Foreign Devils (15 page)

‘Lupina and Rubus are with our luggage, Tata.’

‘I know that, child. Do you think I don’t know that?’

‘Possibly,’ I said. ‘As I was saying, we wanted to wait to speak with you regarding this but I would ask that you allow Carnelia to accompany me to Tchinee.’

‘Whatever for? Won’t she just be underfoot?’

‘Father!’ Carnelia said, indignant.

‘No,’ I said slowly, placing my hands on my belly. ‘I am with child and this is a diplomatic mission. I do not want to be half-way around the world with no family near me when it’s time for the baby.’

‘You’ll be back before then,’ he said, shaking his head.

‘There are no guarantees of that.’

‘You’ll have Secundus,’ he responded, picking up his wine-cup and looking miserably at the dregs. ‘I don’t want to be
alone
.’

‘Secundus? I need my sister. A woman. And you won’t be alone, Father. You’ll have all of Rume at your disposal.’

‘It’s not the same,’ he grimaced. ‘No, I won’t allow it.’

I looked at him steadily. Sometimes, my stare will cause him to flinch or look away. Sometimes it won’t, especially when he is being particularly obstinate.

He glanced again at his cup.

‘Let’s not fight about this, Father. I think it is best if I have a woman of my family with me in case the baby comes when we are away. I will respect your decision, but I wish you would think of your grandson.’

His eyes softened. It was my apparent capitulation that allowed him to be magnanimous.

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘She should be with you.’

Carnelia squealed and clapped her hands lightly.

‘I do, however, insist that she be a veritable dumpling on her return.’

Carnelia, beaming, said, ‘Of course, Tata,’ and picked up the tart from the dessert tray and crammed it into her mouth.

Word had spread about our return. The next morning, there were a crowd of suited gentlemen and women – Father’s clients – standing in the courtyard when the cock crowed. I rose early, before the sun, and spent my morning sitting on a balcony watching as the rising sun poured its light into the streets.

I have conflicted emotions regarding Rume itself, her denizens and leaders. Her customs. There is something rotten at the heart of it, and I cannot tell how much culpability I have in that. We live inside monsters, sometimes, and cannot wholly see the evil they do because our senses have grown used to monstrosity. But the city! The city itself! My love, I do not know if you remember it, but Rume is a study in contradictions and I have, and always will have, an ardent desire to
know
it. Life teems here. The insulae brim with peoples from every nation of the earth, and the early morning is a riot of sensations: the streets are flocked with vendors cooking sizzling sausages, lamb, hemdrælla, pork, shrimp, chingale, while the air hangs heavy and luxurious with the exotic spices of Indus and Cythia; the bells ring as the refulgent morning light falls across the domes and spires of the Cælian Heights, the ranked soldiers lining the weathered walls of old Rume’s city like cypress trees; the plumes of kitchen smoke and household
daemon-
fires rise like accusations over the rooftops; the sluggish Tever in the distance catches the light and stinks of Rume’s effluvium; the brays of donkeys and clatter and nicker of horses drawing wagons through the lightening streets; the light itself, a hazy golden liquor, motes hanging in the sluggish air; children laughing and singing; a waggoneer yelling profanities; the heavy clomp and tread of vigiles; priests moving toward their devotions, chanting Ia’s Precatio – admonishing the living to live well before their journey and final judgement by the Pater Dis. It is a great panoply of life, the centre of all of the world.

Rume. A terrible beauty.

At some point Fuqua opened the main doors and allowed Father’s clients into the atrium, took their names, and announced them one by one, to enter his study. I knew not where Secundus was, but I assumed getting ready to make his suit.

Carnelia and I, after a short amount of time speaking with Fuqua and the slave Selwina, the female head of household, and Fuqua’s paramour (as far as Carnelia and I could tell) determined that the slave market nearest Tamberlaine’s palace proved the best hope of finding an educated midwife for the trip to Far Tchninee and the area offered other shops and stores where we might purchase enough presents for Ia Terminalia. As we prepared to leave, a soft knock at our bedchamber doors revealed Lupina, looking a bit out of sorts.

‘Madame Livia,’ she began, her hands clutching one another. ‘Master Cornelius has got Rebus and Fuqua and them house slaves tending to him. So I thought might be I could …’ She let the unasked question trail off.

