‘I knew it would.’
Vespasian stared at her incredulously. ‘How?’
‘I don’t know, but I knew that I should give it to you.’
He told Caenis the story of how the amulet had saved him from the Caenii tribe in Thracia and how their chief, Coronus, believed that she was the granddaughter of his enslaved sister.
When he had finished she took the amulet in her hand and gazed at it. ‘After my mother died I used to lie awake at night holding this; it used to make me feel close to her, almost a part of her. I also felt as if it connected me with a larger family in a way that I couldn’t understand but it was a comforting feeling. Now I know why. It’s a powerful thing; it saved your life and found my family.’
‘Take it back, my love,’ Vespasian said, lifting the leather thong over his head, ‘I’ve no further need for it. It’s given me life; what more can it do?’
She took it from him. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered. She kissed him and then padded softly out of the room.
Antonia called for Vespasian, Sabinus and their uncle at the second hour of the day. Pallas ushered them into the lavishly furnished formal reception room where she sat on a plump divan in front of a low, pink-marble table. At a right angle to her left, a corpulent, fair-skinned Greek with oiled black hair and beard perched uncomfortably on a wooden chair. He wore a citizens’ toga over a pale-blue linen tunic. Despite the inequality of seating arrangements the Greek managed to keep an air of dignity about his posture as if it were beneath him to notice such an obvious slight.
As he crossed the mosaic floor Vespasian glanced at the curtain behind which he and his brother had hidden with Caligula four years ago and wondered if his young friend was eavesdropping there even now. Antonia caught his look and smiled. ‘I’ve had a lock put on the door to that room now, so little Gaius has to find other places hide in.’
Disconcerted by Antonia’s ability to read his thoughts, however trivial, Vespasian took the seat that Pallas proffered to Antonia’s right. Sabinus and Gaius sat opposite her.
‘Gentlemen, this is the freedman Narcissus, my son’s secretary,’ Antonia said by way of introduction.
Regardless of his lower status Narcissus made no attempt to get up but waved a stubby hand, heavy with bejewelled rings, imperiously at each of the brothers and Gaius as Antonia named them, without meeting their eyes, as if he was welcoming them to his court. His strongly scented pomade hung heavily in the air. Vespasian and Sabinus nodded briefly in reply.
There was a brief interruption as cups of pomegranate juice were served to each of them by a couple of young, male slaves. As they left Caenis appeared with writing materials and settled at a table just behind Antonia. Pallas stood next to her.
‘Would you mind if my secretary minutes this conversation?’ Antonia asked Narcissus in a casual tone. Narcissus half closed his eyes, held out both hands and slowly shrugged his shoulders, as if graciously giving his consent in a matter of little or no importance to him, before picking up his cup and taking a delicate sip.
A flash of anger passed briefly over Antonia’s face. Vespasian was amazed by the lack of deference the Greek showed the most powerful woman in Rome. What sort of household did Claudius run if his secretary was free to act like some eastern potentate?
‘Thank you for coming at such short notice, my good Narcissus,’ Antonia said, her face now a mask of politeness.
‘My pleasure, dear lady,’ Narcissus replied in a surprisingly high voice whilst dabbing his lips with a silken handkerchief. ‘Your note suggested that you wished to consult me on a matter concerning my patron, your son, the noble Claudius. Being his loyal servant and ever mindful of his wellbeing I felt obliged to drop everything and answer your summons.’
‘I’ll come straight to the point then, as you seem to be such a busy man.’ Antonia was evidently anxious to puncture as soon as possible the Greek’s air of self-satisfied smugness. ‘These gentlemen found a letter written in code by your colleague Boter on behalf of my son and using his seal. Pallas, be so good as to read it for us.’
Vespasian watched Narcissus’ face carefully as the letter was read out. He kept his eyes closed; a couple of twitches at the corner of his mouth were the only outward signs of worry as he listened. When he opened his eyes after Pallas had finished there was an unmistakable look of panic in them as he glanced quickly around the table.
‘This has been written without my knowledge, domina,’ Narcissus asserted, his voice slightly higher than before.
‘Pallas guessed as much; he said that you were far too sensible to advise my son to take such a foolish course of action as to intrigue with Sejanus. That’s why I thought that I’d speak to you before deciding how to proceed.’
Narcissus gave Pallas a grateful look. ‘What do you intend doing with this, domina?’ he enquired.
‘What do you think I should do?’
Narcissus looked at Antonia hopefully. ‘Perhaps you could give it to me?’
‘My dear Narcissus, that wouldn’t solve the problem as there is already a copy. Since you so kindly agreed to my secretary minuting our meeting she has just written down the contents of the letter word for word. I’ll be happy to give you a copy of the minutes but, as I’m sure you’ll understand, I must keep the original for my records.’
Vespasian suppressed a smile as Antonia’s elegant trap closed around the oily Greek and his shoulders sagged.
‘Most noble lady, who else knows of this?’
‘Just the people in this room; you were fortunate that Vespasian and Sabinus brought it to me and not to Sejanus or the Emperor, both of whom would have rewarded them handsomely.’
‘Indeed, domina, I owe them a debt of gratitude which I can assure you will be repaid if ever I am able,’ Narcissus agreed with a genuine note of sincerity. ‘However, until that time what would you have me do?’
Antonia smiled, knowing that she now had the Greek in her power. ‘Now that, my dear Narcissus, is a very good question. As you are no doubt aware I am working to counter Sejanus’ power and this letter would be all I need to show Tiberius to finally convince him that Sejanus is plotting to become Emperor. However, it also implicates my son and although it doesn’t mention whether they are planning to wait for Tiberius to die naturally or to hasten the matter along by murder, Tiberius may well choose to believe the latter. In which case Claudius would either be executed and his property seized, and you would become destitute; or Claudius, along with his entire household, would be banished to some rocky island in the middle of nowhere, and you would become irrelevant.’
Narcissus swallowed hard; the options were hardly appealing. ‘Illustrious lady, you wouldn’t risk the life of your own son to destroy Sejanus, would you?’
Antonia’s eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t tell me what I would or wouldn’t do, freedman. To tell you the truth, I’m so angered by Claudius’ stupidity that I’m almost minded to throw him to Tiberius’ mercy, or lack of it.’
‘Please accept my humblest apologies, domina,’ Narcissus spluttered, hastily rising to his feet and bowing low.
‘Sit down and stop fawning!’ Antonia barked.
Narcissus sat back down on his uncomfortable chair as quickly as he had got up; all traces of his imperious dignity had vanished.
‘Now, listen well to what I want you to do,’ Antonia said in a calmer voice. ‘I will not show the letter to the Emperor, even though it would get me what I want at the cost of no more than a useless son. In return for this I require you to go to your patron and persuade him to come to me with the names of all the other “people of calibre” that he wrote to and what their replies were. He should do it today before I change my mind; and make sure that he understands well that if he doesn’t I will forget that he’s my son.’
‘He will be here in a couple of hours, I promise you, domina.’
‘Good. The other thing I require you to do is kill Boter; I will not have him leading Claudius on any more ill- conceived attempts to make him Emperor and it is high time that he paid for the shame that he caused my family by cuckolding him.’
‘It will be done today, domina,’ Narcissus said with a malicious grin. ‘He has endangered me and my patron, whom I work hard to protect and keep safe.’
‘Not hard enough evidently,’ Antonia observed. ‘As to your personal plans for Claudius, if you still harbour any
