Chapter 37
The next day, a large crate arrived at the ludus. “What in the underworld is all this?” Lea asked as she levered the edge of a knife beneath the lid of the crate.
Kallias helped pry off the top, which revealed a collection of smaller boxes, jars, and other items, all carefully packed with straw for padding.
His eyebrows lifted, and he reached in to extract one glass jar, filled with some sort of powdered substance.
“My medical supplies.” He rotated the jar in his hand.
“Someone must have packed them up and sent them from the palace. I assumed I’d never see these again. ”
They dragged the crate to Lea’s room, where it took up most of the available space, and Lea helped Kallias unpack the various items within.
Kallias was staying with her for the time being, as Lucullus had agreed to it on the condition that he provided free medical care to the gladiators for the duration of his visit.
Lea surveyed the assortment of supplies, which now covered every available surface in her room and part of the floor. “I didn’t realize you came with so many…things.”
He chuckled. “Neither did I.” He leaned over to reach into the bottom of the crate, pulling out the last remaining item—a large box, which appeared heavy from the way he was gripping it. “I certainly didn’t expect to see this again. My money,” he explained when Lea raised her eyebrows.
He laid the box on her bed, unlatched it, and popped the top open. Golden coins gleamed from within, piled high inside the box, and Lea caught her breath. She hadn’t realized he’d accumulated so much wealth in only a few months of paid service.
Perhaps he hadn’t realized either, for he stared at the coins as if he’d never seen them before. A folded piece of papyrus rested on top of the money.
He slammed the lid shut, stared at the box some more, then reopened it.
“What’s wrong?” Lea asked. “Is there something missing?”
He gave a hoarse laugh. “Not exactly.” He retrieved the piece of paper and unfolded it, his eyes skimming over the line of text. “Oh,” he murmured, then set it down.
Lea picked it up. She knew how to read, but rarely practiced the skill, and it took her several moments to decipher the neat writing. Finally, the words untangled themselves.
The note read: I took the liberty of retaining some of the ingredients you use for my monthly tea. I hope this is suitable recompense. D
“Drusilla,” she realized aloud.
Kallias sifted his fingers through the coins. They were gold nearly all the way to the bottom, where some silver and bronze showed through—perhaps the more humble earnings he’d expected to see. “How much do you think is in here?”
Lea lifted one of the golden coins. They were crisp and perfect, as if freshly minted.
Each one bore a tiny image of the emperor’s face in profile, youthful and regal at the same time.
The reverse showed the head of a woman. At first Lea thought it was meant to be Drusilla, but when she squinted at the tiny inscription around the border, she realized it represented the emperor’s late mother, Agrippina.
A golden aureus was worth one hundred sestertii. And there were a lot of golden coins in that chest.
“I don’t know,” Lea murmured.
“I’ll count them, but my guess is that there’s at least four hundred. Which would be forty thousand sestertii. Enough for your freedom.” He was silent for a moment. “How did she know?”
Lea blinked stupidly. “I told her,” she realized. “At that dinner party…I mentioned the figure in passing.”
Her fingers tightened on the coin she was holding. Abruptly, she sat down hard on the bed, jolting the chest of coins. Kallias held the box steady.
Could that be true? Did this chest of coins contain the means to her freedom?
Drusilla knew her brother better than anyone. She knew Lea had made an enemy of him yesterday, and she was good-hearted enough to do what she could to give Lea an escape.
Kallias began removing coins from the chest, counting out small, even stacks of them.
They covered much of her floor, turning the humble stone to shining gold.
When he finished, he counted the stacks.
“I was right,” he announced. “Forty thousand, exactly.” He gathered up the coins, handful after handful, and returned them to the box.
The noise made her ears ring. She should have helped, but she could only sit there frozen with shock.
Kallias closed the lid and pushed the box toward her. “Take it,” he said. “Bring it to Lucullus.”
She forced herself to move, to heft the box. It really was heavy, and her sore arms protested the effort it took to lift. She set it back down.
“Do you need help carrying it?” Kallias’s elegant brows lifted quizzically.
She shook her head. “I will take it to Lucullus. But…not now. Soon,” she promised, when indignation blossomed on his face. “I think it would be more prudent to get our affairs in order first.”
