Vespasian: Tribune of Rome (20 page)

‘You know perfectly well why, if indeed you were even in bed after what you’ve been plotting this evening.’

‘Plotting, my dear prefect? You’ll have to enlighten me. I’ve spent the evening with my secretary Caenis, writing letters.’

‘You lying bitch, she was a prisoner at Livilla’s house and you sent a rescue party there to free her.’

‘If that were true how would you be able to prove it without admitting that you and Livilla kidnapped her in the first place? I am
sure that the Emperor would be very interested to know why you and my daughter would want to take Caenis prisoner.’

‘Three of my men are dead.’

‘That, prefect, is nothing to do with me. As I have told you, I was writing letters with my secretary all evening – unless you would prefer your version of events to reach the Emperor’s ears? Do you feel strong enough yet to admit to the Emperor that you are still having an affair with Livilla, an imperial princess, sister of the great Germanicus, whom Tiberius has already forbidden you to marry knowing that if you did it would make you a possible heir to him and therefore his rival? I think not, Sejanus. Now leave.’

‘You’ve not heard the last of this. I saw one of your murderers this evening and if I ever find him I shall use all means possible to link him to you.’

‘An empty threat, prefect, it would still prove nothing.’

‘That may be so, but it won’t stop me enjoying it.’ He hit the door in his frustration, which without much weight behind it opened a fraction.

‘Locked, you say? Well, it seems to be mysteriously unlocked now.’

Caligula signalled Sabinus and Vespasian to stay behind the door and walked around it. Sejanus grabbed Caligula’s ear in the dim light of the doorway and pulled him roughly to his knees.

‘What have we here then? A little spy?’

‘Ow! Get your hands off me, you bastard.’

‘That, Sejanus, as you should well know, is my grandson, Gaius Caesar Germanicus. You would do well to let him go immediately and ask him to forgive an assault on a member of the imperial household.’

Sejanus let go of Caligula’s ear as if it were a red-hot iron, gave Antonia a look of utter hatred and stormed off down the corridor. Antonia smiled and then walked into the room and looked behind the door.

‘I thought so,’ she said, seeing Sabinus and Vespasian in the gloom. ‘Out you come.’

The brothers obeyed, looking extremely sheepish.

‘Well, I suppose you heard all of that?’

‘Yes, Grandmother; and I thought that you dealt with him brilliantly.’

‘I said that it would be a galling experience for him and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, Vespasian, you are definitely not safe. If he were to catch you, you would be wishing for death throughout the long days of life that he would ensure remained to you.’

Vespasian blanched slightly. ‘I’d better go north, then; has Asinius fixed my appointment?’

‘I shall find out in the morning. Now I really am going to bed, as should you, gentlemen. Goodnight to you all.’ With that she disappeared off down the corridor.

Vespasian closed the door of his room, sat down on the bed and assessed his situation. He needed to be out of Rome for a good while until Sejanus’ image of him faded. Four years’ military service should do it, but that would be four years with no chance of seeing Caenis; but she was a forlorn hope anyway and he would do better to forget her. Four years should be long enough to do that as well.

His mind made up, he stripped, pulled back the blanket, got into bed and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the roar of the wind outside. There was a knock on the door.

‘Who is it?’ he asked.

The door opened and Vespasian took a sharp intake of breath. ‘Caenis, what are you doing here?’ He felt his mouth go dry.

‘My mistress said that I should come and thank you for what you did this evening.’ She approached the bed.

‘Well, that’s good of you, but you already thanked us all earlier,’ he replied, his heart pounding causing his voice to shake slightly.

She sat down at the end of the bed. ‘I know, but my mistress said that I should come and really thank you.’

‘Oh, I see,’ he said in a thin voice.

He’d had women before, quite a few in fact, but they’d always been slave girls owned by either his parents or grandmother. Slave girls who could not say no for fear of punishment. Caenis was different. She was a slave girl, yes, but she was also the first person who made him feel intoxicated by just thinking of her. He wanted her more than anything but he was not going to have her against her wishes; and her mistress had ordered her to come to him.

Caenis slipped her loose tunic over her shoulders exposing the exquisite breasts that he’d caught sight of at dinner. He felt his scrotum tighten and the blood rushing to his groin.

