'Who is this coarse creature, my lord?' Cailin said icily.
'May I present my wife, Flacilla Strabo,' Aspar said formally. What an incredible piece of bad luck that Cailin should come into the atrium before Zeno could find her and warn her off. Well, it could not be helped. He would have to make the best of it. He looked at Flacilla. 'I was not aware that you patronized Villa Maxima.'
'Occasionally,' Flacilla answered carefully. 'Jovian's little playlet was the rage of the city early last summer. She does not look like a whore, Aspar.'
'I am not,' Cailin replied sharply. 'My blood is nobler than yours, lady. I am a Drusus of the great Roman family.'
'Rome is finished. It has been for eons, and since Attila pillaged it several years ago, there is little of any consequence left, including its families. This is the center of the world now,' Flacilla sneered.
'Do not boast so proudly, lady,' Cailin returned. 'This center of the world you so loftily hail is as rotten as an egg that has lain in the sun all day. In Britain we do not debase our women before an audience of lewd and cheering lechers! You should be ashamed to admit to what you saw, but why should it surprise me? Even your priests came to see Jovian's entertainments. The outward beauty of your city cannot make up for the darkness in your hearts and souls. I pity you.'
'Will you allow this slave to speak to me so?' Flacilla demanded. She glared angrily at Aspar. 'I am still your wife, and will have respect!'
'Cailin is not a slave,' Aspar said quietly. 'I freed her months ago. She is your equal, Flacilla, and may speak to you as she chooses.' He took Cailin's hand in his and then continued, 'I will give you your divorce, Flacilla. I will go with you myself to the patriarch, and we will tell him of our wishes. I have no quarrel with you, and never have had. If you have found happiness, as I have found it, then I wish you well, and will do whatever I can to ensure your good fortune.'
Flacilla's anger was almost immediately tempered. 'That is most generous of you, my lord,' she said slowly.
'There is one condition,' he told her. 'You will not gossip about Cailin's past, Flacilla. You must swear to me that you will be silent, or I will not acquiesce in this matter. A divorce is more to your advantage, my dear
'Why is this more to my advantage than to yours, Aspar?' Flacilla said.
'You wish to marry Justin Gabras, do you not? You cannot marry him without a divorce. I, on the other hand, will never be permitted to marry Cailin because of her unusual beginnings in Constantinople. The fact that I keep her with me as my mistress is not a crime, nor is it considered unique for a man of my position. Whether you are my wife or not, Flacilla, Cailin will remain my mistress; but to marry your lover, my dear, you must be free of me. So it is more to your advantage that I agree to divorce you than it is to mine. Would you not say I am correct?' He smiled at her in a friendly manner, cocking his head to one side questioningly. 'Well, Flacilla, what say you, my dear?'
She nodded. 'As always, Aspar, you are correct. I must tell you that I have ever found this trait of yours most irritating, however. Very well, I swear on the body of our crucified Lord that I will not gossip or speak ill of your little barbarian pagan lover. I rarely give my word, as you know. You also know you may trust that word.'
'I do, Flacilla,' he said. 'Now when would you like to meet with your cousin, the patriarch? I am at your disposal in this matter.'
'Let us do it today!' she said eagerly. 'Let us simply call upon him, without warning. If we take him unawares, he is more likely to cooperate than if he sits down with his council of bishops and they natter on about the matter. I know just the argument to sway him, Aspar.'
'Go on ahead of me,' he told her. 'I will ride, and catch up with you before you even reach the city gates. Allow me to escort you to your litter, Flacilla. Cailin, remain here.'
'I am content to do so,' she said, and he heard ice in her tone.
Aspar walked with his wife to where her litter awaited her.
'What a pity you cannot marry her,' Flacilla said wickedly. 'She loves you like Anna did, and is obviously meant to be a good wife; but she has spirit, like I do. The perfect mate, Aspar, and you cannot have her. It hardly seems fair after all your service to the empire,' Flacilla mocked him. 'Tsk! Tsk!'
He smiled, unaffected by her cruel barbs, more concerned with Cailin, whom he knew was going to be furious with him for not telling her that she was already a free woman. 'It will be as God wills it, my dear,' he replied smoothly, spoiling Flacilla's obvious glee as he helped her into her luxurious litter. 'I will be with you as quickly as I can.' Closing the curtains of the vehicle smartly, he told the bearers, 'Take the lady Flacilla to the palace of the patriarch at once.' Then Aspar turned about and went back into the atrium of his villa.
Cailin was pacing around the fish pond. She whirled at the sound of his step and shouted at him, 'How could you keep such a thing from me, my lord? Or was it a lie told simply to annoy that dreadful creature?'
'It is true,' he said. 'You have been a free woman again since that day I promised it to you. I could not tell you the whole truth, Cailin. I am not a young man, but God help me, I love you! I feared if I told you that you were free, you would leave me; that you would attempt some foolish flight back to Britain, and end up in a worse situation than the one from which I rescued you.'
For a moment pity welled in her eyes, but it was quickly gone. 'Oh, Aspar,' she said to him. 'Do you not know that I love you also? Until you found me, and yes, even for a time afterward, I dreamed of returning to Britain to avenge myself upon Antonia Porcius. But what good would it do me? Would vengeance return me to my family? My husband? My child? I do not think so. Antonia's revenge certainly did not return Quintus to her. Wulf Ironfist will have found himself another wife by now. Perhaps they even have a child. He husbands the lands that were once my family's. My return would bring but unhappiness to all involved. It is a new age for Britain, and it would seem that I am not meant to be a part of it. This is where my fate has brought me, and here I will remain, by your side and in your heart as long as you will have me, Aspar.' She surprised herself with her own words, but even as she had spoken them, she realized it was time to put her dreams aside and face reality. It was unlikely that she would ever see Britain again.
'They will not let us marry, Cailin,' he said sadly.
'Who? Your Christian priests? I am not a Christian, Aspar. I am, what was it your wife called me? A pagan. Do you remember the old words of the Roman marriage? Perhaps you do not, but divorce Flacilla, and I will teach them to you that we may say them to each other. Then whatever others may say, we will be bound together for all eternity, my dearest lord,' Cailin promised him. Slipping her arms about him, she pressed herself hard against him and kissed him with all the passion her young soul could muster. Then looking up at him, she said, 'And you will
She astounded him, and the happiness filling him would only allow him to say, 'You love me?
'Put me down!' she said, laughing. 'You will have the servants thinking that you have lost your wits entirely, my lord.'
'Just my heart, my love, and that you will keep safe for me, I know it!' He placed her gently upon her
