Rome's Executioner (Vespasian) by Robert Fabbri

Author:Robert Fabbri
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780857896766
Publisher: Atlantic Books
Published: 2012-05-01T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XI

VESPASIAN WOKE THE following morning as a trail of soft kisses worked their way down his chest towards his belly. He opened his eyes; the room was still dark and a gentle breeze blew through the open window beyond which the sky heralded the coming day with a faint, pre-dawn glow. The kisses worked their way across his belly; with a sigh, Vespasian closed his eyes again and lay back in bliss.

‘That’s my master attended to,’ Caenis whispered a while later as she lay her head back on his shoulder, ‘now I have to go and attend to my mistress.’

‘I hope that she doesn’t require you to be so considerate,’ Vespasian murmured, gently kissing her soft, sweet-smelling hair.

Caenis giggled. ‘I have to do anything and everything that she asks,’ she teased, her smiling features now visible as the first rays of dawn light flooded through the window.

Vespasian felt his heart flutter and smiled down at her. ‘So do I, it seems; in a way we’re both her slaves.’

‘But you don’t have to pare her toenails or pluck her eyebrows.’

‘True, but then you don’t have to drag unpleasant priests back from Moesia and then take them to the Emperor on Capreae.’

‘Yes,’ Caenis said, giving him a worried look. ‘My mistress is very concerned about that at the moment.’

‘Why? She didn’t mention any worries yesterday evening.’

‘That’s because she’s not sure whether they have any substance.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘My love, you must swear that if she talks to you about them you’ll feign ignorance. I’m trusted by her and I wouldn’t want her to think that I’ve betrayed her trust, which I do only for my love for you, because if her suspicions are correct, you could be in danger.’

‘You don’t need me to swear, you must know that I’d never do or say anything that would in any way compromise you with Antonia.’

Caenis leant up and kissed Vespasian on the lips. ‘I know,’ she whispered softly. She laid her head back on his chest. ‘When my mistress wishes to communicate with Macro she sends Clemens and when Macro wants to relay something to her he uses another of his men, Satrius Secundus, who’s based with him in the Praetorian camp. They’re always verbal messages, for obvious reasons, but I know the content because she dictates them to me after, along with the replies, for her records. Now, Secundus’ wife, Albucilla, is a notorious slut, something that he actively encourages in the hopes of advancing his position – provided her affairs are with men, or sometimes women, of influence. My mistress found out a few days ago, from a spy that she recently managed to place in her daughter Livilla’s household, that last month Albucilla began an affair with not only Livilla but also Sejanus; when he’s in Rome the three of them share a bed.’

‘And so Antonia suspects that Secundus has encouraged this in order to gain favour with Sejanus; in which case she must be worried that he’s probably betrayed all her correspondence with Macro and therefore Macro’s involvement with her.

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