Claudia, Wife of Pontius Pilate: A Novel (10 page)

She turned into his arms, weeping softly. “How could he do this to us? Why did we tarry so long at the banquet, thinking we had all the time in the world?”

“I cannot guess the mind of the emperor, beloved, but I must obey orders. This is a great honor, though I’m not sure I am ready for such a task. Judea is the hotbed of the empire and the Jews are a cantankerous lot to deal with. But if my emperor feels I am up to the governorship of that land, I will do my best.”

He tilted her chin up and kissed the tears that ran down her cheeks. Then he gave her a long, lingering kiss that set her heart on fire. She leaned into him with longing.

When he released her, his breath was ragged, but he held himself back. “I desire you with all my being, wife of my heart, but I will not take you in haste as a woman of the streets. You are my wife, but our first night together must not be like that. We will complete the ceremony and come together as one in Caesarea where I will prepare a proper wedding couch for you.”

He sat her down on one of the stone benches and spoke earnestly. “You must be brave and listen carefully to my instructions, beloved. Marcus will help you become acquainted with the household. They know now that you will come alone. You may select anything you wish to bring to our new post. I will make arrangements for the next ship to Caesarea and you will be notified when to arrive at the dock.”

She nodded through her tears. “I will do what you ask, Lucius, and will pray the days will pass quickly and hasten my journey.”

He stood and drew her up against him again. “I know not why this was done in this manner, but we will be together again soon. I shall await your arrival with my whole heart.”

He kissed her again and then taking her by the hand, whispered, “Leave this place, now, beloved, and go to the villa. The driver will see you arrive safely. Pray to the gods for me, for I shall need your prayers.”

“I will pray every day, my Lucius, and beseech the gods for you.”

He led her once more out of the palace to the carpentum, which still stood at the foot of the steps. The emperor was nowhere in sight, nor was his prefect. The other guests had departed and would no doubt spread word of this strange turn of events.

Lucius handed her into the coach and stood watching it move away. Claudia waved out the window until they turned a corner and she could no longer see him. She rode in silence, muffling her sobs into her shawl.

In her heart she raged at Sejanus. This was his doing and she knew it with all of her being. He had finally extracted his full measure of revenge for the incident in the hallway with Hotep.

 16 

C
laudia finally leaned back in the coach, thinking of the time she and her grandmother had ridden to Rome in a similar coach and she had been fearful of what awaited her. The emperor was a strange man, given to moods, and she didn’t try to understand him but had finally forgiven him for what he had done in Reggio. She couldn’t carry those thoughts any longer without them destroying her. Now those feelings rose up again as she tried to understand what had just happened. She was married, in name only, and her husband, instead of carrying her over the threshold of their home, was boarding a ship that would take him far away from her. It was not how she pictured her wedding night.

Without Lucius, the trip to his villa seemed to take forever. The cobblestones of the road gave the coach small jolts as they traveled. She finally occupied herself watching the countryside.

At last the coach slowed and entered a gravel road that led to a villa sitting among a series of low hills and shaded by a stand of sycamore trees. The villa was large, two stories, but not forbidding. The door of the coach opened and she was helped out by the driver. She looked up and marveled that she was mistress of such a home.

The steps leading up to the entrance were lined with clay pots of flowers, and as she approached the door, it was opened by a man in his
fifties, possibly Greek. Next to him, a slender woman about the same age took in the wedding attire and greeted her with a sympathetic smile.

The man stepped forward. “Domina, welcome to Villa Ponti. I am Marcus, the lord’s steward. We were told of your arrival. Come, enter your new home.”

The older woman stepped forward and bowed her head. “I am Alba. May we bring you some refreshments, Domina?”

Domina
. She was no longer the young mistress but a married woman and mistress of this house.

Claudia acknowledged them. “Thank you for making me welcome. It has been a difficult day. I do not need refreshments at this time, I only wish to rest.”

Alba glanced at the steward and nodded. “Of course, Domina, come this way.”

As Claudia followed the servant down the corridor and up some stairs, she barely noticed the beautiful mosaic in the entrance hall. She would explore the villa later, but for now all she wanted was to be alone and cry out her unhappiness.

In spite of her heartache and tumbling emotions, Claudia looked around her room. Soft linen curtains moved in the breeze at the windows, and the bed was covered with a blue embroidered coverlet. The furniture was old, but the patina was polished. Each piece was beautifully made. Then once again she felt the anguish of Lucius torn away from her so suddenly.

Alba clicked her tongue against her teeth in a sympathetic sound. “I am so sorry, Domina. We all thought it strange, but packed the master’s chests for him and sent them to the ship as ordered by the prefect.”

They had that much time? “When did you receive word to pack my husband’s trunks?”

“Why, yesterday, Domina. We barely had time to get them ready for transport to the ship.”

“I see. Thank you, Alba, for your kindness. I would like to be alone now.”

Alba hesitated a moment and then nodded to Hotep and left the room. She understood that Claudia’s maidservant would attend her.

When the door closed and they were alone, Hotep came forward, her eyes filled with compassion. She put her arms around her mistress, something she would never dare to do with others around. This time she comforted Claudia as a friend.

Claudia wept in her servant’s arms, pouring out her misery. “Sejanus ordered the trunks sent yesterday. He knew before the wedding. Oh how I hate that man!”

When she was spent, she slowly recovered herself, stepping back as Hotep handed her a linen cloth to wipe her eyes. She looked at her handmaid and said fiercely, “Sejanus let us stay at the banquet until there was not enough time left and then let Tiberius announce the news. How clever of him. He knew the ship was waiting and said nothing!” She wept again as Hotep carefully untied the knot of Hercules.

