A few minutes later, after the sounds of their rasping, panting breath had died away, Helena said, “You will bring me the poison tomorrow night, Julian. Without fail.”
“Yes, Majesty,” said the man by her side. “I will bring it. I swear!”
“Good,” purred the empress, “and when my enemy is dead I will have another sweet little present for you, dear Julian. Little Julia has a twin brother. I am saving him for you.”
Shortly thereafter the physician left the palace through a discreet side gate, and was carried in a litter through the silent night streets to his own residence. Once home, he entered his laboratory and searched in the cabinet. He drew forth the vial and held it up to the light. It glittered an evil yellow-green color. Placing the vial carefully on the table, he poured water from a pitcher into a small basin. Then, opening the vial, he allowed several drops of it into the water. The color disappeared as soon as it touched the clear water. The water remained colorless and odorless.
Julian Tzimisces recorked the vial and carefully disposed of the basin’s contents. Walking to the window of his laboratory he looked out. The sky was gray and the dawn was beginning to break. He wondered who the poor soul was who had so deeply offended Helena. It was not likely he’d ever know, and it was better that way. He could feel no guilt about aiding in the murder of a faceless, nameless person. Sighing, Julian left his laboratory and went to bed.
While the physician fell asleep, Theadora and Alexander were awakening in the bedchamber of their honeymoon villa, blissfully unaware of the destiny the empress had in store for them. Adora had never been happier in her whole life. In the few days of her marriage she had found an extraordinary peace of mind. There was no longer any conflict in her life. Alexander loved Theadora for herself alone. And she realized very quickly that she loved him. It was not at all as it had been with Murad. Murad had, after all, been her first love.
No, life with Alexander was filled with a calm sweet love, one of pleasure, without conflict. It would always be good with him. He was gentle with her, though masterful. He encouraged her wit and intellect, even suggesting that she might enjoy establishing a school of higher learning for females. How well Alexander understood his wife! Yes, what had begun as a marriage of convenience had indeed become a love affair!
Now, in the early morning, the lord of Mesembria turned in their bed to face his wife. For a moment he watched her sleeping face. Then he leaned over and kissed her gently. Slowly her violet eyes opened, and she smiled at him.
“Let us go to the sea and greet the dawn,” he said, rising up from their bed and drawing her after him. She reached for a pink gauze gown to cover her nakedness. “No, beauty. We will go as we are.”
“Someone will see us,” she protested shyly.
“No one will see us,” he answered firmly. Taking her hand, he led her out onto the terrace, through their small garden, and down a gently sloping incline to a little strip of sand that served them as a beach. They looked east across the Bosporus to the green hills of Asia tumbling down into the still, dark sea. Beyond, the pearl-gray sky was beginning to lighten and fill with color. Pinks and mauves mixed with the swirling oranges, lavenders, and golds.
The couple stood quietly in their nude perfection, like exquisite statues. A light wind played gently over their bodies. All was quiet about them. Only an occasional bird song broke the silence.
Slowly, Alexander turned his wife so that she faced him and, looking down at her, he said, “I have never known such happiness as I have these last few days with you. You are perfection, beauty, and I love you very much.”
Wordlessly her arms slipped about his neck, and she drew his head down so they might kiss. What began in tenderness quickly flared into passion as their desire for each other grew. Soon it could no longer be contained. She could feel his hardness pushing against her thigh, and she moaned against his mouth.
Their intertwined bodies fell slowly to the sand, and her legs opened eagerly. Slowly he entered into her. Her face was radiant with love. Their jewellike eyes locked onto one another, and Theadora felt her very soul being drawn from her body to meet with his in some star-filled place far beyond the mortal world. Together they floated until suddenly it was too sweet, too intense. Their passion crested, then broke over them like one of the waves that lapped at the sand just a few feet away.
When they had regained their senses, she spoke in a half-amused, half-shocked voice. “What if someone saw us, Alexander?’
He chuckled. “Then they will say that the lord of Mesembria serves his beautiful bride quite well.” He scrambled up, pulling her with him. “Let us bathe in the sea now, beauty. The beach is a very romantic place, but I have sand in the strangest places.”
Laughing, they plunged into the water. And later, if the servants saw them coming naked through the gardens, they said nothing, for they were enchanted by the love between their master and mistress.
Alexander was ambitious for his city and had plans to rebuild it. Mesembria had originally been colonized many centuries before by Ionian Greeks from Corinth and Sparta, and later it was conquered by Roman legions. The new lord of Mesembria spoke with his new wife of his plans to repave the broad avenues, restore the public buildings, and, after destroying the city’s slums, to build decent housing for the poor.
“The avenues must be lined with poplars,” said Theadora. “And the lady of Mesembria will plant flowers about the fountains for her people to enjoy.”
He smiled, pleased by her enthusiasm. “I want to make Mesembria so lovely that you will never miss Constantinople. I want it to be a happy city for you and for our people.”
“But, my love, this will cost a great deal of money.”
“I could not spend all the money I have if I lived to be a hundred, beauty. Before we return to Constantinople I must tell you where my funds are hidden so that, if anything should ever happen to me, you would not be dependent on anyone.”
“My lord, you are young. We are but newly married. Nothing will happen to you.”
“No,” he answered, “I don’t expect it will. Nevertheless what is mine, beauty, is yours as well.”
In Mesembria the city rejoiced in Alexander’s marriage to Theadora Cantacuzene. His family had ruled the city in an unbroken line for over five hundred years, and was loved by its citizens. Through good and bad times, through war and peace, Alexander’s family had always put the welfare of its people before their own. Their reward had been a fierce loyalty unequaled by any other city for its rulers.
Mesembria was set upon the shores of the Black Sea on a small peninsula at the northern end of the Gulf of Burgos. It was jointed to the mainland by a narrow isthmus which was fortified with guardtowers set into the walls every 25 feet. At the mainland end of the isthmus was a stone archway set with enormous bronze doors. These doors shut every day at sunset and opened at dawn. In time of war the doors remained closed. A matching gateway at the city end of the isthmus made the city a natural fortress.
Originally settled by the Thracians, the city had been colonized in the sixth century before Christ by a group of Ionian Greeks from the cities of Sparta and Corinth. Under their guidance, the little market town had become a cultured, elegant city which later became a jewel in the crown of the Byzantine Empire. In 812 A.D. the Bulgarians had managed to capture Mesembria briefly, looting it of its vast treasury of gold and silver and, more important, of its supply of Greek fire. The ruling family of the time had been entirely wiped out, and when the Mesembrians had finally rid themselves of the barbarian invaders they had elected as their ruler their most popular general, Constantine Heracles. He was Alexander’s ancestor. The Heracles family had ruled Mesembria ever since.