second wall offered a scene of Neptune's many daughters cavorting among the waves with a troupe of sea horses; while the third wall showed the mighty king of the sea seducing a beautiful maiden in an underwater cave. The mosaic floor of the bath pictured fish and sea life of every kind known to the artist. It was both colorful and amusing.

There was a tiled dressing room off the bath, but the main room served all the steps necessary to bathing, unlike the elegant bath complex at Villa Maxima with its many different rooms. The bathing pool was set in sea-blue tiles, and the water gently warm. A corner fountain with a marble basin ran with cool water. There were shell-shaped depressions with drains for rinsing and benches for massage.

Aspar dismissed the old slave who served as bath attendant. "The lady Cailin wishes to serve me," he told the woman, and she grinned a toothless grin that bespoke pure conspiracy, cackling as she departed.

"Discretion is wasted here," Cailin told him, pinning up her long hair.

"Remove your chiton," he said. "I want to see you as God made you, Cailin. Bent over as you were the last time I viewed your charms, I could see little of much note, so covered were you by those Northmen."

"You may be sorry you did not buy one of them," she teased him mischievously, and slipped the simple garment over her head, tossing it carelessly upon a bench. Then she stood silent and still, amazed that she was not mortified; but then her stay at Villa Maxima had, she suspected, rid her of all false modesty.

"Turn slowly," he commanded her quietly, his admiration obvious. Then he removed his own garments, unfastening the cross-gartering on his braccos and slipping them off, to be followed by his drawers, tunic, and fine linen chemise.

As Cailin turned back to face him, she found Aspar quite as naked as she herself was. Startled by his action, she blushed. He stood quietly, allowing her the same advantage as he had had, and then he turned, too. Her first impression had been a good one. His body was firm, well-muscled, and kissed by the sun. He was not fat, nor was he large-boned. There was a solid stockiness to him that she found comforting. His arms and legs were hairless, as was his chest. He had longer legs than she would have expected, and a well-sculpted, hard torso. His buttocks were tight.

His male organs seemed smaller than she was used to, but she suspected he was of quite average size. Her "barbarians" and Wulf had been the exceptions to the rule, Casia had assured her when they had once spoken on it. Her curiosity had led her to question the lovely courtesan who had tutored her so well in the arts of Eros. Casia had been a font of useful and rather fascinating information for Cailin, who was so lacking in practical experience regarding men and lovemaking.

His voice brought her back to the present. "Do you find me as beautiful as I find you, Cailin?" he asked her.

"Yes," she said quietly. He was an attractive man, and she saw no reason not to tell him so.

"Take up the strigil, now, and scrape me," he ordered her. "I am filthy from my ride. The roads are particularly dusty at this time of year."

Cailin picked up the silver bathing tool and began to remove the sweat and grime that his ride in the heat of the day had deposited on his skin. She had watched the bath attendants at Villa Maxima at their trade, for Casia had warned her that men frequently enjoyed being served this way by their lovers. Slowly, carefully, she worked, moving from his shoulders and chest, down his arms and back and legs.

"You have a skill for this work," he said softly as she knelt before him, carefully running the bath instrument over his thighs.

"I am a novice at such a task," she said, "but I am glad I please you, my lord." She rinsed him with a basin of warm water taken from the bathing pool, and he took the strigil from her hands. "I will scrape you now," he said softly, plying the tool. Cailin stood very still as he moved the strigil gently over her delicate skin. She found this love-play rather charming. His restraint in claiming his rights was very reassuring. She sighed as he rinsed her, and turning to face him, she said, "Now, my lord, I will wash you before we enter the bathing pool."

He stood in one of the hollowed mosaic shells in the floor. Cailin placed an alabaster jar of soft soap on the floor nearby and took up a sea sponge. Scooping some soap from the jar, she spread it over his shoulders, and then worked up a lather using the sponge. Slowly, carefully, she washed him, working in an efficient manner, turning him about as she knelt, adding more soap, scrubbing with the sponge. She blushed self-consciously as she bathed his manhood, but to his credit he said nothing, remaining quiet as she worked. Cailin stood, swirling the soapy sponge over his belly and up his broad chest. Finished, she rinsed him again with warm water, relieved the ordeal was over. She had never bathed a man before. Wulf had always washed himself, usually in the fast-running stream near the hall, even in winter.

"Now you may enter the bathing pool," she told him.

"Nay," he answered her, and took the sponge from her hand. "You must be washed first, my beauty." Bending, he rinsed the sponge in the bronze basin, and tipping the dirty water out, refilled it with fresh.

"I can bathe myself," she said shyly.

"I'm certain you can," he said, laughter evident in his tone, "but would you deny me the pleasure serving you will give me?" Not waiting for her answer, he dipped his three fingers into the alabaster pot and began to slowly spread soap over her shoulders and back. The slow, circular motion of the sea sponge on her skin was almost mesmerizing in its sensuous movement. She thought she felt his lips touch the back of her neck, and then the soapy sponge swirled over it, leaving her confused. Kneeling, he washed her buttocks, kissing them first, and then moved on to her legs. "Turn," he said, and she obeyed, although her body was already beginning to feel heavy with desire. How lovely all of this was. Bathing with a man was most pleasurable.

He lifted her left foot and washed it, then the right. The sponge swept slowly up her legs, which were tightly closed. Gently he pushed them slightly apart, the sponge sliding over her sensitive skin. Cailin turned her head and looked away. She was unused to seeing her Venus mont so pink and smooth, devoid of its little curls, but only men, peasants, and savages, Jovian had assured her, kept such body hair. A woman must be silken all over. Her stomach knotted itself as his hand rubbed soap over the quivering flesh. Cailin closed her eyes as the sponge rubbed round and round and round.

His hand gently drew her forward, and Cailin gasped, startled as his mouth closed over the nipple of her right breast. His teeth lightly scored the flesh; his tongue teased insistently at her; and then he suckled hard on the tight little nub even as his left hand caressed then crushed her other breast until her knees began to buckle. Standing quickly, he pulled her hard against him, his mouth finding hers with a burning kiss that left her breathless. Then his gray eyes held her in thrall as he rinsed her slowly, being certain that every bit of soap was washed away. Finally placing the basin down, he took her by the hand and led her down the steps into the bathing pool.

The warm water lapped softly at their bodies. Cailin felt weak in the sudden heat. Seeing how pale she was, he drew her against him again. When he felt her trembling, Aspar said softly, even as he began to place little kisses all over her face, "I do not want you to be fearful of me, Cailin, but you must know I want to make love to you. Do you know how sweet Iovemaking can be between a man and a woman, my beauty? Not that ugly animal coupling you were forced to endure at Villa Maxima, but true passion between lovers. Tell me, were you a virgin when you first came to Constantinople, or did some other lover initiate you into the wondrous sweetness two people can create?" Tenderly he nibbled on her earlobe, and then he looked directly into her violet eyes.

"I… I had a husband," Cailin told him.

"What happened to him, my beauty?" Aspar gently encouraged her.

"I do not know, my lord. I was betrayed into slavery," she told him, and then went on to explain briefly. "Jovian says that Wulf was probably told I was dead," she finished. Several tears slid down her cheeks. "I think he is correct. I just wish I knew what happened to our child. I am so afraid that Antonia may have sold it, too, if indeed it lived, but our child would be strong. I know it is alive!"

"You cannot change the past," he counseled her wisely. "I understand that better than most, Cailin. If you will trust me, I will give you a happy present, and your future will be everything you could ever want."

"It would seem, my lord, that I have no choice," she replied. Trust, she thought, wryly. Why were men always asking you to trust them?

"Oh, my beauty," he said with a smile, "we always have a choice. It is just sometimes our choices are not particularly pleasant. Your choices, however, are. You may love me now, or you may love me later."

Cailin giggled. "Your choices, my lord, bear a great similarity to one and another." She already liked this man. He was kind, and he had humor. These were not bad traits in one so powerful.

He smiled back at her. She excited him very much; rousing him in a way no woman really ever had, even his beloved Anna. It had been a long time since he had really desired a woman, although he had visited Villa Maxima quite regularly. He firmly believed that a man should not allow his juices to be pent up for too long. To do so foggled the brain and made a man irritable. He knew, however, looking at this beautiful girl before him, that he would never visit Villa Maxima again.

"I like it when you laugh, my beauty," he said softly.

"I like it when you smile at me, my lord," she responded, and then she kissed him on the lips, quickly, without passion, but sweetly.

In answer he cupped her head in one hand and began to kiss her face and throat with warm lips that sent tingles of pleasure throughout her entire being. She moaned low in the back of her throat, arching her body as his other hand began to knead at a breast and he pushed her back against the side of the pool. He ran his tongue over her lips, nibbled at her eyelids, tongued the column of her straining neck. His hand dug into the tightly bunched curls pinned atop her head, and then he groaned as if pained when her body pushed against his lower torso. Her arms slipped about his neck. Cailin, returning his kisses with fervor, realized she had no need to employ Casia's tricks with Aspar. She felt his hungry arousal against her thigh, pushing, pressing with urgency.

"I want to wait," he half sobbed, "but I cannot, Cailin!"

"Do not, my lord," she encouraged him, tightening her hold about his neck as he slid his hands beneath her buttocks and sheathed himself within her passage, sighing with deep relief. He pumped her with long slow strokes of his weapon, and she felt him, hard but loving, within her body. She murmured low as he moved inside her over and over again until he could bear no more and his lover's tribute exploded in hot bursts of passion that left him weak and Cailin shocked that she had felt nothing but his physical presence. She shuddered, horrified.

Aspar opened his eyes. "What is the matter?" he asked her. "You had no pleasure of it, did you, Cailin? Yet 1 think I do not displease you, my beauty, do I?" He was free of her body now, and they stood together facing each other, her back still against the bathing pool.

"Is there only pleasure with a husband?" she asked him, honestly confused, and needing desperately to know. "I felt no pleasure when 1 was forced to couple with Jovian's trio of Northmen, but I thought it was because I did not love them, because what they were doing to me was wrong. You are not my husband, but you are kind to me. I want to serve you like a wife. Should there not be pleasure then, my lord? You do not repel me! You do not!" Her voice cracked, and she began to weep wildly. "What has happened to me, my lord, that I can feel no pleasure with you?"

He took her in his arms and soothed her as best as he could. He was not a doctor, but he knew that the mind was probably the most powerful weapon that God had ever created. He had seen strange things happen to soldiers in the field, particularly after a cruel battle: Men, normally hardened and fierce, who would break down weeping. Men who could never look at weapons again without breaking into a fit of trembling sweats. Perhaps the brutal savagery Cailin had endured had hurt her in a similar way. He remembered the blank look in her eyes the night he had attended the entertainment at Villa Maxima. She had, in a sense, removed herself from what was going on upon the stage because it was the only way she could survive it.

"What has happened to you since you left Britain has hurt you in some unseen manner," he told her comfortingly. "If you will trust me, I will help you to heal yourself, my beauty. I very much want you to have the same pleasure of me as I have had of you. Unlike most men of my age, I have a rather unusually large capacity for lovemaking, Cailin. We will continue on until you, too, are pleasured, no matter how long it takes." He took her hand. "Come now before we are so weakened that we are washed away in this bath."

He led her from the bathing pool, and they dried each other off. Then, taking her hand again, he brought her to their bedchamber. Cailin was surprised to see that her pretty, narrow little couch had been removed from the dais and pushed against a wall. In its place upon the raised platform was a large striped mattress and several large, colorful pillows. Aspar began kissing her again, and shortly they fell to the bed, their limbs intertwined. The sensation of his body against hers was totally different here than in the bathing pool. He seemed harder.

"Lie still," he commanded her, and pushing two of the pillows beneath her hips to raise her up, he told her, "I want you to spread your legs wide for me, my beauty," and when she obeyed him, he leaned forward, gently spread her nether lips with his thumbs and began to touch her lightly and softly with his tongue.

Cailin gasped with shock and surprise. Her first thought was to push him away. This was an invasion of such a deeply intimate nature such as she had never experienced. Yet there was a tenderness to it, and a sweetness that hypnotized her so thoroughly that she found she was unable to deny him his way with her. His tongue gently caressed her flesh, then began to tease at the tiny core of her very being. Cailin felt heat suffusing her entire body, yet she shivered. The little nub began to sharply tingle, the sensation growing in intensity until she thought she could simply bear no more, but for the life of her she could find no voice to beg him to stop.

She let the deliciousness take her, and she heard herself, as if from a distance, moaning with her own pleasure. Her limbs were heavy with a longing she had never experienced but did not find unpleasant in the least. The feeling was building even more with each passing moment, until finally an intense sweetness swept over her like a wave from the sea, and receded as quickly, leaving her weak, but most strangely satisfied. "Ahhhhh," she exhaled breathily. Then quite unexpectedly, she began to cry softly.

Aspar pulled himself up and gathered the girl in his arms. He said nothing. He simply stroked those riotous little auburn curls, marveling at their softness as his fingers became tangled amid the silk of her lovely hair. She pressed herself against him as if seeking his protection, and he was overwhelmed by his own desire to keep her safe from all the cruelty of the world. No matter what had happened to her, Cailin was in her heart an innocent. He was not going to let her be hurt again.

Finally her sobs subsided and she said, "You received no pleasure, my lord, yet I did. How can this be? I did not know a woman could be pleasured in such a way." She looked up at him, and he thought that her beautiful eyes resembled violets, wet with a spring rain.

"There is pleasure in just giving pleasure, Cailin; not perhaps as intense for me as when I am encased within you, but pleasure nonetheless. There are many ways of giving and receiving pleasure. We will explore them all. I will never intentionally do you harm, my little love," he told her, stroking her cheek with a gentle finger.

"They say you are the most powerful man in the empire, my lord. Even more powerful than the emperor himself," she said.

"Never say that aloud to anyone else, Cailin," he warned her. "The powerful are jealous of their power, and would not share it. My survival depends upon remaining a good servant of the empire. It is really the empire 1 honor. God, and the empire. No man. But that, my little love, must remain our secret, eh?" He smiled at her.

"You are like the Romans of old, I think, my lord. You honor the new Rome, Byzantium, as they once honored the old Rome," Cailin said.

"And what do you know of Rome?" he asked her, amused.

"I sat with my brothers and their tutor for many years," Cailin said. "I learned the history of Rome and of my native Britain."

"Can you read and write?" he questioned her, fascinated.

"In Latin," she responded. "The history of my mother's people, the Dobunni Celts, is an oral history, but I know it, my lord."

"Jovian told me little of your background, Cailin. Your Latin is that of a cultured woman, if a bit provincial. Who were your people?"

"I descend from a tribune of the Drusus family who came to Britain with the emperor Claudius," Cailin said, and then, as they lay together, she told him her family's history.

"And your husband? Who was he? Also of a Romano-Briton family?"

"My husband was a Saxon," Cailin said. "1 married him after my family was murdered at the instigation of my cousin Quintus, who wanted my father's lands. My cousin was unaware I had escaped the slaughter until I came with my husband, Wulf Ironfist, to reclaim what was rightfully mine. Wulf killed Quintus when he attempted to attack me. It was his wife, Antonia, who betrayed me, but you already know that part of my story, my lord."

"It is amazing that you have survived it all," Aspar said thoughtfully.

"Now you know everything about me. Zeno has told me that your first wife was a good and an honorable woman. What he did not say about the wife you now have is more of interest," Cailin said. "If you would tell me, my lord, I should like to know."

"Flacilla is a member of the Strabo family," Aspar began. "They are very powerful at court. Our marriage was one of convenience. She does not live with me, and frankly I do not even like her."

"Then why did you marry her?" Cailin asked curiously. "You did not need to marry again at this time, my lord. You have one grown son, Zeno says, and a second son as well as a daughter."

"Did Zeno mention my grandchildren?" Aspar demanded with a certain humor in his voice. "My daughter Sophia has three children, and my eldest son has four. Since Patricius, my youngest, shows no signs of wanting to be a monk, I can assume he, too, will give me more grandchildren one day when he is grown and wed."

"You have grandchildren?" Cailin was astounded. He did not look that old, and his behavior was certainly not that of an old man. "How old are you, my lord Aspar? I was nineteen in the month of April."

He groaned. "Dear God! I am certainly old enough to be your father, my little love. I am fifty-four this May past."

"You are nothing like my father," she murmured, and then she boldly pulled his head to her and kissed him softly, sweetly.

His head swam pleasantly with her daring. "No," he said, his gray eyes smiling into her violet ones, "I am not your father, am I, my little love?" He kissed her back; a long, slow, deep kiss.

Cailin's senses reeled. Finally, when she recovered herself, she said, "Tell me more about your wife, my lord Aspar."

"I like the sound of my name upon your lips," he said.

"The lady Flacilla Strabo, my lord Aspar," she insisted.

"I married her for several reasons. The late emperor, Marcian, whom I placed upon the throne of Byzantium and married to the princess Pulcheria, was dying, and there were no heirs.

"Marcian came from my own household. He had served me loyally for twenty years. When I realized his end was near, I chose Leo, another of my household, to be the next emperor. I needed certain support from the court, however. The patriarch of Constantinople, the city's religious leader, is a relation of the Strabo family, and family ties are strong here. Without him I could not have hoped to place Leo on the throne. To ensure his support, and that of the Strabo family, I married the widowed Flacilla. She was pregnant with a lover's child at the time, and was causing her family untold embarrassment."

"What happened to the child?" Cailin wondered aloud.

"She miscarried it in her fifth month," he said, "but it was too late. She was my wife. In return for my aid, the patriarch and the Strabo family supported my choice of Leo. Of course, other patrician families followed suit. This allowed us a peaceful transition from one emperor to another. Civil war is unpleasant at the least, Cailin. And Flacilla is to all outward appearances a good wife. She has taken my little son, Patricius, in her charge, and is a very good mother to him. He is being raised in the Orthodox faith. I hope to match him with the princess Ariadne one day, and make him Leo's heir, for the emperor has no sons."

"What do you want of me, my lord, I mean other than the obvious?" Cailin asked him, and then she blushed at her own audacity. Still, her life since leaving Britain had been so unsettled. She needed to know if she was to have a permanent home.

He thought for several long minutes. "I loved my first wife," he began. "When Anna died, I thought that I should never again care for a woman. I certainly do not like Flacilla, but I serve a purpose for her. Her social stature is practically as high as the empress Verina, for I am the General of the Eastern Armies, and the First Patrician of the Empire. Flacilla, in turn, mothers my orphaned son, but that is all she does for me.

"I am powerful, Cailin, but I am alone, and the honest truth is, I am a lonely man. When I saw you that night at Villa Maxima, you touched me as no woman has ever really touched me. I need your love, I need your gentleness, and I need your companionship in my life. Do you think that you can give it to me, my beauty?"

"My grandfather said I had a sharp tongue, and I do," Cailin told him slowly. "I am practical to a fault. If there is any gentleness left in me, my lord Aspar, you are possibly the only one to see it. Now what I must say to you will sound hard, but I have learned in the last year to be hard in order to survive. You are not a young man, yet I am your slave. If you should die, what will happen to me? Do you think that your heirs will treat the slave mistress of their father with kindness? I think not.

"I believe that I shall be disposed of with all the other possessions that you own that will be considered unnecessary. Can I love you? Yes, I can. I believe you to be kind and good, but if you truly care for me, my lord, then make provisions to keep me safe when you are not here to do so yourself… Until that time I will serve you with all my heart and soul."

He nodded quietly. She was right. He would have to make arrangements to protect her when he no longer could. "I will go to the city tomorrow and arrange for everything," he promised her. "You will be free upon my death, and have an inheritance to keep you. If you bear my children, I will provide for them, and recognize them as well."

"It is more than fair," Cailin said, relief sweeping over her.

When she awoke in the morning, Aspar was gone from their bed.

"He has gone to the city," Zeno said, smiling. "He says to tell you that he will return in several days' time, my lady. He has also told me that you are to be considered mistress here, and we will obey you."

"My lord Aspar is a generous man," Cailin said quietly. "I must rely upon you, Zeno, to help me do what is proper and correct."

"My lady's wisdom is only excelled by her great beauty," the elderly majordomo replied, pleased by her tactful response and the certainty that everything would remain the same.

Aspar returned a few days later from Constantinople. Within a short time it was obvious to his servants that he intended to make Villa Mare his primary residence. He left only to attend to court business and oversee his duties as general of the Eastern Armies. He was rarely away overnight. He and Cailin had settled down to a very quiet domestic existence.

Cailin was surprised to learn that Aspar owned all the farmland about the villa for several miles. There were vineyards, olive groves, and wheat fields, all contributing to the general's wealth. He thought nothing of helping out in the fields, or working to harvest the grapes. She rather suspected he enjoyed it.

In the city, Aspar's absence from his elegant palace was not noticed at first, but the empress Verina, a clever woman, kept her ear to the ground in all quarters. She and her husband had not the advantage of inheritance to keep their thrones safe. Aspar was important to them. Although an excellent public servant, Leo was not a master of intrigue at this early point in his reign; but his wife, raised in Byzantium, knew that the more one knew, the safer one was. A servant's idle gossip caught her ear at first, and then she heard it again, this time from a minor official. The empress invited her brother Basilicus to come and visit her.

They sat on a terrace overlooking the Propontis, called by some the Marmara, one afternoon in late autumn, sipping the first of the new wine. Verina was a beautiful woman with ivory skin and long, black hair which she wore in an elaborate coiffure of braids that were fastened with jeweled pins. Her red and gold stola was of rich materials, and the low neckline showed her fine bosom to its best advantage. Her slippers were bejeweled, and she wore several ropes of pearls so translucent they seemed to shimmer against her skin and gown. She smiled at her brother.

"What is this 1 hear about Aspar?" she purred.

"What is it you have heard about Aspar, my pet?" he countered.

"It is said that he has closed up his palace and now lives in the countryside outside the city," the empress said. "Is it true?"

"I would not know, sister dear," Basilicus replied. "I have not seen Aspar socially for months now. I see him only when we have mutual court business to attend to, which is infrequently. Why would you care where Aspar lives, Verina? Although he is responsible for Leo's ascent, you have never cared particularly for him. I know for a fact that his presence irritates you for it only serves to remind you that he is responsible for your good fortune."

"It is said there is a woman living with him, Basilicus," the empress said, ignoring her brother's astute observation. "You know that Aspar's wife, Flacilla, is my friend. I would be very distressed to have Flacilla embarrassed by her husband's peccadillos."

"Nonsense, sister, you are simply consumed by curiosity," Basilicus replied. "If indeed Aspar is living with some mistress, nothing, I suspect, would please you more than to drop a hint in Flacilla's shell-like ear, thereby enraging her. You know that Aspar agreed to marry her only if she would remain discreet in her little adventures and not embarrass her family again. Aspar is not a man to install a mistress in his house, but if indeed he has, then by living in the country he is making an attempt to be circumspect in his affair. Besides, there is nothing wrong with a man taking a mistress, Verina. It is my opinion that our good general deserves a modicum of pleasure in his life. He will never obtain it from your dear friend Flacilla, who takes lovers like some women gather flowers in a field, and with less discretion, I might add."

"Flacilla is young yet. She is many years her husband's junior," the empress said. "Aspar could not keep up with her, I assure you."

"She could not keep up with him," Basilicus said with a laugh. "Aspar is known to be a prodigious lover, my dear sister. An eighteen-year-old could not keep up with him, I am told by most reliable sources. Besides, Flacilla has two grown daughters. She is hardly in the first bloom of youth herself."

"She had her children when she was fifteen and sixteen," Verina said in defense of the lady. "They were fifteen and sixteen when she married them off last year. That only makes her thirty-two. Aspar is at least twenty years her senior. If he has taken a mistress, it will make my poor Flacilla the laughingstock of all of Constantinople. You must find out!"

"Me?" Basilicus looked horrified. "How could I find out?"

"You must go to visit Aspar in the country, Basilicus. Perhaps these rumors are nothing more than that, rumors, but if they are true, then I must inform Flacilla before she is shamed before the court."

"Go to the country? Verina, I detest the country! I haven't left the city in several years. There is nothing to do in the country. Besides, Flacilla should be delighted if Aspar has taken a mistress. It will keep him occupied, amused, and uninterested in her affairs. She almost caused a dreadful scandal again last week when the young gladiator she had been amusing herself with decided he was in love with her after she attempted to discard him."

"I didn't hear that," the empress said, annoyed and curious as to why her network of spies had not reported this rather interesting tidbit to her. "What happened, Basilicus? I can see you know every delicious detail. Tell me at once, or I shall have you blinded!"

He chuckled and, pouring himself another goblet of wine, began, "Well, my dear sister, your friend Flacilla had taken a young gladiator to her bed whom she had first seen at the spring games. A Thracian named Nichophorus; rather beefy I thought, but those muscular thighs of his were irresistible, I suspect. As is usual with Flacilla after a few months' time, familiarity began to breed contempt. She grew tired of her muscular Adonis and, besides, her eye had lit upon Michael Valens, the young actor. Our Flacilla was struck anew by Cupid's dart."

"What happened to the gladiator?" Verina demanded.

"He caught them at the very same trysting place Flacilla had once shared with him," Basilicus replied. "She is not a woman of great imagination, is she, sister? You would have thought she would have chosen another site to carry on her little passion, but no, 'twas the very same spot. Nichophorus, informed by some mischief maker, found them there. He howled and raged, beating upon the door of the chamber in which your friend and her lover were cowering. Finally he broke the door down.

"Michael Valens, no hero, fearful that his beautiful face would be destroyed, escaped through a window naked as the day his mother had birthed him, I'm told, leaving a semi-garbed Flacilla to contend with the outraged gladiator. He railed loudly against her, cursing her and naming her a whore to all who would listen. The innkeeper finally called out the guard, who chased after Nichophorus as he ran screaming after Flacilla's litter, which was making its way down the streets of the city at an unusually great rate of speed." Basilicus laughed. "The captain of the guard and his men were, of course, bought off by the patriarch. The scandal was hushed up. Nichophorus was sent to Cyprus. It is a very good thing Aspar was not in the city when it happened. He warned Flacilla when they married that if she caused any public scandal, he would send her to St. Barbara's Convent for the rest of her life."

The empress nodded. "Yes, he did, and the patriarch agreed to support him in such an instance. The Strabo family is not just a little annoyed by Flacilla's indiscreet behavior, and their patience is worn thin by her. Hmmmmm, I wonder to what use I may put all this information, but of course the puzzle is incomplete until I know exactly what is going on at Aspar's villa." Her amber eyes glittered wickedly. "You will leave in the morning, brother."

He groaned as he arose, kissing her hand. "The empress's wish is my command, but Verina, I will expect the favor of my choice for this little task I undertake on your behalf. Remember that!"

"Within reason, Basilicus," she purred, smiling broadly after him. He was such a good brother, the empress thought fondly as she watched him leave. Whatever was happening at the general's villa, Basilicus would obtain the entire story, analyze it, and return to her with it. If she could not decide how to use his information, he would be able to advise her. They were very close, and always had been.

Basilicus left the city early the following day. He traveled in a large, comfortable litter, preferring not to ride in the warm sun. To his surprise, he napped most of the way, awakening as they entered through the gates of the villa. Zeno, the majordomo, greeted him politely, recognizing the prince from his own days at the general's house in Constantinople.

"Where is your master?" Basilicus asked.

"He is walking by the sea, my lord," Zeno replied.

Basilicus was about to tell Zeno to send a servant for Aspar, but instead decided that he might learn something of value if he took his friend unawares. "Thank you, Zeno," he said. "If you will but direct me." He followed the majordomo through the atrium of the villa and across the interior garden, out into a large open garden that looked over the Propontis, and beyond into Asia.

"There is the path, my lord," Zeno told him, pointing.

Basilicus hurried along the gravel walkway. It was a marvelous day with a flat, bright blue, cloudless sky above. The autumn sun was warm, and about him the damask rosebushes sported a mixture of late blooms and large, fat, round red-orange rosehips. Then he saw them-Aspar and a woman, laughing together upon the beach. The woman wore a white chiton and was barefoot, as was her companion, who was gatbed in a short red tunic. The sea was almost flat, a mixture of azure, aquamarine, and teal-green stretching like an iridescent fabric across to the hills on the other shore. Above them the gulls mewled and cried, swooping to the water and then pulling up sharply to soar in the windless sky.

Basilicus watched them for a long moment, enchanted by the picture they made, and then he called out, raising his hand and waving at the couple. "Aspar, my friend!" He stepped from the pathway to the sandy beach and began walking toward them.

"Jesu!" Aspar swore softly beneath his breath. "It is Basilicus."

"The empress's brother?" Cailin replied. "Did you invite him?"

"Of course not. He has obviously heard something, my little love. He is a clever, and a sly fox. He has come with a purpose, you may be certain. I can only wonder at what it is."

"He is very handsome," she observed.

Aspar felt a twinge of jealousy at her words. He had no cause, he knew, to doubt her. She was simply making an observation, and yet he felt resentful. He did not want to share Cailin with anyone, he thought, as Basilicus finally reached them. "Is there some emergency that you invade my privacy?" he said ungraciously to his friend.

Basilicus was somewhat taken aback by the unfriendly tone of the general's voice. Dear lord! Caught between his sister's unbridled curiosity and the annoyance of the most powerful man in the empire. No one would envy him his position at this moment. "There is no emergency," he said. "I simply felt like a day in the country, Aspar. I did not believe my arrival would cause you to behave like a bear with a sore paw," Basilicus replied, put off but determined to remain.

