I had expected him to burst out laughing; Iwas completely unprepared for him to give me a thoughtful lookbefore saying, “That’s actually not a bad idea. Now,” he shrugged,then jerked his head to where Bronwen was sitting, engaged in aconversation with the girl, “convincing her might bedifficult.”
This was something I could not argue, so Idid not even try.
Once we reached Cambete, this marked thepoint of the journey where we changed from upstream to downstream,which meant our progress was swifter, but this was offset by thedifficulty in hiring another master now that we were on the Rhenus.This master, and he and his boat were as indifferently maintainedas Tullius’, although there was a young girl who found Bronwenfascinating, not that I blamed her. She was very young, youngerthan Bronwen but older than Atia, and what her status was and howshe was connected to this master was something that I made thedecision early on not to ask about. With every mile, I had todecide what and how much to tell my mother, since there is no wayto get to Ubiorum without going through Mogontiacum.
For this, I relied on Alex, although Iwas not particularly surprised when he said, “She has the right toknow everything, and most importantly, why you did what you did.”
And, I agreed with him, although I was stilltrying to decide the best way to tell her, but when the walls ofMogontiacum came into sight, I was still no closer to deciding. Aswe had done the year before, I wanted to send someone ahead to warnmy mother of our arrival, but the ship’s master flatly refused toallow the girl, who I had offered to pay generously, to leave theboat.
Once we were unloaded and riding to mymother’s villa, Alex said flatly, “That tells us everything we needto know about that girl’s situation. He knows that if he lets heroff that boat, she’ll never come back.”
This had been my assessment as well,although I was slightly surprised how much her plight bothered me.Later, when I thought about it, I realized that watching Algaia andhow she behaved when she was forced to be in Gaius’ presence hadaffected me in ways that were not immediately apparent. And, infact, we briefly discussed the idea of returning back to the boatto try and purchase the girl outright, but it was Bronwen whoconvinced us that it was pointless.
“I already asked him how much he wouldtake for the girl,” she told us as we moved at what can only becalled a sedate pace towards our destination. “And he told me notto waste my breath, there was no amount he would take. Apparently,”she sighed, “this is not the first girl this man has had, but sheis the one who has lasted this long. He,” she concluded sadly,“will never let that girl go.”
As she said this, I was reminded ofsomething, and when I glanced over at Alex, I was certain histhoughts were running along the same vein, recalling how, in hisown twisted way, Gaius Pullus had loved Algaia to the point he waswilling to betray his family and die for her; the fact that sheloathed him never seemed to enter into his thinking. We arrived atthe villa just after Bronwen’s pronouncement, and I slid off thehorse and used the iron clapper to strike the bell set into thewall next to the gate. It was snowing again, although it was light,and as we waited for someone, presumably Mandalonius, to come tothe gate, I admonished myself for feeling the same way I had theyear before, worrying about my reaction if my mother was not alone.I heard the crunching sound when someone is walking on freshlyfallen slow, and as I thought it would be, I recognizedMandalonius’ eye, which went wide, again as I expected.
“M-master Gnaeus?”
“I’m glad to see your advancing yearshaven’t affected your memory,” I said this in a teasing manner,temporarily forgetting that, of his many qualities, a quick mind isnot one of this freedman’s strength.
“No, Master Gnaeus,” he assured meseriously, “I remember who you are.”
He was already moving away from the peepholeto open the gate, and when it swung open, I enjoyed his reaction ashis eyes went to Alex, who he knew, then to Bronwen. His eyes wenteven wider as his jaw dropped, which made me laugh.
“I’ve gotten used to seeing thatreaction when men see Bronwen for the first time,” I said as I ledmy horses past the freedman. Clapping him on the shoulder, I alsojokingly warned, “And you better hope Carissa didn’t see youlooking like a moonstruck cow.”
This did get his mouth shut at least, and hehurried to help Bronwen down off the horse, or at least this washis intent, but as both Alex and I had learned, she neither wantedor appreciated help, yet when Mandalonius raised his arms to lifther out of the saddle, she meekly accepted his help, and I realizedshe was every bit as nervous as I was.
“Your mother is not here, MasterGnaeus,” Mandalonius informed me once we were inside the walls andthe gate had been closed. Before I could ask, he supplied, “She isout in the city visiting a friend, but she will be back beforenightfall.”
What kind of friend? This was the first thought thatwent through my mind, but thank the gods that was where it stayed.Alex said he would help stabling the animals, although it was goingto be cramped with so many of them, while I escorted Bronwen to thedoor of the villa, where Carissa was standing, having been alertedby the bell as her man had. It was somewhat strange, but I learnedmore about how Mandalonius and Carissa became a couple and under mymother’s employment from my father’s account than from my motherherself. Carissa’s reaction was similar to Mandalonius’ at seeingBronwen, who had pulled back her hood and was wearing her hairloose and free.
“This is Bronwen, Carissa. She’s mywoman,” I had gotten more used to saying that, but we were stillboth tentative about it, and
