The Eagles Conquest

'Of course, my lady. '

'Then forget Lavinia. Forget her, Cato. She is not for you. No! Let me finish.' She raised her hand to quell his objections. 'Cato, you deserve better. Lavinia is no good for you. She's changed her mind about you these last few weeks. She has… higher ambitions.'

Cato recoiled from Flavia, and she was distressed by the cold anger that hardened his youthful face.

'Why didn't you tell me about Vitellius, my lady?' he asked in a strained voice. 'Why?'

'For your own good, Cato. You have to believe me. I have no desire to hurt you unnecessarily.' 'Where is Lavinia?'

'I can't tell you.'

Cato could guess where Lavinia might be easily enough. He stared at Flavia, jaw working as he struggled to control his churning emotions. Then he suddenly clenched his fists, turned, and strode away from the tent

'Cato!' Flavia took a few paces towards him, and stopped, hand half lifted as if to restrain him. She stared sadly at the thin, almost frail body of the young man striding stiffly away, the hurt he was suffering evident in the tightly clenched fists at his sides. Since she had been responsible for allowing the youngsters' relationship to nourish in the first place, and had used it for her own political ends, Flavia felt the weight of guilt descend upon her. Despite her private justifications for her deeds, the human costs they entailed were hard to bear.

Flavia wondered if a simple brutal statement of Lavinia's present location might not have been a quicker and kinder way to help Cato get over his youthful adoration of Lavinia.

Chapter Fifty-One

The setting sun flooded into the tribune's tent through the entrance flap, burnishing one side of its contents with a rich orange glow and casting long dark shadows over the other side. Lavinia snuggled her head on the tribune's shoulder and ran her fingers through the dark curls of his chest, each hair highlighted by the glow of the dying sun. His sweaty scent filled her nostrils with the sharp tang of his masculinity, and she breathed in rhythm with the smooth rise and fall of his chest. Although his eyes were shut she knew he was awake from the light touch of a finger on the curved cleft between her buttocks as he gently traced the contours.

'Mmmm, that's nice,' she breathed softly in his ear. 'Don't stop there.'

'You are insatiable,' Vitellius muttered. 'Three times in one afternoon is more than any man can take.'

Running her hand down his chest and over his stomach, Lavinia cupped the soft malleable flesh of his penis in her slender fingers and slowly worked it.

'Are you really sure?'

Vitellius raised his other hand and extended his index finger, the gesture of a defeated gladiator appealing to the mob. 'I beg for mercy.'

'I accept surrender from no man.' Lavinia chuckled as she continued her attempt to elicit a response.

'Not even that youngster you were involved with?'

The tone of the remark was just the wrong side of frivolous, and Lavinia withdrew her hand and shifted round, raising herself on one elbow and looking down at his face.

'What's the matter? Jealous?' Lavinia waited for a response, but Vitellius silently gazed back up at her. 'Could you really be jealous of a young boy?'

'Not so young that he didn't kinow his way around, apparently.'

'But young enough to need to stop and ask for directions from time to time?'

'From an even younger woman?'

'Ah!' Lavinia smiled. 'I had the advantage of a head start. Thanks to you, my very own tribune.' She lowered her head and kissed him on the lips, then slowly grazed her lips across the stubble on his cheek and kissed his eye and forehead, before reclining back on her elbow. 'I'm so glad we're back together. I can't tell you how much I've missed being with you like this. I don't think I have ever felt so happy.'

'Not even with that boy?' Vitellius asked quietly. 'Are you quite sure?'

'Of course I am, silly! I've told you, it just happened after Plinius threw me out when he caught us together that time. You remember?'

'I'll never forget!' Vitellius smiled. 'That pompous fool had it coming to him.'

'Plinius was all right. He looked after me well. I've a lot to thank him for. In fact I felt very sorry for him afterwards, for a while at least. And then Cato fell for me.'

'What on earth did you see in him?'

Lavinia pouted as she thought about her attraction to the young optio. 'I suppose he looks handsome in an odd way. He's tall and skinny to be sure, but he has lovely eyes. Very expressive. And there was something quite sad about him too. Always seemed preoccupied with how others saw him, never at ease with himself. Maybe I felt sorry for him.'

'Hardly an adequate reason to bed him,' protested Vitellius.

'Oh you!' Lavinia punched his chest. 'Why shouldn't I sleep with him? I enjoyed it. And I couldn't see you very easily as long as I lived with Lady Flavia. What was I supposed to do?'

'Wait until I found a way to get you out of there.'

'Then I'd have waited for ever. I'm only here now because I managed to give my mistress the slip. If she knew where I was I'd be given a thrashing I wouldn't forget in a hurry.'

'You're sure she doesn't know you're here now?'

'Of course not. I'll just tell her I went for a walk and got lost coming back. She'll be suspicious but I doubt she'll guess the truth.'

'Even though she saw us together the other day?'

Lavinia prodded his chest with her finger. 'I told her that you had approached me and that I told you to leave me alone because I loved Cato.'

'And she believed you?' Vitellius sounded sceptical.

'Why shouldn't she? Now, can we talk about something else? This anxiety you men have over the physical loyalty of your women is very tiresome. It's not as if you live by the same standard.'

'All right then,' replied Vitellius, pulling her forward onto him and kissing her with a passionate intensity that surprised Lavinia. Closing her eyes she surrendered to the moment, breathing in the scent of him and becoming almost dizzy with the desire that came with such physical closeness. When she drew back from his face and opened her eyes, she felt the hardness of his penis along her thigh.

'I thought you said you weren't up to it?'

'You have a way of provoking a man's desire.' Vitellius smiled and ran his hand up the inside of her thighs. 'Let's see what we can do about it. '

Later, after sunset, a slave came into the tent and silently lit the lamps before disappearing. By the pale loom of the lamps Lavinia rose from the bed and yawned, stretching her slender arms above her head. The action caused her breasts to lift and Vitellius reached a hand round to cup the nearest, marvelling at its smooth softness. Lavinia allowed him to continue a moment before slapping his hand away.

'Enough of that, you! I have to get back to my tent.'

'When will I see you again?'

'Tomorrow, after Caesar's banquet. I'll meet you back here.'

'You'll definitely be at the banquet?' asked Vitellius.

'Yes, to wait on my mistress and the legate. But I can't wait to see the entertainments the Emperor has lined up. Should be quite a spectacle.' Lavinia picked up her tunic from the ground where it had been dropped in their earlier haste and pulled it on over her head. Vitellius watched her, head propped up on a silk bolster, his eyes dark and cold.

'Lavinia, I need you to do me a favour.'

Her head popped through the top of the tunic and she tugged the long tresses of her hair free of the neckline. 'What kind of a favour?'

'It's a surprise for the Emperor. I need you to take something into the banquet for me tomorrow night.'

'What is it?'

'It's over there on that table,' he said quietly, pointing across the tent to a low, black, marble-topped side table in the far corner. Lavinia went over and picked up an object that glinted as she raised it into the glow cast by the oil lamps. It was a dagger, sheathed in silver inlaid with gold in swirling Celtic patterns, within which were set blood-red rubies. The handle of the dagger was jet black and polished to a high shine, with a huge ruby set into the gold at the end of the pommeL