"Your guest will be thirsty and hungry, my lord," Cailin said quietly. "I will go and make certain that Zeno has refreshments prepared." She nodded politely at the prince, and left the two men on the bench.

"What a glorious creature!" Basilicus said. "Who is she, and where, you fortunate man, did you find her?"

"Why are you here?" his companion demanded bluntly. "You detest the country, Basilicus. There is another reason, I know."

"Verina sent me," Basilicus admitted. Honesty always worked with Aspar, the prince knew. Besides, Aspar was not a man to trifle with, particularly when he was in a difficult mood such as now.

"Good lord! What does your sister want of me that she would send you to the country after me, Basilicus? Tell me! We will not return to the house until you do." Then Aspar chuckled, obviously finding humor in the situation. "Your poor body will soon go into shock, my friend. I do not believe it has been in the warmth of the sun in years."

"Verina heard that you had closed up your house in the city and moved out to your villa. She has also heard that you have taken a mistress. You know her curiosity is greater than most women's," Basilicus said to Aspar. "And, of course, she is Flacilla's friend."

"And she hopes to get me in her debt," Aspar observed wisely.

"How well you seem to know my sister," Basilicus said mockingly.

"I also know of the recent scandal involving my wife that the patriarch hushed up," Aspar replied. "I may be living in the country, Basilicus, but my channels of information have simply stretched a bit farther. There is little happening in the city that I do not know about. Because I am happy, and because my wife's relations have quieted the gossip surrounding her and her recent lovers, I am content to let the matter rest, lest my own arrangement be brought to light. You know as well as I do, Basilicus, that Flacilla is perfectly capable of creating a scandal around this villa and its inhabitants simply to deflect attention from her own outrageous behavior. Because she is not a happy woman, the idea that I should be happy would be galling to her. That is why I live here now rather than in the city. My conduct is subject to less scrutiny at Villa Mare, or so I believed until today."

"You do not seem to be living a very profligate life, Aspar," Basilicus observed as they now walked from the beach up the garden path to the villa. "Indeed, if I had not known you, I would have assumed you were simply a well-to-do gentleman and his wife. Now tell me, before I die of curiosity, who the girl is and where you found her."

"You do not recognize her, Basilicus?"

The prince shook his dark head. "No, I do not."

"Think back, my friend, to a night several months ago when you and I together visited the Villa Maxima to take in a notorious and particularly salacious entertainment that had the city agog," Aspar said.

Basilicus thought a moment, and then his dark eyes grew wide. "No!" he said. "It cannot be! Is it? You bought that girl? I do not believe it! That exquisite creature with you on the beach is patrician-born without a doubt. She cannot be the same girl!"

"She is," Aspar said, and then offered his friend a brief history of Cailin and how she had come to Villa Maxima.

"So you rescued her from a life of shame," Basilicus noted. "What a soft heart you have, Aspar. It would be better that others, including my sister and your wife, not know it, I suspect."

"I am only softhearted where Cailin is concerned," the general told his friend. "She makes me happy, and is more a wife to me than Flacilla has ever been. Anna would have liked her, too."

"You are in love," Basilicus accused, almost enviously.

Aspar said nothing, but neither did he deny the charge.

"What will you do, my old friend?" Basilicus asked. "You will not be content to live in the shadows with your Cailin for very long, I know."

"Perhaps I will seek a divorce from Flacilla," Aspar said. "The patriarch cannot deny me, particularly given this recent scandal she has caused. It is past time she was shut up in a convent. She is a constant embarrassment to her family. Eventually she will do something so mad that they will not be able to cover up her behavior."

They walked across the portico facing the sea, and into the interior garden of the villa, where chilled wine and honey cakes awaited them. Cailin was nowhere to be seen, and they were served by a silent slave who, at a sign from his master, withdrew to allow them privacy.

"Even if you were allowed to divorce Flacilla Strabo," Basilicus observed, "you would never be allowed to marry a woman who had begun her life in Constantinople as performer in the city's most notorious brothel. Surely you realize that, Aspar. You must realize it!"

"Cailin is a patrician, born into one of Rome's oldest and most distinguished families," Aspar argued. "Her tenure at Villa Maxima was not of her own making. She was not used as a common whore, and she only performed in that obscene playlet less than a dozen times. My God, Basilicus, there were women in the audience the night I first saw her who were coupling with slave boys, and all were of good family."

The prince sighed. "I cannot argue with your logic, but neither can you argue with the plain facts. Yes, there were women of distinguished families seeking illicit entertainment, but they were not performing for the delectation of several hundred people twice weekly. Even my sister could be moved by Cailin's story, but she would still not approve a marriage between you. Besides, the girl is a pagan."

"She could be baptized, Basilicus, by the patriarch himself, ensuring that I would have an Orthodox wife, and children," Aspar said.

"You are living in a fool's paradise, my old friend," the prince told him. "You are too important to Byzantium to be allowed this romantic folly, and you will not be, I assure you. Keep the girl as your mistress, and continue to be discreet. It is all you will be allowed, but at least you will be together, Aspar. I will not tell my sister of your other desires. They would frighten her, for they are so unlike you."

"I am the most powerful man in Byzantium, the king-maker, they say, and yet I cannot have my own happiness," Aspar said bitterly. He swallowed several gulps of wine. "I must remain married to a highborn bitch who whores among the lower classes, but I must not marry my highborn mistress because for a short time she was forced into carnal slavery."

"Have you freed her?" Basilicus asked.

"Of course," Aspar answered. "I told Cailin she would be freed legally upon my death, but actually she is free now. I feared she might leave me if she knew the truth, although she is really quite helpless. She wants to return to her native Britain to avenge herself upon the woman who sent her into slavery, but how could she do it without help? And who would help her? Only those seeking to take advantage of her."

"And besides," Basilicus said gently, "you love her. Do not regret what you cannot have, Aspar. Take what you can have. You have Cailin, and she is yours for as long as you desire her. No one will deny you your mistress, even if Flacilla protests to the heavens over it. The court knows your wife for what she really is, and no one would seek to see you unhappy. Do you understand what I am saying to you, Aspar?"

The general nodded bleakly. "I understand. What will you tell your sister, Basilicus? It must be enough to keep her content."

He laughed. "Yes, Verina is more curious than a cat. Well, I shall tell her that you have taken a charming, beautiful mistress to yout bed, and are living quite contentedly with her at Villa Mare in order to avoid any scandal, or public argument with Flacilla. She will think you justified despite her friendship with your wife, and that will be the end of it, I suspect. Verina thinks I do not lie to her, although I find I must sometimes in order to protect her, or to protect myself." The prince chuckled. "Besides, I shall not be lying. I shall simply not be telling her the entire truth. But then she really does not need to know the whole story, does she?" He grinned at Aspar.

"I do not know why Leo does not use you in the diplomatic service," Aspar said, his gray eyes twinkling.

"My brother-in-law does not trust me," Basilicus replied. "He also does not like me, I fear. His high office has turned him from a dull little man into a dull little man who grows more righteous and more pious as each day passes. The priests adore him, Aspar. You had best watch that quarter lest they convince Leo of his own infallibility, and that generals are unnecessary to God's grand design for Byzantium."

"You may not like Leo, or he you," Aspar said, "but he is the perfect man to be emperor, and he possesses more common sense than you would suspect. For now he lacks ego, although eventually, as with all men in power, the ego will rear its ugly head to cause him difficulties. He loves Byzantium, Basilicus, and is a good administrator. I chose the right man, and the priests know I did. Although they forced me into that little bargain to gain their most vocal support, they are content with Leo, and so are the people. Marcian gave us prosperity, and more peace than we had had in many years. Leo is his most worthy heir."

"I would think you would not care much for peace," the prince said.

Aspar laughed. "Twenty, thirty years ago I could not get enough of war, but now I have had my fill. I am in the twilight of my life. I wish nothing more than to live in peace here with Cailin."

"May God grant you that wish, Aspar, my friend. It seems a very little wish to me," Basilicus told the general. "Now, am I to be introduced to that exquisite girl, or must I return to my sister's with the news I neither saw nor spoke with this divine creature who has made you depart your palace in Constantinople?"

Chapter 10

“Is she beautiful?" the empress demanded of her brother. "Outrageously so," Basilicus replied, smiling. He had left Villa Mare in early afternoon of the same day he had arrived, hurrying back to the city to report to his eagerly waiting sister.

"Fair of skin?" Verina asked.

"Her skin is as white and as smooth as a marble statue, my dear."

"What color are her eyes?"

"It depends upon the light," Basilicus told his sister. "Sometimes they are like twin amethysts, and at other times they appear like early spring violets," he reported poetically.

"And her hair?" Verina was growing more intrigued as her brother spoke. Basilicus was not a man to lavish praise easily.

"Her hair is auburn, a mass of little ringlets that fall to just below her hips. She wears it loose, and it is most charming."

"Do not tell me," the empress said. "Her curls are natural, I am certain. How fortunate she is, but who is she, Basilicus?"

"A young patrician widow of Roman ancestry from Britain," he answered serenely. "She is most charming, Verina, and she loves Aspar. If you saw them together, you would assume them to be a happily married couple."

"How did this woman arrive in Byzantium, my brother? A widow, you say? Was her husband a Byzantine? Does she have children? Come now, Basilicus, you are not telling me everything you know." The empress looked sharply at her brother.

"Her husband was a Saxon, I am told. Their child was lost to them. I have absolutely no idea how she came to Byzantium. Really, Verina, it was embarrassing enough cross-examining Aspar for you simply to satisfy your childish curiosity. I have done my best and will do no more!" he huffed.

"How old is Aspar's little mistress, and what is her name?" the empress pressed him. "Certainly you know that much."

"The girl is nineteen, and her name is Cailin," Basilicus answered.

"Nineteen?" Verina winced. "Poor Flacilla!"

"Flacilla deserves whatever she gets," snapped Basilicus, eager to escape his sister's questioning before he told her something he should not tell her. For some reason, Verina was making him very anxious. She knew something, but he did not know what she knew. He shifted nervously.

Verina saw her brother's discomfort. "I had a visitor this morning, brother dear," she said sweetly. Too sweetly. "I probably should not confide this to you. Men are so foolish about these things, but since you are obviously holding something back from me, I must tell you so that you will speak freely to me. You know that Leo rarely visits my bed any longer. He listens to his clerics who declare women unclean, a necessary evil for reproduction who should otherwise be avoided. I do not know how he thinks we will get a son unless we couple. It is all very well for the priests to tell him to pray for an heir, but there is more to getting a child than just prayer!" The empress flushed irritably, but then she continued smoothly.

"I dare not take a lover yet to satisfy my own needs. The church considers a woman's natural urges evil. I have no real privacy, and I am constantly watched, as you know. I have thought about it for some time, and it finally came to me! If I am to entice my husband back to my bed, I must take drastic action! I realize I am not supposed to know of things like this, but we have, I am told, several very fine brothels in Constantinople. I decided to engage a courtesan to teach me the erotic arts so that I might lure Leo into doing his duty by us both."

"You did what?" Basilicus gasped, totally stunned by his sister's revelation. A good Byzantine wife was not supposed to be aware of such things. He did not know whether to be shocked or amused by what she had done.

"I hired a courtesan to help me become more sensual," Verina repeated. "Flacilla helped me. She sometimes visits a place called Villa Maxima. It has wonderful entertainments, and marvelous young men for hire as lovers, she tells me. Do you know it, Basilicus?" And while he gaped at her in wonder, she answered her own question, "Of course you know Villa Maxima, brother dear. You are one of its distinguished patrons on occasion.

"One of those occasions was several months ago when you visited the place in the company of our good general. There was a particularly notorious and most lewd entertainment being performed twice weekly that had the entire city talking of its perversity. Flacilla says it was wonderful! I wish that I had been able to see it, but how could I go to such a place, even in disguise? Someone would be certain to recognize me."

He nodded. "It would be unwise, indeed, Verina," he told her.

She smiled at him, and then took up the thread of her story. "The courtesan sent to me is a lovely creature named Casia. It is she who told me that Aspar had purchased from the owners of the brothel the female member of that depraved entertainment. A young patrician widow of Roman ancestry from Britain? Really, Basilicus!"

"She is precisely as I have described her to you, Verina. I did not think it necessary to reveal her unhappy months in slavery, a condition that came about through nothing of her making. Aspar freed her immediately after he purchased her. He recognized her patrician blood and felt sorry for her. Now he is in love with Cailin!"

"I cannot believe that you would lie to me, brother," the empress pouted.

"I did not lie to you, Verina," the prince said irritably.

"You did not tell me all that you had learned. I cannot forgive you for it."

"I did not tell you because I did not want to embarrass Cailin, Verina. Aspar would not have told me but that I recognized her. It is an episode that both of them would like to put behind them," Basilicus said. "All they desire is to live quietly together at Villa Mare." Then he grew serious. "Leo will never be so safe that you do not need Aspar, sister mine. Offend Aspar, and God knows what might happen to you, and your family. The empire is relatively stable right now, but one never knows when something may set the masses to rebellion and discontent.

"I will tell Aspar that you know his secret, and how you learned it. You will keep that secret, and by doing so our general will be deeply in your debt, Verina. That is far more valuable to you than any momentary satisfaction you might gain by revealing all this to Flacilla Strabo."

The empress considered her brother's words, and then she nodded. "Yes, you are correct, Basilicus. Aspar's goodwill is far more important to us than that of his whorish wife. She has a new lover now, you know, and this time she has chosen a man from among our own class."

"Did she tell you that?" Basilicus asked. "Who is it, Verina?"

"Justin Gabras! Scion of the great patrician family in Trebizond," the empress responded. "He is twenty-five, and said to be very handsome."

"What is he doing in Constantinople, and how has Flacilla intrigued him into a carnal liaison?" Basiclius wondered aloud, but seeing the sparkle in his sister's eye, he knew she would tell him everything.

"It is whispered," Verina began, "that Justin Gabras has a very quick temper. He has killed several people whom he believed offended him. His last victim, however, was a cousin of the bishop of Trebizond. It was necessary, I am told, to remove the murderer as quickly as possible from the scene. They say that the Gabras family was forced to pay the bishop's family a huge bounty for their relative's life. Justin Gabras was expelled from Trebizond for a period of five years.

"Already his reputation in Constantinople grows for its wickedness. He has bought an enormous mansion overlooking the Golden Horn, and an estate in the country. They say his parties and his entertainments rival those at the city's best brothels, Basilicus. Are you surprised that Flacilla should find him?"

"I am surprised that the church does not interfere," the prince said.

"His generosity to the patriarch's favorite causes has earned him a blind eye in that quarter," the empress told her brother knowledgeably.

"If this Justin Gabras is all you say he is, I think perhaps Flacilla has gotten in over her head this time," Basilicus noted.

"If she has, it might solve many problems," the empress observed wisely. "The Strabo family would no longer have to worry about Flacilla's behavior, nor would Aspar have to be burdened with her."

"And then he could marry his beloved Cailin," Basilicus said casually, looking to see what his sister would say.

"Marry the girl he found in a brothel? No, brother dear, it simply could not be allowed. He need not marry again at all, but it would never do for the First Patrician of the empire, Byzantium's greatest general, to marry a girl who worked in a brothel, no matter how blue her blood is. The empire would be a laughing stock, and we cannot have that," Verina said.

Of course, Basilicus thought sadly, they would never allow Aspar to marry Cailin. Had he not told his friend so? Still, when he had heard of Flacilla's latest lover, and his rather unsavory reputation, he had thought that just perhaps the empire would reward its favorite son with permission to marry the woman he loved, who would tend him with devotion and love in his old age. Basilicus thought of himself as a sophisticate, but sometimes even he longed for a simpler life.

Autumn slipped into winter. The winds blew from the north, and at Villa Mare the shutters upon the portico were drawn tight, while the braziers filled with charcoal warmed the rooms on cold days. Cailin and Aspar lived quietly. They seemed to have a need only for each other. There were no further visitors to the villa after Basilicus's surprise arrival that autumn day. They preferred it that way.

Aspar spent several days each week in the city attending to his duties. He saw his eldest son, Ardiburius, quite often, and one day in the senate Ardiburius boldly asked his father, "Why did you close our palace?"

"Because I prefer living in the country," Aspar replied.

"They say you have a young mistress with you," Ardiburius said.

A small smile touched Aspar's lips, but was quickly gone. "They are correct," he told his son. "Unlike your stepmother, I prefer to conduct my affair in a discreet manner. Cailin is a gentle girl, and prefers the country to the city. It pleases me to please her."

Ardiburius swallowed hard. "Do you care for her, Father?"

Aspar stared at his son, wondering just where this was leading. Finally he said, "Yes, I do, and your mother would have liked her, too."

"You do not love the lady Flacilla?"

"No, Ardiburius, I do not. I would have thought that obvious to you from the beginning. The marriage was political. I needed the patriarch's approval of Leo, and I gained it by taking Flacilla off her family's hands," Aspar said. "What is it you want to tell me, my son? You have never been a man for this many words. You are a soldier, as I am. Speak!"

"You must remove Patricius from the lady Flacilla's care, Father. He should not remain in her house any longer," Ardiburius said.

"Why?" The word was sharp.

"She has a very evil lover, Father. A man of wealth and great family. He has, I have it on the most reliable authority, debauched children as young as eight. Patricius is almost ten, and grows more beautiful every day. He is a charming child, as you know, and always eager to please. Your wife's lover has not yet violated him, but he has of late shown an interest in Patricius that is not healthy. My source is totally reliable, Father. My little brother must be protected."

"You and Zoe must take him, then," Aspar said. "Sophia is not used to little boys, and he lacks respect for her. Patricius adores you, Ardiburius, and your wife knows well how to deal with rambunctious little boys. I will tell Flacilla that Patricius needs the company of other children, and as there are none in her house, I have decided to give him to you and Zoe. It will not seem like a criticism if I handle it that way. Hopefully her new interest will keep her amused, so she will not take offense. You know I cannot bring Patricius to Villa Mare. Cailin, of course, would adore it. She is meant to be a mother, but it would cause the very reaction I seek to avoid-a scandal. You understand, my son?"

"Yes, Father," Ardiburius said. "Will you take Patricius today? It should be done as quickly as possible. I have already discussed the possibility of his coming to us with my family. Your grandson, David, is delighted to have his uncle join us. Being the eldest with two sisters after him, and his brother just a baby, it is hard for him."

"You spoil him," Aspar growled, "but he seems a good lad despite it. He is six now, is he not? He and Patricius will get on quite well." He sighed gustily. "As much as I detest having to meet with Flacilla, I shall go now and fetch Patricius from her. Go home, Ardiburius, and tell Zoe that he will be coming to you by nightfall."

The general left the senate and, mounting his horse, rode unescorted through the streets of the city to his wife's home. He needed no guard to keep him safe, and many recognized him, calling out to him, wishing him well. The gatekeeper at Flacilla's mansion greeted him pleasantly, and the majordomo, after hurrying forward to welcome him, sent a slave to his mistress to announce her husband's arrival.

Flacilla Strabo was a beautiful woman. Small and delicate, she possessed gorgeous blond hair and sea-green eyes. She had been entertaining her lover when news of her husband's sudden and totally unexpected visit was brought to her. "Damn him!" she said irritably. "How like Aspar to come without any forewarning. My God! What if he has heard about us? He threatened to put me in St. Barbara's if I caused any new scandal, and my family will support him if he does!"

Justin Gabras smiled lazily at her from the couch where he was reclining. A single black curl fell directly in the center of his forehead. He was tall and lean, and had dark eyes that seemed fathomless. "I would very much regret losing you, Flacilla," he drawled.

"You must leave now!" she said fearfully as the silent slave stood waiting for her instructions to take back to the majordomo.

Reaching out, Justin Gabras yanked Flacilla down into his lap, pulled the neckline of her chiton as low as he could, and lifting a plump breast out, began to fondle it vigorously. "Have your husband come in, Flacilla. I am very much looking forward to meeting him. His fame as the empire's general precedes him. I do not believe I have ever really met a truly brave man, but Aspar is said to be one."

She struggled to escape him. "Are you mad?" she gasped as he lowered his head and he began to suckle strongly on her nipple. In answer, Justin Gabras bit sharply down on Flacilla's tingling breast, causing her to cry out. His eyes met hers, and Flacilla said weakly to the slave, "Have my husband join us here on the terrace, Marco." Then she gasped again as her lover slipped a hand beneath her gown, slid it quickly up her leg and began to tease at her little jewel. She moaned desperately, knowing that he would not cease until she gave him complete satisfaction, and that it would not matter in the least to him if Aspar walked in and found them in such a compromising attitude. Justin Gabras was the most perverse man she had ever known, and even though she was sometimes frightened of him, she could not resist him. "Ahhhhhh!" she moaned as he forced her to completion.

He laughed, releasing her, and watched as Flacilla quickly straightened her garments and attempted to regain her composure. "He was probably on the stairs even as I made you obey me," he mocked her. "Did you think of him coming toward us as I played with you, my pet?"

"You are a wicked man," she said, now angry that he had frightened her so greatly. "You love danger, but you involved me in it then."

"And you loved it, Flacilla," he mocked her. "You are the perfect woman for me. You have breeding, and you are a very skilled whore. As your husband is leaving us today, I will have another little surprise in store for you, my pet. Does it excite you to think on it?"

Before she could answer, however, Aspar came out onto the terrace. Flacilla arose and came forward to greet him. "My lord, why did you not tell me you were coming? Patricius will be so delighted to see you. He has been doing very well at his studies lately, his tutors say."

"I apologize for interrupting you, and your guest, Flacilla," Aspar said with a hint of censure in his voice.

She heard it, and quickly replied, "This is Justin Gabras, a gentleman from Trebizond, my lord. He is now making his home in the city. The patriarch has asked him to help me in a project to aid the poor. We were just discussing it when you arrived. Will you join us?"

A small amused smile touched Aspar's lips, but it was quickly gone. "I have come for Patricius," he said. "I have decided to send him to live with Ardiburius and Zoe. You have been a good mother to him, Flacilla, but he is at an age now where he needs the company of other children. My grandson David is just slightly younger than Patricius, and will benefit as well from their shared companionship. Since both my elder son and daughter-in-law follow the Orthodox faith, Patricius will, of course, continue in that instruction. Will you send for him?"

Flacilla was astounded, and frankly curious as to his apparently sudden decision, but she nodded. Calling a servant, she gave instructions that the boy be brought to them. "May I see Patricius on occasion, my lord?" she asked her husband. "I have grown fond of the child."

"Of course," he said, smiling. "You are always welcome at my elder son's home to visit Patricius. He is fond of you also, I know."

Justin Gabras was fascinated. He had never seen two more poorly matched people. He would be sorry to see the boy go, too. Only recently he had begun to consider what an appetizing little tidbit the child would be. As Patricius was sweet-natured, and eager to please, seducing him would have been a simple matter. And afterward he would have taught him how to please his lusty stepmother as well. Bad luck, he thought, an opportunity lost, but another will appear.

The general and his wife had grown silent, for they had little if nothing to say to each other. Aspar looked like a dull fellow, Justin Gabras thought. Brilliant in the field, but boring in the bedchamber. Flacilla politely offered wine, and then mercifully the boy came.

"Father!" Aspar's youngest child ran into the room, his face joyful at the sight of the general. "What a grand surprise, Father!"

Aspar caught the boy in an embrace, and then stepping back, said, "You have grown again, lad! And the lady Flacilla says your tutors give good reports of your studies. You make me proud, and I have come with a surprise for you. You are to go and live with your brother and his wife. Your cousin David is most eager for your arrival."

"Ohh, Father! That is splendid news!" Patricius cried. "When am I to go?" Then his face fell, and turning toward Flacilla, he said almost apologetically, "I will miss you, lady. You have been good to me."

Flacilla smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "I think your father has made an excellent decision, Patricius. You should be with other children, and my household is long past children."

"If we left now, my lad, would that suit you?" Aspar asked his son. The boy nodded vigorously, and Aspar said to his wife, "Have old Marie pack my son's things up. You may send her and his tutors to Ardiburius's home tomorrow. Now, we will take our leave of you, my lady, and you may return to your business with this gentleman." He bowed politely to Flacilla first, and then to Justin Gabras. Taking Patricius's hand in his, they departed the terrace.

When they were safely out of hearing, Patricius said to his father, "I am glad to be going to my brother's house, Father. The lady Flacilla entertains too many gentlemen, and this latest fellow frightens me. He was always watching me."

"He did not touch you, or hurt you, my son, did he?"

"Oh no, Father!" the boy assured his parent. "I never let him come that close to me. Marie says he is a very bad man."

"You listen to your old nurse, Patricius. She loves you well," Aspar told his child. "Your mother picked her especially to care for you."

Upon the terrace, Flacilla watched through the latticed screen that topped one of the low walls as her husband and his child rode off down the wide street. Justin Gabras stood behind her, his hands upon her hips, plunging himself in and out of her woman's passage as she leaned upon the parapet. "It was so sudden," she said irritably. "How typical of Aspar to make this surprise visit with its surprise ending."

Her lover ground himself slowly into her, and bending over, whispered in her ear, "He thinks you no longer fit to watch over the child, my pet. Oh, he masked his intent with sweet words, but it was obvious to me what he was really thinking, Flacilla. What will the gossips make of it, I wonder, for it will certainly provide grist for their mills."

She felt her crisis approaching, and moaned hungrily, thrusting her hips back to meet him. "I will… go… to the empress!" she gasped.

Justin Gabras pushed Flacilla farther over so that she was almost bent double, enjoying her surprised scream as he moved from her temple of Venus and jammed himself into the entry of her temple of Sodom. His hands held heT firmly, stilling her feeble struggles as he leaned forward and bit her neck. "You will be the laughingstock of Constantinople, my pet. Everyone knows you for a whore, but now they will know you for a bad mother as well. Do you not ever wonder why your daughters do not visit you, Flacilla? Their husbands' families will not let them associate with you, I am told." His lust exploded into her aching body, and finally, with a satisfied groan, he withdrew from her.

Flacilla burst into tears. "Why do you tell me these lies?" she demanded of him.

"Because you have a delightful talent for perversion to match mine, my pet. You have barely scratched the surface of your own wickedness yet, but under my tutelage you will become a mistress of evil. Do not weep. You are too old to do so publicly; and your face is getting puffy. 'Tis most unattractive. I do not lie to you, Flacilla, when I say you are the perfect woman for me. I want to marry you. You have powerful family connections, and if I must remain here in Constantinople, then I want a wife such as you, my dear. A young girl would bore me. She would whine and complain about my tastes. You, however, will not, will you?"

"You would let me take lovers?" she asked him nervously.

"Of course," he said, laughing, "for I will take lovers, too." He took her hand and they lay together upon the couch. "Think of it, Flacilla! Think of what we could share together, and with no recriminations on either side. We could even share lovers. You know I enjoy both women and men as you do. Shall we go to Villa Maxima tonight and choose a lover to share? What about one of those wonderful dumb Northmen Jovian so favors? Or perhaps Casia is more to your taste? What say you?"

"Let me think," she said. "Ohh, I wish that girl that Jovian featured in the first of his playlets was still here. She was so beautiful, but she disappeared very quickly. You did not see the performance, of course, not having yet come to Constantinople, but the girl took all three of those Northmen into her body at one time! Jovian never allowed anyone else to have her, and then suddenly she was gone. He would never explain what had happened to her. I think she may have killed herself. She did not look like a whore."

"Let us have all three of the Northmen, then, Flacilla. You shall play the girl's part for me, and we shall have Casia as well," he said, kissing her quickly. "It will be a celebtation of our engagement."

Flacilla sat up. "My family would never allow me to divorce Aspar and marry you," she said. "They value Aspar's influence too much. Though they forced him to wed me in order to gain their support for Leo, they have gotten much through his influence, Justin. They will not easily give all that up."

"Do not ask your family, Flacilla. Ask your husband for a divorce. I suspect he wants to ask you for one, and removing his child from your care is his first step along the road to ridding himself of you. Once again Aspar will embarrass you and hold you up to ridicule. Sttike first, my pet! I doubt he cares as long as he is rid of you."

"What if he refuses me?" she said. "You never know with Aspar."

"Then you can go to your family," Justin replied. "Your husband is not a god, Flacilla. There must be some weakness of his you can play upon. Have you learned nothing in the time you were married to him?"

"Actually," she admitted, "I know little of him. We have never lived together, nor slept together. He is an enigma to me."

"Then you must spy upon him to learn what we need to know, my pet, for I will have you, or no one will!" He kissed her hard.

After a night of particularly wild debauchery, Flacilla awoke clear-headed and determined. "Send a messenger to my husband's palace," she told her majordomo, "and say that I wish to visit him this morning. I shall arrive before the noon hour."

"The general is not at his palace, my lady," the majordomo said. "He closed his palace up some months ago, and lives at Villa Mare now. Shall I send a messenger to the country to inform him you are coming, my lady? The villa is just five miles beyond the gates."

"No," Flacilla said. "Do not bother. I will simply go. By the time a messenger went and returned, I could be there myself. Have my litter made ready." She dismissed the majordomo and called her maids.

