‘They may go dark,’ Sulpicia Lepidina said. ‘Are you well, Ferox?’
‘Quite well, thank you, my lady. I trust that you are both well, along with your families.’
‘We are indeed. This is scarcely Baiae, but it is nice to be close to the sea.’
‘Pity the water is so cold,’ Claudia Severa lifted the baby to her shoulder and patted his back. ‘Come on,’ she said encouragingly and was rewarded with a remarkably loud belch.
Sulpicia Lepidina wrinkled her nose in shock distaste. ‘I am tempted to say that you can tell that he is a man, if I did not know that little girls can be quite as vulgar in their emissions.’ She noticed that Ferox was staring at the child and his head of thick black hair. She smiled.
‘I think he’s ready to nap,’ Claudia Severa said. ‘Do you want him inside or out?’
‘Inside, I think. It will start getting colder soon and we don’t want him getting a chill.’
Claudia Severa stood up. ‘You keep an eye on these other rogues. And possibly our guest as well! I shall make sure the girl settles him properly.’ She carried the baby away, his head resting on her shoulder. His eyes were closed by the time she walked past Ferox.
‘Now, what can I do for you, centurion?’ Sulpicia Lepidina’s blue eyes sparkled.
‘I come to ask a favour, lady.’
She smiled again, raising an eyebrow. ‘Indeed?’ The sun glinted on one of the brooches fastening her dress. Ferox stared at it, and the smooth pale skin of her shoulder and neck. The lady coughed politely. Behind him there was another shriek and the sound of more splashing.
‘I was wondering whether the Lord Cerialis would let a servant boy and a pair of horses join your household in the fort?’
‘Certainly.’ Cerialis appeared at one of the entrances to the garden. ‘That will be no burden at all, and they are welcome.’ He grinned, coming forward. ‘It is good to see you, Ferox. For all that we owe you this is a slight thing.’
‘Yes,’ his wife agreed. ‘Although I was about to reprove the centurion for neglect. It is more than a year since he last saved me from ambush or murder. He is slipping.’
Cerialis laughed. ‘Well, do not worry, my dear, he saved me a couple of weeks ago, so he is keeping in training.’
‘If I remember rightly, my lord, you were doing pretty well before I turned up. I saw you jump that barricade.’
The prefect was pleased at the compliment. ‘Well, we were all there. Pity we couldn’t catch them.’ The chase had found no more than a couple of warriors who must have died of their wounds and been left behind. ‘I fear that the Novantae will be back and Brocchus agreed. We will mount regular patrols along the coastline for as long as we are here.’
‘That is wise, my lord.’
‘We thought so.’
‘May I ask why you wish us to take your man and your horses?’ Sulpicia Lepidina asked. ‘Is the stabling not good at the villa?’
‘It is fine, my lady, but the company is less conducive.’
She gave a slight nod. ‘Genialis?’
‘That little shit!’ Cerialis hissed the words. ‘My apologies.’ He looked at the children still playing around the pool. ‘I do not think they heard.’
‘He stayed in our house at Vindolanda for two days,’ the lady explained. ‘It was two days more than he was welcome. He has an unfortunate manner, and an even more unfortunate tongue.’
‘It wasn’t his tongue that bothered me,’ Cerialis cut in, anger flaring again. ‘That little…’ He paused, controlling himself. ‘That lad treated our slaves as if they were his, and if he treats his own that way, then it is only a wonder that he has not been murdered. If it were not for his father I would have…’ He glanced at his wife, whose expression suggested that she had already heard this and much more. ‘I assume he has taken a dislike to your slave.’
‘He is not a slave, but a freeborn boy in my service. But, yes, and my boy gave him a beating in return.’
Cerialis brightened. ‘Then he is truly welcome.’ He chuckled happily. ‘Wonderful news. Still, I am sure you are right and the little tick will return with some of his own slaves to repay the compliment.’ A soldier appeared, stopping at the entrance and saluting. ‘I must go, I am afraid. Flavius,’ he called. ‘Try not to drown everyone!’
‘He dotes on the children,’ Sulpicia Lepidina said after her husband had gone. ‘All of them.’ The same maid slipped again and ended up back in the water.
The lady came close, for there was no else in the little garden. ‘I hope you like the look of the child? He has your hair, I think, although I assure everyone that he takes after my father. He has been grey for twenty years, so I doubt anyone here would remember that his hair was more brown than black.’
Ferox did not know what to say. She was close, and he longed to reach out and hold her closer still, just as he feared that anyone seeing them now would be sure to suspect something.
‘My husband does not have the slightest idea that he is not the father.’ She was whispering, and her eyes flicked around to make sure that there was no one paying attention, before they stared up into his. ‘He came to me one night, just a few days after that Samhain. It was the first time for many months and he has not come back since then. In truth he was drunk, but so drunk that he does not know that he did not really perform. Since then he has gone back to the slaves or his whores. Genialis angered him because he struck one of his favourites.’
Sulpicia Lepidina gave a thin smile at his surprise to hear her speak so bluntly. Then she sighed. ‘He already had three children, enough to satisfy the law, and did not want the cost of raising another one, but when I told him of my condition he was pleased. I think it flattered his vanity that he was so potent. Men are…’ She did not finish the thought. Her eyes stared into his, imploringly. ‘I have missed you.’ They did not touch, but the words were like a caress and his skin seemed to tingle.
Ferox felt a fool, and wondered whether she believed him to be uncaring, deliberately avoiding her. ‘He is the most wonderful thing I have ever seen,’ he said, and saw relief in her eyes. ‘I have stayed away because it is dangerous, and I could not bear the thought that I brought harm to you or to young Marcus.’
‘And to you.’
‘That does not matter. It has not mattered for many years.’
Something tugged at his tunic. He looked down, to see the smallest boy clutching at him. The other three children hung back, clearly believing that the licence granted to the smallest would not extend to them. One of the maids stood with the main group. The other was in the pond, skirts lifted high as she squeezed the wool to wring out the water.
‘Please, sir, would you help us lift the bucket?’ They had filled a bronze pail with water and it now stood in the pond.
‘Of course, young man.’ Ferox did as he was bidden. Claudia Severa reappeared and laughed to see the centurion playing with the children. He was soon very wet.
‘I had better go,’ he said, when the mothers declared that it was time to dry off and get ready for their food. Both ladies wished him well. Privatus, the head of the slave household, had already sent someone to lead Bran and the horses away, so he strolled back the quarter-mile to the villa. There was a ship in harbour, unloading supplies to be carried by wagon up to the legate’s main force. Gulls swarmed in the sky above the vessel, which made him think they were carrying food of some sort. A warship was further out to sea, riding under sail with its oars drawn in. The sail was dyed a blue-grey, and the hull painted in the same colour. Ferox wondered whether they could arrange for the Hibernians to take a look at the ship, for he doubted that they ever been on board a trireme.
Crispinus liked the idea. ‘I shall write to the legate. Three triremes from the classis are due to arrive next week, so there ought to be an opportunity.’