“I don’t know. If she is calm, maybe we should follow her example. These trips can be longer than forecasted, and two days are not any reason for concern. I know you wish to have him back for many reasons, but maybe you should calm down as well.”
Saul didn’t feel reassured by his words. He looked again at Claudia and felt frightened of her. As if feeling his gaze on her, she raised her eyes and met Saul’s, then smiled with a strange expression on her face.
He felt confused and smiled back, unsure whether that was the right thing to do. With her, it depended on her mood at the moment.
He closed the curtain of the room and sighed.
“Saul, please don’t take it like that. Master Flavius will be back, maybe tomorrow,” Nara said, trying to console him, knowing the only thing that could have consoled him was to be held in his master’s arms.
Nara almost recognized himself in the relationship between Saul and Flavius, except for the jealous wife watching. A dangerous position for a slave to be in. Having experienced the moods of his Mistress, he thought he had good reason to be worried about his friend.
Saul sighed, trying to quell his rising anxiety. “Nara, what should I do? Why was I given to Flavius? I just want to go home. I want to get back with my family, my mother, my father, my sister. What happened to them? I want to go home.” Tears broke his voice.
Nara looked at him, with a lump in his throat at seeing his friend crying so desperately. He hugged him. “Please, Saul. This is your home now,” Nara swallowed. “Who am I to give you good advice? I don’t even have a family. My Master was everything to me, but I would love to know how it feels to be free,” he said, finishing the sentence in a whisper.
He parted from Saul and smiled. “Look at us. How stupid we must look. What are we crying for? Come on, Saul, wipe those tears. You are not thinking of running away. You know you won’t be able to go far. That collar on your neck tells the whole world where you belong. You would eventually be brought back home, and I can tell you, no matter if you are your Master’s lover, you would be severely punished,” he said, wiping the tears from Saul’s eyes.
Saul glanced at Nara but couldn’t find any reason to even try to smile. He shook his head and lowered his gaze. “I’m not thinking to run away. I know I can’t do that.”
Chapter 15.
Someone knocked at the main door. Saul became excited as he heard the running footsteps of the slave who went to open it.
Someone came in, but he could not see who it was, so he peeked from the room to the entrance, hoping to see Flavius coming in.
He smiled when Flaminia, accompanied by a slave, entered and asked for Claudia.
She saw him and beamed with pleasure. “Saul! Come here. What you are doing there?”
Shyly, he walked toward her. Then he recognized the slave–Cassandra.
His heart beat faster and faster. He’d been sure he would never see her again. He smiled at her. She opened up into a broad smile, the one he loved so much.
“I see you are pleased to see each other,” Flaminia said.
Cassandra averted her eyes from Saul, becoming serious. “Forgive us, Mistress.”
“Why should you feel sorry? I know you two like each other. It brings back old memories. Well, this is not the time for me to reminisce. How are you, Saul? I heard you had been ill.”
“Thank you, Mistress. I feel better now. I regret that I could not join my Master on his trip.” He tried to inconspicuously touch Cassandra’s hand.
“Flaminia, it is a great pleasure to have you here. To what do I owe the honor?” Claudia said, followed by her slave. Her smile darkened as soon as she saw Saul. “Go. No time for being lazy. Get back to what you were doing.”
Saul lowered his gaze after casting one last look at Cassandra. “Yes, Mistress. Goodbye Mistress Flaminia, it was a pleasure to see you again.”
“No, Saul. Stay and entertain us,” Flaminia said, smiling.
Claudia expression contorted into a rageful grin, annoyed by her request, but made a feeble effort to hide it.
“So it shall be, Saul. Your duties will wait. Come with us,” she said, her voice trembling.
“Yes, Mistress,” he replied, almost scared as Flaminia and Claudia walked to the porch.
Behind their backs, Cassandra grabbed his hand and kissed his cheek. He looked at her as if he’d woken up from a nightmare. Holding hands, they looked into each other’s eyes, almost forgetting about everything else, then followed their mistresses.
As they reached the garden, Flaminia and Claudia sat on a bench as Saul and Cassandra sat on the ground, their hands touching under their clothing. He felt such intense happiness he was afraid he would burst into laughter. He wanted to grab and kiss her to make up for all the times he missed her, without even realizing it.
Flaminia smiled at them. She had visited knowing that Cassandra was missing Saul. She wanted to check whether her feelings were requited.
She considered them both dearly.
“Claudia, where is Flavius? I thought he would have returned already,” Flaminia asked, noticing the disappointment on her daughter-in-law’s face.
“Oh… I thought that when he said two weeks, he meant approximately. Only sixteen days have passed. Do you think I should be worried?”
“No, I didn’t mean that. Of course, you cannot put an exact date on coming back if you are on a journey, I was just wondering. You'll excuse my apprehension. He is still my boy in my eyes. One day you will be a mother, and you will understand what I mean.”
Claudia looked at her and smiled. “I just hope to have Flavius back as soon as possible; it is not easy to deal with the house and the slaves all alone.”
“Well, it seems as if you are perfectly able to take care of everything; there is no riot, and your house looks in perfect order, my dear. Maybe you are worrying too much. However, you know you can count on your family and us.”
“Thank you, Flaminia. Your words are a great relief for me, as I miss him very much.” Claudia held Flaminia’s hand gently.
“Saul, Cassandra, leave us. I need to talk to Claudia in private,” Flaminia winked.
Saul stood immediately, taking Cassandra’s hand and leading her away. They ran out the back door, and they kissed, finding in each other’s lips the right words, from one heart to the other.
They kissed for a long time, reacquainting themselves with each other’s body. “Saul,” she whispered.
“I missed you so much, Cassandra, and only now I realize how much. I needed to see you again to understand how much I have been missing you,” he panted breathlessly, kissing her face.
“I was afraid you were no longer thinking about me. I thought you forgot about the time we’d spent together,” Cassandra purred, caressing his chest.
“How could I forget anything about the best period of my slavery? How could I ever forget about you?”
She asked, “Has someone else been in your life?”
“What do you mean?” He wasn’t quite sure if he could include his Master in his answer.
“I mean, if there has been someone else close to your heart,” Cassandra clarified, glancing at him.
“Not really. This is sort of a difficult question, you know?” Saul parted from her.
“What do you mean difficult?”
“Well, many of my nights have been shared with Flavius. His marriage with Claudia is not one of the happiest; it is nothing like the feelings between Marcus Tiberius and Flaminia. They don’t belong together, but I think they are trying their best to make things work.” He kissed her fingers.
She smiled relieved. She had been afraid there was another woman in his life.