Wanting to make a good impression, Flacilla chose her garments carefully. Her stola was blue-green in color, and matched her eyes. It was shot through with gold threads, and the fabric was very rich. The sleeves were long and tight, and the garment was belted at the waist with a wide gold belt that was most flattering. Her gold slippers were beautifully bejeweled, and her hair was a mass of golden braids, fastened high and decorated with jewels. A matching cloak lined in fur completed her outfit. Flacilla stared hard at herself in the polished silver mirror. Then she smiled, well-pleased. Aspar would be impressed.

Her bearers hurried along the Mese and through the Golden Gate. The day was pleasant, and she could see through the bit of drapery she left open the cattle grazing in the fallow fields. Here and there peasants were pruning trees in the orchards that occasionally lined the road. It was a soothing and most pastoral scene, Flacilla thought, if not just perhaps a bit boring. Why was Aspar living in the country? The litter turned into the gates of the Villa Mare, and entering the courtyard, came to a stop. The vehicle was set down and the curtains drawn back. A hand was extended to help her out.

"Who are you?" Flacilla demanded of the elderly servant.

"I am Zeno, General Aspar's majordomo," was the polite reply.

"I am the lady Flacilla, the general's wife. Please tell him that I have arrived," she said grandly, "and you may show me into the atrium now, Zeno, and bring me some wine."

Zeno was horrified, but his face did not show his consternation. "If my lady will follow me," he said calmly.

It was a charming little villa, Flacilla thought. She had never been here before. A bit too rustic for her taste, but peaceful. She could not, however, understand why Aspar would prefer it to his palace in the city. Making herself comfortable upon a marble bench, she sat down to wait for her wine and for her husband to make an appearance.

Aspar arrived before her refreshment. His greeting was less than cordial. "What are you doing here, Flacilla? What could have possibly brought you into the country on a winter's morning at so early an hour?" He looked distinctly uncomfortable, and she wondered why. Then it dawned upon Flacilla that her husband, the morally upright Aspar, had taken a mistress. He was living with her and wanted no one to know of it. Why, the old fox! Flacilla almost laughed aloud. "I have come on a matter of some importance," she began, swallowing to conceal her amusement.

"Yes?" he said, shifting on his feet.

"I want a divorce, Aspar!" Flacilla burst out. This was no time to be coy. She didn't give a damn if he had one or a hundred mistresses tucked away here in the country. She had been twice wed to please her family. Now she wanted to marry for her own sake.

"You want a divorce?" His look was almost incredulously comical.

"Ohh, Aspar," she said with utmost candor, her words tumbling out quickly, "our marriage was one of politics. You got what you wanted-the support of the patriarch and the Strabo family in Leo's behalf. I got what I thought I could live with, being the wife of the most powerful man in Byzantium. But ours has been no true marriage. We detested each other on sight! We have never spent a single night, including our wedding night, in the same bed, or under the same roof. You do not really want me. You have even taken Patricius from my care.

"Well, I am no longer a girl, and for the first time in my life I am in love. I want to marry Justin Gabras, and he wants to marry me. Let me have a divorce, and in exchange I will be your eyes and ears in Verina's court. Verina is very ambitious for both herself and Leo. She would dispose of you if she thought she could, and one day she may think to do so. If I am there for you, you will have no unpleasant surprises to contend with from that quarter. It is a fair offer!"

He was astounded. If they both wanted the divorce, then the patriarch could hardly contest them, and the Strabos could not be offended. "Yes," he said slowly. "It is a fair offer, Flacilla. Why did you not speak to me about this yesterday when I came for Patricius?"

"Justin asked me the same thing," Flacilla lied, "but as I told him, I was so distraught by Patricius's departure that I was not thinking clearly; and then you were gone with the child. I promised him, however, that I would come to you this very day and settle the matter."

"I have brought wine, my lord." Zeno had reappeared. He set the goblets and the carafe on a small inlaid table.

"You need not bother to pour," Aspar said. "I will. Return to your duties," he finished meaningfully, hoping Zeno understood.

"At once, my lord," was the emphasized reply, but at that moment disaster descended as Cailin entered the atrium.

"I have been told we have guests, my lord," she said.

Flacilla Strabo's mouth dropped open. She stared hard at the girl, and then managed to gasp, "You! It is you!"

Cailin looked confused. "Lady, do I know you?" she replied.

"You are the girl from Villa Maxima! Do not bother to deny it! I recognize you!" Flacilla shrieked, and then she began to laugh. "Ohh, Aspar," she chortled, "you were faithful to Anna, and then waited years past the time when most men take a mistress. Now, in the twilight of your years, you choose one, and she is the most notorious girl in all of Byzantium! You will give me my divorce, and we will call the matter even. If you do not, I shall tell the world of your whore, and then you will be the laughingstock of the empire. Your usefulness will be over, and where will your power be? You will be helpless! I can scarcely believe my good fortune! The girl from Villa Maxima!"

"Who is this coarse creature, my lord?" Cailin said icily.

"Coarse?Me?" Flacilla glared angrily at the girl. God! She was so young!

"May I present my wife, Flacilla Strabo," Aspar said formally. What an incredible piece of bad luck that Cailin should come into the atrium before Zeno could find her and warn her off. Well, it could not be helped. He would have to make the best of it. He looked at Flacilla. "I was not aware that you patronized Villa Maxima."

"Occasionally," Flacilla answered carefully. "Jovian's little playlet was the rage of the city early last summer. She does not look like a whore, Aspar."

"I am not," Cailin replied sharply. "My blood is nobler than yours, lady. I am a Drusus of the great Roman family."

"Rome is finished. It has been for eons, and since Attila pillaged it several years ago, there is little of any consequence left, including its families. This is the center of the world now," Flacilla sneered.

"Do not boast so proudly, lady," Cailin returned. "This center of the world you so loftily hail is as rotten as an egg that has lain in the sun all day. In Britain we do not debase our women before an audience of lewd and cheering lechers! You should be ashamed to admit to what you saw, but why should it surprise me? Even your priests came to see Jovian's entertainments. The outward beauty of your city cannot make up for the darkness in your hearts and souls. I pity you."

"Will you allow this slave to speak to me so?" Flacilla demanded. She glared angrily at Aspar. "I am still your wife, and will have respect!"

"Cailin is not a slave," Aspar said quietly. "I freed her months ago. She is your equal, Flacilla, and may speak to you as she chooses." He took Cailin's hand in his and then continued, "I will give you your divorce, Flacilla. I will go with you myself to the patriarch, and we will tell him of our wishes. I have no quarrel with you, and never have had. If you have found happiness, as I have found it, then I wish you well, and will do whatever I can to ensure your good fortune."

Flacilla's anger was almost immediately tempered. "That is most generous of you, my lord," she said slowly.

"There is one condition," he told her. "You will not gossip about Cailin's past, Flacilla. You must swear to me that you will be silent, or I will not acquiesce in this matter. A divorce is more to your advantage, my dear wife, than it is to mine. And you will still be my eyes and ears at Verina's court. Those are my terms. Will you swear?"

"Why is this more to my advantage than to yours, Aspar?" Flacilla said.

"You wish to marry Justin Gabras, do you not? You cannot marry him without a divorce. I, on the other hand, will never be permitted to marry Cailin because of her unusual beginnings in Constantinople. The fact that I keep her with me as my mistress is not a crime, nor is it considered unique for a man of my position. Whether you are my wife or not, Flacilla, Cailin will remain my mistress; but to marry your lover, my dear, you must be free of me. So it is more to your advantage that I agree to divorce you than it is to mine. Would you not say I am correct?" He smiled at her in a friendly manner, cocking his head to one side questioningly. "Well, Flacilla, what say you, my dear?"

She nodded. "As always, Aspar, you are correct. I must tell you that I have ever found this trait of yours most irritating, however. Very well, I swear on the body of our crucified Lord that I will not gossip or speak ill of your little barbarian pagan lover. I rarely give my word, as you know. You also know you may trust that word."

"I do, Flacilla," he said. "Now when would you like to meet with your cousin, the patriarch? I am at your disposal in this matter."

"Let us do it today!" she said eagerly. "Let us simply call upon him, without warning. If we take him unawares, he is more likely to cooperate than if he sits down with his council of bishops and they natter on about the matter. I know just the argument to sway him, Aspar."

"Go on ahead of me," he told her. "I will ride, and catch up with you before you even reach the city gates. Allow me to escort you to your litter, Flacilla. Cailin, remain here."

"I am content to do so," she said, and he heard ice in her tone.

Aspar walked with his wife to where her litter awaited her.

"What a pity you cannot marry her," Flacilla said wickedly. "She loves you like Anna did, and is obviously meant to be a good wife; but she has spirit, like I do. The perfect mate, Aspar, and you cannot have her. It hardly seems fair after all your service to the empire," Flacilla mocked him. "Tsk! Tsk!"

He smiled, unaffected by her cruel barbs, more concerned with Cailin, whom he knew was going to be furious with him for not telling her that she was already a free woman. "It will be as God wills it, my dear," he replied smoothly, spoiling Flacilla's obvious glee as he helped her into her luxurious litter. "I will be with you as quickly as I can." Closing the curtains of the vehicle smartly, he told the bearers, "Take the lady Flacilla to the palace of the patriarch at once." Then Aspar turned about and went back into the atrium of his villa.

Cailin was pacing around the fish pond. She whirled at the sound of his step and shouted at him, "How could you keep such a thing from me, my lord? Or was it a lie told simply to annoy that dreadful creature?"

"It is true," he said. "You have been a free woman again since that day I promised it to you. I could not tell you the whole truth, Cailin. I am not a young man, but God help me, I love you! I feared if I told you that you were free, you would leave me; that you would attempt some foolish flight back to Britain, and end up in a worse situation than the one from which I rescued you."

For a moment pity welled in her eyes, but it was quickly gone. "Oh, Aspar," she said to him. "Do you not know that I love you also? Until you found me, and yes, even for a time afterward, I dreamed of returning to Britain to avenge myself upon Antonia Porcius. But what good would it do me? Would vengeance return me to my family? My husband? My child? I do not think so. Antonia's revenge certainly did not return Quintus to her. Wulf Ironfist will have found himself another wife by now. Perhaps they even have a child. He husbands the lands that were once my family's. My return would bring but unhappiness to all involved. It is a new age for Britain, and it would seem that I am not meant to be a part of it. This is where my fate has brought me, and here I will remain, by your side and in your heart as long as you will have me, Aspar." She surprised herself with her own words, but even as she had spoken them, she realized it was time to put her dreams aside and face reality. It was unlikely that she would ever see Britain again.

"They will not let us marry, Cailin," he said sadly.

"Who? Your Christian priests? I am not a Christian, Aspar. I am, what was it your wife called me? A pagan. Do you remember the old words of the Roman marriage? Perhaps you do not, but divorce Flacilla, and I will teach them to you that we may say them to each other. Then whatever others may say, we will be bound together for all eternity, my dearest lord," Cailin promised him. Slipping her arms about him, she pressed herself hard against him and kissed him with all the passion her young soul could muster. Then looking up at him, she said, "And you will never, ever again keep things from me, or tell me half-truths, my darling lord, or I shall be very, very angry. You have not yet seen my wild temper in full force, and you do not wish to, I promise you!"

She astounded him, and the happiness filling him would only allow him to say, "You love me? You love me!" He caught her up in his arms and swung her about happily. "Cailin loves me!"

"Put me down!" she said, laughing. "You will have the servants thinking that you have lost your wits entirely, my lord."

"Just my heart, my love, and that you will keep safe for me, I know it!" He placed her gently upon her feet.

"Go to Constantinople now, my lord, and convince those you must to rid you of that harpy you wed for expediency's sake," Cailin told him. "I will eagerly await your return."

"I will legalize any children you bear me," he promised her.

"I know you will do the just thing," she replied. "Now go!"

He did not even have to give orders. Zeno appeared to inform his master that his horse was saddled and awaiting him in the courtyard. Aspar laughed aloud. It was a conspiracy, he thought to himself. His servants adored Cailin and would do whatever they must to ensure both her happiness and his. He rode off down the road to the city, eventually catching up with Flacilla's litter. Together they traveled the rest of the distance to the patriarch's palace, where they were admitted immediately and announced to Constantinople's religious leader.

The patriarch looked warily at the couple before him. "And to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you both?" he murmured nervously.

"We want a divorce," Flacilla said bluntly. "Both Aspar and I are agreed upon it. You cannot refuse us. We have no marriage, and never have, my lord. We have not even cohabited once, and I have constantly betrayed my husband with men of low degree," she finished.

"Constantly?" Aspar said, one dark eyebrow arching quizzically.

"You rarely knew," Flacilla said smugly, and then she laughed almost ruefully. "They do not all end as scandalously as did the little episode of the gladiator and the actor, my lord."

The patriarch paled. "You knew of that unfortunate incident?" he asked Aspar.

"I knew," the general replied. "My sources are even better than yours are, my lord patriarch. I chose to overlook it."

"Because of your little mistress?" the patriarch countered, his black robes swirling about as he paced the room edgily. "You will never be permitted to marry her. Your prestige is too valuable to Byzantium, Flavius Aspar. Your behavior is tolerated because you have been discreet, but only for that reason. Go home, both of you."

"I have twice married for the good of my family," Flacilla said, taking up the argument. "I was content to remain a widow when my husband Constans died, but the Strabos would make me this man's wife. Well, I have served my purpose for them, and for you. Now I want to be happy with a man of my own choosing."

Her blue eyes glared fiercely at the patriarch. "Cousin, I wish to marry Justin Gabras, and he wishes to marry me. He is the first lover with whom I have been involved who is my equal. The Gabras family is, as you well know, the first family of Trebizond. The emperor is in your pocket now, and Aspar is the most loyal citizen in this land. You need fear neither of them. I would be far more useful as Justin Gabras's wife, as this should give you an important toehold in Trebizond. Refuse us, and we will cause such a scandal that neither you nor this emperor will survive it! I mean it, cousin, and you know that I am capable of such destruction," Flacilla finished threateningly.

"You are content to allow this marriage?" the patriarch said feebly to Aspar, but even as he spoke he knew that Aspar undoubtedly considered this situation a pure stroke of luck.

"I have no quarrel with Flacilla," Aspar replied smoothly. "If this marriage can make her happy, why should we refuse her, my lord? To what purpose? She is correct about the Gabras family, and they would, I suspect, even be grateful to Flacilla. Her lover has never before married, and a marriage may settle his rather erratic personality. That would certainly reflect well on the Strabos, and upon you. And if marriage does not settle him, we are, none of us, any the worse off." He shrugged. "As for my situation, I will continue to remain discreet. Little can be said about an unmarried man who keeps a mistress and is faithful to her, my lord. It is small reward I ask for all my services to the empire."

"She must be baptized," the patriarch said. "We can tolerate a Christian mistress, Flavius Aspar, but never a pagan. I will choose a priest myself for her instruction, and when he tells me she is ready to receive the sacrament, I will baptize her myself into the true Orthodox faith of Byzantium. Will you accept my decision in this matter?"

"I will," Aspar said, wondering just how he was going to explain it to Cailin. She would find it very irrational, but in the end he knew she would do it to please him, and because it was the only way that their relationship would be tolerated by the powers that be.

The patriarch turned to Flacilla. "You will have your divorce, cousin, and before your Strabo family relations even know it. I do not intend to argue with them over this matter. Choose a wedding date, and I will personally marry you to Justin Gabras. It is to be done, however, privately and with a little decorum, Flacilla. I will not allow either of you to make a circus of this matter. And afterward you will hostess a family party to properly celebrate this new union. There will be no orgy. Do you understand? Will Justin Gabras understand?"

"It will be as you desire, my lord patriarch," Flacilla said meekly.

The cleric laughed humorlessly. "If it is," he said, "then it will be the first time you ever really obeyed me, cousin."

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Chapter 11

Spring always came sooner to Byzantium than it did to Britain, Cailin noted, not displeased by the early display of flowering trees in Aspar's orchards. The general was a good master, as each peasant she met was quick to assure her. While many on neighboring estates were worn down by the incredible taxation placed on the farmers by the imperial government, Aspar paid the taxes imposed on his people so that they would not have to leave their own small bits of land. Taxes unfortunately could not be paid in kind. They had to be paid in gold, yet the price of all produce and farm animals was strictly regulated by the government, making it nearly impossible for freedmen to meet their obligations. The government kept these prices artificially low to satisfy the populace. Many small farmers attached to other estates had practically sold themselves into serfdom to their overlords so that they and their families might just survive.

"If you had no farmers," Cailin said to her lover, "where would we get our foodstuffs? Does the government not consider that? Why are the merchants taxed so little, and the farmers so much?"

"For the same reason ships docking in the Golden Horn are only charged two solidi on their arrival, but fifteen solidi on their departure. The government wants luxury goods and staples brought into the city, but not traded away out of it. That is why the merchants are charged such low taxes. Someone has to make up the deficit. Since the farmers have no choice but to farm the land, and are so scattered throughout the country they cannot unite and complain, the heaviest burden of taxation falls upon them," Aspar told her. "Governments have always acted thusly, for there is always someone willing to farm the land."

"That is totally illogical," Cailin responded. "It is the luxury goods that should be taxed, and not the poor souls who supply the necessities of everyday life! Who makes such foolish laws?"

"The senate," he said, smiling at her outrage. "You see, my love, the bulk of the luxury goods are sold to the ruling class, and the very rich have a strong aversion to heavy taxation. The government keeps the majority of the populace content by regulating the price of everything that is sold. The poor farmers, a minority, can cry out all they want. Their voices will not be heard in either the senate or in the palace. Only when the majority of the people threaten rebellion do those in power listen, and then not particularly closely, but just enough to save their own skins," Aspar finished cynically.

"If they tax the farmers out of existence," Cailin persisted, "who will grow the food? Has the government considered that?"

"The powerful will grow the food, using slave labor," he said.

"That is why you pay your tenants' taxes, isn't it?"

"Free men are happier men," Aspar said, "and happier men produce far more than those who are not happy, or free."

"There is so much beauty here," Cailin said slowly, "and yet so much wickedness and decay. I miss my homeland. Life in Britain was simpler, and the boundaries of our survival were more clearly defined, even if we had not the luxuries of Byzantium, my dear lord."

"Your thoughts are complex even for a wise man," he replied, taking her hand and kissing the inside of her wrist. "Your heart is great, Cailin Drusus, but you must accept the fact you are only a woman. There is little you can do to right the world's ills, my love."

"Yet Father Michael tells me that I am my brother's keeper," she answered him cleverly, and he smiled at her tenacity. "This Christianity of yours is interesting, Aspar, but its adherents do not always do what they preach a good Christian should do, my lord. I like your Jesus, but I think he would not like some of the ways in which his teachings are interpreted by those who claim to speak in his name. I have been taught that one of the commandments handed down says that we shall not kill our fellow man, and yet we do, Aspar. We kill for foolish reasons, which is worse. A man does not worship as we think he should worship, and so we kill him. A man is of a different race or tribe than we are, so we kill him! This is not, I think, what Jesus meant. Here in Byzantium there is so much evil amid so much piety. Yet that evil is ignored by even those in the highest places who proudly worship in the Hagia Sophia, and then run off to commit adultery, or cheat their business associates. It is all very confusing."

"Do you tell Father Michael of your thoughts and concerns?" he asked her, not knowing if he should be truly amused or fearful for her.

"No," she said. "He is too intense in his religious fervor, and very bound up with the correctness of his worship. He says that I am far from ready for baptism, which is, I think, a good thing, Aspar. A good Christian woman, it is said, must either be a wife or go to live in a convent. I am told I cannot be your wife, and I certainly have no desire to live a cloistered existence. Therefore, once I accept the rite of baptism, I must either leave you or be forever damned. It is not a particularly broad choice, my lord, that is offered me." Cailin's violet eyes twinkled with amusement. Then she slipped her arms about his neck and kissed him slowly. "I am going to avoid baptism as long as I can, my lord."

"Good!" he answered her. "It will give me time to overcome this ridiculous notion that we cannot be married. Flacilla whored all over Byzantium, and was allowed to wed Justin Gabras, but you, my love, who in your innocence was cruelly abused, are denied the right to marry. It is not a situation that is to be tolerated, and I will not tolerate it!"

"We are together, and that is enough for me, Aspar," Cailin told him. "I want nothing more than to be by your side for eternity."

"How would you like to go to the games with me in May?" he asked her. "Special games are held each May eleventh to commemorate the founding of the city of Constantinople. My box is right next to the imperial box. Have you ever seen chariot races, Cailin? The Hippodrome has the finest course in all Byzantium."

"If you are seen in public with me, will that not cause a scandal?" she asked him. "I do not think it wise, my lord."

"There is nothing unusual about a man bringing his mistress to the games, particularly a bachelor such as myself," Aspar answered. "Casia, the girl you knew at Villa Maxima, is now Basilicus's lover. He has given her her own home in the city, and visits her regularly. We will ask her to join us, as well as some of the city's more famous artisans and actors. I am known to keep such company, to the despair of the court, but frankly, those who create are far more interesting to me than those who govern and intrigue." He chuckled. "We will fill the box with interesting people, and few will know just who is who."

"Perhaps it would be nice to see other people," Cailin observed. "When you are away on your official duties, I grow lonely sometimes."

Her admission startled him, for she had never complained about her solitude before. Aspar had never considered that she might be weary of being companionless.

Several days later Zeno was sent to the city, and when he returned, he brought with him a young girl with large, frightened blue eyes, and flaxen braids.

"The master thought you would like a young maidservant to keep you company," Zeno said, smiling. "We are all so old here, but you, lady, are like springtime, and need a fair flower to serve and amuse you. She speaks no language I can understand, lady, but she seems pleasant and biddable."

Cailin smiled at the girl and then asked, "From where does she come, Zeno? If I knew, perhaps I might find a language in which we could communicate. If I cannot speak with her, then all my lord's good intentions are for naught."

"The slave merchant said she comes from Britain!" Zeno said triumphantly. "Surely you can communicate with her, my lady."

"Yet she speaks no Latin," Cailin mused to herself. She turned to the young girl. "What is your name?" she asked in her own native Celtic tongue. If the girl didn't speak Latin, she must speak Celtic.

"Nellwyn, lady," the girl said slowly.

"Are you Celt?" Cailin said.

The girl shook her head. "Saxon, lady, but I understand the tongue you speak. I come from the Saxon shore, and there are many Celts there."

"How came you to Byzantium?" Cailin continued.

"Byzantium?" Nellwyn looked confused. "What is Byzantium, lady?"

"This place, this land. It is called Byzantium. The city in which you were in is its capital, Constantinople by name," Cailin explained.

"Northmen raided our village," Nellwyn told her. "My parents and my brothers were slaughtered. My sisters and I and the other women who could not escape were carried off. They took us to Gaul first, and then we traveled by sea again to come here. Many died on the way. The sea was horrible!"

"Yes, I know," Cailin said. "I came to Byzantium almost two years ago from Britain in a similar fashion. My home was near Corinium."

The girl's eyes grew wide. "Are you a slave, too?"

"No longer," Cailin replied.

"Is this your house, lady?" Nellwyn recognized quality when she saw it, and this beautiful woman was obviously nobility.

"No," Cailin told her. "It is the house of Flavius Aspar, Byzantium's most famous warrior, and a great nobleman." There was no need to explain anything else. Nellwyn would soon figure it out, if indeed she had not already. "My lord has brought you to be a companion to me, Nellwyn. You are safe now, and need fear no longer. Do you understand?"

"Yes, lady," Nellwyn replied, kneeling before Cailin. "I will serve you loyally, I swear by Woden!"

"I am pleased to hear it," Cailin said. "Now get up girl, and go with Zeno, who is master of the servants in this house. He will show you where you are to sleep, Nellwyn. You will have to learn the language spoken in this land, or it will be difficult for you, I fear. The tongue is called Latin. Many spoke it in Britain."

"I have heard the words of that tongue," Nellwyn answered. "I have a good ear, my father always said, and learned Celtic quickly. I am sure I will learn Latin as well, lady, and make you proud of me."

"Good! Now, whatever Zeno tells you to do, you must obey him," Cailin explained to the girl. Then she turned to her major-domo. "She has some words of Latin, and claims she can learn quickly, Zeno. See she is given a bath. She smells like a stable. Then give her fresh clothing and a sleeping space. She may come to me in the morning, and I will assign her duties and begin to teach her myself."

The elderly servant bowed and, signaling to the girl, led her off. Very shortly he returned, however, and said bluntly, "She will not let us bathe her, my lady. She screams like a rabbit in a trap."

"I will come," Cailin said, and followed him to the servants' quarters, where Nellwyn, naked now, stood sobbing piteously. "Come, girl, you must wash," Cailin scolded her. "In this land we bathe with regularity. Your pretty hair will be crawling with lice, I've not a doubt, and must be cleaned, too. Follow Tamar to the bath now!"

"They would drown me, lady!" Nellwyn wept. "I know how to wash, but properly in a basin, not with all that water!"

Cailin swallowed her laughter. "In Byzantium we wash with lots of water," she explained. "Now you must trust me, Nellwyn, and obey me when I command you, for I am your new mistress. Go with Tamar."

Reluctantly the girl obeyed, casting a teary glance over her shoulder as she followed the older woman into the servant's bath.

"It is a pretty toy you have given me, my lord," Cailin told Aspar that evening as they ate. "She speaks no Latin, and I must teach her; is afraid to bathe, but she appears sweet-tempered and eager to learn."

"You said you were lonely. She is young as you are young, my beauty. She will keep you amused when I am away," he responded, smiling.

"She is thirteen, and believed she was about to be drowned in the servant's bathing pool." Cailin giggled. "Where did you find her?"

"I asked a slave merchant I know to find me a young female Briton," he said.

"She is a Saxon from the Saxon shore of Britain," Cailin told him.

"Then she is not one of your people," he remarked, irritated at himself. "I should have been more specific with the slave merchant."

"Celts are usually harder to catch," Cailin said, a twinkle in her eyes, "and they do not take well to service, my lord. Nellwyn will suit me admirably. Saxon girls are generally good-natured."

"Then I have pleased you," he replied, smiling at her.

"You always please me, my lord," she answered him softly.

"No," he said sadly, "I do not, Cailin. I wish I could."

"The fault lies with me, Aspar. You know it does! It breaks my heart that I can no longer feel passion when a man is within my woman's passage," Cailin said, tears filling her lovely eyes. "Yet I do gain a different kind of pleasure when we lie together. Your touch is so filled with love for me that it communicates itself to my very heart, and I am filled with happiness and peace. It is enough for me. I could but wish it was enough for you. It hurts me to know that I have failed you in this manner, but I know not what to do to change things. I have not that wisdom, my beloved lord." She lay her head on his shoulder and sighed forlornly. How could she care so for this good man, Cailin wondered, and be unable to completely return his passion?

"I love you for many reasons," he told her, "but your truthfulness in all things pleases me greatly. I would have no whore's tricks from you, Cailin; no simulated cries of passion ringing in my ears. Some day you will cry out for me, but that cry will come from your heart. I will wait until that time. Perhaps not always with patience, but I will wait." He arose from the table and held out his hand to her. "The night is fair, and there is a moon. Let us walk together, my love."

There was no wind, and the night was quiet around them. They walked first through the nearby orchards of almond, peach, and apricot trees with their fragrant pink and white blossoms, some of which were already beginning to drift down to catch in Cailin's myriad auburn curls.

"These trees are far prettier than the olive groves," Cailin said. "I do not like the yellowish flowers upon those trees."

"But the olive is far more practical a fruit," he told her. "The peaches and apricots are quickly gone. The olives, properly prepared, last all year. What is beautiful is not always practical."

"Almonds are beautiful," she countered, "and they last every bit as long as olives, even longer, and they do not have to be salted."

He laughed. "Too intelligent," he teased her. "You are too intelligent for a woman. No wonder you frighten Father Michael."

"Everything frightens Father Michael that is of this world," Cailin told him. As they left the orchards behind and came across a small field to the beach, she cried softly, "Ohh, Aspar! Look at the moon on the sea! Is it not the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?"

It was one of those rare moments when the restless waves were totally stilled. The flat dark surface of the water was silvered, and shimmered like the best silk as it spread itself before them. They stood silently admiring the beauty of it all. It was as if the entire world were at peace with itself and they were the only two creatures inhabiting it. Aspar reached out and took Cailin's hand in his. Together they walked down the little embankment to the beach.

Removing his cloak, he spread it upon the sand for them. Then taking her into his arms, he kissed her softly, lingeringly. When he finally released her, Cailin wordlessly pulled her stola over her head and let the garment drop from her slender fingers. Naked, she stood proudly before him. He responded by removing the long, comfortable tunic he wore within his home, and kicked his sandals off. Then Aspar slipped to his knees before her, drawing her against him, his cheek pressed against her torso.

They embraced quietly for a long moment. Then he began to trace a pattern of warm kisses across her flesh. Cailin sighed softly. His patience and his gentleness always astounded her. How very much she wanted to respond to his loving, but passion, it seemed, was dead, or almost dead within her. The only time she felt the slightest bit of it was when he would tongue her little jewel, but when his manhood lay embedded inside of her, she could feel nothing at all but the thickness of it within her. In an effort to resurrect her passion, she had tried to remember all her times with Wulf Ironfist; but she soon realized that recalling her Saxon husband only seemed to render her body, and soul, colder than before. Several times she had come close to shrieking her frustration and pushing Aspar away because he was not Wulf and could not give her the joy she had once known in her husband's strong arms. Finally she had dismissed Wulf from her conscious mind while her Byzantine lord made love to her. It was easier that way.

