'Lady, put your robe back on,' he said.
'You killed my husband, Wulf Ironfist. Now I am lonely. Do you not think you should compensate me for the loss of Quintus Drusus?' Antonia purred to her horrified audience. She slipped her hands beneath her large breasts, with their deep rose nipples, and lifted them as if she were offering them to him. 'Are you not tempted to sample these fine fruits, Wulf Ironfist? Is that weapon beneath your braccos not already hard with your longing for me?'
'Clothe yourself, lady,' he said coldly. 'You disgust me.'
She launched herself at him, her naked body pressing against him. He was overpowered by the scent of musk. 'You are the handsomest man in the province, Wulf Ironfist,' she said, panting with desire. 'I always have the handsomest man in the province for my mate.' Her arms slipped tightly about his neck. 'Kiss me, you Saxon brute, and then you must take me.
Wulf took her arms from him and thrust her away. He felt near to vomiting. 'Lady, your grief has made you mad. First your husband and child, and then my wife and son. I am sorry for you, but I must master my own grief. It is already tearing me apart.
When Anthony Porcius returned from Corinium several weeks later, his daughter was prepared and waiting. They sat together in the mid-autumn air of her garden while Antonia nursed the infant at her breast.
'I was shocked, Father,' she said. 'He didn't want her. He was ready to expose her on the hillside, had I not begged him for the child. All that mattered to him was that Cailin had not given him the son he wanted. These Saxons are cruel people, Father. Fortunately, little Quintus was ready to be weaned, and my milk is rich, so I decided to take the baby and raise her with my son. It almost makes up for having lost my own baby. Poor Cailin!'
'Where is Wulf Ironfist now?' the magistrate asked.
'He has disappeared.' Antonia replied. 'No one knows where he has gone. He made no provision for his slaves. He simply left. The land, of course, now belongs to my little Aurora. I call her that because she was born with the dawn, even as her mother died. I sent my majordomo to drive off those Dobunni who had begun to build a hall at the river villa. They said that Cailin had given them the land for a wedding gift, but I told them it was mine by right of inheritance, and that Cailin was dead in childbirth and not here to enforce their supposed rights. They did not give me much difficulty, and are now gone.'
Anthony Porcius nodded. It was all so much to take in, he thought, but one good thing had come of it. Antonia seemed to be her old self again. Taking in the orphaned daughter of Cailin Drusus had obviously been good for her.
'You will stay here with us, Father, won't you?' Antonia said. 'I do need you so very much. I shall not marry again, but will devote my life to my two children. It is, I feel, what the gods desire of me.'
'Perhaps you are right,' he said, reaching out and taking her hand in his. 'We will be a happy family, Antonia. I know it in my heart!'
BYZANTIUM
Chapter 7
They are one and the same, brother dear,' Jovian Maxima said in smug tones. 'You are a true businessman; you have absolutely no imagination, Phocas. The moment I laid eyes upon the girl, I knew she was a treasure. All it took was hot water and soap to clean her up. Not only that, her Latin is flawless, but for a slight provincial accent which can be corrected-although some may find it most charming.' He looked to the slave girl who accompanied his new purchase. 'Isis, remove her tunica, please.'
Phocas Maxima stared hard at the girl when she finally stood nude before him. 'She's a bit slender for my taste,' he noted, 'but we can fatten her up. I don't imagine she's been getting a great deal to eat recently. Her feet looked dreadfully roughened.'
'She's done a lot of walking, I would imagine,' Jovian replied.
'We can eventually correct it,' his brother said. 'Her breasts are very nice; small, but well-formed. Well, I must admit it, you did get us quite a good bargain in this girl. Does she understand what is expected of her, or are we going to have to train her? She is pagan, I hope.'
It was as if she did not exist except as an object, Cailin thought as she listened to the two brothers chattering back and forth about her and her eventual fate. Not that it really mattered. Nothing mattered anymore. It was all so confusing. She didn't even understand why she was still alive when all she wanted was to be dead; but something inside her would not allow her to die. It made her angry, but there was naught she seemed to be able to do about it.
She thought back over the many days that had passed since she had Iain in labor at Antonia's villa. The last thing she remembered was the cry of a baby as she sank into unconsciousness. When she came vaguely to her senses, she was in a dirty room in a strange house. The woman who brought her food told her she was in Londinium, which amazed Cailin. She had heard of Londinium, but had never thought to see it in her lifetime. As it turned out, she did not see it, for when she asked what she was doing in this place, she was told that the lady Antonia had sold her to Simon, the slave merchant, and that shortly she would be transported to Gaul and
