Stephen the Persian conducting the negotiations over Eudokia's dowry, those went quickly and were settled to my entire satisfaction. "Maybe I ought to put you in charge of the treasury," I told him. I was joking at the time, but remembered the words later, he having proved himself both skilled and diligent.
We announced the betrothal just after the end of summer, with the wedding to be held in November. At my mother's invitation, Eudokia and her family were installed in the great palace, Philaretos delegating his duties to a subordinate until the wedding. Before my father died, he had paid the Bulgars their yearly tribute, so we had no reason to expect trouble either from them or from the seven Sklavinian tribes they had brought under their control- and, indeed, all remained peaceful in the north, as it did with the Arabs. Their misnamed commander of the faithful sent an ambassador congratulating me on my accession, I suppose in the hope I would continue my father's policy on that frontier as well. I did not say no. I did not say yes.
Having Eudokia in the palace was awkward in a way my mother might not have considered on inviting her. On the wedding night, Eudokia needed to show herself a virgin, which meant I could not indulge myself with her beforehand. But with her there, I hesitated to take the serving girls to bed, lest they bring back tales to her or, foolishly, put on airs before her. And so, till the wedding day, I lived a nearly monkish existence, and was often short-tempered- no, angry- on account of it.
Everything concerning the Emperor must be magnificent, with his wedding no exception to the rule. Servants set up tables in every forum in the imperial city, to feast the people. I ordered chariot races for the amusement of the city mob. Though such amusements are no longer the all-consuming passion of the city as they were in the days of my namesake a century and a half ago, the people would have thought me mean and niggardly had I omitted them.
As Stephen had said, all this took large sums of gold. I wished my father had not paid the Bulgars, and I wished we collected more in tribute from the followers of the false prophet, for most of what the Empire raised in taxes on land and crops and commerce was promptly spent again on soldiers and dromons and buildings. But, despite dark mutterings from my ministers, we had enough.
The day we had set dawned crisp and cool and clear. "A good omen," I said to my mother as we got ready to parade to the church of the Holy Wisdom so the ecumenical patriarch could perform the marriage ceremony. "The way it's rained the past week, I was afraid we'd have to splash through puddles all the way there."
"Your bride will be lovely," she answered, and then went on, "You chose well, son. Eudokia is a fine girl; the more I see of her, the more I see to like."
"Yes," I said enthusiastically, responding more to the first part of that than to the second, though I was looking forward to seeing far more of Eudokia than I had yet. I was also curious, as the only virginity I had been involved in losing up till then was my own.
Stephen the Persian came in and fussily adjusted the way the ends of my loros crossed each other. I wore the same regalia as I had to my coronation, and, as I had then, I went bareheaded. Today I would don, not the Emperor's crown, but that of the bridegroom.
I could not see how Eudokia looked as we left the palace (which served for her in place of her parents' home), for, as was customary, she was veiled against all intrusive eyes, mine included. Her white silk gown, though, fit tight enough to give me a new idea of her figure, and I liked what I saw there.
When we got to the church of the Holy Wisdom and walked up to the altar, George struggled to his feet to perform the marriage service. He was, by then, almost literally on his last legs, but still managed to make his voice carry as he asked us if we both consented to the marriage.
"Yes," I said, and then had to repeat myself so anyone but he and Eudokia could hear me.
Her voice was not loud, but very clear: "Yes."
One of the priests attending the patriarch handed him a sheathed sword on a belt. Swollen fingers fumbling, he girded it round my waist, a symbol of imperial power. Then, slowly, he turned to the altar and lifted the crowns of marriage from it. Where most folk make do with tinned copper, ours were of gold. He set one on my head, the other on Eudokia's. Between where the crowns had lain stood a golden goblet. The patriarch offered it first to me, then to my bride. We shared the wine the goblet held, Eudokia lifting her veil just enough to drink.
George read from the letter to the Ephesians, and from the book of John. He prayed for long years together for us, for happiness, for children, for prosperity-"for you and for the Empire," he said, as he would not have at a wedding for bride and groom of lower rank.
Eudokia set a golden ring on my finger, its bezel showing Christ joining a couple together in marriage. I gave her an iron ring in return; a golden wedding belt waited at the nuptial chamber. George took the crowns of marriage off us and handed them to Myakes, who, despite my mother's grumbles and Stephen's sniffs, served as my groomsman. He hurried off to set them on the posts of the marriage bed for luck.
Once the crowns were off, George blessed us one last time, bent his head in silent prayer, and then, with an effort, straightened. "Justinian and Eudokia are wed," he said. "What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."
After that, we paraded back to the great palace, to the cheers of the nobles and officials and officers who had filled the church of the Holy Wisdom, and to those of the common folk of Constantinople as well. No sooner were we out of the church than the epithalamia began. The farther we went, the louder and bawdier the wedding songs got. If Eudokia had not known what we would soon be doing- and, since she was a well-brought-up maiden, she might not have- she would have been left in little doubt by the time we got to the palace.
The wine was already flowing freely there; mimes and dancing girls entertained the guests. My mother being the only family I had left in the world, she and I and Eudokia went into an antechamber for the ceremony of removing the bride's veil. I had, of course, seen Eudokia's face before, but in theory I might not have.
Seeing my mother nod encouragement, Eudokia took off the veil. Under it, her cheeks were flushed, perhaps from the crisp breeze outside, perhaps from excitement, too. "My husband," she said, sounding proud of herself, as well she might have.
"My wife," I answered, and then added, "My beautiful wife." She looked down at the floor for modesty's sake- she had indeed been properly brought up. But she was smiling.
"God and the Virgin bless both of you, my children," my mother said.
I was not thinking of God at that moment, and of no virginity save my bride's. "Fix your veil again," I told Eudokia, "so I can lead you to the nuptial chamber." So I can make you truly my wife, was what I meant. As the white veil concealed her features once more, I thought she looked nervous, and wondered what, if anything, her mother had told her of what happens on a wedding night.
Everyone cheered when my mother and Eudokia and I came out, because everyone knew where Eudokia and I were going and what we would be doing once we got there. A good many people followed us down the hall, bawling out epithalamia on that very theme. Some were far more specific than any sung on our way back to the palace. I wondered what Eudokia made of such gleeful obscenity. Just before we reached the door to the bedchamber, she giggled. That seemed a good sign.
Even after we went inside and closed the door behind us, the loud, lewd racket went on. The bed had on it only a plain white linen sheet. On the posts, faithful Myakes had hung the marriage crowns. "Take off your veil," I said to Eudokia. "We're alone now." Soon she would take off more than the veil, but maybe she did not want to think about that yet.
And I still had to give her the marriage belt, which lay, wrapped in white silk, on a table by the bed. I unwrapped it. How the bright gold glittered!- twenty-one small medallions and two large ones on either side of the clasp showing Christ joining the right hands of bride and groom together. I carried the belt over to Eudokia and put it round her waist. It fit perfectly: a maidservant must have measured her for the jeweler. She looked down at herself and at the splendid ornament. "How beautiful," she whispered.