Aspar rubbed his face between her breasts, one hand reaching up to fondle her. "They are like perfect little ivory apples," he said, his palm cupping the firm flesh and admiring it. Gently, his other hand pressed upon her back, and when she bent slightly, he lifted his head up to suckle upon the nipple. His teeth teased at the sensitive nub, and then his tongue encircled it enticingly before he suckled hard on it again.

"Ahhhhh," she breathed, her fingers digging lightly into his muscled shoulders. He transferred his attentions to her other breast, his hand kneading and cuddling until she felt as if her breasts would burst with pleasure.

He then pressed the palm of his hand against her Venus mont as he began a leisurely exploration with lips and tongue of her slender torso. Each kiss upon her tingling skin was distinct and individual. His other hand was lightly clasped about her right buttock, the tips of his fingers caressing her. His tongue pushed into her navel, and Cailin murmured softly as it simulated what was to soon come. As if to emphasize the point, he pushed through her nether lips with a single finger and thrust it into her sheath.

Cailin's head whirled and her knees began to buckle. He felt her weakness, and withdrawing the finger, he pulled her to her knees, facing him. Aspar's dark eyes locked onto hers as he offered her his finger, running it sensuously over her lips until she opened her mouth and sucked on it, clutching at his hand until he pulled the finger away and caressed her throat. She lowered her head and bit his hand lightly, surprising him, then kissed his knuckles.

Something is different tonight, Cailin thought, and looking up at him, she realized that he could feel it too. She did not dare speak for fear of breaking the spell that seemed to be enfolding them. He took her by the shoulders, and his lips touched hers in what had been meant to be a tender kiss. The kiss, however, deepened quickly, and her mouth opened to take in his tongue, which danced primitively and hotly with hers. Then he was covering her face with kisses again, and Cailin's head fell back, her neck straining almost desperately as his lips burned their way down the perfumed column of her throat.

She stroked his hot, hard body. Her fingers entwined themselves deep within his thick black hair as she fell back upon his spread cloak. He moved his mouth slowly, almost with reluctance, down her body until his tongue found the delicate and sensitive jewel of her womanhood, rousing it to melting sweetness with a stronger force than she had ever before felt. Then his soldier's body was covering hers, his engorged manhood pressing forward to sheath itself within her. Cailin gasped with surprise as she realized that for the first time in two years her body was anxious, nay, desperate, for a man's possession.

She shuddered with actual pleasure as he filled her. Her arms tightened about him, drawing him as close as she could, reveling in the feeling of him against her. Their eyes met even as he began to move slowly upon her. Cailin could not look away, nor, she realized, could he. Their very souls seemed to blend as the rhythm of his sensuous movement began to communicate the rising passion between them. He said nothing, but she could feel him willing her to wrap her legs about him, and she did. Then she began to match his thrusts with voluptuous, pleasure-seeking motions of her own. The cadence of their deep desire grew almost savage in its intensity, until both Cailin and Aspar were overcome by its tender violence.

She flew. Her spirit seemed to slip from her body and soar out over the still, silvery sea. She was one with the earth, and the sky, and the silken waters below. Nothing mattered but the sweetness enfolding them, cradling them warmly in its embrace. They were one together.

"Aspar!" she cried his name softly in his ear as she came slowly to herself once again, and then her vision cleared. She saw his dear face, his cheeks wet with tears. Cailin smiled happily at him, pulling his head down to kiss away those tears, realizing at the same time that she was weeping, too.

Finally they lay together upon his cloak, calm once more, their fingers entwined, and he said with a small attempt at humor, "If I had but known, my love, that making love to you upon the beach in the moonlight would result in such delight, I should have done it months ago. How much time we have wasted in our bed, and in the bath."

"We will waste time no more," she promised him, and when he leaned over to kiss her, her features were radiant. "Whatever prevented me from sharing passion with you before this night is now gone, my dear lord. I am like our mother, the earth, reborn with the springtime!"

If Aspar's love for Cailin had been restrained previously in consideration of her feelings, that love was now plainly visible to all who saw them together. Aspar became more determined than ever that Cailin should be his wife. "We will go to some country priest and have him marry us," he said firmly. "Once the rite is performed, what can they do? You must be my wife!"

"There is no one in the empire who does not know Flavius Aspar," Cailin said quietly. "And there is no one who does not know of the patriarch's wishes in this matter. Even were I to become one of your Christians, my dear lord, I should not be allowed to become your wife. Those few brief months that I spent at Villa Maxima have destroyed my reputation."

There must be some way in which I can convince the patriarch," Aspar said to Basilicus one afternoon as they came from the palace, where they had been conferring with the emperor. "Flacilla has married Justin Gabras, and the pair of them are the scandal of the city with their orgies and their parties, which rival anything the brothels can create. How can the patriarch justify such a union while denying me the opportunity to marry my Cailin, who is so good?"

"Her goodness does not enter into it, my friend," Basilicus replied. "And it is not just the patriarch. We have a law here in Byzantium that specifically forbids the union of a senator, or other person of high rank, with an actress or a whore, or any woman of lower rank. You would not be allowed to circumvent the law, Aspar. Not even you."

"Cailin is a patrician," Aspar protested angrily.

"She says she is," Basilicus answered, "but who is to prove her truthful, or a liar? Here in Byzantium she was an actress in a brothel, performing sexual acts before an audience. That makes her ineligible to marry with the First Patrician of the empire, Flavius Aspar."

"Then I will leave the empire," Aspar said grimly. "I can no longer be content or useful if I am denied my wish in this matter."

Basilicus did not argue. Aspar would not leave Byzantium. His whole world was here, and he was not a young man. Besides, even based upon his brief acquaintance with Cailin, Basilicus felt she would not allow Aspar to do anything that could endanger his position, or his comfort.

"Casia tells me you have asked her to sit in your box at the games next week," the prince said, changing the subject. "It is kind of you, and I have said she may go, although it will cause a small scandal. Who else will you invite, my friend? Entertainers and artisans, I doubt not."

Aspar laughed. "Ahhh, yes," he said. "How could I, the empire's First Patrician and great general, dare to prefer those who create to those in power? Eh, Basilicus? But I do! And you are correct. Both Bellisarius and Apollodorus, the great classical actor and the masses' favorite comedian, will be in my box on May eleventh. And Anastasius, the singer and poet, as well as John Andronicus, the artist who does those marvelous ivory carvings, and Philippicus Arcadius, the sculptor. I have commissioned him to do a nude of Cailin for our garden. He will spend the summer at the villa. I have built him a studio in which to work, so he will not have to travel back and forth between the country and the city, nor worry about his daily needs, which my servants will see to. Your sister will enjoy that piece of gossip, Basilicus."

"Indeed she will," he admitted, and then he said, "Are not Bellisarius and Apollodorus dreadful rivals? I heard that they despised each other. Is it safe having them in the same box?"

"Their hatred has recently turned to love, or so I hear." Aspar chuckled. "There is another tidbit for our beloved empress Verina to chew upon."

"The gods! They haven't become lovers! But of course they have, or you would not say it," Basilicus exclaimed. They had reached his litter, and he climbed in, settling himself comfortably amid the pillows.

Aspar mounted his stallion, which had been tethered next to the prince's conveyance. "Is your wife coming to the games?"

Basilicus nodded mournfully. "Eudoxia would not miss a chance to seat herself in the imperial box, where she can be seen, admired, and bitterly envied by all of her friends and relations seated in the stands. I will be by her side as convention demands, but afterward when she goes to the palace to enjoy the banquet, I shall join my adorable Casia."

"Will not Eudoxia miss you at the banquet, Basilicus?"

"Nay" the prince replied. "She will be too busy sampling all the delicacies offered the imperial guests; and of course there is that young guardsman who has recently taken her eye. I believe she means to seduce him eventually, and I do want to give her the opportunity. If she is busy with her young man, then she will not wonder if I am busy somewhere else. Eudoxia rarely strays from her marital vows, and so when she does, I like to give her as clear a field as possible. She is an excellent wife, and mother to our children. I might add that her discretion in her little peccadillos is commendable, to say the least. There has never been the tiniest bit of scandal about her, which is certainly more than one can say about most patrician wives these days."

"How fortunate for you both," Aspar said dryly. He did not understand the kind of marriage that most of the nobility had. True, there were exceptions; couples who, like his late wife Anna and himself, kept to their vows of fidelity and loyalty. That was the kind of marriage he would share with Cailin one day.

"I am not needed in town until the games," he said to the prince. "I will see you then." He rode off down the Mese toward the Golden Gate as Basilicus ordered his bearers to take him to the house of his mistress, the fair Casia.

May eleventh dawned clear and sunny. It was a perfect day to celebrate the founding of Constantinople. Cailin dressed carefully, fully aware that she would be the subject of gossip. She wanted to make Aspar proud, and so she chose a stola of pale violet silk which complemented her eye color. The round neckline was low, but not immodestly so. The long sleeves were embroidered with wide gold bands showing flowers and leaves. The stola was belted just below her waist with a girdle of small gold plaques studded with pearls that sat neatly atop her hipbones. A delicate gold and violet shawl of brocatelle, known as a palla, would protect her from the burning rays of the sun. Nellwyn slipped little jeweled kid slippers onto her mistress's feet, and then stood up to view Cailin. Her eyes mirrored her approval.

"You'll look as good as that empress woman, lady," she said.

"Only if she has jewelry to rival Verina's," Aspar said as he came forward with a large ebony box. "These are for you, my love."

Cailin took the box he handed her, set it upon the table and opened it. Within was a beautifully bejeweled collar of gold, small diamonds, amethysts, and pearls. She stood stunned as he lifted it from its case and fastened it about her neck. It lay flat upon her chest, almost covering the skin her neckline revealed, and it made the stola look far richer than it truly was. "I have never seen anything so magnificent," Cailin said. "It is beautiful, my dear lord. Thank you!"

"There is more," he said quietly, and lifting out a pair of large pendant earrings, he handed them to her with a smile.

Cailin smiled tremulously back at him, and affixed the large single teardrop amethysts set in gold filigree to her ears. There were several bracelets in the box as well: two gold bangles set with diamonds and pearls, and a wide gold band with inlaid mosaic that glittered and glistened with the light. Finally there was a filigreed gold headband studded with amethysts and diamonds. Cailin fitted it over the sheer mauve-colored veil covering her hair, which she wore loose in deference to Aspar, who liked it that way.

"I will be the envy of every man in the Hippodrome today," he said sincerely. "You are the most beautiful woman in a city of beauties."

"I wish to be the envy of no one," Cailin told him honestly. "The last time I knew such happiness and contentment, the gods snatched it away from me. I lost everything I held dear. Now that I have found happiness again, I want to keep it, my lord. Do not boast lest the gods hear you and grow jealous of us."

"We will keep it," he said firmly, "and I will keep you safe."

Cailin traveled to the city in her comfortable litter while Aspar rode his big white stallion by her side. He was greeted by many people along the way. Cailin, watching from the security of her conveyance, felt her heart swell with her love for this great and good man. There was no doubt that Flavius Aspar was well-respected by ordinary citizens, not simply feared for his power and wealth.

They entered the city through the Golden Gate. This was Constantinople's ceremonial triumphal gate. Made of pristine white marble set into Theodosius's walls, the gate gained its name from the enormous burnished brass doors with which it was fitted. The elegant severity of the gate's architecture, and its splendid proportions, made it an object of admiration throughout the empire. Passing through the gate, they traveled slowly with the increasing crowds down the Mese to the Hippodrome.

At the Golden Gate they had been met by a troop of cavalry that had come to escort Aspar and his party along the broad main avenue of the city. As they surrounded Cailin's litter, she discreetly closed the silk curtains. She was well aware that she was the object of certain curiosity among the soldiers, but she could not allow them to stare boldly at her as if she were a common prostitute.

The Hippodrome could seat forty thousand people, and was an imitation of Rome's Circus Maximus. However, it had never hosted games quite as cruel as those in Rome, nor had it seen the martyrdom of innocents. It had been first built by the Roman emperor Septimus Severus, but remodeled by the great Byzantine emperor Constantine I. The entertainments it offered were varied. There was everything from animal baiting, theatrical amusements, and gladiators, to chariot racing, religious processions, state ceremonies, and the public torture of famous prisoners. Entry to the Hippodrome was gained by presenting a special token, and tokens were issued free in advance of the games to the populace who came to sit, regardless of class, upon the snowy marble tiers of seats.

In the center of the Hippodrome a line of monuments had been erected, forming what was called a spina. The spina indicated the division between the downward race course and the upward one. Among the monuments was the Serpent Column, which had been brought to Constantinople from the temple of Apollo in Delphi by Constantine I. The ancient column, made up of intertwined bronze snakes, had been given to the temple by thirty-one Greek cities in the year 479 b.c. It commemorated the victory of the Greeks over the Persians, and was presented to the gods with gratitude. Another monument that stood out was the Egyptian obelisk that Theodosius I had placed upon a sculptured base. It was carved on all four sides with scenes of imperial life, including one of Theodosius himself in the imperial box with his family and close friends, watching the games.

Cailin's litter was set down by a private gate to the arena on the eastern side. Aspar dismounted his stallion and proudly handed her from the vehicle. He knew that every man in the cavalry troop was eager to see the woman rumored to have captured his heart. A dainty jewel-encrusted gold sandal was put forth first as she stepped from the litter. Eyes widened. Knowing looks were exchanged by the soldiers, most not a little envious, and as the empire's First Patrician escorted his beautiful young mistress into the Hippodrome, a long, low whistle of admiration echoed behind them.

Aspar grinned, just as any small boy with a new and most admired toy would have, but Cailin scolded him softly.

"Shame on you, my lord! You need not look so delighted with yourself, as if you did something worthy of praise. All those randy young soldiers are wondering about is if it is your power, your wealth, or your skill as a lover that has gained you a young and pretty mistress. It is nothing to be proud of," she finished, looking indignant. "A decent woman would be shamed."

"But you are not considered a decent woman," he teased her. "Those randy young soldiers, as you call them, would envy me even more if they knew the passionate, wildly wanton creature you have recently become. My back is covered with weals that are a testament to your delicious newfound desire, my love. Ahh, yes, you do well to blush!" He chuckled. "But I am content to have you so utterly shameless in my behalf."

She was blushing, but she was also unable to restrain her laughter. His happiness at having been able to overcome the ice in which her soul had been so encased made her happy. "It is you who are shameless, my lord," she countered. "You preen like a peacock in full plumage, and you fully enjoyed displaying me to those young men." She giggled. "They all looked so surprised when they saw me. Is your reputation such that they did not think you capable of attracting a pretty woman? They should but know you as I do."

"If they did, my love, I should be called by a different name, and would have taken Jovian for my lover," he chuckled.

"My lord!" Cailin was overcome by another fit of mirth.

He led her up a flight of stairs, explaining as they went that this was the way to the two private boxes allowed in the Hippodrome other than the imperial box. "The patriarch's box is on the emperor's right hand, and the box of the First Patrician of the empire is on the emperor's left hand. I have come early so we will not cause a disturbance with an obvious entry. It would not do to have the crowds hail me before the emperor. We will slip quietly into the box, and then be on hand to greet our guests. The emperor will not come until the races are ready to begin. There will be four races this morning, and four in the afternoon. In between we will see other entertainments, and Zeno will come with our servants to bring us luncheon."

"I have never seen chariot races," Cailin said. "Who will be racing today? There was an amphitheater in Corinium for games, but my father never took us. He said the games were cruel."

"Some are," Aspar admitted, "but there will be no gladiators today, I have been told. There will be actors, and wrestlers, and more gentle amusements that do not take away from the racing. We have four chariot teams here in Constantinople, the Reds, the Whites, the Blues, and the Greens. They will be racing, and the passions they arouse in the collective breast of the populace is oft-times terrifying. Wagers will be placed, and you are apt to see a fight or two between the adherents of a particular team and their rivals. You are safe in the box."

"Which team to do you favor, my lord?" she asked him.

"The Greens," he said. "They are the best, and the Blues come after them. The Reds and the Whites are nothing, though they try."

"Then I shall favor the Greens as well," Cailin said.

They had reached a small landing where the staircase divided into two sets of stairs, and taking the three steps up to their left, they entered Aspar's box. An awning of cloth of gold striped with purple roofed the box. There were comfortable marble chairs with silken cushions, and benches set about, all with a good view of the arena. The public stands were beginning to fill up, but no one noticed them, and a quick glance showed Cailin that the imperial party and the important religious personages were not yet in their boxes.

"There are no steps going to the emperor's box," she said to Aspar. "How does he enter it?"

"There are stairs directly into the box that lead from a tunnel beneath the palace walls," he told her. "It allows our emperor a quick exit should he find he needs it. I've always thought it an excellent place for an ambush, but there is really nothing one can do should that occur."

"Cailin!" A young woman had entered the box behind them.

Cailin turned and recognized Casia, looking particularly radiant in scarlet and gold silks. Cailin held out her hands in welcome. She had wondered how she would feel seeing Casia again, but the young woman had always been kind to her. "Fortune has smiled on you, I am told," she said, greeting Casia. "I am happy you could come."

"My lady Casia," Aspar said with a smile, and Cailin felt a surge of jealousy race through her. His eyes were too warm and too knowing.

"My lord, it is good to see you once again. I owe you a debt of gratitude for introducing me to my prince. I had not intended to buy my freedom from Villa Maxima until next year, but when the prince offered me his favor, I surprised my masters and purchased myself from them, that I might avail myself of the prince's munificence." Casia smiled warmly at them both, and settled herself comfortably next to Cailin.

Aspar bowed again and replied, "Then you are both happy with the arrangement, and for that I am glad, Casia. You are wise enough still, I trust, to look to your future? Princes are often fickle."

Casia laughed merrily. "I am a frugal woman, my lord. If Jovian and Phocas had had the slightest inkling of what I had saved during my three years with them, they would have set my price higher. They did not, however, and I came away quite comfortably fixed. The house in which I reside is also mine. I insisted. Basilicus understood, and was generous. I will not end my days in the streets like a foolish woman."

"I would be unhappy were it so," he answered her.

There was no time for Cailin to interrogate her lover, for the rest of their guests were entering the box, being introduced, and bowing over the ladies. Bellisarius, the famed classical actor, and his current lover, the ribald comic actor, Apollodorus, were first. Elegantly attired in white and gold dalmaticas, and both quite witty, they awed Cailin at first. She was not used to such men, but Casia chatted easily with them, trading gossip and insults as easily as if she had known them her entire life. Anastasius, the great Byzantine singer, arrived and spoke to them in a bare whisper, which was, Aspar explained to Cailin, his custom. Anastasius spoke little, if at all, saving his glorious voice for song.

John Andronicus, the ivory carver, and Arcadius, the sculptor, arrived almost simultaneously. The former was a shy man, but sweet-natured. He greeted his host and hostess politely. The latter was his opposite, a bold fellow with a bolder eye. "Casia I recognize, so it must be this ethereal beauty you want me to immortalize, my lord." Arcadius stared hard at Cailin. "The body, I can see," he continued, mentally stripping her clothes away, "is obviously every bit as beautiful as the face. You will make my summer a joy, lady, for there is nothing I love better than sculpting a lovely woman."

Aspar smiled, amused, as Cailin blushed again. "I thought her a perfect subject for your classical hands, Arcadius. She is Venus reborn," he said.

"I shall certainly gain more pleasure from the work you have commissioned me to do, my lord, than all the saints I have been sculpting as of late," the sculptor admitted.

Suddenly the crowd roared noisily, and the inhabitants of Aspar's box turned to see the emperor and his party entering their box. Leo had a severe yet serene face, but even in his elegant rich robes, one could not have called him distinguished or regal. It was Cailin's first glimpse of Byzantium's ruler, and she had to remember that Aspar had chosen this former member of his household staff for greatness because of his other qualities. The empress, however, was a different matter. She was a blazing star to her husband's calm moon. The rest of the royal party were made up of men and women among whom only Basilicus's face was familiar. The clergy in their black robes had already taken their place before the imperial party arrived, but Cailin had been too busy with her own guests to notice them before now.

After a few minutes' time Aspar said to Cailin, "Watch!"

Standing on a marble step placed at the front of his box, Emperor Leo raised a fold of his gold and purple robes and made the sign of the cross three times; facing first the center tier of seats, and then those to the right, and finally to the left, he blessed all those in the Hippodrome. Then reaching into his robes, he drew forth a white handkerchief which, Aspar whispered to Cailin, was called a mappa. Dropping the white silk square would signal the beginning of the games. The mappa fluttered from Leo's fingers.

The stable doors of the Hippodrome wall were pulled open, and the first of the four chariots to race drove out onto the course. The audience exploded into cheers. The charioteers, each controlling four spirited horses, were dressed in short, sleeveless leather tunics, which were held firmly in place by crossed leather belts. Around their calves were leather puttees. All were physically well-formed, and many handsome. The women called out to them, waving the colored ribbons of their favorite teams, and the charioteers, laughing with exuberance, grinned and waved back.

"Women should not be allowed at the games," the patriarch was heard to mutter darkly in his box. "It is immodest of them to be here."

"Women attended the games in Rome," a young priest rashly said.

"And look what has happened to Rome," the patriarch replied grimly, while around him the other clerics nodded and agreed.

"Have either of you ever been to the races before?" Arcadius asked Cailin and Casia, and when they replied in the negative, he said, "Then I will explain all to you. In which order the chariots line up is chosen by lot the day before. Each driver must circle the course seven times. See the stand down by the spina where the prefect in the old-fashioned toga is standing? Do you see the seven ostrich eggs upon the stand? They will be removed one by one as each round of the race is run. Usually a small silver palm is awarded the winner of each race, but because today commemorates the founding of our city, a golden crown of laurel leaves will be given the winning drivers of all but the last two races. There will be a fierce competition between the Greens and the Blues to see who takes home the most crowns. Look! They're off!"

The chariots thundered off around the race course. Within moments the horses were frothing at the mouth and sweat was flying off their shining flanks. Their drivers drove with a reckless abandon such as Cailin had never seen. At first it appeared that the race course was wide enough to accommodate all four vehicles, but Cailin shortly saw that in order to win, the drivers had to steer their chariots all over the course, this way and that, struggling to get ahead of their competitors. Sparks flew as wheels from opposing chariots clanged together gratingly, and the drivers used their whips not only on their horses, but on the other drivers in their path as well.

The crowd screamed itself hoarse as the Green team's chariot spun around the final turn on one wheel, almost tipping over but quickly righting itself, only to be cut off by the Blue team's chariot, which leapt ahead suddenly, crossing the finish line first by just a nose. Both chariots came to a halt, and the drivers of the Blue and Green teams immediately engaged in a violent fistfight. Pulled apart, they left the track shouting curses at one another as the chariots for the next race queued up and dashed off.

Cailin was delighted by the chariot races. A Celt in her soul, she had always admired good horseflesh; and the horses racing were the finest she had ever seen. "Where do those magnificent animals come from?" she asked Aspar. "I've never seen better. They are finer-boned than the horses in Britain, and they look high-spirited. Their speed and surefootedness is commendable."

"They come from the East," he told her, "and are highly prized."

"Does no one raise them here in Byzantium, my lord?" she wondered.

"Not to my knowledge, my love. Why are you so curious?"

"Could we not take some of your land, and instead of growing grain, put it into pasture in order to raise these horses? If they are so prized here, then certainly these animals would bring you a fine profit. The market for these beasts would be great, as it would be far more accessible to and less risky for the chariot teams than importing animals from the East. If we raised our own horses, they could see them grow from birth, and even choose early those whom they felt showed promise," Cailin concluded. "What think you, my lord?"

"I think she is brilliant!" Arcadius chimed in enthusiastically.

"We would have to find an excellent stallion, or two for breeding purposes, and we would need at least a dozen mares to start," Aspar thought aloud. "I would have to go to Syria myself to find the animals. We should allow no one there to realize our intent. The Syrians pride themselves on their fine horses, and their profitable export market. I can probably obtain young mares here and there by pretending I want them for the ladies in my family, who amuse themselves riding when in the country. Normally," he told Cailin, "women do not ride."

"The Greens have won the second race while you chattered," Casia chimed in. "The Blues are crying collusion, for the Reds and the Whites seemed to have made a decided effort to cut off the Blue team's driver at every turn, and he finished dead last."

Between each of the morning's four races there was a little entertainment as performed by mimes, acrobats, and finally a man with a troupe of amusing little dogs that leapt through hoops, did tumblesaults, and danced upon their hind legs to the music of a flute. These intervals were brief, but a much longer one came between the morning's races and those to be run in the afternoon. Then the emperor's box emptied, as did the patriarch's.

"Where are they going?" Cailin asked of no one in particular.

"To a small banquet that has been prepared for Leo and his invited guests," Aspar told her. "Look about you, my love. Everyone has brought food and is beginning to eat it; and here is Zeno with luncheon for our guests. As always, old friend, you are prompt."

"Aspar positively dotes upon you," Casia said in a low voice to Cailin as their luncheon was being set out. "You are very fortunate, my young friend, to have found such a man. The rumor is he would marry you if he could, but do not count upon it."

"I do not," Cailin said. "I dare not. I have grown to love Aspar, but still something deep within me warns of danger. Sometimes I can ignore that voice within, but at other times it nags, and frightens me so that I cannot sleep. Aspar does not know this. I would not distress him in any way. He loves me, Casia, and is so good to me."

"You are just fearful because the last time you allowed yourself to love a man with all your heart, you were cruelly separated from him, Cailin. It will not happen again." She accepted a goblet of wine offered her by the attending Zeno, and sipped it. "Ahh, Cyprian! Delicious!"

An imperial guardsman entered the box. "My lord general," he said politely. "The emperor requests that you join him at table."

"Thank the emperor," Aspar said, annoyed. Leo knew that he had guests of his own. "Tell hjm it would be impolite of me to leave my own invited guests, but that if he needs me, I will attend him afterward."

The guardsman bowed and had turned to go when Cailin said, "Wait!" She took Aspar's hands in her own and looked up at him. "Go, my lord, please go, if only for my sake. No matter how gently you couch your refusal, you will insult the emperor. I will entertain our guests until your return." She leaned over and gave him a gentle kiss upon the cheek. "Now go, and you will be pleasant and polite, not irritated."

Aspar arose reluctantly. "For your sake, my love, but only for your sake. You would not have me offend Leo, yet his invitation offends me because it ignores you, and the others with us."

"I do not exist for the emperor, nor does Casia. As for the others, they are artisans and actors. Sometimes invited, sometimes not," Cailin said wisely with a small smile. She was quickly learning the ways of Byzantium's society. "Go, that your return be all the sooner!"

"You have more breeding than most of the court," Arcadius said to her, arching a dark eyebrow. "You are not what you seem, I think."

Cailin smiled serenely. "I am what I am," she answered.

Arcadius chuckled, and seeing he would get no more from her today, turned his attention to the rather excellent ham upon his silver plate. He would learn what he wanted to know this summer when she posed for him.

Shortly after Aspar had departed the box, another imperial guardsman entered it, and bowing to Cailin, said. "Lady, you are to come with me, if you please."

"What is it you want?" she asked him. "And who has sent you?"

The guardsman was young, and he blushed at her frank scrutiny. "Lady," he agonized, "I cannot say. This is a private matter."

Before Cailin might speak again Casia leaned forward, allowing the young man a very good view of her full bosom. "Do you know who I am, young sir?" she purred at him. "My, my, you are such a handsome fellow!"

Arcadius snickered. Casia would have the information she wanted within a very short time by the look on the guardsman's face.

"Nay, lady, I do not know you," the young man replied nervously, unable to tear his eyes from her snowy white breasts. "Should I?"

"I am Prince Basilicus's special friend, young sir, and if you do not tell the lady Cailin who sent you, I shall tell my prince of your rudeness, and of how you violated me with your wicked brown eyes. Now, speak!"

The young guardsman guiltily raised his eyes. He reddened, and then he murmured low, "The empress, lady." Then looking anxiously at Cailin, he said, "She means you no harm, lady. She is a fine woman."

Both Casia and Arcadius laughed, causing the other guests in the box to look up from their food with curiosity.

Cailin arose. "Since you all know with whom I shall be, there is little to fear. I will go with you, young sir." Smoothing the wrinkles from her stola, she followed him from the box and down the staircase.

At the foot of the stairs was a small door in the entry wall, so cleverly hidden that Cailin had not noticed it before. The guardsman pressed the wall in a certain spot, and the door opened to reveal a second flight of steps. She hurried down them, following the young soldier. They entered what Cailin realized was the main corridor to the imperial box. The tunnel was well-lit with torches, and several feet down from where they had entered the guardsman stopped, and pressing upon the wall, revealed another door which sprang open at his touch. Before them was a room, and within it a woman who turned at the sound of the door opening.

"Come in," she said in a low, well-modulated voice. "Wait for us outside, John," she ordered the guardsman. "You have done well."

The door shut behind Cailin, who bowed politely to Verina.

"You do not look like a whore," the empress said frankly.

"I am not one," Cailin replied quietly.

"Yet you lived at Villa Maxima for several months, and took part in what I am told was one of the most notorious entertainments ever seen in this or any other city," Verina said. "If you are not a whore, then what exactly are you?"

