Chapter 13

For the second time since being elevated to the aristocracy, Corvus walked into his rooms to realize that the events of the day had so caught up with him that he'd managed to forget that a potentially life-altering sexual experience was waiting for him at the end of the day.

This time, he was saved from embarrassment by a scent. With his hand on the door to his bedroom, he caught a whiff of vanilla and exotic spices he'd smelled before. It wasn't a fragrance either Clover or Rose wore and his other slaves were back at his house. For a few seconds, he stood with his hand on the doorknob trying to remember who he'd smelled it on. Abruptly, the memory of Sunya Green kneeling before him flashed across him mind's eye. He took a deep breath before opening the door, waiting for the panic to come back, but found it wasn't there. Somehow, in the course of a single night, he'd started to think that he was exactly the sort of person movie stars should be having sex with.

Even so, he paused when he saw her, committing the sight to memory and hoping it would never fade. Pax Dulci sex goddess Sunya Green was kneeling at the side of his bed dressed in silky green harem pants and a matching ribbon tied around her chest like the ribbon on a gift waiting to be untied and doubling as a strophium.

Her eyes sparkled as if she were the one receiving a present. "The widow Iunius sends her warm regards and a gift. Would you like to unwrap it?"

"Very much." Corvus slid off his sandals as he knelt on the bed, gripped the trailing end of the ribbon and gave a tug. He lowered his head and kissed one nipple, flicking it with his tongue. Sunya's hands came up seemingly of their own volition and clawed at his shoulders.

He looked down into her eyes and caught the last hint of startlement fading. Already, she was shifting and adapting. "Forgive me, sir. You startled me."

Corvus lowered his head and chuckled. "No. Please forgive me. I let my enthusiasm get the best of me. I've been a fan of yours for a very long time." He kissed her shoulder. "This is sort of a dream come true for me."

Sunya's fists opened and she pressed her hands against his shoulders, keeping him close. "The widow told me you'd asked for me by name. But you seem so young. I didn't think most men your age even knew who I was anymore."

Corvus shook his head. "Most men my age only like movies where things explode every few minutes. "But I loved you in High Seas."

Sunya chuckled. She ran the fingers of one hand through his hair and guided his head back to her chest. "You must have been awfully young when that came out."

"I was twelve or thirteen." Corvus kissed her breast again, tongue circling the nipple. Sunya let out a wordless sound of pleasure and held him close, but Corvus raised his head to look into her eyes. "Please don't humor me. I met the woman who's going to be my wife today and I'd hate to get to the marital bed and find out that everything I thought I knew was just the product of slaves humoring me."

Sunya gave a faint smile. "You met your wife today? That's wonderful. Who is she?"

Corvus shook his head. "I don't know yet. But apparently there are only six women who might be acceptable to my parents and all of them were at this party tonight."

"And you want to be a good lover to her ... whoever she is?" Sunya's smile broadened. "That's a very progressive attitude. But I would expect no less from a fan of mine."

Corvus nodded. "Will you tell me then - honestly what pleases and what doesn't?"

Sunya looked in his eyes. "There is pleasure in all service. Even..."

"No," said Corvus earnestly. "Not that kind of pleasure. I get that from my own girls. Will you tell me what ... feels good physically, what ... you would enjoy if you were a citizen?"

"Is that the role you would have me take?" Sunya stroked his hair. "I can be anyone you want. Of all those, would you choose Citizen Sunya Green?"

Corvus considered the possibilities. "I think I would."

Sunya kissed his lips and looked into his eyes. "And what am I to you, Corvus Gallicus? Your mistress? Your wife? Another man's wife?"

Corvus stroked her hair. "Not my wife, I'm afraid. I'm not powerful or powerless enough to marry who I choose. Could you just be my lover?"

Sunya kissed him again, her lips hungry on his. "And who are you, then? Will the rich, powerful Corvus Gallicus take me to his bed with neither ring nor contract? Are we so in love?"

Corvus kissed back, guiding her until she was laying on the bed looking up at him. Having a lover - a girl so enamored of him that she didn't care about status or wealth and gave of herself freely, expecting nothing except his love in return, was a beautiful fantasy, but he couldn't imagine he'd be so callous as to not offer to support the woman he loved when it cost him so little. He shook his head. "Not Corvus Gallicus - Corvus Tullius, the luckiest plebeian ever born in the New Roman Empire to find himself loved by a beautiful movie star."

He leaned down and kissed the valley between Sunya's breasts. As he moved up the slope, she whispered. "Gentle, lover. The nipples are very sensitive."

Corvus raised his head and looked down at her. "And how should I approach them?"

Sunya reached up and drew down the straps of his toga until he chest was bare. "Touch me - all of me with all of you. If you do later what you did earlier, you'll find me most receptive."

