adjustments, repositioning two chairs so that they sat opposite each other either side of a low marble table, and then scuttled away.
Footsteps approached. In came the inscrutable Pallas leading Sejanus, dripping wet. A thin steam rose from his damp tunic and his thick black hair hung in lank clumps around his square-jawed face. He did not look happy.
‘Please take a seat, master,’ Pallas crooned, every ounce of Greek courtesy being used to the full. ‘The Lady Antonia will be with you presently; she has been in bed these past couple of hours.’
‘I’ll bet she has,’ Sejanus growled.
‘She told me to tell you that she will dress as fast as possible so as not to keep your eminence waiting too long. Would you care for some refreshment, master?’
‘No! Now get out of here and leave me alone, you smarmy little Greek cum-stain.’
Pallas bowed and beat a dignified retreat leaving Sejanus looking around the room. He picked up and admired a couple of bronze statuettes that were on the table and then, placing them back down again, started a slow walk around the room. They watched him as he inspected the furniture and ran appreciative hands over the statues and busts. He was directly opposite them when he noticed the curtain and started to move towards it.
‘Quick, out,’ Caligula hissed, leaping back. They slipped out of the door just as the curtains were ripped apart, and darted into the nearest room.
‘It would have been nasty coming face to face with Sejanus in that sort of mood,’ Gaius said, quickly closing the door of the unlit room. They heard footsteps out in the corridor.
‘Hades! There’s no lock on this one either,’ he said, running his hands up and down the door in the dark. ‘Quick, lean against it.’
They pressed their bodies hard against it; a few moments later they heard the door to the room they’d just vacated open and close. Purposeful footsteps approached their door and they felt the pressure of someone trying to open it from the outside. The pressure grew; they braced themselves harder against it.
‘Prefect, there you are.’ Antonia’s voice came from the end of the corridor.
The pressure ceased suddenly and they slumped against the door.
‘My dear Sejanus, what are you doing trying to get into that room?’
‘Don’t give me that “my dear Sejanus” rubbish. Someone was spying on me and they ran in there.’
‘Impossible, that room is always kept locked.’
‘How? I see no keyhole.’
‘It’s bolted on the inside. It can be accessed only from the library on the other side. Now, enough of this foolishness; tell me why you’ve had me dragged from my bed in the middle of the night?’
‘You know perfectly well why, if indeed you were even in bed after what you’ve been plotting this evening.’
‘Plotting, my dear prefect? You’ll have to enlighten me. I’ve spent the evening with my secretary Caenis, writing letters.’
‘You lying bitch, she was a prisoner at Livilla’s house and you sent a rescue party there to free her.’
‘If that were true how would you be able to prove it without admitting that you and Livilla kidnapped her in the first place? I am sure that the Emperor would be very interested to know why you and my daughter would want to take Caenis prisoner.’
‘Three of my men are dead.’
‘That, prefect, is nothing to do with me. As I have told you, I was writing letters with my secretary all evening – unless you would prefer your version of events to reach the Emperor’s ears? Do you feel strong enough yet to admit to the Emperor that you are still having an affair with Livilla, an imperial princess, sister of the great Germanicus, whom Tiberius has already forbidden you to marry knowing that if you did it would make you a possible heir to him and therefore his rival? I think not, Sejanus. Now leave.’
‘You’ve not heard the last of this. I saw one of your murderers this evening and if I ever find him I shall use all means possible to link him to you.’
‘An empty threat, prefect, it would still prove nothing.’
‘That may be so, but it won’t stop me enjoying it.’ He hit the door in his frustration, which without much weight behind it opened a fraction.
‘Locked, you say? Well, it seems to be mysteriously unlocked now.’
Caligula signalled Sabinus and Vespasian to stay behind the door and walked around it. Sejanus grabbed Caligula’s ear in the dim light of the doorway and pulled him roughly to his knees.
‘What have we here then? A little spy?’
‘Ow! Get your hands off me, you bastard.’
‘That, Sejanus, as you should well know, is my grandson, Gaius Caesar Germanicus. You would do well to let him go immediately and ask him to forgive an assault on a member of the imperial household.’
Sejanus let go of Caligula’s ear as if it were a red-hot iron, gave Antonia a look of utter hatred and stormed off down the corridor. Antonia smiled and then walked into the room and looked behind the door.
‘I thought so,’ she said, seeing Sabinus and Vespasian in the gloom. ‘Out you come.’
The brothers obeyed, looking extremely sheepish.
‘Well, I suppose you heard all of that?’
‘Yes, Grandmother; and I thought that you dealt with him brilliantly.’
‘I said that it would be a galling experience for him and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, Vespasian, you are definitely not safe. If he were to catch you, you would be wishing for death throughout the long days of life that he would ensure remained to you.’
Vespasian blanched slightly. ‘I’d better go north, then; has Asinius fixed my appointment?’
‘I shall find out in the morning. Now I really am going to bed, as should you, gentlemen. Goodnight to you all.’ With that she disappeared off down the corridor.
Vespasian closed the door of his room, sat down on the bed and assessed his situation. He needed to be out of Rome for a good while until Sejanus’ image of him faded. Four years’ military service should do it, but that would be four years with no chance of seeing Caenis; but she was a forlorn hope anyway and he would do better to forget her. Four years should be long enough to do that as well.
His mind made up, he stripped, pulled back the blanket, got into bed and closed his eyes, trying to shut out the roar of the wind outside. There was a knock on the door.
‘Who is it?’ he asked.
The door opened and Vespasian took a sharp intake of breath. ‘Caenis, what are you doing here?’ He felt his mouth go dry.
‘My mistress said that I should come and thank you for what you did this evening.’ She approached the bed.
‘Well, that’s good of you, but you already thanked us all earlier,’ he replied, his heart pounding causing his voice to shake slightly.
She sat down at the end of the bed. ‘I know, but my mistress said that I should come and really thank you.’
‘Oh, I see,’ he said in a thin voice.
He’d had women before, quite a few in fact, but they’d always been slave girls owned by either his parents or grandmother. Slave girls who could not say no for fear of punishment. Caenis was different. She was a slave girl, yes, but she was also the first person who made him feel intoxicated by just thinking of her. He wanted her more than anything but he was not going to have her against her wishes; and her mistress had ordered her to come to him.
Caenis slipped her loose tunic over her shoulders exposing the exquisite breasts that he’d caught sight of at dinner. He felt his scrotum tighten and the blood rushing to his groin.
‘Caenis, you mustn’t,’ he whispered.
‘Why not?’ she asked, standing up so that the tunic fell to her ankles. In the dim light of the single oil lamp he could see the gentle roundness of her belly, the smooth curve of her hips and delicate softness of her labia, plucked clean of all hair. She stepped out of her tunic and came closer.
‘Because I don’t want you to do anything against your will,’ he replied breathlessly.
‘Who said that I’m here against my will?’ She sat on the bed next to him and put a hand on his chest.
