Chapter Seven
Time was working against us. Morsimus had likely found somewhere to drink, and my stomach churned at the thought of his return.
Having left angry, he would likely return more so.
Unless, of course, he had already established himself as my pimp.
Then perhaps he would not return alone. Bile burned my throat as I considered how the night might play out. I had only one option.
“Melitta, I need you to find a woman named Phile. I met her at the river.” Even as I spoke, I considered my recklessness.
I knew nothing about this woman. Perhaps she owned a brothel.
Perhaps her idea of help would be selling me into the same life Morsimus had mapped out.
But perhaps, just perhaps, she could offer an alternative.
One that did not involve me handing over my body to a new man every night.
“You spoke to a local woman? You did not say anything.”
I did not have time to tend to Melitta’s bruised pride.
“She has striking gray hair. You will recognize her from that alone. It is unlikely she would be at the river at this time of day though. Try the tavern, but do not ask any men. If there is a serving woman there, she is the one you must ask, but make sure Morsimus does not see you. Find where Phile lives, and go to her house.”
“You wish me to go to a stranger’s home without invitation?” Melitta asked, aghast.
“Yes. You are to go without invitation.” I was breaking a dozen rules of etiquette, but manners mean nothing if your jaw is broken in so many places you cannot show them.
I knew what happened to whores, and I knew that Morsimus would let men do to me whatever they desired if it made him richer. I could not let that happen.
“Find her, and tell her Otrera wishes to see her. You must say Otrera as it is. Like that. Do not mention my husband’s name.” Melitta frowned but did not interrupt, so I continued. “Then you must tell her she was right.”
“That is all?”
“That is all. Go now, and hurry.”
Each second of Melitta’s absence passed like the slow turning of a flower head toward the sun, and all the while, my heart raced with such ferocity I could barely steady my breath.
I saw only Morsimus’s eyes, staring at me with desperation.
I already knew there was nothing that a desperate man would not do.
In time, I would learn that it was the same for desperate women.
The sun began its descent, and white clouds stacked upon one another, layer after layer, as if they were building a wall in the sky.
Yet Melitta did not return. Had I done the right thing?
I questioned my actions again and again.
I had sent Melitta to the very same tavern where Morsimus was likely bribing his way through the wine.
What if he had seen her there? What if he received an offer for the old woman and had sold her then and there?
Then what would I do? Questions rushed through me in an unending torrent until the creak of the door made me jerk in surprise.
“Mistress. Mistress, it is me.”
I ran into the hallway, where Melitta was still pushing the door open against the jagged tiles.
“Did you find her?” I asked the moment she stepped inside. “Did you find Phile? Tell me, what happened?”
Kicking behind herself like an aged mule, Melitta knocked the door back into place and finally addressed me.
“She was not at the river, and there was no woman serving at the tavern. Not today at least. Only men wolfing down thick stew.”
“So you did not find her?” My heart deflated.
“I did not say that. There was a boy at the tavern. No older than eight. He was scrubbing dishes out the back.”
“Did you speak to him? What did you say? Did he help you find Phile?”
“I said I was looking for a cook. For the woman who made the stew.”
Melitta’s need to string out a story may have appealed at another time, but at that moment, my nerves were too frayed for patience.
“And what then?” I said. “Did you find this woman? Did she lead you to Phile?”
Melitta’s wry smile twisted higher still. “I did.”
“And? Will Phile see me?”
Melitta’s smile lifted wider still, showing the gaps between her yellow teeth. “You have an invitation after dinner tonight.”
Relief and fear flooded through me.
“An invitation?”
“Yes, you are to head there before sunset. But she was very clear. You are to come alone.”
Go alone to the house of a woman I had met only once and briefly. I knew the decision was unwise, but I had no other choice.