Corvus kissed his way down her body, feeling the muscles under Sunya's skin go taut with his touch. There was a gold ring with a blue stone in her navel and he dipped his tongue in playfully. Sunya gave a little shudder and a gasped, "oh." He stayed there a while longer before kissing his way down to the waist of her harem pants. She raised her hips and let him slide them off, leaving her naked beneath him.

When Corvus continued to kiss downward, Sunya's breathing sped up and when he drew her legs apart, she gasped his name. He raised his head only enough to look up her body at her face. "You have a request?"

Sunya laughed and laid back. "No ... nothing specific. Proceed, wicked boy."

Corvus lowered his mouth to Sunya's sex and licked the bare entrance to her flesh. She opened her legs wider to him and he teased his tongue inside of her, seeking her heat. Sunya sighed and her hips rose and fell with a gentle rhythm. As he proceeded, little sounds of pleasure escaped her throat and her whole body grew tighter around him.

"Ooh, there!" said Sunya suddenly. "Stay ... right there for a bit."

Corvus wasn't sure exactly where she meant, but he probed with his tongue until he found an unusual texture among the folds of her flesh and honed in on it. Sunya's back arched and the sounds she made changed in timbre. He explored with his tongue, making out a bit of flesh that felt like licking a raspberry. After only a minute or so, Sunya's whole body went rigid for a moment, then shook violently. Corvus still didn't relent until she buried one hand in his hair and tugged hard enough to make him raise his head.

Her eyes gleamed with what might have been unshed tears. "Kiss me ... please."

Corvus grinned. "I thought I was kissing you."

Sunya shook her head guided him upward. He crawled up her body, kissing a line to her lips. On the way, he pressed a quick kiss to one nipple, sucking on it for just a moment before continuing upward. Sunya bucked under him and drew his mouth to hers.

Corvus didn't have a lot to compare with how it felt to kiss Sunya Gree, but it was closest to being kissed by Crispa in the back seat of his limo. Clover's kisses were all responsive, sweet and yielding. Rose kissed with more urgency. Crispa's kisses that night had been all need. There was need here too, but tempered with a desire to please. Corvus lost himself in kissing Sunya, who clung to him and kissed him in return, hands roaming over his back and ass as she pushed his toga further and further down until he was able to kick it off completely.

When he raised his head, Sunya's eyes were so full of emotion that it made Corvus's breath catch. He knew she was an actress and performing for him, but being looked at like that touched something deep in his core nonetheless. He kissed her lips softly one more time, then trailed kisses down her chin and throat. Her hand guided him to her breast and, when he kissed and licked the nipple this time, a low moan rose in her throat and her whole body grew taut until she seemed wound like a violin string. When she'd plateaued, Corvus took the nipple between his teeth and flicked his tongue back and forth across it. Sunya's cries took on an air of pleading and the violin string seemed to snap as her body collapsed back onto the bed, shuddering out her pleasure again.

"Please..." she whispered, one hand guiding him more fully between her thighs, the other reaching out to take him and guide him inside of her. Corvus slipped inside of her like he belonged there, her body rising to meet him.

Corvus's own urgency had him rigid and needing release, but he forced himself to move slowly like a man with his lover. Citizen Sunya Green could have any man she set her mind to, but she'd chosen him. He returned that awesome favor by worshiping at the altar of her body.

Even so, when he felt the first shudders of her pleasure cresting, he was more than ready to go over with her. He spent himself deep inside of her, crying out hoarsely as he did.

Later, they lay together in the moonlight that shone through Corvus's windows, limbs tangled, bodies cooling in the midnight air. Sunya raised her head and rested her chin on his chest. "Poplicola Pinarius has me signed up to make a new movie starting next week, but in three months or so, I will be available again - if you were inclined to see me for a longer engagement."

Corvus stroked her hair and chuckled. "I think you might be a dangerous drug, Sunya Green. I would have to consider what it would mean to my work if I were to have you around all the time. I might forget to leave my house."

"And I might encourage such a forgetting," said Sunya. "Would you treat a slave half as well as you do a lover?"

"I'm not sure what you mean," Corvus frowned. "Everything I did tonight, I've done before and I've only been with slaves."

Sunya smiled and traced a pattern on his chest with a fingertip and didn't say anything right away. Corvus raised his head."What?"

Sunya gave him an apologetic smile. "I should not have spoken so freely, sir. I apologize. I think I was still imagining myself your lover and a citizen."

"And I didn't tell you to stop," said Corvus a little crossly. There was important information here and Sunya was suddenly too bashful to share it. "Be my free lover a while longer and tell me what I've done that is so surprising."

Sunya bit her lip. "And will you punish Sunya Green the slave for the words spoken by Sunya Green the citizen?"

"No. Please, Sunya. I need your counsel more than I need to be flattered. What did I do wrong? Have I offended you in some way?"

"No. You've done nothing wrong and given no offense. Far from it." Sunya spoke quickly, but then took a breath and said more evenly. "It's just that patricians don't kiss a woman where you kissed me."

Corvus frowned. "Never?"

