“I hope there aren’t too many of us, or that could get rather awkward.”
She laughed, bid him goodbye, and then she was gone, walking confidently away from the palace. He watched her disappear down the street, and only when she was fully gone did he turn and go back inside, feeling lighter than he had in a long time.
22
Laterthatday,theafternoon sun beat down on the corpse of a pig, stretched out on a table in the palace’s kitchen garden. Kallias handed the scalpel to Sextus. “Remember, it’s extremely sharp. You don’t need as much pressure as you think you do. We are physicians, not butchers.”
Sextus nodded, wrapping his finger around the slender metal handle of the tool. He placed the tip of the instrument over the spot Kallias had shown him, just over the liver. “Here?”
Kallias had wheedled the kitchen staff into borrowing the pig, promising he’d return it in good enough condition to be cooked. There was only so much he could teach Sextus about herbs and other remedies; Sextus needed to learn anatomy. Kallias had made several drawings, which the young man had worked to memorize. Now, Kallias wanted him to see firsthand what they looked like, and a pig from the kitchens was his best tool of study.
Kallias nodded. “Make the incision when you’re ready.”
Sextus steadied himself, then drew the blade gently across the skin of the pig. It didn’t bleed, as the pig wasn’t freshly slaughtered. “Was that good?” Sextus asked anxiously.
“Your hand was very steady,” Kallias praised. “You’ll need to go a bit deeper to access the liver.”
Sextus deepened the cut, and the skin parted to reveal the glistening organs within. Kallias watched Sextus’s face. Many people would lose their nerve at this point. There was something about seeing a body cut open, its vulnerable innards on display, that could make even the most hardened man blanch and swoon.
But Sextus’s eyes lit with excitement. “Is that it?” He gestured to the dark, smooth mass of the liver.
“Yes,” Kallias said. “You see the stomach just below it?” He pointed.
Sextus nodded eagerly. He surveyed the organs with something close to delight. “Is that really what we look like inside?” He gave his own stomach a poke—thankfully not with the hand still holding the scalpel. “I’ve seen animals butchered, but I never realized there was…well, so much inside. No wonder people get sick all the time.”
Kallias chuckled. “Yes, it seems to take a great deal of complexity to power a living being.”
Sextus frowned down at the corpse. “If Prometheus created man out of clay…does that mean he was sculpting all of this”—he gestured to the organs—“out of clay? How did he figure all that out?”
Kallias smiled. “I think that’s a question for a priest.” He directed Sextus to another spot higher on the pig’s chest. “Make another incision here. Take a look at the ribs, and the lungs and heart. Broken ribs are a rather common injury, and it’s useful to understand how they protect the lungs.”
Sextus did as instructed. Kallias explained a few things, then used the scalpel to reveal more of the organs and quizzed Sextuson whatever was visible. Sextus had clearly been studying Kallias’s diagrams, for he answered each question correctly.
With each answer, pride swelled in Kallias’s chest, along with an equal measure of hope. Sextus had both talent and enthusiasm for this profession. There was nothing that seemed to disgust him, whether a half-disemboweled pig or the foul-smelling infected toenail they’d dealt with that morning. He was a quick learner, but despite his intelligence, he exhibited an appropriate level of humility, never believing he knew more than he did. In truth, Kallias couldn’t have asked for a better assistant.
Soon, Kallias would start letting him handle simple ailments among the staff on his own. He would also start bringing Sextus along when he attended the emperor, so Gaius would get used to the sight of him. Slowly, Sextus could take on more and more, and when the time was right, Kallias could leave and the emperor wouldn’t bat an eye.
Freedom was within his reach, and it all hinged on Sextus.
Once their examination of the pig was complete, Kallias threaded a needle and demonstrated how to sew up the incisions. Sextus watched avidly. “May I ask you a question, sir?”
Kallias sensed it wasn’t about the pig, as until now Sextus had been peppering him with questions without asking permission. “Yes?”
Sextus hesitated. “I was walking to the palace this morning and I could have sworn I saw that lady—the gladiator woman—leaving.”
Kallias focused intently on tying off the thread and snipping it close to the skin. “That didn’t sound like a question.”
“Are you courting her, sir? Forgive me, it’s none of my business, but, well, I was just curious.”
The question made heat rise to Kallias’s face. It was natural that Sextus might wonder. They spent sunup to sundown in each other’s company. Kallias knew all about Sextus’s family—mother, father, a sister already married, niece and nephew, and more relatives he’d lost track of. He knew there was a girl in the apartment next to theirs whom Sextus was infatuated with, and if he became a physician, he was certain she’d agree to marry him. He knew what Sextus liked to eat—savillum, a rich cheesecake, was his favorite food—and how he preferred to spend his spare time—sneaking past ticket sellers to watch theater shows with his friends.
But Kallias had not found occasion to be as forthcoming about his own life. Mostly because there was little to tell. He lived, worked, and slept at the palace, spending far too many hours in useless attendance on the emperor or Drusilla. He tried to spend the rest of his time as usefully as possible, tending the others in the palace who required his services. That was about all he could manage.
Except for his recent interludes with Lea.
“I don’t think Penthesilea is the sort of woman one courts,” Kallias finally said. He wasn’t sure there was a single word for what was between him and Lea. It wasn’t courting; it was desiring, trusting, learning, falling…
A prickle of eagerness rushed over his skin. He couldn’t wait to see her again on Thursday. It would be risky to spend an entire night away from the palace, as he’d been roused from his bed more than once to attend the emperor in a fit of anxiety aboutsomething innocuous like a headache. But he’d rather risk himself a thousand times over than have Lea sneak into the palace again.
