To Love Again - Bertrice Small [146]
“Not to you!” Flacilla snapped angrily. “I will never give precedence to that creature. Never!”
“Oh, Flacilla,” the empress said, “do not distress yourself. Look! The Greens have taken two races in a row this morning.” She turned to her husband. “You owe me a new gold necklace, my lord, and a bracelet too!”
“Ohhh, I hate her!” Flacilla murmured low. “How I wish I might wreak vengeance on her for her presumption.”
“Well, you cannot now, my dear,” her husband replied softly. “As Aspar’s mistress, she had a certain vulnerability, but as Aspar’s wife, Flacilla, she is inviolate. Look at her! Modest. Beautiful. Soon, I wager, she will become known for her good works. She will be a model mother, I have not a doubt. She has no fault that I can see. If she did, we might find a way to spoil Aspar’s happiness, but she does not. You will have to learn to live with the situation. I will not have you upsetting yourself unnecessarily, else you lose my child. If you do that, Flacilla, I will kill you with my bare hands. Do you understand me?”
“The child means that much to you, my lord?”
“Aye! I have never had a legitimate son,” he said.
“And me, my lord? Do I mean anything to you at all, other than as the brood mare who will bear your heir?”
“You are the only woman for me, Flacilla. I have told you that often enough, but if it pleases you to hear it again, very well. I never before asked a woman to marry me. It is you I want, but I want the child, too, my dear. Have a care else your bad temper spoil a perfect relationship.”
She turned her eyes to the racecourse, knowing that he was right and hating him for it. She did not dare look again toward Aspar’s box, for she could not bear the sight of her former husband and Cailin.
The chariot races were finally over. The interval between the races and the games would be a full hour. In the three boxes, servants laid out a light luncheon for their masters. When they had almost finished eating, an imperial guardsman appeared in Aspar’s box.
“The emperor and the empress will receive your loyal respects now, my lord, and that of your lady, too,” he said, bowing politely.
“You did not warn me,” Cailin said to Aspar, signaling Zeno to bring a basin of perfumed water in which to wash her hands. She dried them quickly with the linen towel he handed her.
“I was not aware they would receive us today,” he told her. “This is a great honor, my love. They are acknowledging our relationship! There can be no going back now, Cailin!”
“You look beautiful,” Casia whispered to her friend. “I have been watching Flacilla. She is consumed with jealousy. It is a great victory for you, my friend. Savor it!”
Aspar and Cailin followed the guardsman into the imperial box, where the couple knelt before the emperor and empress. They are so perfect together, Verina thought, as her husband greeted their guests. I have never before seen a better-matched couple. I am almost jealous of their love for each other. She was brought back to reality by Leo’s voice: “And my wife welcomes you also, my lady Cailin, do you not, Verina?”
“Indeed, my lord,” the empress replied. “You can but add more luster to our court, lady. You are from the former province of Britain, I am told. It is a dark land, or so I am informed.”
“It is a green and fertile land, majesty, but perhaps not as sunny and bright a place as is Byzantium. Your springs come earlier and your autumns later than in Britain.”
“And do you miss your green and fertile land, lady?” the empress inquired politely. “Have you family there?”
“Yes,” Cailin said, “I sometimes miss Britain, majesty. I was happy there, but,” she amended with a sweet smile, “I am happy here with my dear lord Aspar. Wherever he is will be my home.”
“Well said, lady!” the emperor approved, smiling at her. “How charming she is,” Leo continued after the couple had returned to their own box. “Aspar is a very lucky man, I think.”
Justin Gabras squeezed his wife’s hand in warning, for he