I realized then that the half-
dvergar
woman was experiencing Latinum for the first time. In Rume, all of life is a spectacle and many spectacles spring from the rare and the exotic. Being half-
dvergar
like Mr Ilys, she could command quite a fee for appearances or … other unmentionable things … should my Father consent to allow her to keep the money. I daresay he would. But now that Father was showered with the attention of multiple slaves and servants, the attention of his clients, Lupina had found herself if not usurped, then not immediately required. She was entirely out of her element. I wonder what thoughts were churning behind her eyes.

‘Of course,’ I said, gesturing her to enter. She began picking up Carnelia’s clothes that were strewn about the room we shared.

‘Sissy,’ Carnelia said, ignoring the slave woman. ‘I’ll be ready in a trice,’ she said, as she fiddled interminably with her hair. ‘Maybe we could lunch at Rimbenus’?’

‘Possibly,’ I replied. A thought occurred to me. ‘Lupina, have you ever served as a midwife?’

‘For a master or master’s wife, ma’am? No.’ She shook her head.

‘Ah, that is unfortunate.’

‘Though I’ve got five sisters and three brothers, all with wives. Done my share of birthing babies.’

I raised an eyebrow at her. ‘Let me ask you this: would you feel competent to deliver my baby?’

She narrowed her eyes, looked at my waist. She came close and said, ‘May I?’

I nodded.

Lupina took my hand and felt at the wrist. Then she placed her hands on my stomach. ‘When the boy kicks, he kicks hard or does it got a flutter?’

‘Right now, a flutter. But it feels quite martial.’

‘That’s ’cause you’re thin. If you had some meat on you, you’d barely notice it. It’s early yet. You in your fourth month?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t think I’d have a problem delivering your ’lil one, ma’am. But it’d help if you fatten up some.’

Carnelia laughed. ‘Serves you right!’ she said from the vanity.

I laughed. ‘The world wishes us to be quite fat, sister,’ I said. And even Lupina grinned. I looked at her. I’m ashamed to admit that I never really had considered her closely, though she’d been owned by Father for nearly four years now. ‘Even though you are my father’s property, I would not take you away from him, or into harm’s way, without your express permission.’

She looked at me closely. She had a plain, blunt face, a compact frame like most
dvergar
and arms as strong as any man’s. Her large brown eyes were intelligent, though, and filled with curiosity.

‘Would you come with me to Tchinee as my midwife?’

She thought for a long while, her eyes shifting in their sockets as she studied my face.

Eventually, she said, ‘I will, ma’am, if Master Cornelius allows it and has no more need of me.’

‘That’s that, then,’ I said, standing. I moved toward the door. ‘I will speak to my father.’

The atrium was still full of clients wishing to ask or give favour to my father, their patron. The conversation was hushed and the fountain made a soft tinkling sound. Slaves delivered water and lemons and trays of toasted nuts and fruit for the clients that must wait a long while. Father valued his own comfort and the comfort of others. In a more sly and typically Ruman fashion, his food offerings to his clients – a practice not all patricians followed – sent the message that Father would take care of their needs, even the most small and inconsequential. It reinforced the covenant between them.

‘I hear he’s brought back a tame elf from the new world,’ I heard one woman say as I walked toward my father’s office.

‘Nonsense. The
Rume Pandect
reports that they’re quite bellicose and that none save one had been taken alive.’

‘They bring back lions from Aethiopicum, do they not?’

‘Rarely.’

Another man with a lazy eye said, ‘I hear our patron has also brought one of his dwarf lovers from overseas.
Dvergar
, they’re called. And this one is like rutting with a little wolf. What I’d give to have a go at such exotic—’

I stopped to look closer at the man with the lazy eye. While affluent looking, he had a distasteful oiliness to his character I didn’t care for. And that kind of talk – the gossip of Rume – needed to be nipped at the branch.

The trio of gossipers stopped, taking notice of me watching them. The woman bowed stiffly and the men inclined their heads. I simply stared at them and then brushed past the rest of the supplicants and into Father’s office.

Father looked surprised. Fuqua stood nearby and Rebus was seated next to Father as they pored over a thick tome of what looked to be expenses. A neat little man in a dandy suit sat in front of Father’s massive desk.

They all stood as I entered.

