'I must wake her,' Burrus whispered.
The old woman shrugged. 'What interest is that to me?'
Burrus went to go inside but the woman clutched at his ankle. 'She is exhausted from the birth. Leave her be, for the gods' sake. Let her sleep.'
'The red-haired one demands it.'
The old woman stiffened. 'Has he rejected the child?'
'He picked her up. He has acknowledged her.'
She relaxed. 'Then no one will know of the shameful secrets we harbour here.'
'You and your 'shame', old woman. You walk the halls muttering that we're the house of the walking damned, but you see the love Nilla and I share and you encourage it. Just as you do with red-hair and his whore.'
The old servant wouldn't acknowledge this as true, even if it was. 'Wake her gently, you oaf. Don't worry her.'
'What else do you think I'll do?'
Burrus crept to sleeping Nilla in the bed. 'My love,' he whispered, softly kissing her cheek. 'Wake up, my love.'
Nilla stirred from the depths of her exhaustion. 'So tired, Burrus …'
'The red-haired one wants you to come to him. The whore says he wants to congratulate you for the birth.'
'My little girl?'
'He has picked her up. The midwives are with her. All is well and happy, as we planned.'
'That is good…'
Burrus lifted her from the bed, carrying her easily to the door. The old servant placed a sheepskin on Nilla. 'Careful,' she whispered. 'Watch your step.'
Burrus didn't need to be told. He took the stairs slowly, the mother of his child a sleeping bundle in his arms. Reaching the ground floor, he moved swiftly through the atrium and into the study, where Nilla's husband was waiting. The oil lamps had been extinguished. The room was now in semi-darkness. Albucilla rose from a chair, silhouetted against the moonlit garden beyond.
'I have brought Nilla to you,' Burrus whispered. 'Say your congratulations.'
The midwives were gone. Albucilla was the only other woman left in the room. 'Congratulations,' she said.
'They're your lover's most heartfelt words, are they?' said Burrus. Turning to the shadows, he called, 'Show your wife a smile at least, domine, so that she can see that our agreement still stands.'
'Our agreement does not stand,' said Albucilla.
Alarmed, Burrus realised she had a sword in her hand. 'What do you mean? What is that for? You plan to attack us?'
'I plan only to defend myself. Should the need arise.'
Burrus looked around the dark room and realised with dismay that Ahenobarbus was not even there. 'I have woken his wife and brought her downstairs and now he's playing jokes on us?'
'He has left,' said Albucilla simply, her fingers tightening around the sword.
A dread seized Burrus, with Nilla still sleeping in his arms. 'The baby — where is our baby?'
'He has taken it. Without the red hair, Rome would have whispered that the child wasn't his. He was a fool to ever hope otherwise. He's too softhearted, and you took advantage of him with your little 'agreement'. I've made him see sense.'
If Burrus's beloved Nilla had not been sleeping in his arms, he would have snatched the sword from Albucilla and slit her belly with it.
'Where has he taken her?'
'Beyond the walls,' said Albucilla. 'Just like any other needless child. He will leave her near a tombstone, slave, and there she will be exposed.'
Drusilla laughed and laughed, and when Aemilius touched her again, she laughed some more — a ringing, delighted cry that sounded like birdsong, she thought, as she rolled in the grass with flowers and leaves in her hair.
Aemilius's voice was dulled and thick, as if coming from another room, even though he was right next to her with his warm, soft hands upon her skin.
'That feels lovely,' she said. 'So balmy and nice. Do you like it?'
He answered with that thick voice again and she couldn't determine the words.
'Kiss me,' she said. 'Or have you already? That was what my present was to be for drinking it, remember?' He kissed her hard on the mouth and she liked it. 'You're all wet inside,' said Drusilla, laughing again, until she found she couldn't stop laughing, or didn't want to stop — she wasn't sure which.
His hands were all over her and she thrilled to it. 'Look at how the sunlight catches the hair on your tummy,' she told him. Then it struck her as funny that she could see his tummy at all. 'Look at your belly button,' she said. She wanted to peer at it closely. 'It's so delicious!' She was aware of her sister Julilla crying somewhere. 'I'm all right,' she called out, hoping to placate her. Then, to Aemilius's stomach again, she cried, 'I want to eat it!' She clamped her lips to his skin, thrashing with her tongue. Then she thought she could hear Little Boots somewhere too.
She felt hot. Her garments constricted her. 'Take them off,' she moaned. 'I feel suffocated.'
Aemilius's hands were on her eagerly, clawing at her clothes.
'That's better,' she told him. 'That's so much better…' She was on her back in the grass, feeling free and alive. She spread her arms and legs and let the cool breeze reach her. 'So much better,' she murmured. 'So nice…'
Aemilius's hands were at her sex. 'Naughty,' she admonished. 'I wouldn't let anyone else do that, you know.' She felt his fingers reach inside her. 'That tickles… that tickles!'
Suddenly her brother was there with flailing fists. She heard his words distinctly. 'Bastard!' he cried. 'That's my sister, you bastard!' The nice game in the grass had become an ugly fight. Little Boots pulled Aemilius from her and was beating him. She heard Julilla's cries. Drusilla tried to direct her eyes, but she couldn't see anything but flowers. 'I don't mind,' she called out. 'I want it to happen — I'm ready for it. It's because I drank the potion.'
Her sex was filled before she knew it — then a mouth was on her mouth, a tongue tasting hers. 'Aemilius,' she murmured. 'Did you win the fight? Did you make Little Boots go away?'
Bruised and bloody, Aemilius watched the taking of Drusilla's virginity from the other side of the garden, where he cowered. Across the lawn, beneath the chestnut trees, Drusilla writhed beneath the lover she thought was him. Little Boots had been unable to bear his friend being the one to claim her, when he himself loved Drusilla so dearly. He beat Aemilius with his fists until his friend agreed to enjoy the drugged Drusilla only when Little Boots had claimed first prize.
Once, Aemilius supposed, he would have been disgusted with himself for partaking in such degeneracy. But this was the Emperor's island. Still, he found his head turning away from the incestuous scene to watch little Julilla rocking back and forth inside a rosebush. The thorns looked very cruel, and he saw that they had torn her skin. But still he found it easier to watch the girl than her older sister. Aemilius wanted the image of Drusilla he held in his mind to be unsullied by anything Little Boots did to her.
Burrus returned to the House of the Aemilii with his arms around Nilla, wanting to protect her but knowing he had failed. Dawn came, bringing the fifth day since their daughter's birth, but Nilla's eyes, when the sun's rays fell on them, were soulless. Her spirit had gone as surely as if she'd died. She drifted somewhere at the limits of Rome, calling for her child. The Nilla in Burrus's arms was a shell, alive but not living. The aged maid let them in from the street, bolting the huge bronze doors behind them.
'Will you keep up this search?' she asked.
Burrus nodded.
'It will kill her. Look at her eyes.'
'It will kill her if we stop,' said Burrus.
'Then it will take both your lives,' said the old woman. She had soup ready on a little brazier in the entrance hall and she gave Burrus a cup. 'What would be the point of it, then? Both of you dead?'
Burrus tried to make Nilla take the cup in her hands, but when she would not grip it he held the soup to her
