Felix had nearly escaped when she called out. “You’re going the wrong way! Narses is at his office now. Let’s walk there together!”
She was beside him before he could protest. Felix glanced at his companion from time to time. She was as familiar with their geography as he, and he wondered if her knowledge had come from assignations in less frequented areas of the gardens. She was not so much beautiful as striking, with pale hair and plump hands. Nor was she as young as he had first supposed and the angle of her jaw suggested stubbornness and a strong will. He wondered which mistress she served and if her employer was a guest of the imperial couple.
Whoever she was, she seemed in high humor. Now and then a chuckle escaped her ruby painted lips and at one point she hummed to herself.
Felix couldn’t hide his surprise. He recognized a popular though obscene song sung by military men to the glory of Theodora and her prowess in the arena of Venus.
By then they had reached a long, blocky administrative building. The woman led Felix down a corridor decorated with frescoes depicting country life and rapped on a polished paneled door decorated with ivory scrollwork. A pale silentiary answered the summons.
Felix felt it was time to assert his authority. “I am Felix, sent by Captain Gallio of the excubitors for an audience with Narses.” As he spoke he was acutely conscious of the perfume of the woman beside him.
“You are expected.” replied the guardian of the door. “As for your companion….”
“I am not expected,” she said. “And being a female I have no doubt I would be unwelcome. Don’t forget our little matter, Felix.” She caught him again in her gaze, released him, and went back down the corridor. He realized she had not actually touched him once yet he felt as if she had her hands all over his body.
The room into which a thoroughly flustered Felix was ushered boasted a large desk, an ebony-armed chair, and a large iron-bound box. The only nod to decoration was a row of silver bowls of hyacinths against one wall. The bell-shaped flowers exuded a sweet, overpowering scent that filled the austere room.
The dwarfish, bald chamberlain dismissed the silentiary. He noticed Felix looking at the flowers. “Homer stated in a passage describing Juno’s treachery that her bed was formed of crocus, lotus, and hyacinth. I keep these blossoms by me as a reminder that women cannot be trusted-and few men, for that matter.”
Felix blinked in surprise but remained silent.
“I recognized that strumpet’s voice,” Narses continued. “I strongly advise you not to engage in the little matter mentioned, whatever it is, although I can certainly guess its nature. Avoid that woman or should I say viper in women’s clothing. She is a demon’s snare. A friend of the empress. A close friend. You grasp my meaning? Besides which, I know how men are. I will not have her interfering in what you will be instructed to carry out.”
“I don’t know the woman, excellency. I ran into her in the gardens.”
The other’s unlined face broke into a smile that closely resembled a leer. “You really don’t know who she is?”
“No, excellency.”
“That’s Antonina. Unchaste to say the least and a practitioner of magick of the worst sort. However, as I said, a confidante of our empress.” Narses giggled. “But now to business.”
Chapter Nine
John ignored the first knock at the chapel door. At the second his lips tightened into a thin line and he set down the crust of bread he had been eating. “Yes?”
“It’s Haik.”
“Come in.”
A shaft of light from the doorway fell across the gloom in the semi-circular chamber. The candles on the polished wood altar guttered, their reflections trembling on the silver cross sitting between them. Before it was half opened, the edge of the door hit John’s stool. Haik squeezed into the cell-sized enclosure.
“Please close the door.” John shifted his stool to make room. A plain, wooden desk sat jammed up against the altar. Documents were shoved aside to make room for John’s breakfast.
“The servants told me I’d find you here. I didn’t realize you’d become a man of faith.”
“I haven’t. It’s the only place in the house I can be alone. The servants won’t disturb a man at his devotions. Otherwise it’s master this and master that. It’s impossible to gather one’s thoughts.”
“You always liked having the night watch on your own, didn’t you?” Haik looked around the chapel. A gilt cross curved across the domed ceiling. On the walls, painted saints suffered horrible martyrdoms. “I’d have a hard time thinking in here, myself. It’s worse than a battlefield.”
“I’m not having much luck myself this morning.”
“Pondering some palace intrigue?”
John ignored Haik’s grin. “I hope that’s not what it turns out to be.” He stood, retrieved his bread, stuffed the remains into his mouth, and gestured toward the door. He left the chapel and led his visitor down a short corridor into the atrium where a life-sized Aphrodite served as a graceful fountain.
Haik glanced back in the direction of the chapel. “Old gods and new no further from each other than you could spit an olive pit. I wonder who the original owner of this house favored?”
“I am sure he worshipped the emperor’s god. In public. Have a seat. There’s more room here and you won’t sink up to your neck in cushions.”
Haik sat down with a sigh on one of the benches projecting from the marble walls while John took another. “Considering the time I’ve spent on horseback lately, I wouldn’t refuse a cushion or two. You should allow yourself a little luxury. You’ve earned it. You weren’t born to it.”
“Which is why I can’t get used to being waited on.”
“The servants might not vex you so much if you gave them enough to do. I found the kitchen staff throwing knucklebones. But then how long does it take to set out a loaf of bread for the master’s breakfast?”
“I often have boiled eggs.”
“Give them some employment. A few fancy dishes will keep them busy all day.”
“I have no taste for fancy dishes. I’m happy with grilled fish from a street vendor.”
“Have your cook prepare grilled fish then.”
“I’d have to sit and eat off a silver plate. I’d prefer to have it from a skewer while walking the streets.”
Haik laughed. “I suppose the emperor wouldn’t allow you to pitch a tent in the gardens?”
“It would reflect badly on Justinian if his chamberlains did not appear to be well compensated.”
Haik ran a hand absently through his long, black hair. “So you’re a chamberlain. From what little I know, that’s an office with a lot of power.”
John shook his head. “The office has no power of its own. All power flows down from the emperor, like the water from Aphrodite’s shell.”
The white marble statue held an oversized clam shell in one upraised hand. Water bubbled out of the shell and splashed into the basin at the bare feet of the goddess. The tiles near the fountain glistened with moisture. Occasionally John could feel a droplet against his face. Given the chill in the air on this January day, it was not a pleasant sensation.
“There are numerous chamberlains with varied duties,” John added. “Everything depends on Justinian’s whim. Narses is a chamberlain but also the imperial treasurer. Which makes him my superior. And it is obvious that he intends to make certain that he remains my superior.”
“I’ll stick to my orchards. It’s less complicated than the imperial court and a pistachio tree isn’t likely to stab you in the back.”
“But it might conspire to break your teeth.”
The gap in Haik’s grin proved the truth of the statement. He was silent for a time. His gaze remained fixed on John.
“You’ve been staring at me. You’re wondering about me, aren’t you? Do I look different? Has my voice changed? Am I the same man? Perhaps I have become treacherous and deceitful.”