"My name is Cailin Drusus, and I am a Briton. My family descends from the great Roman family. My ancestor, Flavius Drusus, was a tribune in the Fourteenth Gemina Legion, and came to Britain with the emperor Claudius. My father was Gaius Drusus Corinium. Almost two years ago I was kidnapped and sold into slavery. I was a wife and a mother when this happened. I was brought in a consignment of slaves to this city. Jovian Maxima bought me in the common market for four folles, lady. What he did with me you are obviously aware. My lord Aspar rescued me from that shameful captivity, and freed me," Cailin finished proudly.

Verina was fascinated. "You have the look of a patrician, and you speak well," she said. "You live as Aspar's mistress, don't you, Cailin Drusus? They say he loves you not just with his body, but with his heart as well. I did not think him capable of such a weakness."

"Is love then a weakness, majesty?" Cailin said softly.

"For those in power it is," the empress replied honestly. "Those in power must never have any weakness that can be exploited against them. Yes, love of a woman, of children, of any kind, is a weakness."

"Yet your priests teach that love conquers all," Cailin said.

"You are not a Christian, then?" Verina asked.

"Father Michael, who was sent to me by the patriarch, says that I am not yet ready to be baptized a Christian. He says I ask too many questions, and have not the proper humility for a woman. The apostle Paul, I have been told, said that women should humble themselves before men. I am afraid I am not humble enough," Cailin replied.

Verina laughed. "If most of us were not baptized as infants, we should never be, for we lack humility as well, Cailin Drusus, but you must be baptized if you are to become Aspar's wife. The general of the Eastern Armies cannot have a pagan for a wife. It will not be tolerated. Surely you can deceive this Father Michael into believing you have learned humility."

Aspar's wife? She could not have heard the empress correctly.

Verina saw the startled look on Cailin's beautiful face, and divined immediately what had caused it. "Yes," she told the surprised girl. "You heard me correctly. I said, 'Aspar's wife,' Cailin Drusus."

"I have been told that it is impossible for me to attain such a status, majesty," Cailin said slowly. She had to think. "I have been told that there is a law in Byzantium forbidding marriages between the nobility and those who are actresses and entertainers. I have been told that the time I spent at Villa Maxima would negate my patrician birth."

"It is important to me," Verina answered her, "that I retain the goodwill and support of General Aspar. It is true that you came here as a slave and served as an entertainer in a brothel, Cailin Drusus, but you are a patrician. I have no doubts as to your lineage. I watched you this morning. Your manner is cultured, and you are obviously well-bred. I believe what you have told me of your background is true. Your time at Villa Maxima was short. Those who know of it will remain silent, or I will see that they are silenced when you become Aspar's wife. You do want to be his wife?"

Cailin nodded slowly, and then said, "What do you want of me, majesty? Such a favor will have a high price, I know."

Verina smiled archly. "You are wise to understand that, Cailin Drusus. Very well. I will help overcome the objections voiced to a marriage between you and General Aspar, if you, in return, will guarantee me his aid should I need it. And he must swear to me himself on the relic of the true cross that he is my man should I need him. I know you can convince him to do this in return for my help."

Cailin's heart was hammering. "This is not something that I can broach easily," she said. "I will speak with him in a few days' time, majesty, but how will I be able to communicate my success or failure to you? For now I do not even exist as far as your world is concerned. If I did, you would have invited me to your banquet, not just Aspar, who had to be separated from me so you and I could meet secretly here beneath the walls of the Hippodrome."

"It is so refreshing to have someone speak openly and honestly," the empress said. "Here at Byzantium's court everyone couches their words in hidden meaning; and motives are often so complex as to be unknown. Speak with your lord, and in a few days' time I will come one afternoon by sea, with a few trusted companions, to visit the general's summer villa. If anyone learns of my visit, it will be thought I am merely curious, and it will cause no scandal. Leo is a very righteous man, and I am a most loyal helpmate. If he learns of my excursion, he will naturally assume I have been led astray by my companions; an assumption I will not correct. Such occurrences have happened before." She smiled meaningfully.

"I will do my very best for you, majesty," Cailin said.

The empress laughed. "I have no doubt that you will, my dear. After all, both our future happiness depends on your being successful, and I am a bad enemy to have, I promise you; but we must get back. If I stay too long away from the banquet, my absence will be noted." Verina went to the door and opened it, saying, "John, return this lady to her box, and then take up your post as before. Farewell, Cailin Drusus."

Cailin bowed politely and backed from the room. As she followed the guardsman along the tunnel and up the two flights of stairs, her mind was awhirl with the events of the last few minutes. Reentering her box, she was accosted by an eager Casia.

"What did she want?" Casia whispered, and Arcadius leaned over to hear Cailin's answer.

"She was but curious," Cailin said with a smile. "How very dull her life must be that she was that curious about Aspar's mistress."

"Ohh," Casia sighed, disappointed, but Arcadius could see that Cailin simply chose not to tell the other woman all that had transpired. It was obviously going to be a most interesting summer.

Below them half a dozen jugglers were amusing the restless crowds by parading around the raceway balancing various colored balls in the air above them. They were followed by a marvelous procession of exotic animals. Aspar returned to the box and, slipping into the seat next Cailin, put an arm about her. Casia looked to Arcadius with a smug little smile, and he grinned back.

"Ohhhh!" Cailin squealed. "I have never seen beasts like those! What are they? And striped ones, too! There are two kinds!"

"The great gray mammoths with the long noses are called elephants," Aspar told her. "History tells us that the great Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed over the Alps to win many victories on the backs of elephants. The striped cats are called tigers. They come from India, a land far to the east of Byzantium. The striped horses are zebras."

"The tall spotted creatures, my lord, and the funny beasts with humps? What are they?"

"The first are giraffes. They are from Africa originally, but all these creatures live in the imperial zoo now. Foreign countries are always gifting us with rare animals for our zoo. The other animals are camels."

"They are wonderful," she said, her eyes shining, her excitement very much like that of a child. "I have never seen beasts like this before. In Britain we have deer, rabbits, wolves, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, and other common creatures, but nothing like elephants!"

"Ahhh," Arcadius sighed dramatically. "To see Byzantium afresh through Cailin Drusus's marvelous violet eyes."

"Violent eyes? Who has violent eyes?" demanded Apollodorus, the comedian.

"Violet, you shameless comic!" Arcadius snapped. "Cailin Drusus has violet-colored eyes. Look at them! They are beautiful."

"Women's eyes never tell the truth," Apollodorus said wickedly.

"Not so!" Casia cried.

"Do you tell the truth when you look into a man's eyes?" the comic demanded. "Courtesans are hardly noted for their veracity."

"And actors are?" Casia replied scathingly.

Anastasius, the singer, chuckled softly at her reply. It was the first sound Cailin believed he had made since entering the box.

"The emperor is returning," John Andronicus, the ivory carver, warned the combatants. He, too, had said little since joining them.

Cailin now took the opportunity to speak with him. "We have one of your charming pieces at the villa," she told him. "It is lovely: Venus, surrounded by a group of winged cupids."

"One of my earlier pieces," the carver admitted, smiling shyly. "Nowadays I do mostly religious works for the churches. It is a very lucrative market, and it is my way of returning the gift that God has generously given me, lady. I am doing a nativity for the emperor right now."

"May I join you?" Prince Basilicus said, slipping discreetly into the general's box. "Casia, my love! You look delicious enough to eat! And I shall, later." He blew a kiss at her.

"What of your wife Eudoxia, my friend? You should not embarrass her," Aspar reprimanded the prince sternly.

"Her little friend is on duty in the imperial box," Basilicus said with a grin. "She wants time to flirt with him, and can hardly do so with me hovering by her side. Besides, Flacilla and Justin Gabras are also in the emperor's box. See. There they are on the far side. I do not know why Leo allows them in his presence, but probably he did not invite them. My sister undoubtedly did. They are really a dreadful pair, Aspar. Their parties, I am told, are so depraved that the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah would blush. What is worse is that they are so happy. Flacilla has truly found a mate worthy of her. They are awful in their perfection together."

"Very well, you may stay, but be discreet," Aspar warned.

"I am happy to see you, my lord," Cailin said, smiling.

"Lady, you grow more beautiful with each passing minute," the prince gallantly responded. "I can tell you are happy, and he is happy, too." Basilicus then turned to Casia. "How lovely you look today, my pet. Scarlet and gold suits you well. We will have to see how rubies set in gold look against your soft, fair skin, eh?"

The races began anew, the four horse teams kicking the sandy floor of the Hippodrome as they careened and skidded down the course in their quest for victory. In the morning the Greens had taken two races, the Blue one, and the Reds the final race. Now the White team took the first of the afternoon's contests, and then the Blues had a second victory, tying them with the Green team. But the day was to go to the Greens. Victorious in the last two races, they accepted from Leo's own hands an aurigarion, which was a gold emblem, a silver helmet, and a silver belt. The crowds, who had already screamed themselves hoarse, howled their approval anew, and the games were formally concluded as the imperial box emptied of its inhabitants.

Suddenly those people in the seats nearest to Aspar saw the green ribbons he carried and took up the cry. "Aspar! Aspar! Aspar!" A small look of annoyance passed quickly over Aspar's face, but it was swiftly gone. Turning, he acknowledged the crowd's cheers with a friendly wave of his hand that was enough to satisfy them, but not enough to encourage further homage or admiration from the citizens of the city.

"How politic you are," Basilicus mocked him. "This little incident will, of course, be reported to Leo, magnified with proper embellishments naturally, and the poor man will be torn between his gratitude to you and his fear that you may one day displace him." The prince laughed.

"Leo knows that I prefer being a private citizen to being an emperor," Aspar said. "Should he ever doubt it, I will reassure him once again on the matter. Frankly, if he would let me, I should retire."

"Not you," Basilicus said with a broad chuckle. "You will die in service to Byzantium. Casia, my angel, have you something delicious for my supper? I am coming with you."

"You are not going to the palace for the celebratory banquet?" Aspar asked his friend. "I know you said earlier you would not, but is not your presence mandatory?"

"I will not be missed, I assure you, my friend," the prince replied. "Besides, the patriarch is invited. He will pray over the food for so long that it will be inedible when he is done, and hardly worth being thankful for at all," he finished with a chuckle.

"I will take better care of him, my lord," Casia said, "and his meal will be precisely to his liking, will it not, my prince?"

Basilicus's eyes glittered wickedly in agreement.

Casia turned to Cailin. "May I come and see you one day? I am so pleased that you included me in your party today. We have both come a distance since our days at Villa Maxima."

"Of course you may come," Cailin said sincerely. "I have been quite alone at Villa Mare when my lord is away, though I have just obtained a young Saxon slave girl who keeps me company. I love to listen to your gossip, Casia. You seem to know everything that is going on in Constantinople. I admit to being happier in the country, however."

"The country is pleasant to visit," Casia responded, "but I was born in Athens, and I prefer the city myself. Basilicus likes to speak Greek with me. He is so very Hellenized for a Byzantine."

Cailin bid all of their guests farewell, and Arcadius promised that he would be arriving at Villa Mare shortly to begin his work. Casia entered her litter along with Basilicus, and they moved off into the crowds leaving the Hippodrome. Cailin climbed into her own conveyance.

"I am required to attend the emperor at the palace," Aspar said, leaning down to speak privately with her. "I will send my cavalry troup to escort you home, and join you as soon as I can."

"I do not need your soldiers beyond the gates, my lord. The road is safe, and busy, and it is daylight. They will aid me in getting through the crowds, but no farther, I pray you."

"Very well, my love. I will send a messenger if I am going to be late. Wait up for me if you can, Cailin."

"What did the emperor want earlier, my lord?" she asked him, curious.

"My presence, and nothing more. It is his way of exercising his authority, and I obey him because it reassures him," Aspar said wisely. "The invitation to the banquet, when he knows I dislike banquets, is but another test. The church is always spilling poison in Leo's ear because I am not Orthodox in my beliefs. By obeying him unquestioningly, I make the patriarch's lies seem foolish. Leo is not a stupid man. He is fearful, yes, but not unintelligent. It is the empress who worries me."

"Why?" Cailin said.

"She is ambitious. Far more so than Leo. Verina would like a son to follow in Leo's footsteps. They have but two daughters. I do not know if she will get that son. Leo prefers prayer to pleasure, it seems."

"If that is a virtue, my lord, and one necessary to an emperor, you will indeed never be emperor," Cailin said with a laugh. "You far prefer pleasure to prayer. I do not think I have ever seen you in prayer to either the Christian god or any god."

In answer, he placed his lips upon hers and kissed her slowly, with passion. She responded warmly, running her tongue mischievously along his fleshy mouth as his hand slipped beneath her gown to fondle a breast. Her nipple immediately hardened and she moaned softly.

Removing his lips from hers, he smiled wickedly into her face. "I will come as soon as I can, my love," he promised, removing his hand from her gown, but not before he gave her nipple a little pinch.

She caught her breath, and then letting it out slowly, promised him, "I will wait, my lord, and be prepared to do your every bidding."

Chapter 12

Did you see the way he looked at her?" Flacilla Strabo said to her husband, Justin Gabras. "He loves her! He actually loves her." Her face was angry.

"Why do you care?" he answered. "You never loved him. It should not matter to you that he loves her."

"That is not the point!" she snapped. "Do not be so stupid, Justin! Can you not see how embarrassing his open passion is? He did not give his love to me, but he has given it to that little whore! I will be a laughingstock among all those who know us. How dare he bring that creature to the games and sit so boldly with her in his box for all to see. Even if no one knew who she was, practically everyone in Constantinople knows Casia, particularly now that she is Prince Basilicus's mistress! How like Aspar to surround himself with artisans, actors, and whores!"

"You are not particularly attractive when you are angry, my dear wife," Justin Gabras softly chided Flacilla. "Your skin becomes quite mottled. You would do well to keep your temper in check, particularly when we are in public." He leaned across the ripe, young body of the slave girl who lay between them, and tipping Flacilla's face up to his, kissed her hard. "I do not choose to discuss this matter any more, Flacilla, my love, and further mention of your former husband is apt to rouse my blackest ire. You know what happens when my anger is stoked." He ran a hand down the slave girl's body. "Let us concentrate on far pleasanter diversions, like our charming little Leah. Is she not lovely, my dear, and so eager for our tender attentions? Are you not, Leah?"

"Ohh, yes, my lord," the girl responded dutifully, arching herself toward him teasingly. "I long for your touch."

Justin Gabras smiled lazily at the pretty, compliant creature. Then seeing his wife was still not content, he said harshly, "You will have your revenge, Flacilla, but which would you prefer? A quick strike which will allow Aspar to strike back at us? Or, wait for the right moment, and then destroy them both? I would have you happy, my dear. Make your choice now, and then let us be done with this matter. It begins to bore me mightily."

"Will he suffer?" she demanded. "I want him to suffer for his rejection of me."

"If you will wait for the right moment so I may plan it properly, yes, he will suffer. Aspar's life will become a hell on earth, I promise you, but you must be patient, Flacilla."

"Very well," she responded. "I will bide my time, Justin. As impatient as I am to destroy Aspar, you have a skill for evil such as I have never before witnessed. I will trust in that mastery of wickedness that you possess. Now, which one of us is to have Leah first?" Flacilla looked upon the girl and smiled. "She is indeed lovely, my lord. She is not a virgin, is she?"

"No," he said. "She is not. It would please me if you took her first, Flacilla. I like watching you perform with another woman. You are very good at it, I must admit, and more tender with one of your own sex than you are with those young men you so favor and yet brutalize."

She smiled archly at him. "Men," she said, "are meant to be punished by women; but women should be cherished by lovers of either sex. A woman cherished gives far more than one abused, Justin."

"Then Aspar must truly cherish the fair Cailin," he replied cruelly. "Though he looked at her with eyes of love, his looks were returned by that adorable little beauty tenfold. If he loves her as you so believe, she, I assure you, loves him in return."

"And that knowledge," she told him, strangely calm, "will make our revenge so much sweeter, Justin, my lord, will it not?"

He laughed. "You match me evil for evil, Flacilla. I wonder what your friend the empress would think of you if she knew your true character. Would the beauteous Verina be shocked? One day I shall have her in my bed, I swear! She is ripe for rebellion, you know. Leo virtually ignores her these days, and spends the time he should spend fucking her on his knees in prayer for an heir; or so the court chatter reports to me."

The very next afternoon the subject of Justin Gabras's gossip gathered a small party consisting of her brother and two trusted maids, and set out from the imperial yacht basin to cruise the early summer seas west of the city. It was a perfect afternoon for such sport, and theirs was not the only sailing vessel plying the blue-green waters of the Propontis that afternoon. There was just enough of a breeze to gently propel the boat. The sun shone warmly from a perfectly clear sky. Basilicus had sailed this small inland sea since his boyhood, and he was familiar with its twisting shore and its currents. His skill meant that they needed no boatman, who might later be bribed for information, or carelessly gossip of their destination. The two women who accompanied the empress would have died for her. Their loyalty was such that they could be trusted not to speak even under duress.

Cailin had not known for certain when the empress would come to Villa Mare, but she knew that she would have only a few days after the games before Verina would put in an appearance. She did not like keeping secrets from Aspar, and so she spoke to him the morning following their visit to the Hippodrome. He listened quietly as she told him of Verina's secret summons and its outcome, his face grave.

"Whatever it is she desires of me," he said, "it must be very important to her."

"She agrees to sponsor our marriage if you give it to her," Cailin said to him. "Still, I fear that she might urge you to something unsavory."

"I can do nothing that smacks of treason in the slightest," he responded. "My honor has always been my strongest defense, my love. As much as I love you, and as much as I want you for my wife, I will not compromise my honor, Cailin. You do understand that?"

"I could not love you, Flavius' Aspar, if you were not a man of honor," Cailin told him. "Remember that I was raised in the traditions of the old Roman empire. Honor was still paramount when my ancestor came to Britain with Claudius, and it remained so down through the centuries as we became Britons, my lord. I would ask nothing dishonorable of you. Still, it cannot hurt to hear what the empress has to say."

"I will listen," he promised her. "If Verina is to be moved to some foolish action, perhaps I may dissuade her from it."

The empress's mission, however, was not foolish. It stemmed rather from her fears, as she explained to Aspar in the privacy of his garden while Cailin and the maidservants were left behind in the comfort of the atrium, with Basilicus to amuse them. Verina was pale, and she had obviously not been sleeping well. She moved restlessly amid the budding flowers, her fingers plucking nervously at her skirts. Aspar, keeping pace with her, encouraged her to speak.

"Cailin has told me of your meeting on the day of the games," he said. "Do not dissemble with me, lady. What is it you want of me?"

"I need to know that should a crisis arise, Flavius Aspar, that you will support my position," the empress said softly.

"I will be frank, lady. Is this treason you speak of?"

Verina paled even more. "No! No!" she gasped. "I do not explain well, I fear. The situation is embarrassing to me. Oh, how shall I say it?"

"Plainly," he told her. "Whatever you say is between us alone, lady. I will grant you the privacy of the confessional this one time. If there is no treason involved, then you have nothing to fear from me. What is it that troubles you so that you seek my aid in secret?"

"It is certain of the priests who surround my husband," Verina said. "They encourage him to believe I alone am responsible for the fact we do not have a son. I want a son! But how can we have one if Leo does not visit my bed? He has never been an overly passionate man, and in recent years he has ceased visiting my bed altogether.

"The priests have become his greatest confidants. They exhort him to greater prayer, and to almsgiving that God will give us a son, but unless my husband binds his body to mine again, there will be no child. I even brought Casia, the courtesan my brother favors, to the palace in secret to teach me her seductive wiles. I wanted to use them to entice my husband, but alas, it was to no avail!" the empress said, her blue eyes filling with tears. "Now there is a movement afoot among those same priests who influence my husband to put me away in a convent for the remainder of my days, that Leo might take a new, young wife who will, the priests assure Leo, give him the son I cannot.

"I am not a girl any longer, my lord," Verina said with dignity, "but I am yet capable of bearing a child given the opportunity to do so. These wicked clerics really seek to give my husband a wife who will be in their debt, and who will spy for them!"

"What is it exactly that you want me to do?" Aspar asked her.

"Leo both fears and respects you, my lord," the empress said. "The respect stems from his many long years in your service, and the fear stems from the fact you put him in his high place. He sometimes wonders if you might not be capable of also removing him from that place. He has quickly grown fond of his position.

"The priests fill his ears with cruel words about you, Flavius Aspar," Verina continued. "They tell him you wish to rule through him, and that if you find you cannot, you will overthrow him and take the throne for yourself."

"I do not wish to be emperor," Aspar said. "In his rational moments Leo must know that. Had I wanted the imperial throne, it would have been mine. I had but to renounce my Arian beliefs for more Orthodox practices, and enough of the clergy would have supported me so that the imperial crown would have rested on my head."

"I realize that, my lord, which is why I have come to you. Your motives are honest, and your loyalty is to Byzantium alone, not to any faction or single man. Help me to retain my place at my husband's side despite the wickedness of those who surround him. If you aid and protect me against my enemies, I will see to it that Leo permits your marriage to Cailin Drusus."

Aspar pretended to consider her offer, although he had already decided to help her. The emperor owed Flavius Aspar his position. If his wife was similarly bound to him, so much the better. His own position would be that much stronger. It was very unlikely that Leo would ever father another child on any woman. He had not the stomach for it. He preferred fasting and prayer to the hot, sweaty tangle of passion. Aspar suspected the emperor would actually be secretly delighted to be relieved of such a duty. Verina had always been a loyal wife to him. He would prefer the old and the familiar to anything new, and nubile.

No, Aspar thought. I do not want to be emperor. I want my son to be emperor. With both Leo and Verina in his debt, he would have the power to foster a betrothal between his younger son, Patricius, and the youngest imperial princess, Ariadne, in a few years' time. First the marriage, and then afterward Leo would be convinced to name Patricius his heir.

"I will champion your cause, lady," Aspar finally told the empress, who sagged, visibly relieved, against his arm. "These priests overstep their authority. Their only duty is to the emperor's spiritual welfare. I will personally register my distress at their actions to the patriarch. Once that is done, I know we can trust that he will put an end to the matter. I am truly shocked those chosen to guide Leo spiritually would so abuse their position. It must not be allowed to continue. You were quite right to come to me for help, lady."

Secure now that her cause was just, Verina straightened herself proudly and said, "You will not find me ungrateful, my lord. It will take a little time, you know, but I will see that you and Cailin Drusus are allowed to formalize your relationship within the church. You have my word on it, and you know that word is good."

"I thank you, lady," Aspar said quietly.

"No," she responded, "it is I who must thank you, Flavius Aspar. I could only wish Byzantium had more men like you in its service."

When the empress and her party had departed to return to Constantinople, Aspar walked with Cailin in the gardens, where there was no chance of them being overheard. Quietly he explained to her exactly what it was Verina had sought from him, and how he had agreed to help the empress in exchange for her aid in the matter of their marriage. "You must force yourself to please Father Michael so he will baptize you," Aspar told her. "When the moment comes that the decision is made in our favor, I want no impediment to our marriage. A baptized Orthodox wife can only reflect favorably upon me. There is more at stake than you can know right now, my love."

She did not ask him what it was. Cailin knew that Aspar would share that with her when the time was right. "Very well," she agreed, "I will stop asking difficult questions of Father Michael, and meekly accept all he says with the humility a good Christian woman should possess. If I think the rules and regulations imposed by the church are silly, I must admit to liking the words of this Jesus of Nazareth. They alone make sense to me, even if the rest of it doesn't." She slipped her arms about his neck and pressed her body close to his. "I want to be your wife, Flavius Aspar. I want your children, and I want to walk the streets of Constantinople proudly, the envy of all because I am yours."

They walked together through the gardens and down to the beach, where they removed their garments. They strolled hand in hand into the warm sea. He had just recently taught her to swim, and Cailin loved the freedom of the water. Laughing, she teased him and frolicked in the waves until finally he caught her. Pulling her back up onto the beach, he made passionate love to her upon the very shore where he had first revived her passion. Her cries of pleasure at his possession of her mingled with the mewling cries of the gulls soaring above them. His own cries were drowned by the gentle pounding of the surf on the sand. Afterward they lay sated and contented, the bright sun drying their bodies.

Cailin's twentieth birthday had passed. The summer spun itself out in a succession of long, sunny days, and hot passionate nights. She had never imagined a man could be so virile, particularly a man of his age, and yet his desire for her never ceased.

Basilicus came quite regularly with Casia to visit, and when Aspar teased his friend about his sudden liking for the country, Basilicus claimed fussily, "The city is a cesspit in this heat, and I hear rumors of plague. Besides, you have more than enough room for us, and should not keep to yourselves so much." Basilicus also secretly brought them word from Verina.

Aspar had indeed gone directly to the patriarch and expressed his great displeasure at any plan to set the empress aside simply over the matter of a male heir. Another wife would do no good, Aspar bluntly pointed out to Byzantium's chief cleric. The fault lay with Leo, who preferred an uncomplicated, ascetic existence now, which allowed him to rule more wisely than if he were overburdened with carnal matters. There were plenty of men fit to follow Leo, but a wise and godly emperor was a rare blessing upon Byzantium. The empress, Aspar told the patriarch, understood this. She sought to protect her husband from disturbing influences. She was both virtuous and devotedly loyal. To disturb her peace of mind was, Aspar forcefully noted, wicked, unjust, and ungodly.

Basilicus reported that the priests surrounding the emperor had been removed and reassigned to distant places. New priests took their place, and seemed to devote themselves only to the emperor's spiritual life. The empress was both relieved and grateful to have this sword of Damocles removed from over her beautiful blond head. She sent word, through her brother, that she would keep her promise. She had already begun her campaign to influence Leo more favorably in the matter of a marriage between the empire's First Patrician and Cailin Drusus, a young patrician widow from Britain who was soon to be baptized into the Orthodox Christian faith.

In early autumn Aspar was sent to Adrianople, where the governor of the city was having difficulties with two rival factions that threatened anarchy within the city. One of the factions was made up of Orthodox Christians and the other of Arian Christians. Since Aspar, an Arian who served an Orthodox ruler, had the ability to move easily between these two religious worlds, he was the logical choice to make peace. Men of all faiths respected Flavius Aspar.

"I wish I could take you with me," he told Cailin the night before his departure, "but I must be able to move swiftly and without impediment at all times in a matter like this. These fanatics will quarrel with one another over the most foolish things, but unless their anger is stayed, they cause terrible destruction and lives are lost."

"I would be a weakness to you," she said. "Without me you are able to act decisively, and you may have to, my lord. To kill and wreak havoc over a point of religion is pure madness, but it happens far too often."

"You will be such a perfect wife for me," he said admiringly.

"Why?" she teased him. "Because I share your passion, or because I do not complain when you must be away from me?"

"Both," he said with a smile. "You have an inborn skill for understanding people. You know the fine line I must walk between those fanatical factions in Adrianople, and you do not distract me from my duty. Those who have opposed our marriage will soon see that they were wrong, and that Cailin Drusus is the only wife for Aspar."

"I do not distract you?" She pretended to be offended, and mounting him suddenly, glared down into his handsome face. Her pointed little tongue snaked over her lips suggestively, slowly. Her eyes darkened with her passion, and cupping her breasts in her hands, she teased her own nipples erect. "Can I not distract you just the tiniest bit, my lord?"

He watched her through slitted eyes as she played, a faint smile upon her lips. He knew her certainty of his love was what made her bold, and it was surely to his benefit. She was so young and so very beautiful, he thought, lazily running both his flattened palms up her torso. Sometimes when he looked at her, he wondered if when he became old she would love him still, and fear gnawed at his vitals. Then she would smile at him and kiss him sweetly and, reassured, he knew she would always love him, for it was her nature to be honest and loyal. His fingers clamped about her waist and he lifted her up slightly, allowing his engorged organ to raise itself up.

"You distract me mightily, my love," he said softly, lowering her slowly, encasing himself fully within the warm sweetness of her hot, wet sheath. Then pulling her forward almost roughly, he kissed her deeply, sensuously, his mouth soft yet firm against hers, turning her quickly over onto her back so that he now held the ascendant position. "And you are hereby sentenced to spend the remainder of your days distracting me, Cailin," he growled lovingly in her ear as he plunged with slow deliberation in and out of her eager body. "I adore you, my love, and soon you will be mine for all eternity! My wife! My very life! The sweet, bright half of my dark, dark soul!"

"I love you, Flavius Aspar," she told him, half sobbing, and then Cailin was lost again in the very special world he seemed to be able to weave about her now. She was warm and cold at the same time. Her heart both raced and soared with his loving. But if her place was in his heart, and in his arms, then why was she afraid? Then, her crisis overwhelming her, Cailin cried out with pleasure, and her fears were quickly forgotten in the security and the safety of his loving arms. Happily she snuggled against him and fell asleep.

When she awoke in the morning, he was already gone. Nellwyn brought her a tray with newly made yogurt, ripe apricots, and fresh bread with a little pot of honey. "Master Arcadius asks if you will pose for him today. He says he is almost finished, and can be gone by week's end if you will but cooperate. I think he is anxious to return to Constantinople. The summer is over. He talks about the autumn games."

"Tell him I will be there in an hour," Cailin told her servant. "I want the statue completed, and mounted upon its pedestal in the garden before my lord returns. It will be my wedding surprise for him."

