Agent of Rome: The Imperial Banner (The Agent of Rome) by Nick Brown

Author:Nick Brown [Brown, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 2012-06-07T00:00:00+00:00

XX

Cassius had seen his share of luxurious villas: scores in Cyzicus and his native Ravenna, even a few in Rome; but nothing could have prepared him for the House of the Dolphins.

Just beyond the main entrance was a reception room of immense dimensions and brazen splendour. The walls were faced with pink Egyptian granite, giving the whole chamber a faint red glow. The guests – three hundred at least – moved between life-sized statues cast in bronze and silver. Running along the floor from each wall to the centre of the room were paths made by immaculately rendered mosaics; mostly fish or other sea creatures. Where the paths met in the centre of the room was a high plinth, and upon it a spectacular white marble bust of Aphrodite, leaning down to touch a leaping dolphin.

Lady Antonia nudged Cassius and pointed at the tray being proffered to him by a servant. On the tray were glasses of wine. Antonia was already holding one.

‘Good for your nerves.’

Cassius took a glass and shrugged. ‘What nerves?’

Antonia smiled. She had met him outside with a convincing ‘Hello, nephew,’ before grabbing his arm and hurrying up the steps. They were the last guests to enter and the doors had just been closed behind them.

‘Come.’

Antonia led him along one of the mosaic paths. Whatever her ancestry, it certainly wasn’t Syrian. Her skin was as light as Cassius’s, and her hair a kind of dark blonde. At five and a quarter feet she was what he considered to be the perfect height for a woman. She wore dark kohl around her eyes; and the blackness brought out a green just a shade darker than the emeralds embedded in the bronze viper circling her upper right arm. She was wearing a long, flowing stola, with a vibrant purple border at the neck. Remarkably slim for her age, she was also blessed with high breasts and a pert behind.

Cassius imagined she would have been quite lovely in her youth. It was a pity she was about the same age as his mother.

Antonia stopped next to the statue of Aphrodite, taking up one of the few free spaces in the room. She had a placid half-smile fixed on her face, and scanned the room as she spoke.

‘Abascantius is becoming more inventive with his choice of operatives. You look every inch the fine young gentleman.’

‘Is it beyond the realms of possibility that I am one?’

Antonia sipped at her drink and looked him up and down. ‘Fine – certainly. Young – obviously. But a gentleman? In the employ of that toad? Unlikely.’

Cassius chose not to point out that she was also ‘in the employ of that toad’. ‘Then I shall do my best to convince you.’

‘I look forward to it. Just let me do most of the talking. Starting now.’

‘What—’

‘Antonia, my darling!’

Cassius turned round to see a very overweight man waddling towards them, flanked by two fresh-faced servants.

‘Festus, I’ve not seen you in an age.’

Antonia smiled as Festus kissed her hand. His gaze shifted to Cassius.

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