Aspar grinned, just as any small boy with a new and most admired toy would have, but Cailin scolded him softly.
"Shame on you, my lord! You need not look so delighted with yourself, as if you did something worthy of praise. All those randy young soldiers are wondering about is if it is your power, your wealth, or your skill as a lover that has gained you a young and pretty mistress. It is nothing to be proud of," she finished, looking indignant. "A decent woman would be shamed."
"But you are not considered a decent woman," he teased her. "Those randy young soldiers, as you call them, would envy me even more if they knew the passionate, wildly wanton creature you have recently become. My back is covered with weals that are a testament to your delicious newfound desire, my love. Ahh, yes, you do well to blush!" He chuckled. "But I am content to have you so utterly shameless in my behalf."
She was blushing, but she was also unable to restrain her laughter. His happiness at having been able to overcome the ice in which her soul had been so encased made her happy. "It is you who are shameless, my lord," she countered. "You preen like a peacock in full plumage, and you fully enjoyed displaying me to those young men." She giggled. "They all looked so surprised when they saw me. Is your reputation such that they did not think you capable of attracting a pretty woman? They should but know you as I do."
"If they did, my love, I should be called by a different name, and would have taken Jovian for my lover," he chuckled.
"My lord!" Cailin was overcome by another fit of mirth.
He led her up a flight of stairs, explaining as they went that this was the way to the two private boxes allowed in the Hippodrome other than the imperial box. "The patriarch's box is on the emperor's right hand, and the box of the First Patrician of the empire is on the emperor's left hand. I have come early so we will not cause a disturbance with an obvious entry. It would not do to have the crowds hail me before the emperor. We will slip quietly into the box, and then be on hand to greet our guests. The emperor will not come until the races are ready to begin. There will be four races this morning, and four in the afternoon. In between we will see other entertainments, and Zeno will come with our servants to bring us luncheon."
"I have never seen chariot races," Cailin said. "Who will be racing today? There was an amphitheater in Corinium for games, but my father never took us. He said the games were cruel."
"Some are," Aspar admitted, "but there will be no gladiators today, I have been told. There will be actors, and wrestlers, and more gentle amusements that do not take away from the racing. We have four chariot teams here in Constantinople, the Reds, the Whites, the Blues, and the Greens. They will be racing, and the passions they arouse in the collective breast of the populace is oft-times terrifying. Wagers will be placed, and you are apt to see a fight or two between the adherents of a particular team and their rivals. You are safe in the box."
"Which team to do you favor, my lord?" she asked him.
"The Greens," he said. "They are the best, and the Blues come after them. The Reds and the Whites are nothing, though they try."
"Then I shall favor the Greens as well," Cailin said.
They had reached a small landing where the staircase divided into two sets of stairs, and taking the three steps up to their left, they entered Aspar's box. An awning of cloth of gold striped with purple roofed the box. There were comfortable marble chairs with silken cushions, and benches set about, all with a good view of the arena. The public stands were beginning to fill up, but no one noticed them, and a quick glance showed Cailin that the imperial party and the important religious personages were not yet in their boxes.
"There are no steps going to the emperor's box," she said to Aspar. "How does he enter it?"
"There are stairs directly into the box that lead from a tunnel beneath the palace walls," he told her. "It allows our emperor a quick exit should he find he needs it. I've always thought it an excellent place for an ambush, but there is really nothing one can do should that occur."
"Cailin!" A young woman had entered the box behind them.
Cailin turned and recognized Casia, looking particularly radiant in scarlet and gold silks. Cailin held out her hands in welcome. She had wondered how she would feel seeing Casia again, but the young woman had always been kind to her. "Fortune has smiled on you, I am told," she said, greeting Casia. "I am happy you could come."
"My lady Casia," Aspar said with a smile, and Cailin felt a surge of jealousy race through her. His eyes were too warm and too knowing.
"My lord, it is good to see you once again. I owe you a debt of gratitude for introducing me to my prince. I had not intended to buy my freedom from Villa Maxima until next year, but when the prince offered me his favor, I surprised my masters and purchased myself from them, that I might avail myself of the prince's munificence." Casia smiled warmly at them both, and settled herself comfortably next to Cailin.
Aspar bowed again and replied, "Then you are both happy with the arrangement, and for that I am glad, Casia. You are wise enough still, I trust, to look to your future? Princes are often fickle."
Casia laughed merrily. "I am a frugal woman, my lord. If Jovian and Phocas had had the slightest inkling of what I had saved during my three years with them, they would have set my price higher. They did not, however, and I came away quite comfortably fixed. The house in which I reside is also mine. I insisted. Basilicus understood, and was generous. I will not end my days in the streets like a foolish woman."
"I would be unhappy were it so," he answered her.
There was no time for Cailin to interrogate her lover, for the rest of their guests were entering the box, being introduced, and bowing over the ladies. Bellisarius, the famed classical actor, and his current lover, the ribald comic actor, Apollodorus, were first. Elegantly attired in white and gold dalmaticas, and both quite witty, they awed Cailin at first. She was not used to such men, but Casia chatted easily with them, trading gossip and insults as easily as if she had known them her entire life. Anastasius, the great Byzantine singer, arrived and spoke to them in a bare whisper, which was, Aspar explained to Cailin, his custom. Anastasius spoke little, if at all, saving his glorious voice for song.
John Andronicus, the ivory carver, and Arcadius, the sculptor, arrived almost simultaneously. The former was a shy man, but sweet-natured. He greeted his host and hostess politely. The latter was his opposite, a bold fellow with a bolder eye. "Casia I recognize, so it must be this ethereal beauty you want me to immortalize, my lord." Arcadius stared hard at Cailin. "The body, I can see," he continued, mentally stripping her clothes away, "is obviously every bit as beautiful as the face. You will make my summer a joy, lady, for there is nothing I love better than sculpting a lovely woman."
Aspar smiled, amused, as Cailin blushed again. "I thought her a perfect subject for your classical hands, Arcadius. She is Venus reborn," he said.
"I shall certainly gain more pleasure from the work you have commissioned me to do, my lord, than all the saints I have been sculpting as of late," the sculptor admitted.
Suddenly the crowd roared noisily, and the inhabitants of Aspar's box turned to see the emperor and his party entering their box. Leo had a severe yet serene face, but even in his elegant rich robes, one could not have called him distinguished or regal. It was Cailin's first glimpse of Byzantium's ruler, and she had to remember that Aspar had chosen this former member of his household staff for greatness because of his other qualities. The empress, however, was a different matter. She was a blazing star to her husband's calm moon. The rest of the royal party were made up of men and women among whom only Basilicus's face was familiar. The clergy in their black robes had already taken their place before the imperial party arrived, but Cailin had been too busy with her own guests to notice them before now.