‘And because Poppaeus never received this letter he won’t have had the opportunity to betray Claudius to Sejanus,’ Gaius said with a grin, ‘which will leave Sejanus thinking that Poppaeus is now working against him.’
‘So Sejanus must now think that his plan to gain the Purple through my son won’t work because he’ll have at least the Moesian legions against him and probably a lot more,’ Antonia concluded with genuine concern in her voice. ‘So Claudius is now a liability that needs to be got rid of. In trying to be too clever my son has set himself up to be murdered. The idiot almost deserves it but I couldn’t bear to lose another son, however stupid or badly advised.’
‘Which brings me to my final point, domina: this letter was not written by his secretary, my good acquaintance Narcissus, which, in the normal course of events it would have been; which leads me to believe that Narcissus doesn’t know about the deal with Sejanus or, if he does, has sensibly advised against it and Claudius is now going behind his back.’
‘Why would he worry about his freedman’s opinion?’ Sabinus asked. ‘Surely a freedman’s duty is to do what his patron tells him?’
‘Claudius’ household is run by his freedmen, all of whom hate each other and vie with each other for influence over their patron. Because Claudius is weak he tends to take the advice of whoever is the most forceful, which means he often finds himself vacillating between two contrary courses of action. However, as Claudius’ secretary, Narcissus has control of all his finances; Claudius is in awe of him and can do nothing without him, so he tends to keep his more scurrilous plans from him for fear of being cut off from his money.’
‘That’s outrageous!’ Antonia exploded. ‘How dare some jumped-up freed clerk hold such power over a member of my family, however stupid he may be?’
‘May I speak frankly, domina?’ Pallas asked, bowing his head and looking his most subservient.
‘If you’re going to tell me more things about my idiotic son that I’ve overlooked, I think that you had better.’
‘Yes, domina. Your son, in many ways, appears to be an idiot: he drools and stutters, he cannot organise his own affairs and is very easily influenced as he’s unable to tell the difference between good advice and bad. However, he has an over-inflated opinion of himself, is ruthlessly ambitious and harbours a deep resentment towards his family for all the slights that he believes that he has suffered at their hands. He has never held any offices or priesthoods nor is he even a member of the senate and consequently feels overlooked and undervalued and is determined to redress that. Narcissus has always tried to keep Claudius’ desire for revenge in check; he knows that his patron could never become Emperor at present because there far more suitable candidates within the imperial family.’
‘You say “at present”?’
‘Narcissus is not without his ambitions for his patron and therefore himself, domina, but if he were to find out that Claudius is making a bid for the Purple now I’m sure that he would put a stop to it — especially as it seems that the advice Claudius is following is Boter’s, who has been out of favour since that unfortunate incident a few years back.’
‘Unfortunate? Pah! He cuckolded my son and made him more of a laughing stock than he normally is and my son did nothing about it.’
‘Well, perhaps he is now; your son didn’t sign the letter, so he can deny it if Boter’s advice fails, which I think we’re all agreed that it will. He’ll make Boter the scapegoat, an eventuality that Narcissus would be very keen to see come about, leaving him free to then carry on with whatever plans he has for his patron.’
‘You mean following the strategy that I explained earlier and trying to whittle down the suitable candidates that stand in his patron’s way?’
‘I don’t think that he feels that he needs to do that, domina, as, at the moment, Sejanus seems to be doing it for him. Narcissus takes the long view; for the present his strategy is to keep his Claudius unnoticed and therefore safe.’
Antonia gave a half-smile and nodded in agreement. ‘As ever, your observations have been most enlightening, Pallas, thank you. Send this Narcissus a message; I think that we should talk to him first thing in the morning, and then afterwards I’ll deal with my son.’
CHAPTER XI
Vespasian woke the following morning as a trail of soft kisses worked their way down his chest towards his belly. He opened his eyes; the room was still dark and a gentle breeze blew through the open window beyond which the sky heralded the coming day with a faint, pre-dawn glow. The kisses worked their way across his belly; with a sigh, Vespasian closed his eyes again and lay back in bliss.
‘That’s my master attended to,’ Caenis whispered a while later as she lay her head back on his shoulder, ‘now I have to go and attend to my mistress.’
‘I hope that she doesn’t require you to be so considerate,’ Vespasian murmured, gently kissing her soft, sweet-smelling hair.
Caenis giggled. ‘I have to do anything and everything that she asks,’ she teased, her smiling features now visible as the first rays of dawn light flooded through the window.
Vespasian felt his heart flutter and smiled down at her. ‘So do I, it seems; in a way we’re both her slaves.’
‘But you don’t have to pare her toenails or pluck her eyebrows.’
‘True, but then you don’t have to drag unpleasant priests back from Moesia and then take them to the Emperor on Capreae.’
‘Yes,’ Caenis said, giving him a worried look. ‘My mistress is very concerned about that at the moment.’
‘Why? She didn’t mention any worries yesterday evening.’
‘That’s because she’s not sure whether they have any substance.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘My love, you must swear that if she talks to you about them you’ll feign ignorance. I’m trusted by her and I wouldn’t want her to think that I’ve betrayed her trust, which I do only for my love for you, because if her suspicions are correct, you could be in danger.’
‘You don’t need me to swear, you must know that I’d never do or say anything that would in any way compromise you with Antonia.’
Caenis leant up and kissed Vespasian on the lips. ‘I know,’ she whispered softly. She laid her head back on his chest. ‘When my mistress wishes to communicate with Macro she sends Clemens and when Macro wants to relay something to her he uses another of his men, Satrius Secundus, who’s based with him in the Praetorian camp. They’re always verbal messages, for obvious reasons, but I know the content because she dictates them to me after, along with the replies, for her records. Now, Secundus’ wife, Albucilla, is a notorious slut, something that he actively encourages in the hopes of advancing his position — provided her affairs are with men, or sometimes women, of influence. My mistress found out a few days ago, from a spy that she recently managed to place in her daughter Livilla’s household, that last month Albucilla began an affair with not only Livilla but also Sejanus; when he’s in Rome the three of them share a bed.’
‘And so Antonia suspects that Secundus has encouraged this in order to gain favour with Sejanus; in which case she must be worried that he’s probably betrayed all her correspondence with Macro and therefore Macro’s involvement with her. Has Antonia told Macro of her suspicions?’
‘Yes, she sent Clemens to him as soon as she found out; Macro replied that he would stop using Secundus as his messenger. He’s also threatened Secundus and Albucilla with a very unpleasant death if he suspects that he’s been betrayed. Secundus has sworn that he hasn’t said anything to Sejanus and to show his good faith has started providing Macro with any interesting bits of pillow-talk that his wife picks up in that crowded bed. So Macro is now happy with the arrangement.’
‘Well then, what’s the problem?’