"I never saw anything like it before," Nellwyn admitted. "It's so beautiful, lady. I thought only the gods were portrayed so."

"The statue represents Venus, the old Goddess of Love," Cailin explained. "I have simply posed in place of the goddess for Arcadius."

Cailin ate, and then having bathed, joined the sculptor in his studio. Nellwyn in attendance, she removed her tunica and took her position. He worked for a time, his eye moving between the smaller clay statue he had originally fashioned from her pose and Cailin herself. When he saw she was growing tired, he stopped, and Cailin put on her tunica before they went to sit outside in the sunshine and drink sweet, freshly squeezed orange juice, and nibble upon sesame cakes that Zeno brought them.

"I shall miss your company," Cailin told Arcadius. "I enjoy all your wicked gossip, and have learned much of those with whom I will have to associate when I am married to Aspar."

"Your life will not be easy," he answered her frankly. "Those at the court with whom you should associate will avoid you until they know you, and even when they know your true worth, some will continue to shun you, Cailin Drusus. Only those of whom you should be wary will be eager to cultivate your friendship due to the influence you have with Aspar, or because they hope to seduce you as they have so many others. Your virtue, in light of the gossip surrounding you, will truly madden them."

"What a paradox you Byzantines are," Cailin said. "You espouse a religion that preaches goodness, and yet there is so much evil among you. I do not really understand your people at all."

"Our society is simple," Arcadius told her. "The rich desire power, and more riches. These things make them feel invincible, and so they behave as other people would not dare to behave. They are crueler, and more carnal, and because their faith promises them forgiveness if they will but repent, they do so every now and then, ridding themselves of their past sins so they may go and sin some more.

"This is not unique to Byzantium alone, Cailin. All civilizations reach this apogee at some point in their development. Those less rich imitate their betters; and the poor are kept in their place by a top-heavy bureaucracy and a beneficent ruler who allows them into the games free. Bread and circuses, my dear girl, keep the poor in check, except for those rare times when plague, or famine, or war interfere with the workings of the government. When those things happen, even emperors are not safe on their thrones." He chuckled. "I am a cynic as you can see."

"All I desire," Cailin replied, "is to marry my dear lord, and if the gods will it, bear him a child. I shall live here in the country, raise my children, and be content. I want no part of Byzantium's intrigues, Arcadius."

"You will not be able to escape them, dear girl," he said. "Aspar is not some unimportant noble with a country estate to which he may retire. This idyll you have been living cannot continue once you are married. You will have to accept your proper place at court as the wife of the empire's First Patrician. Take my advice, dear girl, and do not ally yourself with any faction no matter how seductively they importune you to join them, and they will. You must remain neutral, as does Aspar. He has but one loyalty, and that is to Byzantium itself."

"My loyalty is to Aspar," she said quietly, but firmly.

"That is good. Ah, yes, dear girl, I can see you will not be lured by the siren's song sung at the court. You are too sensible. Now let us return to the business of immortalizing you," he said, chuckling. "You have an outrageously lush form for such a practical woman."

"Tell me about these games you are so eager to return to the city for, Arcadius," Cailin said after she had resumed her pose. "I thought there were only games in May on the day of commemoration. I did not know they were held at other times. Will there be chariot races? I did enjoy the races."

"There are games held several times during the year," he answered her, "but these particular games are being sponsored by Justin Gabras to celebrate his marriage to Aspar's former wife, Flacilla Strabo. He was unable to schedule them sooner because in the spring everything is concentrated on the May games. Then the weather grew too hot in the summer. So Justin Gabras planned his games to coincide with the sixth-month anniversary of his marriage to Flacilla. There will be racing in the morning and gladiators in the afternoon. Gabras, I am told, has paid for death matches."

"I have never seen gladiators," Cailin said. "They fight with swords and shields, don't they? What are death matches?"

"Well, dear girl," Arcadius began, "I see that this is another area of your education I shall have to fill in for you. Gladiatorial bouts first began in ancient Campania and Etruria, from whence our ancestors sprang. The first gladiators were slaves, made to battle each other to the death for their masters' amusement. Such matches came to Rome eventually, but were held only during the funeral games for distinguished men. They were rare for many years. Then slowly gladiatorial bouts began being sponsored privately, and the emperor Augustus funded a few of what he called 'extraordinary shows.' Eventually the gladiators were scheduled regularly at the public games in December on the Saturnalia, while politicians, and others wishing the public's support, supplied free gladiatorial combats at other times. The populace loved the excitement and the blood lust of such games.

"In the beginning gladiators were captives taken in war who far preferred death to becoming slaves. They were trained fighters. Soon, however, with the Roman peace imposed over most of the world, the supply of captives dwindled and it became necessary to train men who were not soldiers. Many criminals were sentenced to become gladiators, but even so, there was not enough of a supply to fill the now great demand. Many innocent men were accused of petty offenses and condemned to the ring. Early

Christians were sacrificed because there were not enough criminals or captives to be found. When there were not enough men available, women and, yes, even small children were sent into the ring to fight."

"How awful!" Cailin cried, but Arcadius continued, unmoved.

"There were schools for gladiators in Capua, Praeneste, Rome, and Pompeii, as well as other cities. Some schools were owned by wealthy nobles so they might train their own fighters, but others were the property of men who dealt in gladiators. The schools were strictly run because their purpose was to ensure a steady supply of competent, effective fighters. The teachers were tough, but they trained their charges well, and carefully. Diet was monitored. Each day held a round of gymnastics, and lessons from weapons experts.

"Eventually, however, it became impossible to obtain enough students to train even from among captives and criminals. Today's gladiators are free men who have chosen the life for themselves."

"I cannot imagine why," Cailin replied. "It sounds terrible. But what of the weapons they use, Arcadius? And how do they fight?"

"In pairs, usually," he said, "although in the past gladiatorial combats have pitted masses of men against masses of men. Usually few were left standing. Professional gladiators are divided into three groups: Samnites, who are heavily armed; Thracians, who are lightly armed; and there are net fighters. The net man's weapons are his large net, his daggers, and a spear."

"You still have not told me what a death match is," Cailin said.

"The combatants fight to the death, unless, of course, Gabras grants the loser of each match mercy. Knowing Justin Gabras, I doubt he will. He will be far more popular with the people if he gives them a show of blood."

"How horrible," Cailin said, shuddering. "I do not think I would like these gladiatorial combats, knowing that one of the two men has to die."

"It adds spice to the match knowing it," Arcadius said. "The combatants are always magnificent fighters under such circumstances."

"I am surprised that any free man would agree to fight under such conditions," Cailin noted. "To know that you might be killed is such a frightening prospect." She shuddered.

"But there is always the chance you will not be killed," he answered. "Besides, the fee for a death match is far better than for just the ordinary combat. The little gossip that reaches me here tells me that the current, unbeaten champion, a man known as the Saxon, is to fight in Gabras's games."

"I feel sorry for him," Cailin said. "If he is the unbeaten champion, then all the others will strive harder to bring him down. He faces the most danger."

"True," Arcadius agreed, "but it will make for a far more exciting match. You may step down, Cailin, and clothe yourself. I am finished." He stepped back to admire his handiwork. "It is done, and it is one of my greatest masterpieces, I think," he said, feigning understatement. "Aspar should be well-pleased, and inclined to pay me on time for my efforts."

"What of the base?" she demanded. "I want it set in the garden facing the sea before Aspar returns from Adrianople."

"I have an apprentice in the city working on the pedestal, my dear," he told her. "The marble is most unique, a pink and white mixture. I have no idea where it came from. We found it lying about beneath some old clothes in the rear of my studio, but when I saw it, I knew it was the perfect piece of stone for our Venus. Come and look now."

Cailin had slipped her tunica back on. She came around to view her statue. The young Venus, as Arcadius liked to call it, stood, her body slightly curved, one arm at her side, the other raised, the hand palm outward as if shielding her eyes from the sun. Her hair was piled atop her head, but here and there errant ringlets had escaped and curled about her slender neck and delicate ears. There was just the faintest hint of a smile upon her face. She was both pristine and serene in face and form. "It is beautiful," Cailin finally said. She was frankly awed by the sculptor's skill. She could almost see the pulse at the base of the young Venus' throat. Each fingernail and toenail was perfect in its detail; and there was so much more.

"Your simple homage is more than enough praise," he said quietly. He could see the admiration in her eyes, not for how he had portrayed her, but for his talent, and his art. Her lack of sophistication was refreshing, Arcadius thought. Had this been a woman of the court, she would have complained that he had not really caught her essence, and then tried to cheat him of his fee. Well, it had been a most pleasant interlude. Tomorrow he would return to the city and begin a set of six figures for the altar of a new church being built in Constantinople. "When the pedestal is done, dear girl," he said, "I shall come myself to see the statue installed upon it. I think Flavius Aspar will be most pleased with what we have accomplished together."

After he departed the following day, Cailin found that she missed the scupltor's company. He had been a charming and most amusing companion. Nellwyn was a sweet girl, but a simple one. Cailin could not speak on complicated matters with her. She just did not understand. Still, she was pleasant company, and Cailin was glad for her presence.

The harvest was a good one on Flavius Aspar's estates, and as Cailin walked across the fields with Nellwyn, greeting the workers, she again considered the possibility of Aspar's raising horses for the chariot races. The estate's tenants already raised hay and grain for their cattle and other stock. Much of the pasturage was as suitable for horses as for cattle. If Aspar needed even more land, perhaps he could obtain it from overtaxed landowners whose properties bordered his own. She would bring it up with him again when he returned.

Casia came to visit for a few days' duration, and brought news of the city. "Basilicus swears to me that Leo will give his consent to your marriage when Aspar returns. The general's efforts in Adri-anople, it seems, are proving successful. It will cost Leo nothing from his imperial treasury to give his general what he truly desires," she said with a laugh. "Did Arcadius finish your statue?"

"A few weeks ago. He is coming soon with the pedestal to install it in the garden. I want it done before Aspar returns," Cailin answered. "Would you like to see it, Casia?"

"Of course!" ^the beautiful courtesan said, laughing. "Do you think I mentioned it just merely in passing? I am dying of curiosity."

"Arcadius calls it the young Venus," Cailin explained as she unveiled the statue in the artist's summer studio. "What do you think?"

Casia stood spellbound, and then she finally said, "He has caught you perfectly, Cailin. Your youth, your beauty, that sweet innocence that shows in your face despite all you have been, through. Yes, Arcadius has caught your very soul, and were I not truly your friend, I should be very jealous of you." She took Cailin's hand in hers, and squeezing it, said, "Soon we shall no longer be able to pursue our friendship."

"Why?" Cailin demanded. "Because I am to be Aspar's wife, and you are Basilicus's mistress? No, Casia, I will not play their cruel games. We will remain friends no matter the change in my status."

Casia's lovely eyes filled with tears, and she said, "I have never had a friend until you, Cailin Drusus. I hope you are right."

"I have never had a friend, either, Casia. Antonia Porcius pretended to be my friend, though I always knew she was not. Friends do not betray friends. I know we will never betray each other. Now, tell me the gossip from the city. I miss Arcadius's ribald chatter."

They walked from the studio down to the beach, where they sat upon the sand and Casia told her all the latest news of the town.

"Basilicus's wife, Eudoxia, finally seduced her young guardsman. He was the very same fellow who brought you to the empress," Casia began. "His seed is most potent, and poor Eudoxia became pregnant practically immediately, despite her best efforts to avoid it, I am told. Basilicus was furious. She wanted to have an abortion, but he would not allow it. He has sent her to her parents' home outside of Ephesus for her confinement."

"I do not know how he dares to be so righteous, considering the relationship he has with you," Cailin said with a small smile.

"It does seem unfair," Casia agreed, "but you must remember that there are different rules for men and women. Basilicus had been most lenient with Eudoxia because she is a good wife and mother. She is not at all wanton like Flacilla. That is why he allowed her her little diversion. Becoming pregnant, however, was very careless on Eudoxia's part, and has proven a great embarrassment to Basilicus. Eudoxia should have considered the consequences when she acted so rashly. The child is due early next summer, and will be given in adoption to a good family. Poor Eudoxia will remain in Ephesus until it is born. I do not mind. Basilicus is now free to spend more time with me. His children are practically grown and do not need him."

"I wonder what they must think of their mother," Cailin said.

"Basilicus's son knows the truth, and wanted to dash right off and kill the poor guardsman. Basilicus explained most forcefully to him that one cannot kill a man for accepting what was freely offered. As for the prince's daughters, they do not know, or at least he hopes they do not. They have been told their mother has gone to Ephesus to care for their sick grandparents, and Basilicus sent them to St. Barbara's Convent to keep them safe until their mother returns. Left alone, who knows what mischief they might get into. Girls are most inventive."

"Where do you come from?" Cailin asked her friend as they gazed at the water. "Athens, I think I once heard you say. Where is that?"

"It is a city on the Aegean Sea, south of Constantinople. I was born in a brothel that my mother owned. My father was an official of the government there. He was not, I remember, well-liked. When he died, they closed down my mother's business. I was just ten, but I was sold into slavery immediately. I do not know what happened to my mother, or little brother. I was brought to Constantinople and bought by Jovian for Villa Maxima. I was very lucky," Casia said. "You know how well they treat children at Villa Maxima. They are taught to read and write, and to do simple sums. They learn manners, and how to please the men and women who patronize the establishment. When I was thirteen my virginity was auctioned off to the highest bidder. Jovian and Phocas had never before nor have they since received such a high price for a virgin," she said proudly. "Because I had been taught well how to please a man, and because I seem to have a talent for such work, I became quite popular. Jovian warned me to be choosy about whom I pleasured, for it was my right to refuse any man. It proved to be excellent advice. The more discerning I appeared to be, the more desperate men became to have me, and the more willing to pay the highest price. I managed to garner some magnificent gifts from my appreciative lovers." She smiled. "Then Basilicus came, and after a short time I realized he wanted more than just an occasional visit to my bed. I hinted such a thing might be possible. He offered to give me my own home in a good district, and so I purchased my freedom from Villa Maxima."

"How old are you?" Cailin asked her.

"But a year your senior," Casia replied.

Cailin was surprised. Casia seemed older, but then of course she would. While I was playing with my dolls, Cailin thought, Casia was learning her lessons in a brothel. "How long will you keep the prince as a lover?" she asked her friend. "I mean… well… you are used to a variety of lovers. Does not having just one bore you?"

Casia laughed. Had the question come from anyone else, she would have been offended, but she knew Cailin meant no offense by it, that she was only curious. "One lover at a time, my friend, is really quite enough," she replied. "As for your other question, I will remain with Basilicus as long as it pleases us both. He and I will never marry as you and Aspar will. I am no patrician like you, Cailin Drusus."

"Being a patrician has not protected me from evil," Cailin said quietly. "Still, though I once complained that fortune did not smile upon me, I was wrong. I may have lost my husband and child, but I have been given Aspar to love. Ohh, Casia! He wants children, and at his age!"

Casia shuddered delicately. "Better you, dear friend, than me," she said. "I am not the maternal sort, I fear. Fortunately my prince is content with his wife's efforts at producing offspring-when they are his own."

They came up from the beach and sat by the fish pond in the atrium, sipping sweet wine and indulging themselves with honey cakes that Zeno's wife, Anna, had made them.

"The city," Casia said, "is agog with excitement over the games that Justin Gabras is sponsoring at the Hippodrome in a few days. He's brought in gladiators for death matches. I can hardly wait!"

"Arcadius told me," Cailin responded. "I am glad I do not have to see such a thing. I think it's horrible!"

"Not really," Casia replied. "You would get used to it. Good gladiators are magnificent to watch, but they are a rare breed now. The church does not approve of them, but I will bet the patriarch and his minions will all be there in their box howling with the same blood lust as the rest of us." She laughed. "They are such hypocrites! I am sorry you are not going. I shall have to sit in the stands, then, but I would not miss these matches for the world.

"The Saxon is fighting. He has never, they say, lost a match. He seems to have no fear of death, and his other appetites are equally insatiable, I am told."

Casia stayed at Villa Mare for three days. The day before she left, Arcadius arrived with a wagon in which sat the pedestal for the young Venus and several beefy helpers who were to move the statue from the studio to its place in the garden. The two young women watched, fascinated, as the work was carried out, hard pressed not to laugh at the sculptor who fussed and fumed at the workmen as they went about their task. Finally the young Venus was settled upon her pink and white marble base, angled so that she was facing the sea. Arcadius heaved a great sigh of relief. "Well?" he demanded. "What think you?"

Casia was visibly impressed, and said so. Cailin simply kissed the sculptor on the cheek, causing him to flush with pleasure.

"It is marvelous," he agreed with them.

"Stay with us tonight," Cailin said.

"Yes," Casia echoed. "You can return to the city in the morning in my litter with me, Arcadius. 'Twill be a far nicer trip than if you ride back in the wagon with your workmen, who smell of onions and sweat."

Arcadius shuddered at her rather graphic but accurate description. "I will remain," he said, and instructed his foreman to take the men and return to Constantinople. Then turning to the women, he told them, "The gladiators arrived yesterday. They paraded through the city in full regalia, as if that were necessary to stimulate interest in the games. The populace is in a frenzy already. I cannot tell you how many women fainted at the sight of the champion. He is frankly the most magnificent piece of male flesh I have ever seen. It would be a pity if he were killed, but then, he has prevailed so far."

Casia and Arcadius, city people to the bone, chattered on throughout the evening, filling Cailin's ears with all manner of gossip. Though it was amusing, she was frankly relieved to be able to seek her quiet bed that night and to bid her guests farewell in the morning. She wondered if she would indeed have to involve herself in the affairs of the court once she and Aspar were married. Perhaps Arcadius was wrong.

In the afternoon, Cailin swam in the still warm sea, and lay naked on the beach, drying in the autumn sun. The peace was wonderful, and she reveled in it. She fell asleep, and when she awoke, she was filled with new energy and was suddenly eager to have Aspar home.

Chapter 13

Aspar returned to Villa Mare late the next evening and immediately took Cailin to bed. In the early morning, when they had sated themselves of their desire for each other, they lay talking.

"I arrived in Constantinople yesterday afternoon," he told her, "and reported immediately to Leo. The difficulties in Adrianople have been overcome. There is peace in that city once more, although for how long, I cannot say. I have little patience with those who argue over creed and clan. What fools they are!"

"They are most of the world," Cailin said, "but I agree with you, my love. Most people like to think life a deep and difficult puzzle, but it is not, I believe. We are bound by one thread-our humanity. If we would but put our differences aside, and weave the cloth of our fate with that one thread, there would be no more differences between us."

"You are too young to be so wise," he teased her, kissing her lightly, and then he said, "Would you like to know my reward for this recent service to Byzantium?" He smiled into her face, his brown eyes twinkling mischievously at her.

Cailin's heart began to race. She didn't even dare to voice the question. She simply nodded.

"You are to be baptized on November first by the patriarch himself in the private chapel of the imperial palace," Aspar told her. "Then the patriarch will marry us. Leo and Verina will stand as our formal witnesses. You will have to choose a Byzantine name, of course."

She gasped. It was true, then. "Anna-Marie," she managed to say. "Anna for your good wife who was the mother of your children, and Marie for the mother of Jesus."

"You have chosen well," he said. "No one can help but approve, but I will never call you anything but Cailin, my love. To the world you will be Anna-Marie, the wife of Flavius Aspar, but it is Cailin with whom I fell in love, and will continue to love for all time."

"I cannot believe that the emperor and the patriarch have at last given their consent," Cailin told him, her eyes wet with tears.

"Neither of them are fools, my love," Aspar told her. "Your introduction into Byzantine society could hardly be called a conventional one," he said with a small smile, "yet both Leo and the church know your behavior since I bought and freed you has been far more circumspect than most of the women at court, especially in light of the current scandal surrounding Basilicus's wife, Eudoxia. As for me, I have given my life for Byzantium, and if in my later years I cannot have what I so deeply desire, what further use will I be to the empire?"

"Did you tell them that?" Cailin asked, surprised that he would have lowered his guard so greatly before the emperor and the patriarch.

"Aye, I did," Aspar admitted, and then chuckled. "The threat was merely implied, my love. I hold a great advantage over the emperor in that there is no other soldier of my standing who can lead the armies of the empire. If I were to retire from public life…" He smiled at her again. "I left it to their imaginations. It did not take long for Leo to decide, and he argued the patriarch into acquiescence most convincingly. The emperor has recently learned the value of a loyal and virtuous wife.

"Then having gained my heart's desire, I was forced to sit through a banquet, which is why I was so late in arriving last night. Did you miss me greatly, my love?"

"I missed you terribly," she flattered him, "but I was not too lonely. Arcadius finished the statue. It now stands in the garden, my wedding gift to you, Aspar. He has also counseled me most wisely on the court. I shall remain a party to no faction, I promise you."

"Do you want to go to court?" he asked, surprised.

"Not really," Cailin told him. "Arcadius says it is my duty once I am the wife of the First Patrician of the empire, but I would far prefer to remain here in the country."

"Then you shall," he told her. "Arcadius is just an old gossip. You will, of course, be expected to appear at state functions where I am required to be but, otherwise, if you choose to live a quiet life, you most certainly may. I shall give you children to raise, and my care will naturally be foremost in your duties. Your days will be most full," he teased her gently, running his hand across her shoulder.

"I want to raise chariot horses," she told him. "We have spoken of it before."

"I offer you children to raise, and you ask for horses!" He pretended to be offended, but Cailin knew better.

Pushing him back amid the pillows, she kissed him, sliding her hands across his hard chest. "I am a clever woman, my lord. I can raise both your children, and your horses. The Celts have a way with horses."

"You are a shameless wench to wheedle me so," he said, rolling her beneath him, then sheathing his hardness within her soft body. "How many stallions will you need?" he demanded, moving subtly upon her, pleased to see the look on her face turning to one of passion. How he had missed her!

"I but need this stallion, my sweet lord," she told him, molding her body tightly to his as he stoked her pleasure, "but two champions should do for the herd of mares we will assemble. Ohhhhhh!” The gods! She had missed him more than she realized!

He ceased his movements and lay easily atop her, his hands carressing the sweet small melons of her breasts. He wanted to prolong this interlude. From the first moment he had taken her, he felt like a young man again. The feeling had never diminished in the months that they were together. With Anna there was respect. With Flacilla there was nothing. But Cailin! With Cailin he had found everything! He had never even dreamed that such love between two people was possible, yet here it was. "You are certain you want to do this?" he asked her. "You have seen the chariot races but once."

He throbbed within her, making it almost impossible for her to concentrate on anything else. Her breasts ached with sweetness beneath his tender touch. "I am surprised no one thought of it before," she managed to say. "It is such a logical plan. Ohh, my love, you are driving me wild!”

"Surely no wilder than you are driving me," he ground out, and then, unable to contain himself any longer, he bent forward, taking her lips, and thrust with deliberate ferocity into her softness until they both attained their mutual release.

When Aspar was capable of speech once more, he told her, "We will go to the autumn games. Observe the races again, and then if you still desire it, we will make preparations to raise chariot horses."

"But Flacilla's new husband is sponsoring those games," Cailin said, surprised. "Should we be seen there?"

"All of Constantinople will be there," Aspar told her, "including all of Flacilla's former lovers, you may be certain. Flacilla and Justin Gabras will sit in the imperial box with Leo and Verina. At least we will not be subjected to them, my love."

"May I ask Casia? She was disappointed that I was not going to these games, and said she would be forced to sit in the stands with the plebes. I will not desert her because I am to be your wife."

"I would be disappointed in you if you did," he answered. "Yes, you may invite Casia. There will be gossip, but I care not."

"I do not want to see the gladiatorial matches," Cailin told him. "Casia says that they are death matches. I could not bear to see some poor man die because he was not as quick or skilled as his opponent. I think it cruel of Flacilla's husband to require blood."

"Blood pleases the plebes," Aspar said matter-of-factly. "Watch one match, Cailin. You may not be as horrified as you think you will be. If you are truly displeased by it, then you may leave, but it must be done discreetly, my love. We cannot insult our despicable host."

Cailin sent a messenger to Casia that morning, inviting her to join them in their box on the morrow, when the games would officially begin. Casia's reply was a delighted acceptance.

The following day Cailin was up early, for the games would begin at nine o'clock of the morning, the races lasting until noon. She had prepared her costume carefully. Her stola, with its round, low neckline and long, tight sleeves, was of the finest, softest white linen. The lower third of the sleeves, and the wide hemline, as well as a broad stripe extending halfway up the skirt, were woven in pure gold and emerald-green silk threads. The stola was belted tightly at the waist with a wide belt of leather layered with beaten gold, and decorated with emeralds that matched the gold and emerald collar about her neck and her elaborate pendant earrings. Because of the time of year, Cailin had known she would need some sort of outer garment, but she did not want to cover her costume. She had cut a semicircular cloak of bright green silk, which she fastened on her right shoulder with a fibula made from a single oval-shaped emerald set in gold. Gold kid slippers shod her feet, and her costume was nicely completed by a jeweled silken band about her head, from which hung a sheer golden veil.

Aspar, in a purple-and-gold-embroidered ceremonial garment of white silk called a tunica palmata, which he wore with a toga picta of finely spun purple wool embroidered with gold, nodded with pleasure when he saw her. "You will cause many tongues to wag today, my love. You look magnificent."

"As do you, my lord," she replied. "Are you certain we will not inspire imperial jealousy? I have seen the emperor, and you, my lord, are a far moje regal figure than he."

"A thought you will not share with anyone else but me," Aspar replied seriously. "Leo is a good administrator. He is precisely the emperor Byzantium needs."

"Leo may be emperor of Byzantium," Cailin said candidly, "but you are the ruler of my heart, Flavius Aspar. 'Tis all I care for, my dear lord." Then she kissed his mouth sweetly, smiling into his eyes.

He laughed. "Oh, Cailin, you will rule not just my heart, I fear, but my soul as well. What a sweet minx you are, my love."

Casia and Basilicus were already awaiting them at the Hippodrome. As they entered the silk-hung box belonging to the empire's First Patrician, the crowds seeing the general began to call his name.

"Aspar! Aspar! Aspar!"

He stepped forward and, saluting them, acknowledged their cheers with a modest smile. Then he retired to the rear of the box, that the populace be allowed to quiet down. To the right of the imperial box the patriarch and his minions sat observing it all.

"He does not encourage them," the patriarch's secretary observed.

"Not yet," the patriarch replied. "Someday, I think, he will. Still, he is a curious man, and may prove me wrong."

The Hippodrome suddenly exploded in a frenzy of cheers as the emperor and empress, along with the games' sponsor and their guests, entered the imperial box. Leo and Verina accepted the homage of the crowd with smiling graciousness, and then presented Justin Gabras to the assembled, who cheered noisily as Gabras waved a languid hand.

At the sound of the trumpets Leo stepped forward and performed the ritual that began the festivities. As the mappa fluttered from his fingers, the stable doors of the Hippodrome burst open to allow the chariots in the first race to dash forth. The crowds screamed their encouragement to the four teams.

"Just look at that," Flacilla fumed. "How dare Aspar and Basilicus bring their whores to our games!"

"The games are for everyone, my dear," Justin Gabras replied, his eyes taking in Cailin avidly. What a magnificent creature, he thought. How I would like to have her in my power, even for just a few minutes.

"I do not think it right that the empire's First Patrician flaunt his mistress so publicly," Flacilla persisted.

"Oh, Flacilla," Verina said with a light laugh, "your jealousy is astounding to behold, particularly given the fact neither you or Aspar could stand one another during your marriage."

"That is not the point," Flacilla replied. "Aspar should not be seen publicly with a woman of loose morals."

"Is that why he was never seen with you, my dear?" her husband inquired drolly, and to Flacilla's mortification, both Leo and Verina laughed.

She began to weep.

"Dear heaven!" Justin Gabras exclaimed. "May I be delivered from the overblown emotions of breeding women." He pulled a white silk square from his robes and handed it to his wife. "Wipe your eyes, Flacilla, and do not make a complete fool of yourself."

"You are expecting a child?" Verina was surprised, but then that would explain Flacilla's expanding girth of late.

Flacilla nodded, and sniffled. "In four more months," she admitted.

Congratulations were offered all around to Justin Gabras.

"It could be worse," her husband pointed out. "What if the girl were Aspar's wife, my dear? She would take precedence over you at court. In her present position she is quite harmless."

Verina could not resist the temptation laid so neatly before her. She smiled with false sweetness. "I'm afraid that that is exactly what is to happen, my lord. The emperor and the patriarch have given their permission for Aspar to marry with Cailin Drusus."

Flacilla paled. "You cannot allow it!" she gasped. "The creature is nothing more than a whore!"

"Oh, Flacilla," Verina said calmly, "you distress yourself over nothing. The girl's introduction to society here was unconventional, I will admit, but she was but a short time at Villa Maxima. Her background is better than either of ours. She conducts herself with a modesty that has even earned the commendation of your cousin, the patriarch. She will make Aspar an excellent wife and, believe me, in time the rest will be forgotten, particularly if you continue to cause such scandals as the one you caused last spring. You are a far bigger whore, and so are half the women in the court, than little Cailin Drusus." The empress smiled and took a cup of wine offered by a servant.

Before Flacilla might reply, her husband pinched her arm sharply. "Be silent, you foolish woman," he hissed at her. "It does not matter."

