Free Rome’s Fallen Eagle by Robert Fabbri Page A

and followed him out; neither looked Vespasian in the eye.
    ‘The stitches have held,’ Caenis observed, examining Sabinus’ wound, having removed the bandage. ‘It just needs swabbing with vinegar and a fresh dressing; I’ll go and get some.’
    She left the room, keeping her eyes to the floor.
    Vespasian sank into a chair and wiped the sweat from his brow with his toga, leaving a white stain of chalk.
    Sabinus looked at him, too weak to do more than chuckle. ‘I take it that was the first time that all three of you have been in the same room?’
    ‘And the last, I hope.’
    ‘Unless it’s in your bedroom, perhaps?’
    Vespasian glared at his brother. ‘Piss off, Sabinus!’
    Any more comments on the subject were curtailed by Gaius poking his head around his study door. ‘Have they gone?’
    ‘Yes, Uncle, but they’ll be back.’
    Gaius quickly retreated behind the door.
    Vespasian reached for a jug on the table next to him and poured himself a large measure of undiluted wine. He took a long sip and savoured the taste, with his eyes closed, wishing that what he had just witnessed was not true.
    Unfortunately, a short while later, it was reconfirmed: the sound of two sets of footsteps came from the tablinum at the far end of the atrium. Vespasian took an extra-large slug of his drink. Flavia and Caenis walked in together; Flavia with a bowl of soup and a loaf of bread and Caenis with a bottle of vinegar and fresh bandages.
    In silence they ministered to Sabinus together, until his bowl was empty and his wound re-dressed. They then called for a couple of slaves to help them take him to his room.
    When they returned they stood before Vespasian, still slumped in his chair, nursing his second cup of wine.
    ‘I shall go home now,’ Caenis said quietly.
    Flavia looked contrite. ‘I’m sorry, husband, you were right to refuse to tell me anything. Caenis has guessed what has happened … why Sabinus is in Rome; and he did the right thing by Clementina. I know you would have done the same.’
    Caenis walked past Vespasian to the door, laying a hand softly on his shoulder as she did so. She took her cloak from a hook in the vestibule, slung it around her shoulders and then looked back. ‘We both understand the importance of keeping this secret. We won’t say a word about this ever, Vespasian, not to anyone; will we, Flavia?’
    ‘No, my dear, we won’t; never a word.’
    ‘I hear that you found yourself in a bit of a tricky situation last night, sir,’ Magnus said conversationally as he accompanied Vespasian and Gaius down the Quirinal the following morning. His breath was faintly visible in the early morning air; a light drizzle fell from a heavy, grey sky.
    Vespasian looked disapprovingly over his shoulder at Sextus and Marius pushing Sabinus, whose face was concealed under a deep hood, in the handcart. ‘I thought that it was only women who gossiped about the domestic woes of others.’
    ‘Don’t blame the lads; I heard all the shouting from outside so I asked them what was going on when they got out.’
    ‘It was a fearsome sight, my friend,’ Gaius opined, blanching at the memory. ‘One irate woman is bad enough, but a brace of them? Intolerable!’ Gaius shook his head, sucking the breath in between his teeth. ‘They were both standing there, fire in their eyes, bonded by a mutual sense of violation, with all past hatred and jealousy between them put aside, to face their common foe. Utterly hideous! Luckily I had some urgent correspondence to deal with.’
    ‘You mean you ran away, Uncle.’
    ‘Dear boy, it’s not my business to deal with your overly complicated domestic arrangements; especially when they’re united in an unnatural alliance of vengeance. That takes the sort of resolve found only in men rash enough to believe that they can go into a negotiation with nothing to bargain with.’
    ‘As you’re just about to do, senator,’ Magnus pointed out.
    Gaius grunted uneasily and Vespasian