“I have been told that it is impossible for me to attain such a status, majesty,” Cailin said slowly. She had to think. “I have been told that there is a law in Byzantium forbidding marriages between the nobility and those who are actresses and entertainers. I have been told that the time I spent at Villa Maxima would negate my patrician birth.”
“It is important to me,” Verina answered her, “that I retain the goodwill and support of General Aspar. It is true that you came here as a slave and served as an entertainer in a brothel, Cailin Drusus, but you are a patrician. I have no doubts as to your lineage. I watched you this morning. Your manner is cultured, and you are obviously well-bred. I believe what you have told me of your background is true. Your time at Villa Maxima was short. Those who know of it will remain silent, or I will see that they are silenced when you become Aspar’s wife. You do want to be his wife?”
Cailin nodded slowly, and then said, “What do you want of me, majesty? Such a favor will have a high price, I know.”
Verina smiled archly. “You are wise to understand that, Cailin Drusus. Very well. I will help overcome the objections voiced to a marriage between you and General Aspar, if you, in return, will guarantee me his aid should I need it. And he must swear to me himself on the relic of the true cross that he is my man should I need him. I know you can convince him to do this in return for my help.”
Cailin’s heart was hammering. “This is not something that I can broach easily,” she said. “I will speak with him in a few days’ time, majesty, but how will I be able to communicate my success or failure to you? For now I do not even exist as far as your world is concerned. If I did, you would have invited me to your banquet, not just Aspar, who had to be separated from me so you and I could meet secretly here beneath the walls of the Hippodrome.”
“It is so refreshing to have someone speak openly and honestly,” the empress said. “Here at Byzantium’s court everyone couches their words in hidden meaning; and motives are often so complex as to be unknown. Speak with your lord, and in a few days’ time I will come one afternoon by sea, with a few trusted companions, to visit the general’s summer villa. If anyone learns of my visit, it will be thought I am merely curious, and it will cause no scandal. Leo is a very righteous man, and I am a most loyal helpmate. If he learns of my excursion, he will naturally assume I have been led astray by my companions, an assumption I will not correct. Such occurrences have happened before.” She smiled meaningfully.
“I will do my very best for you, majesty,” Cailin said.
The empress laughed. “I have no doubt that you will, my dear. After all, both our future happiness depends on your being successful, and I am a bad enemy to have, I promise you; but we must get back. If I stay too long away from the banquet, my absence will be noted.” Verina went to the door and opened it, saying, “John, return this lady to her box, and then take up your post as before. Farewell, Cailin Drusus.”
Cailin bowed politely and backed from the room. As she followed the guardsman along the tunnel and up the two flights of stairs, her mind was awhirl with the events of the last few minutes. Reentering her box, she was accosted by an eager Casia.
“What did she want?” Casia whispered, and Arcadius leaned over to hear Cailin’s answer.
“She was but curious,” Cailin said with a smile. “How very dull her life must be that she was that curious about Aspar’s mistress.”
“Ohh,” Casia sighed, disappointed, but Arcadius could see that Cailin simply chose not to tell the other woman all that had transpired. It was obviously going to be a most interesting summer.
Below them half a dozen jugglers were amusing the restless crowds by parading around the raceway balancing various colored balls in the air above them. They were followed by a marvelous procession of exotic animals. Aspar returned to the box and, slipping into the seat next to Cailin, put an arm about her. Casia looked to Arcadius with a smug little smile, and he grinned back.
“Ohhhh!” Cailin squealed. “I have never seen beasts like those! What are they? And striped ones, too! There are two kinds!”
“The great gray mammoths with the long noses are called elephants,” Aspar told her. “History tells us that the great Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed over the Alps to win many victories on the backs of elephants. The striped cats are called tigers. They come from India, a land far to the east of Byzantium. The striped horses are zebras.”
“The tall spotted creatures, my lord, and the funny beasts with humps? What are they?”
“The first are giraffes. They are from Africa originally, but all these creatures live in the imperial zoo now. Foreign countries are always gifting us with rare animals for our zoo. The other animals are camels.”
“They are wonderful,” she said, her eyes shining, her excitement very much like that of a child. “I have never seen beasts like this before. In Britain we have deer, rabbits, wolves, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, and other common creatures, but nothing like elephants!”
“Ahhh,” Arcadius sighed dramatically. “To see Byzantium afresh through Cailin Drusus’s marvelous violet eyes.”
“Violent eyes? Who has violent eyes?” demanded Apollodorus, the comedian.
“Violet, you shameless comic!” Arcadius snapped. “Cailin Drusus has violet-colored eyes. Look at them! They are beautiful.”
“Women’s eyes never tell the truth,” Apollodorus said wickedly.
“Not so!” Casia cried.
“Do you tell the truth when you look into a man’s eyes?” the comic demanded. “Courtesans are hardly noted for their veracity.”
“And actors are?” Casia replied scathingly.
Anastasius, the singer, chuckled softly at her reply. It was the first sound Cailin believed he had made since entering the box.
“The emperor is returning,” John Andronicus, the ivory carver, warned the combatants. He, too, had said little since joining them.
Cailin now took the opportunity to speak with him. “We have one of your charming pieces at the villa,” she told him. “It is lovely: Venus, surrounded by a group of winged cupids.”
“One of my earlier pieces,” the carver admitted, smiling shyly. “Nowadays I do mostly religious works for the churches. It is a very lucrative market, and it is my way of returning the gift that God has generously given me, lady. I am doing a nativity for the emperor right now.”
“May I join you?” Prince Basilicus said, slipping discreetly into the general’s box. “Casia, my love! You look delicious enough to eat! And I shall, later.” He blew a kiss at her.
“What of your wife Eudoxia, my friend? You should not embarrass her,” Aspar reprimanded the prince sternly.
“Her little friend is on duty in the imperial box,” Basilicus said with a grin. “She wants time to flirt with him, and can hardly do so with me hovering by her side. Besides, Flacilla and Justin Gabras are also in the emperor’s box. See. There they are on the far side. I do not know why Leo allows them in his presence, but probably he did not invite them. My sister undoubtedly did. They are really a dreadful pair, Aspar. Their parties, I am told, are so depraved that the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah would blush. What is worse is that they are so happy. Flacilla has truly found a mate worthy of her. They are awful in their perfection together.”