"Not to you!" Flacilla snapped angrily. "I will never give precedence to that creature. Never!"

"Oh, Flacilla," the empress said, "do not distress yourself. Look! The Greens have taken two races in a row this morning." She turned to her husband. "You owe me a new gold necklace, my lord, and a bracelet too!"

"Ohhh, I hate her!" Flacilla murmured low. "How I wish I might wreak vengeance on her for her presumption."

"Well, you cannot now, my dear," her husband replied softly. "As Aspar's mistress, she had a certain vulnerability, but as Aspar's wife, Flacilla, she is inviolate. Look at her! Modest. Beautiful. Soon, I wager, she will become known for her good works. She will be a model mother, I have not a doubt. She has no fault that I can see. If she did, we might find a way to spoil Aspar's happiness, but she does not. You will have to learn to live with the situation. I will not have you upsetting yourself unnecessarily, else you lose my child. If you do that, Flacilla, I will kill you with my bare hands. Do you understand me?"

"The child means that much to you, my lord?"

"Aye! I have never had a legitimate son," he said.

"And me, my lord? Do I mean anything to you at all, other than as the brood mare who will bear your heir?"

"You are the only woman for me, Flacilla. I have told you that often enough, but if it pleases you to hear it again, very well. I never before asked a woman to marry me. It is you I want, but I want the child, too, my dear. Have a care else your bad temper spoil a perfect relationship."

She turned her eyes to the racecourse, knowing that he was right and hating him for it. She did not dare look again toward Aspar's box, for she could not bear the sight of her former husband and Cailin.

The chariot races were finally over. The interval between the races and the games would be a full hour. In the three boxes, servants laid out a light luncheon for their masters. When they had almost finished eating, an imperial guardsman appeared in Aspar's box.

"The emperor and the empress will receive your loyal respects now, my lord, and that of your lady, too," he said, bowing politely.

"You did not warn me," Cailin said to Aspar, signaling Zeno to bring a basin of perfumed water in which to wash her hands. She dried them quickly with the linen towel he handed her.

"I was not aware they would receive us today," he told her. "This is a great honor, my love. They are acknowledging our relationship! There can be no going back now, Cailin!"

"You look beautiful," Casia whispered to her friend. "I have been watching Flacilla. She is consumed with jealousy. It is a great victory for you, my friend. Savor it!"

Aspar and Cailin followed the guardsman into the imperial box, where the couple knelt before the emperor and empress. They are so perfect together, Verina thought, as her husband greeted their guests. I have never before seen a better-matched couple. I am almost jealous of their love for each other. She was brought back to reality by Leo's voice: "And my wife welcomes you also, my lady Cailin, do you not, Verina?"

"Indeed, my lord," the empress replied. "You can but add more luster to our court, lady. You are from the former province of Britain, I am told. It is a dark land, or so I am informed."

"It is a green and fertile land, majesty, but perhaps not as sunny and bright a place as is Byzantium. Your springs come earlier and your autumns later than in Britain."

"And do you miss your green and fertile land, lady?" the empress inquired politely. "Have you family there?"

"Yes," Cailin said, "I sometimes miss Britain, majesty. I was happy there, but," she amended with a sweet smile, "I am happy here with my dear lord Aspar. Wherever he is will be my home."

"Well said, lady!" the emperor approved, smiling at her. "How charming she is," Leo continued after the couple had returned to their own box. "Aspar is a very lucky man, I think."

Justin Gabras squeezed his wife's hand in warning, for he could see she was near to another angry outburst. "Breathe deeply, Flacilla," he instructed her softly, "and rein in your nasty temper. If we are banned from the court because of your ungovernable behavior, you will live to regret it, I swear it!"

The angry color slowly faded from her face and neck, and swallowing hard, she nodded her acquiescence. "I will never be happy again until I can find a way to revenge myself on Aspar," she whispered.

"Let it go, my dear," he told her. "There is no way."

"The fat cow is going to have apoplexy," Casia giggled wickedly in Aspar's box. "She's positively purple with rage. What did the emperor and the empress say to you that has infuriated her so greatly?"

"She has no reason to be angry with us," Cailin said, and then she repeated the conversation she had had with the royal couple.

Suddenly there was a flourish of trumpets, and Casia said excitedly, "Ohh, the games are about to begin! I was visiting with my friend Mara at Villa Maxima yesterday, and I saw the gladiators there. Justin Gabras has taken it over for the entire term of their stay. The public is not allowed. He said he wanted his gladiators to have the very best while they were in Constantinople. Jovian is in his glory with all those beautiful young men about, and Phocas, I am told, is actually smiling, so great a price did Gabras pay him. Wait until you see the champion they call the Saxon! I have never before seen such a beautiful man. Castor, Pollux, and Apollo pale in comparison. Ohhhh!" she squealed. "Here they come now!"

The gladiators marched in procession into the Hippodrome, parading around it until they reached the imperial box, where they stopped. Weapons raised high, they saluted the emperor and their generous patron with a single voice. "Those about to die salute you!"

"There is the Saxon," Casia said, pointing to the tallest man in the group. "Isn't he magnificent?"

"How can you possibly tell?" Cailin teased her friend. "That helmet with its visor virtually renders him invisible."

"True," Casia agreed, "but you will have to take my word for it. He's got golden hair, and blue, blue eyes."

"Many Saxons do," Cailin replied.

Aspar leaned over and said, "The first matches will be fought with blunt weapons, my love. There will be no blood shed for now, and it will give you an idea of the skills involved."

"I think I will prefer it to what must come later," Cailin told him. "Must all these men fight until only one of them survives?"

"No," he told her. "Six specific matches will be fought to the death. That is the number that Gabras purchased from this particular troupe of gladiators. Two death matches will be fought today, two tomorrow, and two on the last day of the games. The Saxon, who is the unbeaten champion, will fight today and on the last day. His main rival is a man called the Hun, who must fight all three days. If he survives the first two days, they will probably pair him with the Saxon on the last day. That should be quite a match."

"I think it horrendous that someone must die," Cailin said. "They are young men. Why, it goes against the very teachings of the church to allow such barbarity, yet there sits the patriarch and all his priests in their box on the other side of the emperor, enjoying this."

Aspar put a gentle hand on hers. "Hush, my love, lest you be overheard," he warned her. "Death is a part of life."

The battle had begun below them. Young men with small shields and blunt weapons fought one another en masse. The crowds loved it, but eventually they began to tire of the mock engagement.

"Bring on the Saxon! Bring on the Hun!" they screamed..

The trumpets sounded a recall, and the fighters ran from the arena. The groundskeepers came forth and raked the ground smooth. Then silence descended upon the Hippodrome for what seemed several long minutes. Suddenly the Gladiators Gate in the wall opened and two men stepped forth. The crowds began to scream with their excitement.

"It is the Hun," Aspar said. "He will fight with a Thracian."

"He has no armor," Cailin said.

"He needs none but the leather shoulder pads he wears, my love. He is a net man. Other than his net, he has but a dagger and a spear to fight with, but I think net men the most dangerous of gladiators."

The Thracian, who was helmeted and wore greaves on both legs, carried a small shield and a curved sword. It seemed to Cailin a very unfair match, until the two men began to fight. The Hun tossed his net almost immediately, but the Thracian sidestepped it, and leaping behind his opponent, slashed at him. The wily Hun, obviously anticipating the ploy, moved quickly and was but scratched by the tip of the Thracian's blade. The men fought back and forth for some minutes while the crowds screamed their encouragement to their favorites. Finally, when Cailin had begun to think these combats were vastly overrated for ferocity, the Hun leapt in the air and, with a deft flick of his wrist, swirled his net out gracefully. The Thracian, unable to escape, was enfolded in the web. Desperately, he thrashed at it with his sword, the crowd shrieking with their rising blood lust. The Hun jammed his spear into the ground, drew his dagger out and flung himself down upon the struggling man. It happened so quickly that Cailin wasn't even certain she had seen it, but the sandy floor of the arena was swiftly stained with blood as the Hun cut his opponent's throat and then stood victorious, acknowledging the cheers of the howling mob.

He was a man of medium height, powerfully built, and bald but for a horsetail of dark hair sprouting from his skull and tightly wrapped with a leather thong. He strode around the ring, accepting what he obviously considered his rightful due. While he did so, the groundskeepers ran forth, two of them dragging the lifeless body of the Thracian from the arena, out through the Death Gate; the other two sprinkling fresh sand atop the blood and raking it vigorously.

Cailin was stunned. "It was so quick," she murmured. One moment the Thracian had been valiantly defending himself, and in the next instant he was dead. He had not even cried out.

"Gladiators are not usually cruel to one another," Aspar said gently to her. "They are generally friends or acquaintances, for they live together, eat, sleep, and whore together. Death matches are rare today, and Justin Gabras must have paid well for them. Or perhaps these gladiators are just desperate men who do not care. Some are like that."

"I want to go home," Cailin said quietly.

"You cannot go now!" Casia cried. "The last match of the day is about to begin, and it is the champion himself. The Hun is an amateur compared to the Saxon. If it becomes too bloody, you need not look, and we will just gossip, but you must see him without his helmet. He is a god, I tell you!" Casia enthused.

Aspar laughed, and turning to Basilicus, said, "I think I should be worried about Casia, my old friend, if I were you. She is obviously quite taken, nay, fascinated I think a better word, by this gladiator."

"He is beautiful to look at," Casia replied before the prince might say anything, "but I have usually found that beautiful faces and bodies are all men like the Saxon can offer. There is nothing else, neither wit, nor culture. After one has enjoyed a good romp in Cupid's grove, it is nice to lie back and chatter, is it not, my lord?"

Basilicus nodded silently, but his eyes were twinkling.

"Ohh, look!" Casia said. "Here are the combatants. I should hate to be the poor fellow fighting with the Saxon. He must know he has no chance."

"How sad for him," Cailin answered her friend. "How terrible to know that he is facing his death on this beautiful bright day."

Casia looked discomfited, but then she said brightly, "Well, there is always the chance that he just might get lucky and beat the champion. Wouldn't that be exciting? At any rate, they will put on a good show for us, you may be certain."

The Saxon and his opponent were both armed in the Samnite fashion. Each man wore a helmet with a visor. Each had a thick sleeve on the right arm and a greave on the left leg only. The men's waists were encircled with a belt. They carried long shields and short swords. Their combat would be a very close encounter. Saluting the emperor and their patron, they immediately began to fight. In spite of herself, Cailin was fascinated, for this match seemed more even than the previous one.

Metal clanged upon metal as the two men thrust and parried with their weapons. Cailin soon realized that the battle was not so evenly matched after all. The Saxon's antagonist was not his equal in skill. The champion jumped and twirled in a series of maneuvers deliberately executed to please the crowd. Twice the other man left himself open to attack, but the Saxon feinted to distract attention. Finally the crowd began to catch on, and they screamed with outrage.

"There's few his match," Basilicus noted. "He's but tried to give them a good show, but they want blood. Well, they'll get it now, I think. The Saxon should have been saved for the final day instead of having him fight two days. Gabras obviously wanted his money's worth."

The combat took a different turn now, with the Saxon attacking his opponent vigorously while the other man fought desperately to save his life. The champion, however, refused to draw it out any further. Relentlessly he drove the other Samnite across the ring, his opponent getting few blows in and striving to protect himself with his shield. The Saxon rained blow after blow upon it, until finally the man fell back, exhausted, his defense falling from his hand. The Saxon swiftly and mercifully pierced the other gladiator's heart with his sword. Then he walked across the ring to the cheers of the spectators and saluted the emperor with the bloodied weapon.

"Remove your helmet, Saxon," Justin Gabras said loftily, "that the emperor may see your face when he congratulates you on your victory."

The Saxon removed his helmet and said, "There is no victory against a weaker man, lord. In two days' time, however, I will fight the Hun. I will bring you his head upon a silver salver, and then I will accept your congratulations for a battle well fought."

"You do not fear death?" the emperor said quietly.

"No, majesty," the Saxon replied. "I have already lost everything I ever held dear. What is death but an escape? Yet the gods have willed it that I must live for now."

"You are not a Christian, Saxon?"

"Nay, majesty. I worship Woden and Thor. They are my gods," came the reply, "but the gods, I think, do not concern themselves with little men like myself, else I should have had my heart's desire."

Cailin stared at the Saxon as if mesmerized. She could not hear what was being said, but she knew he was speaking, for his lips were moving. It could not be. He looked like Wulf, but it simply could not be. Wulf was in Britain, on their lands, with a new wife and child. This man could not be Wulf Ironfist, and yet… She needed to hear his voice, to see him up close.

"I told you he was a glorious creature," Casia purred in smug tones. "Even covered in sweat and dirt he is beautiful, is he not, Cailin? Cailin? Cailin!” She tugged at her friend's sleeve.

"What? What is it, Casia? What did you say? I was not listening, I fear. You must forgive me. I was momentarily distracted."

Casia giggled. "I can certainly see you were, and by what."

Cailin smiled. "Yes, he is a beautiful fellow," she replied, regaining control of herself, "but despite it all, I do not like these gladiatorial combats."

"My lord Aspar?" A guardsman had entered the box. "The emperor would speak with you a moment."

Aspar hurried from the box. When he returned several minutes later, he said to Cailin, "There are emissaries here from Adrianople. It seems the peace there grows more fragile with each hour, and fighting is threatening to break out again between the religious factions. I am going to try and mediate this here in the palace with Leo tonight. Do you mind going home alone, my love?"

Cailin shook her head. Actually she was relieved. She needed time to think. The resemblance between the Saxon and Wulf was amazing, though his hair was lighter than Wulf's corn-colored locks had been. "Keep the litter," she told Aspar. "Whatever time you come home, you will need transportation. I will go with Casia to her house, and then her litter will bring me to Villa Mare."

"Of course," Casia agreed. "Cailin is ever practical, my lords. Basilicus, my love, you will join me for supper?"

"I cannot," he said regretfully. "My sister insists I keep her company this evening, for she is entertaining the patriarch. Perhaps I shall come late, my sweet. Would it please you?"

"No," Casia said, "I think not, my lord. If you cannot come to supper, then I shall take the time to catch up on my sleep. I do not seem to get a great deal of it when you are with me," she added suggestively, thus tempering her refusal. Rising, she kissed him lightly on the mouth. "Come, Cailin. It will be difficult enough getting through the crowds, with the arena emptying itself like a full wine cup."

"Good fortune, my lord," Cailin told Aspar.

He bent and, cupping her face in his hand, touched her lips softly with his. "When I look at you, my love," he told her, "I find my devotion to duty growing weaker and weaker."

"You do not fool me," Cailin said with a small smile. "The empire is your first love, and I well know it. I am willing to share you with Byzantium, my dearest love."

He smiled into her face. "You are without peer among all the women I have ever known, Cailin Drusus. I am fortunate to have your love."

"You are fortunate to have his love," Casia told her as they departed the Hippodrome in her large and comfortable litter.

"Why did you refuse to allow the prince to come later?" Cailin asked her friend. "I believe he truly loves you."

"I do not want to cling to Basilicus like some dreadful little vine," Casia said. "Nor do I want Basilicus to ever presume upon my love for him. I am his mistress, not his wife. I will not accept part of an evening at his discretion. I want an entire evening. Surely he knew beforehand that he would be with his sister tonight, but he did not tell me. He presumed that I should be there for him, but I am not, now am I?"

When Cailin did not answer, Casia focused upon her friend and said, "Have you heard a word that I said? What is the matter with you, Cailin? You are suddenly so distracted."

Cailin sighed. She needed to confide in someone, and Casia was the only friend she had. "It is the Saxon," she replied.

"Aye, he is gorgeous!" Casia agreed.

"It is not that," Cailin answered.

"Then what is it?" Casia demanded.

"I think the Saxon is Wulf Ironfist," Cailin told her friend.

"Your husband in Britain? Are you certain? The gods!"

"I am not certain, Casia," Cailin said nervously, "but I must know! We wed because he was tired of fighting and he wanted to settle down. My lands were what drew him to me. I have thought Wulf Ironfist to be in Britain, on those lands, these months past. I even decided that he must have taken another wife and had a child by now. I have to know if the man they call the Saxon is he! I must know one way or another."

"Ohhh, Cailin, you are opening a Pandora's box," Casia warned. "What if this man is Wulf Ironfist? What will you do? Do you still love him? What of Aspar?"

"I cannot answer you, Casia. I have no answers. I only know I must learn if it is he, or if my eyes have been playing tricks upon me." She looked so distraught that Casia's heart went out to her. "Ohhh, what am I to do?" Cailin asked, and she began to cry.

"Well," Casia said briskly, "we will simply have to satisfy your curiosity, won't we?" Pulling the curtains of her litter open, she leaned out and called to her head bearer, "Go to Villa Maxima, Peter!"

Cailin gasped. "Oh, Casia, no! 'Tis madness! What if I am seen? Especially now that I am to be married to Aspar."

"Who will see us?" Casia said. "Jovian and Phocas have closed Villa Maxima to their regular clientele while the gladiators are in residence. I will go in while you remain in the litter with the curtains tightly closed. I will seek out Jovian, and he will know how you may learn if the Saxon is your Wulf Ironfist. We will be discreet, and you will be safer than if you were in your mother's house again," Casia promised. "Then you can go home and feel foolish, for it is very, very unlikely that this gladiator is your man, Cailin Drusus."

"But what if it is Wulf?" Cailin fretted.

Casia's face grew serious. "Why then, my friend, you are going to have to decide just what it is you want-a beautiful but savage Saxon who is obviously penniless, and willing to risk his life in the ring; or the cultured and wealthy First Patrician of the empire. If it were me, Cailin Drusus, I would order this litter to turn back, and I would return to Villa Mare this instant. If a man like Flavius Aspar loved me, I would thank God each morning when I awoke for the rest of my days. I think you are mad to tempt the Fates so. Let me tell Peter to turn back. I will come home with you and keep you company this night. The Saxon cannot be Wulf Ironfist."

"I must know, Casia. Seeing him, even from a distance, has filled my mind with doubts. If I do not resolve these doubts, how can I ever pledge my faith to Aspar? What if the Saxon is not Wulf, but someday in the future Wulf does appear upon my doorstep? What if I still love him?"

"The gods forbid it, you foolish creature!" Casia exclaimed.

The litter made its way down the Mese and then through a series of side streets. The two women had grown quiet. Casia twisted the rich fabric of her gown with her slender fingers. She was already regretting her impulsiveness. It was not Cailin alone who was opening Pandora's box. She drew a deep breath. Nothing was going to come of this. Cailin, having a fit of bridal nerves, was seeing ghosts. The Saxon would turn out to be no one she had ever known. Still, Casia started nervously as the litter was set down and her head bearer, Peter, drew back the curtains to reveal that they were in the courtyard of Villa Maxima. Cailin reached out, touching Casia's arm encouragingly.

Casia nodded. "I will find Jovian. Remain here, and whatever you do, do not open the curtains. Let them think the litter is empty." She stepped from her elegant vehicle. "Peter, let no one be aware that I have a companion with me. I will not be long."

"Yes, lady," he replied.

Casia hurried into the magnificent atrium of the villa. A servant came forward and his eyes widened as he recognized the visitor. "Good afternoon, Michael," Casia said. "Will you fetch Master Jovian to me, please? I will await him here. Were you at the games today?" she inquired brightly. "Was the Saxon not wonderful!"

Michael allowed himself a small grin. Casia had a fine eye for the gentlemen, and it was apparent she had not lost it. He bowed politely. "At once, lady. Shall I have refreshments sent to you while you wait? It is hot for autumn. Some iced wine, perhaps?"

"Thank you, no," Casia returned. "I can stay but long enough to speak with Master Jovian." She sat down upon a marble bench, watching as the servant went off, and wondering how long it would be before Jovian put in an appearance. The gods! Why had she ever suggested coming here?

Jovian came into the atrium, but to her intense distress, he was not alone. She silently cursed herself for a fool.

"Casia, my pet!" Jovian kissed her upon both cheeks. "What brings you here this day? I am quite surprised to see you."

"Indeed, Casia," Justin Gabras purred. "I, too, am surprised. I wonder if Prince Basilicus would be also?"

"No, he would not," Casia replied sweetly, regaining her composure. "I grant the prince certain favors, my lord, but he does not own me. Nor would he presume to interfere with my friendships, many of which are of a long-standing nature." She turned to Jovian. "May we speak alone?"

Before Jovian might answer, however, Gabras said, "Secrets, my pet? I am fascinated. What possible secrets could a whore have? I believed that everything about you was already common knowledge."

Casia felt her temper rising. "I wonder how long it will be, my lord, before you are poisoned with your own venom," she snapped. "Jovian! Where may we speak?"

"No! No!" Gabras persisted, chortling. "I would know your secrets, lady. I really will not leave you to Master Jovian until I do."

Jovian looked helplessly at Casia, and she shrugged. "Ohh, very well! If you must know, my lord, I came to gain a closer look at the gladiators. There! Are you satisfied now?"

Justin Gabras burst out laughing. "You women are all alike," he said. "A look, you say? Is that all, Casia? Perhaps what you really wanted was to sample their passions. Which is it who takes your fancy? The Saxon? The Hun? Were you still a resident of this house, you would have had your pick of them tonight, would you not?"

"Big, sweaty men with big cocks and childish minds do not make particularly good lovers," Casia replied coolly. "Their bodies, however, are beautiful, and I am a lover of beauty, my lord. I could see little from our box in the Hippodrome, which is why I came to Villa Maxima. Perhaps I have chosen a bad time. I can come back in the morning."

Jovian, who was astounded by Casia's speech, finally found his voice. "Yes, my darling, that would really be better," he agreed. "Their day has been long, and they are about to enjoy a fine meal and the kind of entertainment that only Villa Maxima can provide. Come back in the morning and I will introduce you to them all. You may even see them in the baths." What was Casia about? This behavior of hers was quite out of character. "I will escort you to your litter."

"Thank you, dear Jovian," Casia said with a smile.

"And I will come, too," Justin Gabras told them.

"It is not necessary, my lord," Casia said quickly.

"But I insist," Justin Gabras said, smiling toothily at her.

When they had reached the litter, Casia said loudly, "I will come back in the morning, Jovian, and see those beautiful bodies then."

Before she could stop him, Justin Gabras leaned down and pulled the litter's curtains aside. His eyes widened, and reaching in, he pulled a resistant Cailin forth. "Well! Well! Well! And what have we here? Flavius Aspar's bride-to-be come home for a little visit? Did you come to see the gladiators, too, my pet? Or was the purpose of your visit to relive old times?"

Cailin shook his hand off her arm and glared icily at him.

"It's all my fault," Casia burst out. "Aspar was called to the palace after the games today. I said I would take Cailin back to Villa Mare, but I did so want to get a close look at those marvelous men. I detoured my litter here. Cailin did not want to come, and as you see, she has remained in the litter, practically hiding. If Aspar finds out, he will not let us remain friends!"

"If Aspar finds out, the wedding will most likely be off," Justin Gabras said drolly.

"I think not, my lord," Cailin said. "I have done nothing wrong, and my lord Aspar knows I am not a liar. If I but tell him the truth of this matter, he will believe me."

"Probably he will," Justin Gabras admitted, "but will the imperial court? Or the patriarch? They will be all too eager to believe the worst of you, Cailin Drusus." He laughed. "Just today I told my wife that you were now inviolate. It seems that I was wrong."

"Who is to say that we were here today?" Casia demanded. "Given who your wife is, my lord, do you think you will be believed if you tell tales?" She pushed past him, taking Cailin's hand in hers. "Come, I must get you back to Villa Mare before it grows dark and the road cannot be seen. I will stay the night with you."

"No!" Justin Gabras grasped Cailin's other arm in a bruising grip. He had already devised a wicked plan by which he might discredit her.

"Jovian!" Casia appealed to the master of the house.

"Jovian cannot help you, my dears," Gabras said. "What do you expect him to do for you? You came here of your own free will. I did not force you to come. Now you will stay, and amuse my guests."

"My lord Gabras," Cailin said pleadingly, "why do you do this thing? What have I ever done that you should hate my lord Aspar so?"

"I do not know Flavius Aspar well enough to hate him," was the cold reply, "but I am tired of hearing my wife Flacilla whine for revenge upon him for their loveless marriage. No, do not tell me that she loved him not. She says it often enough herself, but hate-and hers is very strong toward Aspar-is the other side of the love's coin, Cailin Drusus. Surely you know that. Flacilla's choler is such that I fear for my unborn child. I want that child! Until this moment I had not the power to give my wife what she claims to desire so dearly. Your foolishness at coming here has given me an opportunity I never expected to have." He smiled cruelly. "By this time tomorrow, Flacilla will have her revenge, and may rest easy, I think."

"Spare her," Casia said, "and I will personally entertain your guests in any fashion you desire! Just release Cailin, I beg you, my lord Gabras! Jovian, have you no say in any of this?"

"I cannot help you," Jovian said, and his eyes filled with tears. "He would kill me if I tried, would you not, my lord? Even if I dared to send for help, by the time Aspar got here, it would be too late. You should not have come here tonight, Casia, and you most assuredly should not have brought Cailin."

"Michael!" Justin Gabras called to the servant, who came quickly to his side. "Help me take our guests and lock them up until we are ready for them." He dragged Cailin into the atrium while she struggled in vain to escape his strong fingers.

"Let us go!" Casia cried as Michael pulled her along in their wake.

"And lock up the whore's litter bearers until we are of a mind to release her," Justin Gabras called out to Jovian.

"Lady, I apologize for this," Michael told Cailin as he pushed her into a sparsely furnished, windowless room behind Casia. He shut the door behind them, and they heard the lock turning noisily.

"Forgive me!" Casia said, flinging herself into Cailin's arms. "I am a fool to have ever suggested coming here! The gods help us both!"

"It is as much my fault as yours," Cailin said generously. "If I had let the matter of the Saxon rest instead of pursuing it, we would not be in this predicament. What do you think they mean to do?"

"It is obvious," Casia replied. "Gabras will give us to his gladiators. It matters not to me. I am a whore and used to taking a variety of men between my thighs, but you, my poor friend!" She began to cry, much to Cailin's astonishment, for Casia was not a woman given to tears.

"Do not cry," Cailin comforted her friend. Strangely, she felt nothing right now. Not even fear.

"Gabras will spread word of this incident all over Constantinople," Casia said, still sobbing. "Basilicus will never forgive me!"

"You love him!" Cailin was again surprised.

Casia nodded. "Aye, the gods help me, I do! He doesn't know, of course. He is not the kind of man one can confide such an emotion in, sadly. He will never accept being embarrassed by me. I will never see him again after tonight, I fear! I have ruined not just your life, but my own as well!"

"Perhaps we can escape," Cailin said hopefully.

Casia, her tears finished, looked at her friend and shook her head. "How? This room has no windows, and but one door, which is locked. They will come for us, and that will be the end of it. There is no escape, Cailin. Make up your mind to that right now."

Chapter 14

The two women did not have long to wait. Four male slaves arrived to escort them to the baths, where they were thoroughly washed and their bodies rubbed with fragrant oils. The bath attendants rubbed Cailin's auburn ringlets and Casia's thick, long blue-black hair until they were dry. Their hair was perfumed, Casia's first being braided into a single plait, and then floral wreaths were set atop their heads. No fresh garments were offered them, and the women realized it would be useless to even ask.

They were then escorted into a large airy room that opened onto the villa's beautiful gardens. Justin Gabras sat, now garbed in a short white tunic, upon a black marble chair. The gladiators were assembled before him. There were no other women in the room. At their entry, the men turned, their eyes avid with interest. The guards forced Casia and Cailin forward, and reaching out, Justin Gabras pulled both women into his lap, balancing them each upon a single knee. His hands reached up to fondle their breasts, pinching at the nipples.

"You have eaten well, my friends," he said to his guests, "and now I have a little treat for you. These two women are the most exclusive whores in Byzantium. They are pretty little rabbits, are they not? We are going to have a little game. We shall release these two little rabbits into the gardens, and then you, as randy a pack of dogs as I've ever seen, will chase after them. They will hide from you, will you not my beauties? But someone will find them, and whoever the lucky men are will have their pleasure of these women for this entire night. There are no losers in this game, however. The rest of you will have your choice of any other woman in the house after our game is over. What think you?"

The gladiators cheered Justin Gabras lustily.

"By the gods," the Hun said loudly, "you give us a difficult choice, my lord. Both of these women are real beauties!"

"Which do you favor?" Gabras asked him.

"I am not certain," the net man replied. He turned to his companion. "What about you, Wulf Ironfist? Which do you prefer?"

"The one I catch," the Saxon replied, and his eyes met Cailin's.

Casia quickly looked to her friend. Cailin was paler than she had ever seen her. Her great violet eyes mirrored both pain and shock. Is it he? Casia mouthed silently over the laughter that greeted the Saxon's remark, and Cailin nodded. If anyone catches Cailin, Casia thought, it must be the Saxon. She looked straight at the Hun and smiled her most seductive smile.

"Are you as good out of the ring as you are in it?" she purred suggestively. "If you are, then I shall be happy to be caught in your net."

To Casia's surprise, the Hun turned beet-red as his companions whooped with amusement. So he was shy. But her bold words had certainly made it plain to the others that he was her choice. None of the others would dare to come after her now, for shy though he might be, the Hun would want her. They would not confront him over a woman, she knew. She could see the puzzled way in which the Saxon was looking at Cailin. Now she must make certain of him.

