To Love Again - Bertrice Small [121]
“She says she is,” Basilicus answered, “but who is to prove her truthful, or a liar? Here in Byzantium she was an actress in a brothel, performing sexual acts before an audience. That makes her ineligible to marry with the First Patrician of the empire, Flavius Aspar.”
“Then I will leave the empire,” Aspar said grimly. “I can no longer be content or useful if I am denied my wish in this matter.”
Basilicus did not argue. Aspar would not leave Byzantium. His whole world was here, and he was not a young man. Besides, even based upon his brief acquaintance with Cailin, Basilicus felt she would not allow Aspar to do anything that could endanger his position, or his comfort.
“Casia tells me you have asked her to sit in your box at the games next week,” the prince said, changing the subject. “It is kind of you, and I have said she may go, although it will cause a small scandal. Who else will you invite, my friend? Entertainers and artisans, I doubt not.”
Aspar laughed. “Ahhh, yes,” he said. “How could I, the empire’s First Patrician and great general, dare to prefer those who create to those in power? Eh, Basilicus? But I do! And you are correct. Both Bellisarius and Apollodorus, the great classical actor and the masses’ favorite comedian, will be in my box on May eleventh. And Anastasius, the singer and poet, as well as John Andronicus, the artist who does those marvelous ivory carvings, and Philippicus Arcadius, the sculptor. I have commissioned him to do a nude of Cailin for our garden. He will spend the summer at the villa. I have built him a studio in which to work, so he will not have to travel back and forth between the country and the city, nor worry about his daily needs, which my servants will see to. Your sister will enjoy that piece of gossip, Basilicus.”
“Indeed she will,” he admitted, and then he said, “Are not Bellisarius and Apollodorus dreadful rivals? I heard that they despised each other. Is it safe having them in the same box?”
“Their hatred has recently turned to love, or so I hear.” Aspar chuckled. “There is another tidbit for our beloved empress Verina to chew upon.”
“The gods! They haven’t become lovers! But of course they have, or you would not say it,” Basilicus exclaimed. They had reached his litter, and he climbed in, settling himself comfortably amid the pillows.
Aspar mounted his stallion, which had been tethered next to the prince’s conveyance. “Is your wife coming to the games?”
Basilicus nodded mournfully. “Eudoxia would not miss a chance to seat herself in the imperial box, where she can be seen, admired, and bitterly envied by all of her friends and relations seated in the stands. I will be by her side as convention demands, but afterward when she goes to the palace to enjoy the banquet, I shall join my adorable Casia.”
“Will not Eudoxia miss you at the banquet, Basilicus?”
“Nay,” the prince replied. “She will be too busy sampling all the delicacies offered the imperial guests; and of course there is that young guardsman who has recently taken her eye. I believe she means to seduce him eventually, and I do want to give her the opportunity. If she is busy with her young man, then she will not wonder if I am busy somewhere else. Eudoxia rarely strays from her marital vows, and so when she does, I like to give her as clear a field as possible. She is an excellent wife, and mother to our children. I might add that her discretion in her little peccadillos is commendable, to say the least. There has never been the tiniest bit of scandal about her, which is certainly more than one can say about most patrician wives these days.”
“How fortunate for you both,” Aspar said dryly. He did not understand the kind of marriage that most of the nobility had. True, there were exceptions; couples who, like his late wife Anna and himself, kept to their vows of fidelity and loyalty. That was the kind of marriage he would share with Cailin one day.
“I am not needed in town until the games,” he said to the prince. “I will see you then.” He rode off down the Mese toward the Golden