‘Caenis, you mustn’t,’ he whispered.

‘Why not?’ she asked, standing up so that the tunic fell to her ankles. In the dim light of the single oil lamp he could see the gentle roundness of her belly, the smooth curve of her hips and delicate softness of her labia, plucked clean of all hair. She stepped out of her tunic and came closer.

‘Because I don’t want you to do anything against your will,’ he replied breathlessly.

‘Who said that I’m here against my will?’ She sat on the bed next to him and put a hand on his chest.

‘Antonia ordered you to come.’

‘My mistress did suggest that I come and thank you, but she also gave me permission to stay. I am her property; I would not give myself to you without her consent, but now I have that I want nothing more than to be with you tonight.’

She moved her hand down across his stomach and over his erection and smiled. ‘Mmm, I think that you too are willing to give your consent.’

He raised a hand and gently brushed the back of it over her nipples; she shivered involuntarily and sighed with pleasure.

‘I do give my consent,’ he murmured, putting his hand behind her head and bringing her closer. Her fingers tightened around his penis and she looked into his eyes.

‘Vespasian, you are beautiful,’ she whispered.

‘So are you, Caenis.’

He smiled at her and, stroking her thick, perfumed hair, pulled her into a kiss that he felt could last for ever.

V
ESPASIAN AWOKE AFTER
a brief but rejuvenating sleep. The wind had died down and it had stopped raining. He felt the warmth of Caenis’ body lying next to him and turned on his side to admire her beauty in the thin dawn light. He ran his hand over her back and on to her buttocks, cupping one gently, letting his fingers probe the warm crevice between them. She moaned softly and then resumed breathing quietly. Thinking that he would wake her in the lover’s favourite way he nuzzled the side of her neck with his mouth and worked his fingers lower. She turned and put an arm around him and, drawing herself closer, kissed him on the mouth. Opening her eyes she looked at him with love.

‘How did you sleep?’ she asked gently, then she suddenly looked around the room and sat up. ‘Minerva! My mistress will be furious.’ She jumped out of bed and pulled on her tunic.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘It’s way past dawn, I should be attending to my mistress, laying out dresses for her to choose from for the day and getting things ready to do her hair.’

‘Shall we see each other before I go?’ Vespasian asked, realising that it could be four years before he saw her again.

‘I don’t know, but even if we do we won’t be able to talk.’ She gazed at him with eyes so full of love that he felt his heart stutter. ‘I will wait for you, Vespasian. Who knows but in four years, if I work hard for my mistress, I may be freed; she is not ungenerous.’

‘But Augustus set the minimum age limit for freeing a slave at thirty.’

She stepped into her shoes and leant over to the bed; she kissed him briefly but passionately. ‘I know, but I live in hope that the law doesn’t always apply to the people in power.’ She stroked his cheek. ‘I must leave now.’

‘Wait! Before you go, last night in the cell a big man came down the stairs and you screamed. Why?’

She blanched at the memory and took a deep breath. ‘He was to torture me. He took great pleasure in showing me the instruments that he would be using. He terrified me, mainly because he seemed to be looking forward to it so much.’

‘Who is he?’ Vespasian asked, putting his arms around her protectively.

‘He’s Sejanus’ freedman. His name is Hasdro.’

She kissed him once more and ran out of the room. Vespasian put a hand to his face, closed his eyes and, savouring her aroma on his fingers, contemplated four years without seeing, touching, smelling or tasting her.

Eventually he climbed out of bed and washed his face in a bowl of cold water that had been placed on the chest the night before. There was a knock at the door and in walked Caligula, smiling as he always seemed to do.

‘What a night, eh? Such fun; and I believe you rounded it off with a very grateful girl.’

‘What? How did you know that?’ Vespasian demanded, shocked.

‘I like it when they’re grateful, don’t you?’ Caligula carried on, ignoring the question. ‘That’s why I often have an ugly one. They are so grateful that they do anything you want, with anything you want, very enthusiastically.’

‘I asked you a question,’ Vespasian insisted.

‘Oh, yes. I was on my way back from asking Pallas to fetch me this very buxom kitchen slave that I’ve been meaning to try for some time – she was very grateful too by the way – when I saw the delightful Caenis knock on your door and go in.’

Vespasian reddened and tried to hide it by drying his face with a cloth.