"Cailin Drusus." She said her friend's name loudly. "Do you have a preference among these fine men? I think the Saxon would suit you admirably."

"I think he would," Cailin replied, having caught on to Casia's little game.

"So you are no better than the rest of them," Justin Gabras sneered. "Why is it that all women are born whores?" He did not see how pale the handsome gladiator had become, nor the tightening of the Saxon's lips and the flash of anger in the Saxon's eyes at his words.

Without waiting for an answer to his question, Justin Gabras dumped the two women from his lap. "Run into the garden and hide yourselves, my beauties. I will count to fifty, and then loose these lusty beasts on you. Go!”

The two women ran from the room, through the marble pillars, and out into the early evening twilight. When they had gone a ways together into the dimness, Casia stopped a moment and said, "Hide yourself well, Cailin, and do not come out unless you see the Saxon!" Then she was gone down a grassy path. Cailin fled to the depths of the gardens, finally climbing into the branches of a peach tree. It was unlikely that anyone would think to look for her up there.

"Fifty!" she heard Justin Gabras call out.

The gladiators began to thrash through the gardens, noisily seeking the two women. Within a few minutes she heard the rough voice of the Hun crowing triumphantly, "I've caught a little rabbit, lads!" and Casia's coy shriek of false surprise. The hunt for Cailin grew more intense, but she felt safe amid the branches of the tree. She could even see some of the men below, looking under bushes, behind the fountains, and among the decorative statuary for her. They will never find me, she thought smugly, but then what? How could she escape Villa Maxima without her clothes, without a litter? Suddenly the branch upon which she was perched gave way, and Cailin fell with a cry to the grass below. Two men loomed forth from the darkness as she desperately scrambled to her feet. A bolt of pain tore through her right ankle, but she struggled to remain standing.

"Stay back!" she ordered the two men.

"Don't be afraid, lambkin," she heard one say, and then, "She is mine, Greek! Touch her, and I'll kill you!"

"No woman is worth death, Wulf Ironfist," the man called Greek said, and he faded into the darkness.

"Are you really the most exclusive whore in Byzantium, Cailin Drusus?" Wulf asked her solemnly.

"No," she said softly, "but you had best treat me as if I were. Your host is my mortal enemy."

"Can you walk, or is your ankle seriously injured?"

"I twisted it when I fell from the tree," she answered, "but it is not broken. Nonetheless, you will have to carry me, and I will struggle to escape you. Justin Gabras would think it odd if I did not."

"Why?" he demanded.

"We will talk when we have found a private spot. Now quickly! Pick me up before someone else comes along and wonders why we are not already engaged in passion's battle."

He came to stand directly in front of her and reached out to touch her face. "Antonia said you were dead, and our child, too."

"I suspected she might have told you that," Cailin answered.

"I want to know what happened," he said.

"Wulf! Please!” she pleaded with him. "Not now! Gabras will soon come after us. He is a terrible and dangerous man."

There were so many questions swirling about in Wulf's head. How was it she was alive? And here in Byzantium? But he saw the genuine look of fear in her eyes. Reaching out, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. She immediately began to beat at him with her little fists as he carried her through the garden and back to where the others waited.

"Put me down! Put me down, you great brute!" Cailin shrieked. The blood was going to her head and making her dizzy.

"So, our other little rabbit has been caught at last," she heard Gabras say, and then he came into her line of vision. "You have given us all quite a chase, my dear. Where was she?"

"In a tree," the Saxon answered. "I wouldn't have found her at all, but the branch upon which she was perched gave way."

"I want to see you take her," Justin Gabras said. "Here. Now!" A goblet of wine was clutched in his hand.

"My public performances are only in the ring," Wulf Ironfist said quietly.

"I want to see this woman humiliated," Gabras persisted.

He is dangerous, Wulf thought, and so he replied, "By morning I will have taken this woman in every way possible, and in some ways you have never even considered, my lord. If she is not dead, then she will be incapable of even crawling from the room where we will lie this night." He turned to Jovian Maxima. "I want a room with no windows so none may be disturbed by her cries. It is to be furnished with a good mattress, and I will want wine. Also a dog whip. Women frequently need to be schooled in their duties, and this woman is too free, I can tell. It is obvious to me she does not know her place, but she will learn it! We Saxons like our females docile, and subservient."

"By the gods!" Justin Gabras said, a genuine smile lighting his handsome features, "you are a man after my own heart. Give him what he wants, Jovian Maxima! The wench is in good hands."

A few moments later they were escorted to the same room where Cailin and Casia had earlier been imprisoned. Now, however, the room was newly furnished with a large, comfortable bed upon a dais, several low tables, a pitcher of wine and two goblets, two oil lamps burning sweet-scented oil, a tall floor lamp, and, set at the foot of the mattress, the whip that Wulf had requested.

Jovian, who had accompanied them personally, looked nervously at it, and Wulf grinned at him wickedly.

"Close the door," the Saxon said softly. "I wish to speak with you."

Jovian complied with the Saxon's request, but he looked distinctly uncomfortable.

"Just tell Gabras that I threatened you if we were not granted absolute privacy," Wulf told the man.

"What is it you want of me, gladiator?" Jovian asked him.

"Tell me the nature of the danger Cailin Drusus faces from Justin Gabras," Wulf demanded.

"He will use what has happened, what will happen this night, to discredit the lady Cailin before the imperial court and the patriarch, who will then forbid her marriage to General Flavius Aspar. This is what Gabras seeks. The rest the lady Cailin must tell you herself, if you are of a mind to listen to her."

"He is Wulf Ironfist, my husband," Cailin said quietly.

"The gods he is!" Jovian Maxima looked thunderstruck, and then he said, "This is the truth, my lady?"

"That is why I came, Jovian," she admitted. "When I saw him today in the ring, I was not certain. I had to be certain before I pledged my faith to Aspar. Wulf Ironfist and I must speak together now, and then I must remain in this room till the morning. When the dawn comes, however, I beg you to help me return to Villa Mare. And help Casia as well. If we are clever, we can keep this from Prince Basilicus. She loves him, you know."

Jovian nodded. "Aye, and the prince loves Casia even as she loves him, but he cannot say it to her. He told me once when he was in his cups. When this night is over, I will tell her. It will give her comfort, I think. Now I must leave you both else Gabras become overly suspicious of why I linger here."

The door closed behind Jovian, and Wulf set the wooden bar into place, which would protect their privacy. Cailin's heart was beating very quickly. It was really Wulf! With shaking hands she poured two goblets of wine, sipping nervously at hers as he turned back to her and took up his own goblet.

He drained it swiftly and said bluntly, "So you are to be married. You have the look of a woman who has prospered, and one who is well-loved."

"And you who loved me for my lands left those lands quickly enough. You told me you had tired of fighting, but perhaps a gladiator earns more coin, and certainly he has better privileges than a mere soldier in the legions," Cailin countered. She had been mad to come, and madder still to believe there was anything left between them.

"How came you to Byzantium?" he asked her.

"In the hold of a slave galley out of Massilia, Wulf Ironfist," Cailin said harshly. "I was walked the length of Gaul to get there. Before that my time was spent in a drugged state in a slave pen in Londinium." She gulped at her wine. "I believe our child lives, but what Antonia did with it, I cannot say. Were you even interested enough to find out?"

"She said that both you and the child had perished in the ordeal of childbirth," he defended himself, and then went on to tell her of what had transpired when he had gone to Antonia's villa to bring her home.

"What of our bodies?" Cailin said angrily. "Did you not even ask to see our bodies?"

"She said she had cremated you both, and even gave me a container of ashes. I interred them with your family," he finished helplessly. "I thought you would want it that way."

The macabre humor of it struck Cailin, and she laughed. "I suspect what you interred was a container of wood, or charcoal ashes," she said, draining her cup and pouring herself more wine.

"How is it that you know Jovian Maxima?" he suddenly demanded.

"Because he bought me in the slave marketplace, and brought me here," she told him coolly. "Are you certain you wish to know more?"

She was not the same person, he realized, but then how could she be? He nodded slowly, then listened, his face alternating between anger, pain, and sympathy, as she told her tale. When she had finished, he was silent for a long moment, and then said, "Will we allow Antonia Porcius to destroy the happiness we had, Cailin Drusus?"

"Ohh, Wulf," she replied, "so much time has passed for us. I thought you would stay with the lands that were my family's. I believed you would have taken another wife by now, and had another child of your loins. How could I have ever believed that we would meet again here in Byzantium, or anywhere on this earth?" She sighed, and lowered her head to hide the tears that had sprung into her eyes from nowhere, it seemed.

"So you went on with your life?" he asked her, almost bitterly.

"What else was I to do?" she cried to him. "Aspar rescued me from this silken Hades, and freed me. He sheltered me, and loved me. He has offered me the protection of his name despite incredible odds. I have learned to love him, Wulf Ironfist!"

"And have you forgotten the love that we shared, Cailin Drusus?" he demanded fiercely. Reaching out, he pulled her roughly into his arms. "Have you forgotten what it once was like between us, lambkin?" His lips gently touched her brow. "When Antonia told me you and the child were dead, I was devastated. I could not believe it, and then she was handing me that damned container of ashes. I returned to our hall and buried them. I tried to go on with my life, but you were everywhere. Your very essence permeated the hall, the lands! And without you there was nothing. None of it meant anything to me without you, Cailin. One morning I awoke. I took my helmet, my shield, and my sword, and I left. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew that I must get away from your memory. I wandered the face of Gaul into Italy. In Capua I met some gladiators at a tavern. I enrolled in the school there, and once I began to fight, I quickly became a champion. I had no fear of death, you see. That fear is a gladiator's greatest enemy, but I did not feel it. Why should I? What did I have to lose that I had not already lost except my life, which was now worthless to me."

"And did you escape my memory in your combats, in a wine jug, or in the arms of other women, Wulf Ironfist?" she asked him.

"You have been ever with me, Cailin Drusus. In my thoughts and in my heart, lambkin. I could not escape you, I fear." He held her close, breathing in her scent, rubbing his cheek against her head.

The stone that her heart had become when she saw him again began to crumble. "What do you want of me, Wulf?" she asked him softly.

"We have found one another, my sweet lambkin," he told her. "Could we not begin again? The gods have reunited us."

"To what purpose, I wonder?" she answered.

He tilted her face up to his, and his mouth slowly closed over hers. His lips were warm, and so very soft, and as the kiss deepened, Cailin's heart almost broke in two. She still loved him! Worse. She loved Aspar, too! What was she to do? Unable to help herself, she let her arms slip up and about his neck.

"I no longer know what is right, or what is wrong," she said helplessly. "Ohh, cease, Wulf! I cannot think."

"Do not!" he said. "Tell me you do not love me, Cailin Drusus, and I will help you to escape Villa Maxima now. I will leave Constantinople, and you will never see me again. Perhaps it would be better that way. Our child is lost to us, and the life you lead here in Byzantium is a better life for you. Civilization suits you, lambkin. You know the rough destiny facing us back in Britain." Yet despite his words, he held her close, as if he could not bear to let her go.

Cailin was silent for what seemed an eternity, and then she said, "The child might yet live, Wulf. I somehow feel it does. What kind of parents are we that we do not even seek to find our child?"

"What of this Flavius Aspar? The man you are to wed?" he asked. "Is there not enough between you that you would remain here with him?"

"There is much between us," she replied quietly. "More than you can possibly know. I give up much to return to Britain with you, Wulf Ironfist; but there is much waiting for us in Britain. There are our lands, which I have no doubt Antonia has appropriated once more; and there is the hope of finding our child. The land has a certain meaning for me. Aspar's love, however, far outweighs it. It is our child that tips the balance of the scales in your favor.

"Once, and it seems so long ago now, we pledged ourselves to each other in wedlock. Our marriage would not be recognized by those in power here in Byzantium should I choose Aspar over you. It was not celebrated within their church. But the vows we made in our own land are sacred, and I will not deny them now that I know you live. I am a Drusus Corinium, and we are raised to honor our promises not simply when they are convenient, but always."

"I am not a duty to be done," he said, offended.

Cailin heard his tone. She smiled up at him. "No, Wulf Ironfist, you are not a duty, but you are my husband unless you choose here and now to renounce the vows we made to one another in my grandfather's hall that autumn night. Remember before you speak, however, that in denying me, you deny our lost child to us as well."

"You are certain of what you are saying, lambkin?" he asked.

"No, I am not, Wulf Ironfist," she told him candidly. "Aspar has been good to me. I love him, and I will hurt him when I leave him; but I love you also, it would seem, and there is our child."

"What if we cannot find it?" he questioned.

"Then there will be others," she said softly.

"Cailin," he whispered, "I want to love you as we once loved."

"It is expected of us," she replied, "is it not? The door is barred, and they will leave us in peace until the morning, but you must take that short tunic off, Wulf Ironfist. The gods! It leaves little to the imagination, and I prefer you without it."

Now they both stood naked in the flickering light of the lamps. Cailin filled her eyes with him. She had forgotten much, but now memory surged strongly through her. Reaching out, she touched a crescent-shaped scar on his chest, just above his left breast. "This is new," she said.

"I got it at the school in Capua," he told her, and then held out his right arm to her, "and this one at the spring games in Ravenna this past year. I was blocking a net man, and thinking he had me, he already had his dagger out. He died well, as I remember."

Cailin leaned forward and kissed the scar upon his arm. "You must never go into the ring again, Wulf. I lost you once, but I will not lose you again!"

"There is no safe place," he told her. "There is always danger lurking somewhere, my beloved." Then his two big hands cupped her face and he pressed kisses on her lips, her eyes, her cheeks. Her skin was so soft. She murmured low, her head falling back, her white throat straining. He licked hotly at the column of perfumed flesh, his lips lingering at the base of her neck, feeling the beating pulse beneath. "I love you, lambkin," he murmured. "I always have."

She suddenly seemed to flame with desire. She devoured him with her kisses; her lips and her tongue kissing, touching, licking at him. She touched the scar on his breastbone with her mouth, and he groaned as if in pain. She straightened herself, and they stared deeply into each other's eyes for what seemed an eternity. They were past words. Reaching out, she touched his manhood, stroking him gently, her fingers slipping around him to softly caress his pouch of life.

"You will unman me, sweet," he grated.

"You are no green boy," she reassured him, "and we may as well put to good use the things I have learned for our mutual pleasure." Slipping to her knees before him, she kissed his belly and thighs, then taking him in her mouth, she loved him until he begged her stop, pulling her to her feet to kiss her hungrily.

He drew her over to the dais, and they lay together upon the mattress, their bodies entwined, kissing more. She was no longer the shy girl he had known. Her hands were bold and touched him knowledgeably. He didn't know whether to be shocked or delighted, but in the end he erred on the side of delight. He had lost a sweet young wife. He had regained a passionate woman. Cradling her in the crook of his arm, he began to stroke her body, and she purred at him like a well-fed feline, encouraging him, crying out softly as her own pleasure began to build.

He cuddled the perfect globes of her breasts tenderly, leaning forward to lick at the nipples with a warm tongue, rousing the rosy tips. The taste of her was exciting, and he began to lick at her warm, silken skin, his tongue sweeping over her flesh; between her breasts, up her throat, back down again to her belly.

Cailin moaned fitfully and half sobbed, "Do you know how to pleasure a woman as I pleasured you?"

"Aye," he rasped, and lowered his head that he might do her bidding, flicking lightly at her little jewel, but then he probed at her more deeply, his tongue pushing into her suggestively.

"Ahhhh!" she cried out, and her body arched to meet him. He was driving her wild, and she sensed he knew it. Then Wulf pulled himself up, and seeking her woman's passage, slid slowly and sensuously into her. When he had sheathed himself as deeply as he could, he let himself rest a moment, his manhood throbbing its passionate message to her. Then grasping her hips in his hands, he moved rhythmically within her until her whimpering cries rang in his ears. Cailin's lids were heavy, but she forced her eyes open that she might look into his face as he possessed her.

He took her tenderly, kissing her face, murmuring his love and longing into her ear. She was full of him, and yet she longed for more of him. She had forgotten the passion that had once existed between them, but now he stirred the embers of her memory until she was afire, and remained so throughout the night as they made love to one another over and over again, seemingly unable to gain satisfaction for very long.

Finally exhausted, they fell into a light slumber, only to be awakened by a pounding upon the door of the chamber.

Wulf stumbled to his feet. The floor lamp and one of the smaller oil lamps had burned out. Unbarring the door, he opened it to find Casia and Jovian before him. "What do you want?" he growled.

"Justin Gabras has sent to Flavius Aspar," Jovian said. His voice was high-pitched and he appeared frightened.

Cailin scrambled up. "My clothes, Jovian! I must get dressed immediately, and for pity's sake find something respectable for Wulf Ironfist to wear when he meets the general."

Casia, who was already dressed in the garments she had worn yesterday, said, "I have your clothes, Cailin. Come with me!"

"Did you mean what you said last night?" Wulf asked her.

"Aye," Cailin answered him with a smile. "We are going home to Britain to reclaim our lands and find our child. Aye, I meant it!" She pushed past him and, with Casia leading the way, hurried down the corridor.

"You are mad!" Casia told her as she helped Cailin dress. "You would give up becoming Aspar's wife and all that Byzantium has to offer for that Saxon? No man is that wonderful in bed!"

Cailin laughed. "He is, but it isn't just that, Casia. Wulf Ironfist is my husband. We have a child, lost to us right now, to be certain; but we will find our child when we return home!"

" 'Tis madness!" Casia repeated. "How will you get back to Britain? What will you use for money? The chances of finding your child are incredible, Cailin. Have you no thought for Aspar? You will break his heart, I fear."

Cailin sighed deeply. "Do you think I do not know that, Casia? What would you do, caught between the love of two men? I cannot have them both, and so I must decide between them, though it pains me to do so."

The slave woman, Isis, came and told them, "Flavius Aspar and Prince Basilicus await you in the atrium, my ladies."

"Basilicus? Oh, the gods!" Casia sobbed.

When they reached the atrium, they found Justin Gabras was also there, as was Jovian and Wulf Ironfist. "You see!" Gabras crowed triumphantly. "What did I tell you, my lords! Once a whore, always a whore. I was shocked when they arrived last evening and then stayed to entertain the gladiators as only they are capable."

"How easily the lie rolls off your tongue, Justin Gabras," Cailin said coldly.

"Do you deny that you spent the night locked in the arms of the brawny Saxon, or that Casia entertained the gladiator known as the Hun?"

"Do you deny that that you forced us to it, stripping us of our garments, and making us play hide and seek in the gardens until we were caught and given as prizes to the gladiators?"

"I did not kidnap you and bring you here, lady," Gabras replied smugly. "You came here of your own free will, and now you would cry rape when your lewd behavior is found out."

"Be silent!" Flavius Aspar thundered, and Cailin drew a sharp breath, for she had never seen him so angry as he was at this minute. He pierced her with a hard look. "Did you come here of your own free will yesterday, lady?"

"Do not blame her, it is my fault!" Casia burst out. She was near to tears, a state that surprised the men who knew her.

Aspar's stern face softened a bit. "Tell me the truth of this, my love," he said, turning to Cailin. "You have never lied to me."

"Nor will I now, my lord Aspar," Cailin said quietly. "Yesterday at the games I thought I recognized one of the gladiators. I confided in Casia, and she felt we should come to Villa Maxima that I might see this man at a closer range in order to determine if I did indeed know him."

"She was reluctant to come," Casia broke in. "She was concerned if someone saw us, it would reflect badly on you, my lord."

"You need not defend me, Casia," Cailin chided her friend gently. "My lord knows my character well."

"And when you saw this gladiator close up, Cailin Drusus, was he indeed the man you thought he was?" Aspar asked her.

"Yes, my lord, he was, I fear. The man who is known as the Saxon is my husband, Wulf Ironfist," Cailin said, and while the two men were absorbing that startling revelation, she went on to explain what had happened to herself and to Casia at the hands of Justin Gabras.

When she had concluded her tale, Casia broke in quickly. "The Hun did not have me, my prince. He has, it seems, a very weak head for wine. My plan was to get him drunk and then hit him upon the head, but three goblets of Jovian's best Cyprian brew, and he was snoring like a wild boar with a bellyful of acorns and roots."

It was obvious that Basilicus wanted very much to believe Casia. Relief spread over his features when Wulf Ironfist said, "She is probably speaking the truth, my lord. I have lived with the Hun these months past, and it is true that he has no head for wine."

"And you, Cailin Drusus," Aspar said. "Did you get the Saxon drunk, too?" She saw the pain in his eyes, which he strove to hide from the others, and vowed silently that Gabras would not have this victory over Flavius Aspar; nor would she hurt him with this particular truth.

"Wulf and I spent the night talking, my lord. There was much for us to talk about, was there not, Wulf?"

The Saxon realized what she was doing, and wondered if Flavius Aspar would believe the lie that he now gave voice to in her support.

"Cailin speaks the truth, my lord. There was much unresolved between us."

"They are lying!" Justin Gabras shouted. "It is impossible for him to have spent the night with her and not made love to her!"

"Am I some green boy, you snake, that I must poke my sword in every pretty sheath that comes along? To call me a liar, Gabras, is to seek death!"

Justin Gabras paled and took a step backward.

"You've done your mischief, Gabras," Prince Basilicus said. "Now get you gone from here, and if one word of this scandal should reach my ears, I will personally see that you meet a most unpleasant end. You have no real friends in Byzantium, and if you want to see your child born, then you will forget what you have done."

"Is he not to be punished?" Casia demanded, relieved not to be in her lover's bad graces. "Look at the trouble he has caused!"

Basilicus laughed. "He is married to Flacilla Strabo. That is punishment enough, I think."

As Justin Gabras turned to leave, Phocas Maxima stepped from the shadows. "A moment, my lord Gabras. There is the matter of the bill. I think I should be wise to settle it today. You have made powerful enemies here this morning, and the span of your life is no longer certain." He took the man's arm and led him off.

Jovian, looking at the five people in his atrium, wondered what was to come next. He had not long to wait.

Aspar took Cailin's hand in his. "Tell me," he said.

"I must go home to Britain, my lord," she said quietly, but there were tears in her eyes when she said it.

"How easily you leave me, my love," he said bitterly.

"No," Cailin told him. "It is not easy for me to leave you, for I love you, but I have thought long and hard about what I must do. In the eyes of your Orthodox church I am not married, and therefore free to wed you, Aspar. But I know that under the old laws of marriage in Britain, I am Wulf's wife.

"Once the empress told me that love was a weakness for those in power. I did not believe her, my lord, but now I do. What if the Saxon had not been Wulf Ironfist? What would you have done knowing I had been forcibly violated? What if I had been driven mad by the incident? Gabras himself planned to have me, I know. How would you have felt upon learning that the woman you loved and planned to make your wife had been hurt, and shamed so?

"Your value to the empire would have come to an end, my lord, had any of these things come to pass. I am your weakness, Flavius Aspar! Your enemies can reach out and strike at you through me, through the children I would have given you. I was a childish fool to believe that we could live as quiet a life as my parents lived at their country villa. You are important to Byzantium, my love, and your usefulness is not yet at an end. Besides," she smiled at him, "you quite enjoy being an emperor-maker. You would be bored raising horses, hay, and grain.

"I must leave you, my dear lord, if I am to save you from your enemies. There is no other way, and in your heart you know that I am right in this. And what of Wulf Ironfist? He and I have lands in Britain that we must reclaim, and a child who is lost, but whom we will find. I cannot turn my back on any of this, though I am torn between you both! Once I said that Fortuna was not kind to me, but she has been too kind, I think, for what other woman has been so well-loved by two such wonderful men? It is possible, you know, for a woman to love two men.

"Had I ever believed that I should be reunited with Wulf Ironfist again, I should not have allowed you to love me, Flavius Aspar. You do not really need me. I am but a liability to you. Wulf needs me."

"You could not have ever kept me from loving you, Cailin Drusus," Aspar told her sadly, "but if you feel you must leave me, then I will not stand in your way." He wanted to plead with her to stay with him. He wanted to tell her that she was no liability to him; or if it was so, then he would take his chances with his enemies if it meant having her by his side. Instead he said, "You must take Nellwyn with you. Britain is her home, too, and I would not know what to do with her if you left her behind. She would be but a constant reminder of you."

"Yes, I will take Nellwyn."

"I will send word to Zeno to pack your belongings and send them here with the girl. Unless you would like to return to Villa Mare, and oversee this business yourself, my love."

"I can take nothing from you, my lord," Cailin said. "Under the circumstances, it would not be right."

"Do not be a little fool," the practical Casia snapped at her friend. "You need clothing, Cailin! I will go to Villa Mare and pack the garments that will best serve you. It is true that you will not need the more glorious clothing you possess, but you should take a warm cloak, some simple stolas, camisas, and slippers, for you will do a great deal of walking, I suspect, before you get home to your Britain."

Jovian, silent through all of this, now spoke up. "Phocas and I own a small trading vessel that is leaving for Massilia on the afternoon tide. It will not be luxurious, but it will get you to Gaul in just a few weeks. I can arrange passage for you, if you wish it."

"I think that would be an excellent idea," Aspar said. Best to get this over with quickly, he thought. "Do not forget her jewelry, Casia."

"No!" Cailin cried, stricken. "I cannot take it."

"Indeed, it would be dangerous to carry such valuables," Wulf said.

"You will need it to help you start over in Britain, Wulf Ironfist," Aspar said, addressing him for the first time. "Money may not buy happiness as we know it, but it buys a great deal of other things, including cattle and loyalty. Cailin and Nellwyn can sew the jewelry into your cloaks for safekeeping. I will see that you have coin as well."

"My lord…" Wulf did not know what to say.

"I want her taken care of, Saxon," Flavius Aspar said harshly. "Do you understand me? She is never to want for anything!"

Wulf nodded, and wondered if Cailin had chosen Aspar over him, would he have been so gallant. He wasn't certain.

Jovian left them to go arrange passage for the trio of travelers. The trading vessel upon which they would travel occasionally took passengers. It had one tiny wooden shed of a cabin upon the deck, which the captain and his mate shared unless there was a paying passenger along. When that happened, the captain and his mate slept in hammocks upon the open deck. The ship would never travel out of sight of land for too long. It was not large enough for an adequate water supply.

Jovian had six barrels of fresh water brought aboard and stored for Cailin and her party. He saw that there was a goat for milk, a pen full of chickens, several boxes of bread, four cheeses, and fruit. The vessel was to carry bolts of cloth woven in Constantinople to Gaul. There were also some expensive luxuries hidden among the cloth in order to escape the custom agent's eyes, although he was well bribed to overlook such infractions of the law.

Casia met them at the boat. She had not only packed the necessary clothing for her friend, but a comb, a pair of boots, and the jewelry as well. Nellwyn was astounded by the turn of events, but excited to actually be returning to Britain. Casia had explained everything to her. Her eyes widened at the sight of Wulf Ironfist.

Wulf's possessions were few and had been easily gathered together. The other gladiators were still sleeping, and would probably not miss the Saxon until the following day, when he did not appear for his match.

"It will be a great disappointment to the populace to find that the great unbeaten champion has disappeared," Jovian noted. "We must see that they hold Gabras responsible. They may riot against him. Perhaps even burn his palace down. Ahh, the possibilities are simply endless. Casia, my dear, I do not think I would go to the games tomorrow."

"I would have only gone to see the Saxon," Casia said with a small smile. Then turning to Cailin, she hugged her. "I will miss your honesty. Go with the gods, dear friend. When the winter winds curse this city, I will think of you back home in your beloved Britain. I still think it a savage place, and you a madwoman to go!" She sniffed audibly.

"And I will miss your irreverent ways," Cailin said softly. "We will not be back to Britain by winter, though. Perhaps in the springtime. Farewell, dear Casia. May the gods favor you always." She turned to Aspar, who stood silently.

Taking his hand, she raised it to her lips and kissed it. "If you regret one moment, I shall never forgive you, Flavius Aspar. Our love is real, and it is true; but the fates have governed that we go in separate directions. I will never forget you, my dear lord."

"The memory of you will have to suffice me," he replied quietly. "I will never forget you, Cailin Drusus. You taught me how to love, and for that I am not certain that I can forgive you. Perhaps it is better not to know how to love than to ache with the loss of it. God go with you, my precious love," he finished, and he tenderly kissed her lips, bringing tears to her eyes.

"Damn you, Aspar," she whispered.

"I was born beneath the sign of the Scorpion, my love. I sting when I am hurt. Now get aboard before I decide I cannot be noble."

The ship sailed out of the walled Phosphorion Harbor, around the point of the city, past the imperial palace. The day was bright, and the water sparkled as they passed the Marble Tower that marked the end of the city's walls. Their vessel skimmed the waves, the fresh breeze sending it onward.

Wulf Ironfist put a hard arm about Cailin and drew her close to him. "I hope that neither of us regrets the bargain between us."

"I do not think so," she told him, and as their ship swept past Villa Mare, she whispered a silent, final good-bye to Flavius Aspar. He would survive, and so would she. She was becoming good at survival, she thought, and then she turned her face to the ship's bow. The wind caught at her long auburn curls and blew them about as she looked west. For the first time in months she knew who she was. She was Cailin Drusus, a Briton, descendant of a Roman tribune and a host of Celtic ancestors, and she was going home. Home to Britain!