by P J Mann
Rather than foolish feelings, they’d best focus on how to avoid painful punishments, which was probable any time Master Flavius wasn’t the house. He thought how lucky he should have felt for being chosen to travel with his Master, away from Claudia’s bad temper.
It was almost the sixth hour of the day when a slave arrived in Claudia’s presence in the garden.
“Mistress, you have a visitor,” she announced, hesitating.
Claudia wasn’t expecting any visitors. “Who is it?”
“He said his name is Caius…”
Claudia’s heart beat faster. “Welcome him in the exedra, and bring us wine,” she interrupted.
When the slave escorted Caius to the exedra, Claudia was already seated, waiting for him.
“I see you came, at last, but unfortunately Flavius is not here. He won’t be back before the eleventh hour of the day.” Claudia gestured to take a seat on the bench.
“I came to see you,” he said, moving closer to her. “I wanted to know if you were serious when you said that my visit would please you.”
“I am always serious when I invite people to my house, and you are one of the most welcome guests.” Her low voice was soft and gentle.
“I wasn’t sure it would be a good idea to come for a visit, but I could not stop thinking about you, Claudia.” He clasped her hand from her lap.
“Caius, I am married—”
He held her gently and pressed his lips against hers.
The lonely woman inside her melted, and she returned his passionate kisses, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
Caius embraced her, holding her tightly against his body, careless of being seen by any slave; he could not part from Claudia and the sweet taste of her lips. “Flavius is a fool if he doesn’t appreciate his luck,” he uttered as he kissed her cheek.
“Our marriage is just a contract granting political advantages to our families; there isn’t any love that binds him to me,” she moaned, hugging herself to Caius.
“What about you? What binds you to him?” Caius asked, trying to understand her feelings. Since he saw her by chance on the street, he could not stop thinking about her and wondered if the rumors of a possible divorce were true. When he was younger, he would have never considered falling in love with that selfish person like she was.
Yet, as he met her after a long time, he saw a strong and fragile woman, hurt and humiliated by a wrong marriage.
He felt like his heart belonged to her, and never in his life desired a woman like he desired Claudia.
Claudia parted from him. “I love him, but in his heart, there is place only for that slave. He hates me.”
“Saul has been in Flavius’ heart since he met him, but I would never prefer him to a woman like you,” Caius smirked.
He held her by the shoulders to look into her eyes. “I can’t promise you the same wealth, but I can give you my love…”
Nobody had ever talked to her that way, and she felt blushing under the adulatory words of a lover.
“What are you proposing?” she asked, frightened.
“Forget about Flavius, come with me.”
“Caius, you don’t know what you are saying. I can’t just leave him. My father will never forgive me for taking away from him the privileges my family obtained with my marriage.”
He turned his gaze away from her, distracted by a slave passing by. “Allow me to see you, then.”
“Every day?”
“Every day, Claudia, but in my house or your slaves might tell your husband about us.”
“Every day, at the sixth hour of the day, I will come to you where we can entertain each other for our own pleasure,” she murmured, wanting to feel their hearts beat as one. Her heart wanted to leave her body to beat together with Caius’ heart.
“My life will be a constant wait until we meet tomorrow.”
He stood, and with a brief bow, departed, knowing that the following day they would be free from spying eyes and ears.
Claudia remained seated on the bench after Caius left. She felt fought between the love she felt for Flavius and the new feelings she was experiencing with Caius.
If only Flavius could treat me half as kind as Caius, I would never even listened. To his adulatory words.
What am I supposed to do? Should I really give up on Flavius and leave with Caius? What my life will look like when my family turns their shoulders to me? I will be forced to leave Rome…
She shook her head, terrified by the sole thought of losing her family and her home.
I might just live my life this way. Certainly, Flavius won’t even notice or care.
She raised her hands to cover her mouth, trying to find a solution to the turmoil in her soul.
Her eyes lingered on the marble statues, in the garden, and her soul seemed to ease at that beauty, as a smile appeared on her lips.
Chapter 13.
From that day on, Claudia left the house without any slave, to reach Caius’ house at the sixth hour of each day.
In his arms, she found not only the love she thought was denied to her, but also a friend who listened to her frustrations without complaining and tried to give the support she needed.
For Saul, it was as if everything had changed with the season, as his life shifted, like a flag subject to the whims of the wind.
The best thing for him to do was adjust to each change in direction as fast as possible, according to his master’s design. However, there was something which his Master also had to bend to, and that was the will of the gods, those fickle divinities resembling human nature, and far from divine behavior.
Saul considered the Roman Gods as if they were powerful beings able to enslave even the Romans.
He thought of Flavius and Claudia as his gods, as they had the power of life or death over him; however, they had other gods to obey. It was the rule of the strongest.
From his point of view, there was no supernatural force, but a stronger population which governed over the Romans.
Those gods decided that now was the time to change the cards on the table, for Saul, whether he belonged to them or not. The day before he and Flavius were to depart, they gave him a high fever.
Julius took good care of him, but it was no use. Saul was too weak to join Flavius on his trip the next day.