‘Oh, come now.’ Caligula grinned at him. ‘There’s no need to be embarrassed; as I said, we all have our needs and I believe that it would be a crime against the gods to ignore them; they gave them to us after all. Just imagine how dull life would be if we spent all our time suppressing our desires. You’re a lucky chap, you know, my grandmother has banned me from even thinking about having Caenis and she’s threatened all sorts of nasty reprisals if I try. Did you know that she’s even given Caenis permission to hit me – me! Can you imagine it?’

‘I’m glad to hear it.’ Vespasian was relieved to learn that Antonia had taken steps to protect her favoured slave from the seemingly insatiable sexual appetite of his new young friend.

‘Shall we go and find some breakfast? I’m ravenous, as you must be too.’

‘Yes, gratitude does help you work up an appetite,’ Vespasian observed, tying on his loincloth. He pulled his tunic over his head, fastened his belt and, slipping into his slippers, followed Caligula out of the room.

They found Sabinus already eating in the triclinium. They joined him for a leisurely breakfast of freshly baked bread, cheese and olives washed down with sweet watered wine, whilst discussing the previous night’s events – which included Caligula filling Sabinus in on who he saw entering his brother’s room.

‘Well, well, little brother, so you’ve finally given up mules and moved on to slaves; well done. One day soon you may even get your cock into something that has a choice in the matter.’

Vespasian knew that it was pointless rising to his brother so contented himself by throwing a hunk of bread at him.

Antonia joined them halfway through the second hour of the day. ‘Good morning, gentlemen, I hope that you all slept well.’

Vespasian couldn’t help feeling that there was a hint of irony aimed at him in the remark. Antonia sat and a waiting slave poured her a cup of watered wine. She looked at the two brothers. ‘It’s as I feared: Sejanus has posted a group of Praetorians a little way up the hill watching the front of the house and another group down the side alley watching the stable-yard gate. So we shall have to be careful.’ She gestured to the slave without looking at him. ‘Fetch Pallas.’

The slave bowed and left the room.

‘Is there any news from Asinius, domina?’ Vespasian asked.

‘I sent him a message this morning and he’s promised to come here as soon as he has dealt with his clients for the day; let us hope that he brings some good news with him.’

Pallas entered the room.

‘Pallas, I want you to have two covered litters prepared in the stable yard. Do not have them sent around the front until Sabinus and Vespasian have been hidden in them.’

‘Yes mistress.’ The steward bowed and hurried off to give the necessary orders.

Antonia turned back to Sabinus and Vespasian. ‘Once you are each in a litter they’ll come out of the stable yard and round to the front of the house where Gaius and I will get in quickly, then we’ll head down the hill before our watching friends have time to react.’

‘That’s very neat, Grandmother,’ Caligula said, warming to the idea of another escapade. ‘But how do we get them out of the litters? We can’t just take them home; we’re bound to be followed.’

‘We’ll go to the Forum. It’s a market day; lots of people will have
come into the city so it will be very crowded by midmorning; they should be able to slip out there undetected.’

‘Thank you, domina,’ Sabinus said.

‘It is I who should thank you,’ Antonia replied. ‘What you all did last night not only saved Caenis’ life but also bought us more time to construct a case against Sejanus strong enough to convince the Emperor.’

Pallas walked back in. ‘Titus Flavius Sabinus and his wife Vespasia Polla are here requesting an interview with you, mistress; they want to know the whereabouts of their sons.’

‘Bugger it!’ Sabinus exclaimed. ‘Why couldn’t they just wait patiently at home?’

‘I don’t think that we can blame our father for this,’ Vespasian said, looking worried. ‘But I’m afraid that they’ve unknowingly made a big mistake coming here; the Praetorians would have seen them and if they follow them home then Sejanus will be one step closer to us.’

‘I’m afraid that you may be right,’ Antonia said, getting up. ‘But they are here and I should see them. Come with me, all of you.’

She led them out into the atrium where an anxious Vespasia and a very embarrassed Titus were waiting.

‘Domina!’ Vespasia exclaimed, coming forward with her hands outstretched in supplication. ‘Thank you for consenting to receive us. Where are our . . .? Oh!’ Vespasia caught sight of Sabinus and Vespasian.