As he kissed Cassandra, searching her skin with his hands, something incredible happened, and he understood what his Master said about replacing his sight with other senses. He could not see Cassandra, but somehow, he could read her heart. He could hear her thoughts, the voice of her soul, and he was sure that as he could hear her, he could read the hearts of others. The thoughts dissipated as he concentrated on the softness of her body under his fingertips, seeing it through the touch of her skin.
When Flavius reached home, he felt exhausted by the long walk and the thoughts which would never be revealed until the case was closed. The discussion with Titus was surely enlightening, but at the same time, it opened his mind to many possibilities which needed to be considered.
If it were true that the two events were connected, then he had to pursue the lead of jealousy. This brought to his mind a lot of people, including those who he could not suspect of having a reason to act like that.
He shook his head as rage germinated again from his soul, “whoever did such a cruel thing will pay for that,” he whispered to himself.
He reached his house at the fourth hour of the day. Claudia greeted him at the door, creases of displeasure lining her perfect face, “I thought you were going to get your slave from your father’s house. You told me you would return soon, but only now you come home. What happened?”
“I decided to see Uncle Titus. It has been a long time since I saw him, and I needed to ask him a few questions. He lives far from here, so I had to spend the night there. Didn’t a slave deliver the message to you?”
“Yes. I just wondered why.” She tried to smile. “So, where is your slave? Is he still in your father’s house?”
“He will remain there until his full recovery, and then we will consider whether he will return here or not. It might take some time, but I am not going to give up. I am not responsible for what happened to him, so I can’t understand why he considers our deal over,” Flavius said thoughtfully.
“It sounded strange to me, but I could not oppose him. The deal was between the two of you; I had nothing to do with it.”
“I am going to find out who did that to Saul.”
A scowl marred her features. “Why do you care so much about him? He is only a slave. You can get a better one; one who is useful.”
“Are you suggesting that I give him away now that he is blind, and get a new slave to replace him? Don’t you understand that I want to get the people that ruined him because they damaged my property? And besides, I will not give Saul away; he is my confidant and advisor, not to mention my friend.”
“I always told you that you had a strange taste in friends. You don’t realize that a slave cannot be a friend. It is like pretending to be the friend of a horse. He is there because he has to be, not because he wants to, and he does what you order because if he doesn’t, you will punish him. A slave would do anything.”
“I never punished him, and I still consider him the only one I can trust with my life.”
“Whatever, but I doubt you will ever find out who did this. Those people could already be far from Rome. How could you possibly think to find them? We don’t have any kind of lead on them. None of us saw whoever did this to Saul. Julius and Nara confirmed that he couldn’t see their faces and could not recognize anyone.” she said, caressing the surface of a table.
“But maybe I do have a lead…” he replied.
Her head bolted upward, and she eyed him suspiciously, feeling certain that Saul would never reveal the truth to anyone.
The fear of crueler punishments would have been enough to convince him to keep the secret. However, Flavius’ words aroused fear that he might know something, harbor more than a suspicion.
“What do you mean you have a lead? Is there something I don’t know?” she asked, trying to hide the turmoil swirling inside her.
Flavius’ mouth tightened, and his nostrils flared. “No, but I have some ideas, and I will find out who did that you can be sure of it.”
Claudia’s heart pounded like the hooves of galloping horses. If Flavius found out… everything would be lost. She had to know all his moves, but it was clear he didn’t trust her as much as his worthless slave.
She called for Nara to come to her room.
“You need me, Mistress?” he asked.
“Of course, I need you, idiot. I wouldn’t call you for the pleasure of your annoying presence. I need to know…what do you know about what happened to Saul?” she hissed.
Nara backed up, scared. He had started to have a few suspicions as well. “Mistress, I have absolutely no idea. Saul didn’t remember much of anything about that night, and since he left, I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to him. I am sure that if he remembers something, he will tell us.”
“Well, it seems like I am the one in this house who doesn’t know anything at all. My husband seems to have some ideas about who did it,” she said, biting on her fingernails.
“Having ideas does not mean knowing the truth. Maybe Master Flavius is thinking about who might have had a valid reason.”
“But what has Saul told you? He surely told you something about it,” Claudia insisted.
“He said that he was awakened by some noises. He stood up from the bed to understand what it was, when some people, of whom he could not see their faces, grabbed him. He tried to break free, but in the fight, they managed to harm him,” he replied.
She smiled; he was keeping his silence.
She’d managed to scare him to death. “They should have killed him; it would have been better for everybody,” she said, her pulse settling down to a regular pace.
“A dead bird can’t sing, can he, Mistress?” he asked cunningly.
She turned her gaze on him, and grabbed a vase, then hit him on the top of his head as fragments of the vase fell on the floor. “What do you mean, miserable beast? How dare you use that tone to speak to your Mistress?”
Nara fell to the floor unconscious, just as Flavius came in, attracted by the commotion. “What happened here? What have you done to him?” he yelled, kneeling beside the slave. “Nara, can you hear me? Please wake up.”
She looked at the scene, speechless. That was something she hadn’t meant to do. She stood with the fragment of the vase in her hand, incapable of moving, saying, or thinking; her mind was suddenly blank.
In her heart, she hoped Nara would move from his immobile position. She would have given everything to rewind the past few minutes, to not hit him so badly.
Is he dead? No matter how much Flavius tried to shake him to reanimate him, the boy didn’t move,
The room spun around Claudia until it blurred into darkness. It was like being in a trance, and Nara was there as well.
He was crying.
“I’m sorry,” Claudia whispered.
“Was it you?” Nara asked between sobs.
“What?”
“You did that to Saul. That's why you got so angry when I said that, but I really meant to say something else. I didn’t mean I knew it was you.”
“Yes, it was me. I don’t expect you to understand, but I had to. What I didn’t mean was hurting you the way I did,” she said.
He wiped his eyes and tried to smile. “I know, Mistress. Don’t you worry, everything will be fine. I’m not dead. Master Flavius is calling me, but I can’t open my eyes.”
She looked at him. “I can’t hear him.”
“Please, Mistress, tell me why you did that to him.”
“Am I the only one who could see what he was doing? He took everything from me. My husband prefers to spend his days and nights with him, my guests ignore me when he is around. Even Flaminia asks for him when she visits me. It feels as if I am the slave and he is the Master of this house. I needed to do something to make Flavius get rid of him. The best option was making him useless.”