To Love Again - Bertrice Small [82]
“Why do you say that?” he asked her, curious.
“I have been speaking to your servants, and they tell me that to be a Christian you must forgive your enemies. I do not think I can forgive mine, Jovian. My enemy has cost me my family, my husband, and my child. I do not even know if that child was a son or a daughter. I have been taken from the land I love best, enslaved and generally terrorized. We Britons are a hardy race, which is probably why I have survived all of this, but I am angry, and I am embittered. Given the opportunity to take my revenge upon Antonia Porcius, I would gladly do so! I cannot forgive her for what she has done to me, or taken from me.”
“Your fate is now here,” Jovian told her quietly, and reaching out, he took her hand in his, squeezing it to comfort her.
Cailin’s violet eyes surveyed him calmly. “I have learned to put my trust in no one, my lord. It is wiser, and I shall not be disappointed.”
How cold she is, he thought, wondering if her husband had ever been able to ignite passion in her. Yet she was exactly what he needed for his new entertainment: a perfect marble Venus. Beautiful. Untouchable. Icy. And heartless. She would be a sensation, and her performance would bring all of Constantinople to its knees in their admiration. “Tomorrow,” he said, “you will begin your training. You will be taught to do certain things that may at first frighten you or seem repugnant to you, but you can believe me, Cailin, when I tell you that I will not allow you to be injured in any way. In this one instance you may put your trust in me. I have too great an investment in you to allow you to come to harm, my dear. Oh, yes. You may trust Jovian Maxima, but no other.”
“You have an investment of four folles, my lord.” She laughed. “ ‘Tis hardly a great amount, as you yourself explained to me.”
“Ahh, but remember that having cleaned you up, I told you that your worth had increased to ten solidi. Once you are trained, your worth will be a hundred times that, Cailin.”
She was fascinated by what he was saying. She had absolutely no idea what her training was going to involve. She had no idea exactly what went on at Villa Maxima during those long evenings when the enticing noises from the main part of the villa teased at her sleepy ears. All she knew about brothels was that bodies were sold for a night’s pleasure. There was obviously a good deal more, if her instincts proved correct.
The next morning she was brought by the slave girl Isis to an interior room where Jovian awaited her with several others. All of them but Jovian, resplendent in a red and silver dalmatica, were naked. There was a beautiful dark-haired woman of Cailin’s height, and three tall young men with long golden locks. For a moment it was as if a hand had clutched at her heart, Cailin thought upon seeing them. Although there was nothing in the trio other than their size and coloring to remind her of Wulf, it was more than enough. For a moment she was angry at Jovian, but then she realized he could not know, so she steeled herself for whatever was to come because it meant the first step along her road to freedom.
Yesterday, discussing her anger with Jovian, Cailin had suddenly known that what she desperately wanted was to return to Britain, no matter how far away it was or how difficult the journey. The realization of such a dream was impossible without gold and power behind her. She knew not if Wulf was dead or alive. Even if he lived, he might not want her back. But her father’s lands were hers, and there was that faceless, sexless child, too, who belonged to her. She wanted them back, and she wanted her revenge on Antonia Porcius. Only by becoming famous here in Constantinople did she have the slightest chance of returning to Britain and foiling Antonia’s evil scheme. In her innocence, Cailin vowed she would do whatever she had to do to attain her goal.
“This is Casia,” Jovian said, introducing the dark-haired woman. “She has been with us for two years and is most popular with the gentlemen. I have asked her to join us because she will demonstrate