LeahastilyclimbedoffKallias’s lap. A stranger’s arrival was possibly the only thing that could dampen her ardor. “You have an assistant?”
“As of a few days ago.” Kallias turned his attention to the closed door. “Good morning, Sextus,” he called. “I’ll join you in a moment.”
“Good morning, sir!” replied an all-too-chipper voice. “The gardener gave me a few bunches of chamomile on my way in. I’ll start preparing them for drying.”
“Thank you,” Kallias called back. He turned to Lea, passing a hand through his hair to neaten the arrangement. “Let me escort you back to the ludus.”
She rose from the bed. “Just show me how to get out of this place. I can make my own way back.”
“Very well.”
They spent a few silent moments fixing their clothing. Lea quickly braided her hair and found a leather strip abandoned on the floor to secure it. It must have come off last night when Kallias was taking down her hair. Then, she gathered up the silken palla from the floor and folded it as carefully as she could. As beautiful as it was, she hoped she’d never have the occasion to wear it again.
Kallias opened the door and beckoned her through. She stepped into a separate room filled with a long worktable and many sets of crowded shelves. This must be Kallias’s office, she realized, as she had no recollection of it from last night.
A young man, perhaps eighteen, sat on a stool at the table, separating out long stems of white-flowered plants. He glanced up when the door opened. A pink flush spread across his face as he saw Lea, and he shot to his feet. “Oh,” he said. “I didn’t realize there was a lady—”
“There’s not a lady,” Lea muttered.
“Penthesilea attended the dinner party yesterday evening, and she was feeling unwell after. I offered her a place to rest for the evening,” Kallias said smoothly. “I’ll escort her to the exit and return in a moment.”
The youth—Sextus—nodded, his gaze flicking from Lea to Kallias. She could tell he didn’t believe Kallias’s explanation, but he said nothing further.
Lea stepped out of the room behind Kallias and followed him down the hallway. “I didn’t realize the emperor kept you so busy you needed an assistant. He seems in perfect health, from what I’ve seen.”Except for that business about the wine last night.
Kallias cast a glance back at her, and the corners of his mouth tightened. “He is. He was less robust as a child and got it into his head that he requires the constant presence of a physician.” Kallias lowered his voice, though there was no one else in the hallway to overhear. “He often concocts ailments for himself. Or for Drusilla. Most of my work with him is convincing him he’snotactually dying. I took on Sextus to save time in caring for the others here.”
She quickened her pace to walk beside him. “You tend the slaves?” She hadn’t thought a man of his caliber, someone who attended dinner parties alongside the emperor, would spare a thought for those so far beneath him. He did have that patient on the Aventine with the dislocated shoulder, but many would distinguish coming to the aid of a plebeian stranger and regularly providing care to slaves.
He nodded. “Until a few months ago, I was one of them.”
She stopped short. “You were?” She wasn’t sure why that shocked her so much; she knew patrician families often kept skilled slaves who worked as physicians, accountants, or other specialized occupations. Perhaps it was his air of confidence, his sophistication, the way he seemed to fit so well into his elite surroundings.
He turned back to raise his eyebrows at her, as if his status was something she should have known all along. “Yes. Gaius granted me my freedom upon his accession.”
He continued walking, and she hastened to keep pace.
“Why?” Freeing a slave was generally done in recognition for many years of loyal service or an act that went above and beyond one’s duties, such as saving the master’s life.
“I was part of his household when he was taken to live with the old emperor at Capri. We spent six years in rather challenging circumstances. I proved my loyalty.”
Lea wrinkled her nose. “Living in an emperor’s villa is challenging circumstances?”
He aimed a sharp, sidelong look at her. “You don’t understandwhat it was like.”
The more she discovered about him, the more curious she became about his past, the experiences that had shaped him. “So tell me.”
“With that family, no one was safe.” Kallias lowered his voice further until Lea had to draw even closer to him to hear. Her arm brushed his, and heat welled at the brief contact. “Gaius watched his mother and two older brothers be exiled and die. Then he was named the heir, but the old emperor didn’t trust him, so he was taken to Capri as a hostage. If he had said one wrong word, I have no doubt he would have met the same fate as the rest of his family. And his household along with him.”
Lea tried to imagine what he described. She’d heard stories about Tiberius, the old emperor, whispers of the erratic temper and unnatural proclivities he indulged while sequestering himself at his isolated villa. Six years of that must have been very trying. “Did he free everyone who attended him, then? Or just you?”
“Just me.”
“Why?”
He glanced down at her. “If you really want to know, I can’t speak of it here.” He took her uninjured arm and steered her in a different direction. A moment later, they emerged into a wide, sunny courtyard, lined with columns and surrounded by flowering trees and bushes. A bubbling fountain centered the space.
Kallias brought her to the bench nearest the fountain and sat beside her. She realized he meant for the noise of the water to camouflage their speech, though no one seemed to be about at this early hour.