Fever made his body shake with cold shivers, and he could barely stand on his feet.
Saul’s plea that he would rather die during the trip with Flavius than be at the mercy of Claudia for a couple of weeks fell on deaf ears.
“Saul, my dear, I can’t find the words to tell you how much I’d like to bring you with me, but I can’t risk worsening your sickness. I’ll be back in two weeks; I have assigned you to follow the accounting of the house during my absence as soon as your condition improves. You will be left in Julius’ hands, and I expect you to do whatever he says to get better. I will miss you in many ways,” he said, kissing his forehead.
“Master, please…I”
“Shh! Don’t question my orders, slave,” he said with a wry smile. Flavius’ expression became serious for a moment.
Saul beamed weakly at him. “Yes, Master.” As his strength abandoned his body, he closed his eyes.
When he awoke, stars twinkled in the black sky and Flavius had left without him.
Loneliness, hopelessness, and a sense of betrayal filled his heart. Flavius promised to protect him, but how can he do that if he is not even here?
He tried to sit up, but the room spun, and his body collapsed back on the bed.
Why are the Roman Gods so angry with me? Could it be his own God was disappointed by his behavior? But how much did he deserve to be punished for something he wasn’t even sure he did?
Maybe it was true there was no God, no heaven or hell. Perhaps Roman Gods were the only ones that existed, and they were angry at him for worshipping the wrong god.
“What am I supposed to do?” He tried to yell but only managed a pathetic whisper. He wept, curs
ing his father, his God and the Roman gods, for none of them were there to have mercy on him.
Nara spoke from the doorway, “It seems like you are angry with everyone. May I safely come in?”
Saul waved him in with a feeble hand. “Of course, you can come in. I feel so hopeless. I feel like I have been betrayed by everyone in this world: my father, my Master, the Gods, everybody.”
Nara smiled. “I am not going to let you down, nor will I ever betray you.”
“Just wait…” he replied bitterly, turning his head away.
Nara caressed his cheek. “I will pretend I didn’t hear that, only because you are delirious with the fever. I warn you, say it another time, and I will make you swallow those words.”
Saul faced him again. He was right; he had been unfair. “I’m sorry, Nara. I don’t know why I said that. I am so upset because I could not join Flavius on his trip, and I feel scared.”
“Scared of what?” Nara asked. He sat on the bed.
“Of Claudia. Aren’t you?”
“No. She is our mistress. Why in this world should she do anything bad to us? If we serve her loyally, she won’t have any reason to be disappointed and punish us.”
“Maybe you are right, but when I met her for the first time, I felt as if she is the kind of person who cannot resist a chance to be cruel to us. I am scared of the pleasure she takes in mistreating us.”
“Are you speaking of Hades or of Claudia?” Nara chuckled. “Sure, she is not an easy mistress, and her punishments can reach pure sadistic cruelty, but she would never put a serious threat to our lives.”
“This is because, so far, Flavius has been here, and he could supervise her behavior,” Saul reminded him.
“Please, now you are exaggerating, and I will prove it to you. In two weeks, when Flavius is back, you will realize that Claudia, even without her husband, is not going to kill anyone.” He brushed a stray hair off Saul’s forehead. “Julius sent me to check your health status, but it seems like you need more than the medicine he is treating you with. Are you hungry?”
“A bit, yes. Please help me reach the kitchen so I can eat.”
“I’ll do better. I'll bring you something; it is better if you remain in bed and rest. I’ll be back soon,” Nara said, standing up from the bed.
Saul didn’t reply. Maybe Nara was right. Maybe he was overreacting in regard to Claudia’s character.
With a deep sigh, he closed his eyes.
A few days after Flavius left, an idea took form in Claudia’s soul, one that she considered being the solution to all her problems. She needed to be sure Caius would help her. During the walk to Caius’ residence, she practiced her words to him.
“What!” Caius exclaimed, surprised. “Can you please repeat that? I think I misunderstood.”
Claudia exhaled, raising her glance and hands to the sky. “Don’t you understand that this is the only chance I have to save my marriage?”
Caius grabbed her by the shoulders, looking deep into her eyes, trying to understand whether she was just joking, or if she was seriously thinking about getting rid of Saul before Flavius’ return. “Claudia, it is not a question of Saul. Flavius never wanted you and never will. You will never win him over, and nothing you do can change it. Even if you kill Saul, Flavius will never love you.”
“That slave has been a curse for me since he came into my life. It is like I need to compete against him every day for the attention of my husband, my guests, and my friends.”
“Nobody else, but you will ever gather my attention,” he whispered. “You are the center of my world, Claudia. Forget about revenge and about Flavius, forget about the bitterness. We can have each other.”
Her face relaxed into a tender smile. “Caius, you are the only one in this world who can make me feel happy. I wish I could just leave everything and run away with you.”
He placed a gentle finger to her lips. “I know. I understand you cannot leave, and I am happy to have you the way I am having you now. It is far better than losing you forever.”
Their lips fused into a tender kiss, and he knew he could not resist her pleas. He felt her pain and could not understand how Flavius could be indifferent to her frustration.