Claudia, aware that it should have been Lucius untying the wedding knot, raged inside again. With Hotep’s help, she slowly took off her wedding garments and sandals. Then Hotep began to undo the elaborate hairstyle arranged for the wedding and gently brushed Claudia’s hair before helping her to bed—the bed that she had expected to share with Lucius. Her mother’s ring was placed back in the small chest. Another wave of sorrow overwhelmed her, and as the coverlet was pulled over her, the last Claudia remembered was Hotep settling in a chair nearby, watching over her mistress as she had done so many times before.

Weary in mind and body, Claudia fell into a deep and troubled sleep.

She woke hours later with a start, trying to clear the remnants of a strange dream from her mind. She opened her eyes and Hotep was instantly at her side.

“You are feeling better now, Domina?”

“I had the strangest dream. There was this man and his face was so clear. He wasn’t Roman, a foreigner of some kind, and he was looking at me. I cannot forget his eyes, so deep and full of love . . .”

The handmaid’s eyes widened. “You dreamt of another man?”

“It was not like that. He was like a holy man of some kind. He wanted something from me, but I don’t know what it was.”

“That is a strange dream.” She helped Claudia from the bed and helped her dress, then arranged Claudia’s hair in a simpler style.

“What must they think of me, Hotep. I arrive as the new mistress and then promptly seclude myself in my room!”

“You had a sad ending to your wedding day and were upset. No one feels anything but sympathy for what you have endured.”

It seemed impossible that she was married this morning. A dream, and she would find herself back in the palace. As she thought of the wedding, she again felt Lucius’s arms around her and his kiss. She longed for him, but he was on his way to Caesarea without her.

“How Sejanus must have enjoyed planning this. I would like to pound him with my fists.”

Hotep looked around fearfully. “Domina, you must not speak like this.”

“I am not in Rome and I cannot wait to leave here and go far away. I only pray Lucius will send for me soon.”

“He will do that, Domina. His eyes look upon you with love. He also wishes to have you with him.”

Claudia sighed and looked toward the door. “I suppose I must go and see this villa I’m suddenly mistress of. Oh, Hotep, I’m a married woman yet not a wife!”

When Claudia came down the stairs, she found Alba waiting. Her face showed compassion as she waited for her mistress to descend.

“You had a good rest, Domina?”

“Yes, thank you, Alba. I’m sorry to close myself away so quickly after I arrived.”

The servant shook her head slowly. “It is most understandable, Domina. Nothing you could do. The Master is a soldier and he must follow orders. It is strange that he should be ordered away at such a time.”

Claudia had opened her mouth to comment on the prefect, but closed it again. She did not need to speak all her thoughts to the servants. “Yes, but we shall be together soon. He will arrange for my passage.”

Alba smiled warmly at her mistress. “Come, partake of some lunch and gather strength.”

Realizing she was quite hungry, she followed Alba to the dining room and found fruit and warm bread along with some fresh apple cider and cheese.

When she had finished, she turned to Alba. “I would like to see the villa. The prefect has told me to decide what household goods I wish to bring with me.”

Marcus entered the room. “I was just going to suggest that, Domina. Please follow me and let me show you your new home.”

Alba bowed and returned to the kitchen.

Marcus started in the atrium and this time Claudia looked more closely at the beautiful pattern of mosaic—a golden circle trimmed in blue with a rectangular pattern surrounding it in blue and white. The atrium was lined with mosaics. To one side there was a stone basin and above it an opening in the roof for rainwater to fall into the basin.

They entered the center of the house where a small statue of Venus faced a square pool with a stone bench at one end. In the far corner was a cabinet with another small statue on top. Marcus opened the cabinet to display some vases and bowls for flowers. Claudia was aware of a sense of peacefulness that permeated the villa.

Cabinets were opened one by one to show the new mistress how well stocked they were. The pottery was serviceable but not heavy. One cabinet even had glassware, new to Rome in the last few years.

Just outside the kitchen was a stone oven used for baking the bread for the household. Beyond that was a kitchen garden, a small orchard with various fruit trees. She could hear chickens clucking and under one of the trees there were two goats in a pen. She was pleasantly surprised to see the villa was almost self-contained.

As they returned to the house, Marcus led her upstairs and showed her the guest rooms and even a room for bathing with a small but deep rectangular pool. It was not like the baths in Rome, but she didn’t mind at all.

Claudia followed the steward down another set of stairs to a lower level where smaller rooms housed the servants and storage rooms for foods and bedding.

“When you are ready,” Marcus said, “it will be my pleasure to show you the orchard.”

“You take good care of the villa, Marcus. How long have you been with the family?”

“Since I was fifteen, Domina. Thirty-five years. Alba came a few years earlier. She was his nurse when the master was born. Both his parents died, several years apart, and Lucius became master of the villa. He has entrusted me with all he owns when he is away.”

“I believe his trust is well placed, Marcus.”

The servant smiled with pleasure. “Thank you, Domina. There is one more thing to see. Come with me.”

He led her through the peristyle
,
the columned hallway surrounding the garden. A fountain splashed with a cheerful sound, and raised terraces contained flower beds. The sides of the garden were planted with evergreens. Hedges of cypress defined different areas. Some of the tree trunks were covered with ivy. She exclaimed with delight over the
ars topiaria
, hedges trimmed into the shapes of animals. Marcus pointed out violets and roses, along with crocus, narcissus, lilies, and some purple iris.

Claudia determined to learn the names of each of the plants. It would help her if she needed to order plants for their home in Caesarea.
For a moment she compared the beautiful garden to the small one in Reggio. A pang of sorrow brushed her heart, and again she willed the sad thoughts away. She’d had enough difficulties for today.

She turned to the steward. “Let us return to the kitchen. I would like to see what herbs and seasonings you have on hand.” Thanks to Medina, she was knowledgeable in that area.