Beware of the day you no longer carry that child, Cornelia. Beware the day.
I swallowed, my throat dry, and reached for the flask of wine that Aethylla had brought me.
She, lying by my side, her baby at her breast again, thoughtfully handed it to me, and I murmured a thank you.
I drank, then gave the flask back to Aethylla, and lay down again, my thoughts racing. I had two or three months to make Brutus decide he might like to keep me, after all. I had two or three months to change the minds of most Trojans about me, for I was aware that most people would realize my involvement in the debacle in the streets, and not thank me for it.
I tried to remember if I had ever been disparaging to the Trojan slaves in my father’s palace. I’d ignored them mostly… I don’t think I’d ever purposefully humiliated or rebuked one of them… but who knew what I may have said and done inadvertently that would now be used against me?
Here I was, surrounded by people who had every reason to hate me, without a single friend, and I had two or three months to make myself wanted .
I closed my eyes briefly and offered up prayers to Hera for what might well appear a deceit to the memory of my father and Melanthus, and then I sat up, laying a hand on Aethylla’s shoulder to stop her rising as well.
‘No, stay here, Aethylla. I have a mind to talk to my husband. There is no need for you to disturb yourself. Besides, see how peacefully your child now sleeps in your arms.”
‘Be careful,” she said.
‘I will be,” I replied, my voice light and, I hoped, sweet. “Thank you for your concern—for this matter, and for all you have done for me in this past day, Aethylla.”
She looked at me slyly, and then grinned, as she knew the direction of my thoughts. I gave her an embarrassed half smile, then heaved myself most ungracefully to my feet and made my way out the cabin and down the narrow walkway to where my husband sat with his friends and the ship’s captain at the edge of the deck.
CbAPGGR GUDO THE NIGHT WAS BEAUTIFUL, EVEN I HAD TO ADMIT that. Moonlight dappled over the calm waters, and the northerly wind brought with it the scents of cypress and pine.
I gathered myself, wishing I had a robe other than this torn, stained thing I wore, and stopped hesitantly at the edge of the group.
‘Cornelia?” my husband said, looking up at me.
The others—Membricus, Deimas, the captain, whose name I did not know, and several other of Brutus’ officers—all looked at me likewise, their faces devoid of emotion, their eyes carefully blank.
They must truly loathe me, I thought, and fought down an unwanted flare of panic.
‘Brutus,” I said, then stopped, scared and unsure of how to go on.
‘Is there something I can do for you?”
‘I… I wanted to say to you… to all of you… that I regret my actions that resulted in… in so many people’s deaths this past day. I… I was stupid. Naive.”
‘You were treacherous. Not ‘naive,’ ” said Membricus, his voice hard.
‘Yes,” I said hastily, willing to agree with anything and everything if it would make Brutus think the better of me. “Treacherous. I… I wanted to assure you—” No, that was stupid, the wrong thing to say.
“Brutus, I will not blame you for disbelieving me, but at that moment when I saw my father, and realized his death was caused from my actions…”
I stopped, lowering my eyes, feeling the terrible weight of their judgment.
‘I will never be so foolish again,” I whispered. “Never.”
And with that I mustered all my dignity, and whatever balance remained to me on this rocking ship, and made my way back to the cabin.
It was not much, but it was a start.
HEY WATCHED HER WALK AWAY IN SILENCE, ANDremained in silence some time after Cornelia had retreated ^•fcp*1” inside her cabin.
Then Membricus spoke. “She is death incarnate,” he said. “No one can trust her. Her words are those of the viper.”
‘She is a stupid young girl,” Brutus said eventually, “and perhaps her father’s death has taught her a lesson. She is without friends here, and harmless enough, surely.”
And doomed to die , thought Brutus, if Membricus saw aright . He dropped his eyes and studied his hands, suddenly sick of death.
Most of the others shrugged, the matter of little concern to them now that they had escaped Mesopotama, but Membricus looked at Brutus, and wondered.
About them, as far as the eye could see, ships sailed through the gentle waters of the Ionian Sea.
All was calm.
In the cabin, Cornelia finally slept. She dreamed, but not of the destruction and death she’d witnessed that day. Instead she dreamed of that strange stone hall where she’d seen Hera and the small dark fey goddess, and where she’d heard the laughter of her daughter.
In her grief and guilt, the dream gave her some measure of comfort, and she clung to it all the night through.
MIDWAY THROUGH THE NEXT DAY THE FORE-LOOKER standing on the stem platform of the lead ship gave a great shout, and pointed to the hazy outline of an island on the horizon.
GG ‘Artemis waits,” Brutus said, his voice trembling with emotion.
‘Are you prepared?” Membricus said.
‘Aye.” Brutus turned aside, and signaled first to the captain who steered the ship to turn the ship direct for the island, then to the fore-looker to signal the other ships of his intent.
All the other captains had been forewarned of this break in their journey, and all would turn their ships after Brutus’, and anchor off the coast while he went ashore.
THE CAPTAIN SHOUTED SOME ORDERS, AND FOUR OF his men dropped overboard a small rowboat made of pitch-blackened pine.
Into this they placed carefully a beautifully crafted pottery flask of the best wine, a cache of the finest herbs, and a pitifully bleating pure white billy goat, its legs tied together and a halter on its head.
While they readied the craft, Brutus stripped himself of his waistband and cloth and washed himself in some pailfuls of seawater. As he soaped his long, curly hair, Cornelia wandered up, and sat on a barrel close by.
She eyed his naked, glistening body, but he could see no derision in her eyes. “Where go you, husband?” she said, watching as Brutus sluiced a pailful of water over his head to rinse out his hair.
Some of the soapy water splashed Cornelia’s robe, but her face did not twist in distaste as he would have predicted, and she merely lifted the sodden piece of material away from her body and flapped it a little in the air to dry it. Her eyebrows lifted inquiringly as she saw him watching her.
‘The island,” he said, nodding toward it, “is a most sacred place. Artemis awaits me there. She will show me where to direct these ships.”
Cornelia’s eyes flared, perhaps in awe at his mention of Artemis’ name in so casual a manner. “You are favored by Artemis?” she said.
‘Aye.”
She smiled, a poor girlish imitation of coquetry. “But Artemis is an eternal virgin. She can satisfy no man.”
‘It is not why I go to see her,” Brutus said flatly, and Cornelia’s smile vanished.
‘I meant no disrespect, husband.”
He looked at her steadily. “I thought disrespect was the creed you prayed to, Cornelia. I have never had much else from you.”
She flushed, whether in anger or consternation he could not tell.
Brutus picked up a fresh waistband and waistcloth; they were of fine ivory linen threaded through with gold, and Cornelia—awkwardly—leaned down to pick up his discarded and sweat-stained waistcloth.
‘I will wash this for you,” she said.
GI Now it was Brutus’ eyebrows that raised. “And you know fcow?”
When she flushed again he was almost certain it was that of embarrassment. “I shall ask Aethylla,” she said. “To show me the means, not to wash it herself,” she added hastily, seeing his expression.
Brutus tied the waistband about his waist, then threaded the waistcloth through from the back, between his legs, and folded it over the waistband at the front. He adjusted its folds, then slid his feet into some sandals.
‘Aethylla can teach you a great deal,” he said, twisting the golden band above his left elbow into a more comfortable position.
‘I know she can,” Cornelia said, dropping her eyes.
He laughed, although it was difficult to tell if there was any humor behind it. “The first lesson in the art of deception, my dear, is not to take the act too far.”
Her eyes flew up, but he had already turned away, and was talking quietly with Membricus.