Shortly after Aspar had departed the box, another imperial guardsman entered it, and bowing to Cailin, said. "Lady, you are to come with me, if you please."

"What is it you want?" she asked him. "And who has sent you?"

The guardsman was young, and he blushed at her frank scrutiny. "Lady," he agonized, "I cannot say. This is a private matter."

Before Cailin might speak again Casia leaned forward, allowing the young man a very good view of her full bosom. "Do you know who I am, young sir?" she purred at him. "My, my, you are such a handsome fellow!"

Arcadius snickered. Casia would have the information she wanted within a very short time by the look on the guardsman's face.

"Nay, lady, I do not know you," the young man replied nervously, unable to tear his eyes from her snowy white breasts. "Should I?"

"I am Prince Basilicus's special friend, young sir, and if you do not tell the lady Cailin who sent you, I shall tell my prince of your rudeness, and of how you violated me with your wicked brown eyes. Now, speak!"

The young guardsman guiltily raised his eyes. He reddened, and then he murmured low, "The empress, lady." Then looking anxiously at Cailin, he said, "She means you no harm, lady. She is a fine woman."

Both Casia and Arcadius laughed, causing the other guests in the box to look up from their food with curiosity.

Cailin arose. "Since you all know with whom I shall be, there is little to fear. I will go with you, young sir." Smoothing the wrinkles from her stola, she followed him from the box and down the staircase.

At the foot of the stairs was a small door in the entry wall, so cleverly hidden that Cailin had not noticed it before. The guardsman pressed the wall in a certain spot, and the door opened to reveal a second flight of steps. She hurried down them, following the young soldier. They entered what Cailin realized was the main corridor to the imperial box. The tunnel was well-lit with torches, and several feet down from where they had entered the guardsman stopped, and pressing upon the wall, revealed another door which sprang open at his touch. Before them was a room, and within it a woman who turned at the sound of the door opening.

"Come in," she said in a low, well-modulated voice. "Wait for us outside, John," she ordered the guardsman. "You have done well."

The door shut behind Cailin, who bowed politely to Verina.

"You do not look like a whore," the empress said frankly.

"I am not one," Cailin replied quietly.

"Yet you lived at Villa Maxima for several months, and took part in what I am told was one of the most notorious entertainments ever seen in this or any other city," Verina said. "If you are not a whore, then what exactly are you?"

"My name is Cailin Drusus, and I am a Briton. My family descends from the great Roman family. My ancestor, Flavius Drusus, was a tribune in the Fourteenth Gemina Legion, and came to Britain with the emperor Claudius. My father was Gaius Drusus Corinium. Almost two years ago I was kidnapped and sold into slavery. I was a wife and a mother when this happened. I was brought in a consignment of slaves to this city. Jovian Maxima bought me in the common market for four folles, lady. What he did with me you are obviously aware. My lord Aspar rescued me from that shameful captivity, and freed me," Cailin finished proudly.

Verina was fascinated. "You have the look of a patrician, and you speak well," she said. "You live as Aspar's mistress, don't you, Cailin Drusus? They say he loves you not just with his body, but with his heart as well. I did not think him capable of such a weakness."

"Is love then a weakness, majesty?" Cailin said softly.

"For those in power it is," the empress replied honestly. "Those in power must never have any weakness that can be exploited against them. Yes, love of a woman, of children, of any kind, is a weakness."

"Yet your priests teach that love conquers all," Cailin said.

"You are not a Christian, then?" Verina asked.

"Father Michael, who was sent to me by the patriarch, says that I am not yet ready to be baptized a Christian. He says I ask too many questions, and have not the proper humility for a woman. The apostle Paul, I have been told, said that women should humble themselves before men. I am afraid I am not humble enough," Cailin replied.

Verina laughed. "If most of us were not baptized as infants, we should never be, for we lack humility as well, Cailin Drusus, but you must be baptized if you are to become Aspar's wife. The general of the Eastern Armies cannot have a pagan for a wife. It will not be tolerated. Surely you can deceive this Father Michael into believing you have learned humility."

Aspar's wife? She could not have heard the empress correctly.