“I will help you, Claudia. I would do anything to make you happy,” he assured, parting from her. “What do you have in mind?”
“I just need you to make sure that Flavius will be late until I can find a way to get rid of Saul,” she replied slyly.
“Do you mean I should find a way to pretend a kidnapping?” he suggested.
“That might be a good solution. The roads outside the city are dangerous when you meet the wrong people.” She narrowed her eyes, glancing him with a cunning smirk.
He stroked his chin in thought. “Give me a couple of days to find the right man to help me, then we will come back to you with an answer.”
“I will be waiting. Meanwhile, I will find the right people to take care of the other problem.” Claudia opened her arms to him and licked the lobe of his ear the way he liked it.
For the entire week, Saul was forced to remain in his bed resting and following the orders of Julius. He didn’t have any news about what was happening inside the house without Flavius, but he noticed the change in Nara’s behavior. When his friend became less talkative than usual, Saul suspected that something was not going as expected. On Friday afternoon, when Nara came to check on his status, a black and purple bruise marred his face under his left eye.
“What happened to you?” Saul asked.
Nara averted his gaze. “It is nothing. How do you feel?”
“Good enough to start work on the accounting of the house as Flavius ordered, but please—what happened to your eye?”
“Julius said that it is better for you to wait until Monday, and I am in agreement; you still need to rest.”
Impatience sharpened Saul’s tone. “Nara, tell me why you have a nasty bruise on your face.”
Nara’s gaze flitted about the room as if he was searching for a good answer. “Claudia got upset with me this morning because I came too late to wake her up.”
“Were you late?” he asked.
Nara shook his head no.
“I noticed your mood change this week. I was right about Claudia, and now you too are scared. Am I wrong?” Saul asked.
“Take all the time you need to stay away from her. She has been terrorizing all the slaves. She is impossible to please. Julius and the few others who work outside the house are the luckiest since they rarely encounter her, but for us, it is hard. Luckily, in seven days, Flavius will return and our lives will be back to normal.” He stood. “I will bring you something to eat.”
As Saul watched him walk out of the room, waves of fear overwhelmed him. If Claudia was that cruel with the other slaves, then she would be pure evil against the one who stole her husband from her for many nights.
“What should I do? Please, God, if you are there, help me,” he whimpered and waited.
Saul waited for some time—for something to happen, for help to come from the skies for Flavius to appear in the doorway, smiling at him.
Flavius needed to return. Dread shuddered up his spine at the thought of what it could be like, being alone with a vengeful Claudia.
Saul sat on his bed and then stood, uneasy in the semi-darkness of the room. He needed to see the light of the day, but at the same time, he was afraid to meet his mistress and unleash her wrath.
Fear or cowardice won, and he returned to his sickbed, deciding it was better to follow Julius’ orders—and avoid trouble.
Early Monday morning, Nara shook Saul’s shoulder. “Wake up.”
“What?” he asked, confused.
“Time to get up. Claudia ordered that you will be with me to help her dress so you can focus on the accounting during the rest of the day. Don’t waste time and dress quickly.” He pulled him out of bed.
Saul sprang to his feet and complied, with his heart racing in his chest, and glanced
puzzled at Nara.
He thought that perhaps he missed something. Nara had spoken as fast as he could.
When they reached Claudia’s room, Nara assigned Saul to wait at the entrance as he lit the oil lamp to illuminate the room. After that, he went to wake his Mistress gently caressing her shoulder with a light shake.
“Oh, Nara. Is it already time to get up?” she asked sleepily.
“Yes, Mistress, and as you ordered, Saul is here to help me.”
Claudia stood up from the bed and looked at Saul. “So, you finally decided to make yourself useful?” she glanced at Saul with a stare of pure hate in her eyes. “From now on, until Flavius returns, you are going to help Nara and wake me up every morning. Is that clear enough to you?”
“Forgive me, Mistress. I am sorry I have failed in serving you. I will not fail anymore in the future,” he said with bowed head as he went to get her sandals.
“Let’s see about that,” Claudia said, haughty as he eased her feet into the shoes. “Nara, leave us alone, I need to talk to Saul.”
Nara glanced at her, and then at Saul. “Are you deaf? Go away!”
When they were alone, she scrutinized him from head to feet, then slowly stood up, walking toward him as he kept his gaze down.
She grabbed his face by the chin and raised it, forcing him to look into her eyes. “Sure, you are cute. My husband seems to enjoy your beauty more than he enjoys mine. You can’t fool me with your innocent small, defenseless puppy expression. You are a slave, and I will put you back in your place where you belong. I admonished you during the engagement ceremony; don’t make me renew my warnings. My patience has a limit. Do you think that the world revolves around you?”
He looked at her, not sure if he had to say something or not. “Please Mistress, I don’t understand—”
“Don’t play that game with me. Your behavior is unacceptable. Do you have the slightest idea of the rumors around my marriage? My husband prefers to spend his nights in the company of a slave rather than with his wife. He is with you constantly, or more accurately, you are always around.