‘Good morning, Livia,’ Father said. ‘As you can see I’m occupied right now with Pithicæ and the trade—’

‘A moment, Father,’ I said, and nodded my head at Father’s client Pithicæ. ‘I will be quick. First, Carnelia and I need some money to make the appropriate purchases for Ia Terminalia and your list of clients, servants, and slaves to be included.’

Father, blinking, said, ‘Understood. Fuqua will handle that. How much do you need?’

‘I do not know,’ I replied. ‘Ten thousand sesterius at the very least.’

Father looked to Fuqua who nodded. ‘That is no problem.’ He left the room.

Watching Fuqua go, Father waited. When he was sure he couldn’t hear, he said, ‘Get Fuqua something nice. He’s done a commendable job keeping the family finances in order.’

‘What do you suggest?’

‘Wine, maybe?’

Rubus said, ‘Possibly an assistant slave?’

Father frowned. ‘Now you’re just shopping for yourself, Rubus. No. He’s epically thin, so get him something sweet – and that goes for Carnelia as well – and maybe a nice Cythian rug or something ivory. It needs to be expensive. He’s a very important part of our household.’

‘You could free his paramour so they could wed,’ I said.

‘No, not that yet. In time,’ Father said, rubbing his chin. ‘Possibly.’

‘You’ll hold that over him as long as possible.’

Father looked hurt. ‘Of course not, Livia! You think I’m some sort of tyrant.’ Then, realizing we were in company, he stood and said, ‘If you’ll excuse us for a moment, Pithicæ?’

I watched Pithicæ leave. When he was gone I said, ‘I know you, Father.’

‘This is unfair of you, Livia,’ he said.

I ignored that. ‘Second, Father, one of your clients – an oily looking man with a lazy eye – is spreading vile rumours about your sexual predilections in Occidentalia.’

Father brightened. ‘Oh? What did Nicopælus say?’

‘That you’ve brought your
dvergar
lover back with you.’

He looked surprised then. ‘Lupina?’ He began to laugh. ‘How rich! Anything else?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘Though that brings up a final issue.’

Fuqua returned with a heavy bag of coins and handed them to me. ‘Should this not suffice, tell the storekeeps that they may call here and I will take care of any other debts you generate.’

I thanked him.

‘The last issue?’ Father said. ‘I have work here to do.’

‘It’s in regards to your “lover”, Lupina.’

He smiled at that. ‘What of her?’

‘I want to take her with me to Tchinee as my midwife.’

‘No! Absolutely not. First Carnelia and now my Lupina? You’d strip me of everyone and everything.’

‘You have Fuqua, Rubus, and all of your household slaves.’

‘No!’

‘Do you really want to foster the rumours that she’s your lover?’

‘What does it matter? As long as I’m the one doing the fucking.’

‘Gods, Father, that’s something I never want to hear come out of your mouth again. And it
does
matter. Look what Metellus did to
my
reputation!’

‘That will be fixed this afternoon, Livia, once Secundus speaks at senate.’

‘It doesn’t matter. The damage is done. If there’s one thing I know about Rume, it’s that people love nothing more than salacious gossip.’

‘I can’t do without her.’

‘Father,’ I said as seriously as I could. ‘Do we really need to go through all of these motions? Both you and I know that I will take her with me and it’s just a matter of us spending the time having a fight and you capitulating.’

He looked shocked. ‘I am your father, miss, and I’ll not have you speaking …’

‘I was thinking about naming him Gaius Saturnalius.’

His whiskers began to quiver and his mouth opened and closed again. ‘A fine name.’

‘
Your
name.’

He said nothing.

‘You wouldn’t deprive your grandson of having a trusted family slave with—’

Father made a chopping motion with his hand. ‘Oh fucking hell, girl. Take Lupina. Take the money. Get out and leave me in peace.’

I smiled as sweetly as I was able. ‘I love you, Tata. You are as generous as you are wise.’

‘Get Pithicæ on your way out.’ He waved his hand for me to leave.

I opened the door and motioned Pithicæ to return to his seat.

‘Pithicæ, do you have children?’ Father asked.

‘No, sir.’

‘Good. They grow up to be pirates and rogues and totally uncontrollable.’

‘Your daughter does seem quite formidable.’

‘You should see her shoot. She’s a match for any woman or man.’

‘You should be proud, sir,’ Pithicæ said.