Verina saw the startled look on Cailin's beautiful face, and divined immediately what had caused it. "Yes," she told the surprised girl. "You heard me correctly. I said, 'Aspar's wife,' Cailin Drusus."

"I have been told that it is impossible for me to attain such a status, majesty," Cailin said slowly. She had to think. "I have been told that there is a law in Byzantium forbidding marriages between the nobility and those who are actresses and entertainers. I have been told that the time I spent at Villa Maxima would negate my patrician birth."

"It is important to me," Verina answered her, "that I retain the goodwill and support of General Aspar. It is true that you came here as a slave and served as an entertainer in a brothel, Cailin Drusus, but you are a patrician. I have no doubts as to your lineage. I watched you this morning. Your manner is cultured, and you are obviously well-bred. I believe what you have told me of your background is true. Your time at Villa Maxima was short. Those who know of it will remain silent, or I will see that they are silenced when you become Aspar's wife. You do want to be his wife?"

Cailin nodded slowly, and then said, "What do you want of me, majesty? Such a favor will have a high price, I know."

Verina smiled archly. "You are wise to understand that, Cailin Drusus. Very well. I will help overcome the objections voiced to a marriage between you and General Aspar, if you, in return, will guarantee me his aid should I need it. And he must swear to me himself on the relic of the true cross that he is my man should I need him. I know you can convince him to do this in return for my help."

Cailin's heart was hammering. "This is not something that I can broach easily," she said. "I will speak with him in a few days' time, majesty, but how will I be able to communicate my success or failure to you? For now I do not even exist as far as your world is concerned. If I did, you would have invited me to your banquet, not just Aspar, who had to be separated from me so you and I could meet secretly here beneath the walls of the Hippodrome."

"It is so refreshing to have someone speak openly and honestly," the empress said. "Here at Byzantium's court everyone couches their words in hidden meaning; and motives are often so complex as to be unknown. Speak with your lord, and in a few days' time I will come one afternoon by sea, with a few trusted companions, to visit the general's summer villa. If anyone learns of my visit, it will be thought I am merely curious, and it will cause no scandal. Leo is a very righteous man, and I am a most loyal helpmate. If he learns of my excursion, he will naturally assume I have been led astray by my companions; an assumption I will not correct. Such occurrences have happened before." She smiled meaningfully.

"I will do my very best for you, majesty," Cailin said.

The empress laughed. "I have no doubt that you will, my dear. After all, both our future happiness depends on your being successful, and I am a bad enemy to have, I promise you; but we must get back. If I stay too long away from the banquet, my absence will be noted." Verina went to the door and opened it, saying, "John, return this lady to her box, and then take up your post as before. Farewell, Cailin Drusus."

Cailin bowed politely and backed from the room. As she followed the guardsman along the tunnel and up the two flights of stairs, her mind was awhirl with the events of the last few minutes. Reentering her box, she was accosted by an eager Casia.

"What did she want?" Casia whispered, and Arcadius leaned over to hear Cailin's answer.

"She was but curious," Cailin said with a smile. "How very dull her life must be that she was that curious about Aspar's mistress."

"Ohh," Casia sighed, disappointed, but Arcadius could see that Cailin simply chose not to tell the other woman all that had transpired. It was obviously going to be a most interesting summer.

Below them half a dozen jugglers were amusing the restless crowds by parading around the raceway balancing various colored balls in the air above them. They were followed by a marvelous procession of exotic animals. Aspar returned to the box and, slipping into the seat next Cailin, put an arm about her. Casia looked to Arcadius with a smug little smile, and he grinned back.

"Ohhhh!" Cailin squealed. "I have never seen beasts like those! What are they? And striped ones, too! There are two kinds!"

"The great gray mammoths with the long noses are called elephants," Aspar told her. "History tells us that the great Carthaginian general Hannibal crossed over the Alps to win many victories on the backs of elephants. The striped cats are called tigers. They come from India, a land far to the east of Byzantium. The striped horses are zebras."

"The tall spotted creatures, my lord, and the funny beasts with humps? What are they?"