The empress nodded. “Yes, he did, and the patriarch agreed to support him in such an instance. The Strabo family is not just a little annoyed by Flacilla’s indiscreet behavior, and their patience is worn thin by her. Hmmmmm, I wonder to what use I may put all this information, but of course the puzzle is incomplete until I know exactly what is going on at Aspar’s villa.” Her amber eyes glittered wickedly. “You will leave in the morning, brother.”
He groaned as he arose, kissing her hand. “The empress’s wish is my command, but Verina, I will expect the favor of my choice for this little task I undertake on your behalf. Remember that!”
“Within reason, Basilicus,” she purred, smiling broadly after him. He was such a good brother, the empress thought fondly as she watched him leave. Whatever was happening at the general’s villa, Basilicus would obtain the entire story, analyze it, and return to her with it. If she could not decide how to use his information, he would be able to advise her. They were very close, and always had been.
Basilicus left the city early the following day. He traveled in a large, comfortable litter, preferring not to ride in the warm sun. To his surprise, he napped most of the way, awakening as they entered through the gates of the villa. Zeno, the majordomo, greeted him politely, recognizing the prince from his own days at the general’s house in Constantinople.
“Where is your master?” Basilicus asked.
“He is walking by the sea, my lord,” Zeno replied.
Basilicus was about to tell Zeno to send a servant for Aspar, but instead decided that he might learn something of value if he took his friend unawares. “Thank you, Zeno,” he said. “If you will but direct me.” He followed the majordomo through the atrium of the villa and across the interior garden, out into a large open garden that looked over the Propontis, and beyond into Asia.
“There is the path, my lord,” Zeno told him, pointing.
Basilicus hurried along the gravel walkway. It was a marvelous day with a flat, bright blue, cloudless sky above. The autumn sun was warm, and about him the damask rosebushes sported a mixture of late blooms and large, fat, round redorange rosehips. Then he saw them—Aspar and a woman, laughing together upon the beach. The woman wore a white chiton and was barefoot, as was her companion, who was garbed in a short red tunic. The sea was almost flat, a mixture of azure, aquamarine, and teal-green stretching like an iridescent fabric across to the hills on the other shore. Above them the gulls mewled and cried, swooping to the water and then pulling up sharply to soar in the windless sky.
Basilicus watched them for a long moment, enchanted by the picture they made, and then he called out, raising his hand and waving at the couple. “Aspar, my friend!” He stepped from the pathway to the sandy beach and began walking toward them.
“Jesu!” Aspar swore softly beneath his breath. “It is Basilicus.”
“The empress’s brother?” Cailin replied. “Did you invite him?”
“Of course not. He has obviously heard something, my little love. He is a clever, and a sly fox. He has come with a purpose, you may be certain. I can only wonder at what it is.”
“He is very handsome,” she observed.
Aspar felt a twinge of jealousy at her words. He had no cause, he knew, to doubt her. She was simply making an observation, and yet he felt resentful. He did not want to share Cailin with anyone, he thought, as Basilicus finally reached them. “Is there some emergency that you invade my privacy?” he said ungraciously to his friend.
Basilicus was somewhat taken aback by the unfriendly tone of the general’s voice. Dear lord! Caught between his sister’s unbridled curiosity and the annoyance of the most powerful man in the empire. No one would envy him his position at this moment. “There is no emergency,” he said. “I simply felt like a day in the country, Aspar. I did not believe my arrival would cause you to behave like a bear with a sore paw,” Basilicus replied, put off but determined to remain.
“Your guest will be thirsty and hungry, my lord,” Cailin said quietly. “I will go and make certain that Zeno has refreshments prepared.” She nodded politely at the prince, and left the two men on the bench.
“What a glorious creature!” Basilicus said. “Who is she, and where, you fortunate man, did you find her?”
“Why are you here?” his companion demanded bluntly. “You detest the country, Basilicus. There is another reason, I know.”
“Verina sent me,” Basilicus admitted. Honesty always worked with Aspar, the prince knew. Besides, Aspar was not a man to trifle with, particularly when he was in a difficult mood such as now.
“Good lord! What does your sister want of me that she would send you to the country after me, Basilicus? Tell me! We will not return to the house until you do.” Then Aspar chuckled, obviously finding humor in the situation. “Your poor body will soon go into shock, my friend. I do not believe it has been in the warmth of the sun in years.”
“Verina heard that you had closed up your house in the city and moved out to your villa. She has also heard that you have taken a mistress. You know her curiosity is greater than most women’s,” Basilicus said to Aspar. “And, of course, she is Flacilla’s friend.”
“And she hopes to get me in her debt,” Aspar observed wisely.
“How well you seem to know my sister,” Basilicus said mockingly.
“I also know of the recent scandal involving my wife that the patriarch hushed up,” Aspar replied. “I may be living in the country, Basilicus, but my channels of information have simply stretched a bit farther. There is little happening in the city that I do not know about. Because I am happy, and because my wife’s relations have quieted the gossip surrounding her and her recent lovers, I am content to let the matter rest, lest my own arrangement be brought to light. You know as well as I do, Basilicus, that Flacilla is perfectly capable of creating a scandal around this villa and its inhabitants simply to deflect attention from her own outrageous behavior. Because she is not a happy woman, the idea that I should be happy would be galling to her. That is why I live here now rather than in the city. My conduct is subject to less scrutiny at Villa Mare, or so I believed until today.”
“You do not seem to be living a very profligate life, Aspar,” Basilicus observed as they now walked from the beach up the garden path to the villa. “Indeed, if I had not known you, I would have assumed you were simply a well-to-do gentleman and his wife. Now tell me, before I die of curiosity, who the girl is and where you found her.”
“You do not recognize her, Basilicus?”
The prince shook his dark head. “No, I do not.”
“Think back, my friend, to a night several months ago when you and I together visited the Villa Maxima to take in a notorious and particularly salacious entertainment that had the city agog,” Aspar said.
Basilicus thought a moment, and then his dark eyes grew wide. “No!” he said. “It cannot be! Is it? You bought that girl? I do not believe it! That exquisite creature with you on the beach is patrician-born without a doubt. She cannot be the same girl!”
“She is,” Aspar said, and then offered his friend a brief history of Cailin and how she had come to Villa Maxima.
“So you rescued her from a life of shame,” Basilicus noted. “What a soft heart you have, Aspar. It would be better that others, including my sister and your wife, not know it, I suspect.”