“Prudent?” he repeated. “I didn’t realize you knew that word.”
She lobbed a coin at him, snorting at his yelp when it struck him in the arm. “There will be a little money left over, the money I’d already been saving, but not much. We’ll need to find somewhere to live. I don’t even know how to go about that…”
There were so many unknowns that went along with freedom.
For better or for worse, she’d never had to think about things like where she’d live, how to obtain food, all those mundane things others did without thinking.
She barely knew how to cook. She didn’t know how to manage a house.
There were probably things she had to plan for that she didn’t even know existed.
What about laundry? Would she have to pay someone for that?
She squeezed her eyes shut, overwhelmed. Maybe it would be easier if things stayed as they were. If she had Kallias, she might not even mind fighting. She could survive anything with him by her side—
“Lea.” His soft voice cut through her whirling thoughts. He knelt on the floor before her, his hands taking gentle hold of her arms.
She opened her eyes, finding stability in his dark gaze. “I don’t know how to do any of this,” she confessed. “I don’t know if I can. Maybe this”—she gestured at their surroundings—“is all I’m suited for.”
“I will take care of it.” The calm certainty in his words eased the pounding of her heart. “I will arrange it all. You don’t have to worry about anything. Is it still a seaside cottage you want?”
In that moment, she felt as if she could have named anything—a villa, a palace, a residence on Mount Olympus itself—and he would have made it happen.
There was such joy in knowing she could trust him like this, that she could let him take this weight off her shoulders.
It filled her to the brim, stealing her breath in a moment of pure elation.
“I-I think so,” she said when she found her voice. All she knew was that she wanted something different from here. And a quiet, cozy house by the sea seemed about as different as she could imagine. “But not too far from Rome,” she added. “I may wish to visit from time to time.”
“Understood. And there’s meant to be a cat, right?”
“A nice one,” she clarified.
He nodded, as if taking mental notes. “Final question. Am I permitted to live in this cottage with you and your cat?”
She grinned. “Not permitted. Required.” She leaned down, brushing her lips along his jaw.
He tilted his face up and captured her mouth with his. She pulled him onto the bed with her. The box crashed to the floor, spilling coins everywhere, but she didn’t care.
Kallias drew back. “I almost forgot,” he said, panting slightly from their kiss. “There’s something else you said you wanted yesterday. Something I believe I can accomplish in short order.”
“What did I say?” She had no idea what he was referring to. They hadn’t spoken much yesterday after the competition, preferring to spend their time engaging in activities that required few words.
“You don’t remember?” He shot her a cheeky smirk. “Then this will be a pleasant surprise indeed.” He rose from the bed and fished a handful of silver coins from the pile that spilled from the overturned chest.
“Wait,” she protested. “Where are you going?”
“Meet me in the square next to the Theater of Pompey in half an hour,” he said, heading for the door.
She scrambled to her feet. “Kallias!”
But he was already gone.
Lea huffed. She still didn’t know what he was on about.
She spent the next half hour cleaning up the fallen coins and attempting to reorganize all of his medical supplies into an arrangement that took up less space—to little effect.
Then, she headed out to meet him at the appointed place.
He awaited her on the edge of the busy square that fronted the theater.
She couldn’t help smiling when she saw him, though they’d only been parted for half an hour.
Would it always be like this, the mere sight of him enough to bring a smile to her face?
“I don’t think I said anything yesterday about going to the theater,” she said as she joined him.
“No, you didn’t.” He took her shoulders and spun her around. “But you did say something about the baths.”
Now she remembered: she’d made an offhand comment last night about wanting a hot bath to ease her sore muscles. Kallias had instead given her a massage that began soothing and ended somewhere rather more invigorating, and she’d forgotten all about her desire for a proper bath.
But now, the columned facade of the closest bathing complex loomed before her, up a set of wide marble stairs.
“It’s—it’s not the right day.” Several mornings each week were set aside for women to bathe privately. Today wasn’t one of them.
He grasped her hand and led her toward the building. “I know. I’ve arranged it.”
“What?” She dug her heels in as he tried to tow her up the stairs. “They won’t let me in.”
“They will,” he assured her.
Mostly out of curiosity, she stopped resisting and let him lead her to the top of the stairs, then through the door.