Casia came to visit for a few days’ duration, and brought news of the city. “Basilicus swears to me that Leo will give his consent to your marriage when Aspar returns. The general’s efforts in Adrianople, it seems, are proving successful. It will cost Leo nothing from his imperial treasury to give his general what he truly desires,” she said with a laugh. “Did Arcadius finish your statue?”
“A few weeks ago. He is coming soon with the pedestal to install it in the garden. I want it done before Aspar returns,” Cailin answered. “Would you like to see it, Casia?”
“Of course!” the beautiful courtesan said, laughing. “Do you think I mentioned it just merely in passing? I am dying of curiosity.”
“Arcadius calls it the young Venus,” Cailin explained as she unveiled the statue in the artist’s summer studio. “What do you think?”
Casia stood spellbound, and then she finally said, “He has caught you perfectly, Cailin. Your youth, your beauty, that sweet innocence that shows in your face despite all you have been through. Yes, Arcadius has caught your very soul, and were I not truly your friend, I should be very jealous of you.” She took Cailin’s hand in hers, and squeezing it, said, “Soon we shall no longer be able to pursue our friendship.”
“Why?” Cailin demanded. “Because I am to be Aspar’s wife, and you are Basilicus’s mistress? No, Casia, I will not play their cruel games. We will remain friends no matter the change in my status.”
Casia’s lovely eyes filled with tears, and she said, “I have never had a friend until you, Cailin Drusus. I hope you are right.”
“I have never had a friend, either, Casia. Antonia Porcius pretended to be my friend, though I always knew she was not. Friends do not betray friends. I know we will never betray each other. Now, tell me the gossip from the city. I miss Arcadius’s ribald chatter.”
They walked from the studio down to the beach, where they sat upon the sand and Casia told her all the latest news of the town.
“Basilicus’s wife, Eudoxia, finally seduced her young guardsman. He was the very same fellow who brought you to the empress,” Casia began. “His seed is most potent, and poor Eudoxia became pregnant practically immediately, despite her best efforts to avoid it, I am told. Basilicus was furious. She wanted to have an abortion, but he would not allow it. He has sent her to her parents’ home outside of Ephesus for her confinement.”
“I do not know how he dares to be so righteous, considering the relationship he has with you,” Cailin said with a small smile.
“It does seem unfair,” Casia agreed, “but you must remember that there are different rules for men and women. Basilicus had been most lenient with Eudoxia because she is a good wife and mother. She is not at all wanton like Flacilla. That is why he allowed her her little diversion. Becoming pregnant, however, was very careless on Eudoxia’s part, and has proven a great embarrassment to Basilicus. Eudoxia should have considered the consequences when she acted so rashly. The child is due early next summer, and will be given in adoption to a good family. Poor Eudoxia will remain in Ephesus until it is born. I do not mind. Basilicus is now free to spend more time with me. His children are practically grown and do not need him.”
“I wonder what they must think of their mother,” Cailin said.
“Basilicus’s son knows the truth, and wanted to dash right off and kill the poor guardsman. Basilicus explained most forcefully to him that one cannot kill a man for accepting what was freely offered. As for the prince’s daughters, they do not know, or at least he hopes they do not. They have been told their mother has gone to Ephesus to care for their sick grandparents, and Basilicus sent them to St. Barbara’s Convent to keep them safe until their mother returns. Left alone, who knows what mischief they might get into. Girls are most inventive.”
“Where do you come from?” Cailin asked her friend as they gazed at the water. “Athens, I think I once heard you say. Where is that?”
“It is a city on the Aegean Sea, south of Constantinople. I was born in a brothel that my mother owned. My father was an official of the government there. He was not, I remember, well-liked. When he died, they closed down my mother’s business. I was just ten, but I was sold into slavery immediately. I do not know what happened to my mother, or little brother. I was brought to Constantinople and bought by Jovian for Villa Maxima. I was very lucky,” Casia said. “You know how well they treat children at Villa Maxima. They are taught to read and write, and to do simple sums. They learn manners, and how to please the men and women who patronize the establishment. When I was thirteen my virginity was auctioned off to the highest bidder. Jovian and Phocas had never before nor have they since received such a high price for a virgin,” she said proudly. “Because I had been taught well how to please a man, and because I seem to have a talent for such work, I became quite popular. Jovian warned me to be choosy about whom I pleasured, for it was my right to refuse any man. It proved to be excellent advice. The more discerning I appeared to be, the more desperate men became to have me, and the more willing to pay the highest price. I managed to garner some magnificent gifts from my appreciative lovers.” She smiled. “Then Basilicus came, and after a short time I realized he wanted more than just an occasional visit to my bed. I hinted such a thing might be possible. He offered to give me my own home in a good district, and so I purchased my freedom from Villa Maxima.”
“How old are you?” Cailin asked her.
“But a year your senior,” Casia replied.
Cailin was surprised. Casia seemed older, but then of course she would. While I was playing with my dolls, Cailin thought, Casia was learning her lessons in a brothel. “How long will you keep the prince as a lover?” she asked her friend. “I mean … well … you are used to a variety of lovers. Does not having just one bore you?”
Casia laughed. Had the question come from anyone else, she would have been offended, but she knew Cailin meant no offense by it, that she was only curious. “One lover at a time, my friend, is really quite enough,” she replied. “As for your other question, I will remain with Basilicus as long as it pleases us both. He and I will never marry as you and Aspar will. I am no patrician like you, Cailin Drusus.”
“Being a patrician has not protected me from evil,” Cailin said quietly. “Still, though I once complained that fortune did not smile upon me, I was wrong. I may have lost my husband and child, but I have been given Aspar to love. Ohh, Casia! He wants children, and at his age!”
Casia shuddered delicately. “Better you, dear friend, than me,” she said. “I am not the maternal sort, I fear. Fortunately my prince is content with his wife’s efforts at producing offspring—when they are his own.”
They came up from the beach and sat by the fish pond in the atrium, sipping sweet wine and indulging themselves with honey cakes that Zeno’s wife, Anna, had made them.
“The city,” Casia said, “is agog with excitement over the games that Justin Gabras is sponsoring at the Hippodrome in a few days. He’s brought in gladiators for death matches. I can hardly wait!”
“Arcadius told me,” Cailin responded. “I am glad I do not have to see such a thing. I think it’s horrible!”