Sunya shook her head. "I can't say never, but none have ever done it to me. It's something I think only girls are expected to do."

"Slave girls?" Corvus asked.

"Yes, Corvus. It is most ... unusual to feel stubble against my thighs and a tongue on my clit at the same time."

Corvus laid his head back and looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. He hadn't realized that it was unusual for a man to do what he'd done. "Do plebeian men do it?"

"I couldn't say. I've never been with a plebeian," said Sunya. "I did enjoy it. I was only thinking that, if you were going to do it to your slaves, you might instruct them not to talk about it with other slaves. If it were to get out that you take a slave's role in the bed, other men would certainly seek to use it to question your character."

Corvus frowned and considered what Sunya was telling him. He'd kissed Clover's sex when they were alone, but thinking back, realized that she'd always seemed eager to guide his mouth elsewhere after only a short while. Quietly, he asked, "If you were a citizen and I was your lover, would it make you recoil from me?"

"Oh, no." said Sunya earnestly. "To the contrary, it would very much not."

Corvus was enjoying a quiet breakfast in his receiving room when the slave Tansy stepped through the door and came to kneel at his side. "How may I serve?"

Rose, who had been serving him breakfast, gave her a faint frown as if to suggest she didn't belong there, but Corvus gestured to her. "Rose, would you watch the reception desk for a while please? And when Crispa gets here, send her back here."

Rose smiled at him, put down the tray of fruit she'd been serving from and lowered her head in a nod. "Of course."

Once she'd gone, Tansy rose and closed the door between the antechamber and the receiving room. As she walked back to the table, Tansy seemed to dissolve a little with each step being replaced by the brash, in-charge spy Alyce Londinium. She indicated a chair, "May I join you? Tansy didn't get much of a chance to eat yesterday."

"Of course." Corvus indicated the same chair. "That's really a remarkable transformation. I'm not sure I would notice Tansy in the halls and I know she's really you."

"Invisibility is a valuable skill for both slaves and spies. It lets us get our work done." Alyse sat and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Are we waiting for the widow Iunius?"

"For your report on her father's activities yesterday? Yes." Corvus spread some olive tapenade on a triangle of pita. "I did want to talk to you first if that's all right."

"It's fine," said Alyse evenly. "You hired me. What's on your mind?"

Corvus considered the question. There was so much on his mind that he barely knew where to start. He decided to start with the thing he wanted to discuss least with Crispa in the room. "Did any of your agents hear my conversation with Plautus Iunius last night?"

"The conversation in the men's room, yes," said Alyse. "The one in the garden was observed from a distance, but too far to hear what was said. Traditionally, when a client works so hard to go somewhere it's hard to eavesdrop on them, we assume they have some business they don't want us to overhear."

Corvus nodded. "That's fine. I didn't plan on going out of observable ground, but I generally won't need you to report back to me what was said between myself and Plautus."

"Or to the Widow Iunius," said Alyse. "That's fine as well. You are the client. We'll tell her what you want us to tell her."

Corvus almost wanted to protest that wasn't what he meant. But he stopped himself. He didn't feel any less warmly towards Crispa than he had before talking to her father, but he was starting to wonder if she was as firmly at odds with her father's machinations as she said. He hadn't questioned her wearing of the purple, but he wondered at it now. And Plautus had gone out of his way to tell Corvus repeatedly how ill-suited his daughter was to espionage.

He didn't intend to draw back from the young widow, but his political secrets would have to remain his own - at least until he could decide if she was really what she pretended to be or if she wasn't playing some deep game. "Just tell her what you need to tell me. I don't need a report on anything you've heard me say and neither does she."

"Understood." Alyse reached for a slice of buttered toast. As she spoke and listened, her hands moved automatically, gathering food and eating it while Corvus spoke like she was unsure when she might eat again.

"I think I might need to hire more spies," said Corvus.

"How many?" Alyse asked.

"I don't know," admitted Corvus. "Probably a lot. There are a lot of things going on that I know nothing about and eventually one of them is going to come back to bite me on the ass."

Alyse frowned thoughtfully. "That kind of open-ended assignment can require a lot of manpower. I wouldn't recommend my agency for it. They're really good at handling specific things - watch this person, find out who stole that piece of jewelry, find that runaway. When you start to get to bigger questions, we don't have the manpower or the expertise to really cover it."

Corvus frowned. "Who do you recommend?"

"Does it have anything to do with our current target?" Alyse asked.

Corvus nodded.

"You'd need a lot of boots on the ground," said Alyse. "If he's in Europe and you're worried about him making trouble here, that says the scope of your problem is global. You can go with one of the bigger agencies, but I don't recommend it. They're so established and so big that invariably they'll have another client working at cross-purposes with you. It's pretty well known that they'll screw over their smaller clients to keep the bigger ones happy."

That got a frown. "Who would you recommend then?"

"What's your budget?"

Corvus tried to calculate and, after a moment asked instead, "What's it worth to know who's painted a target on your back and what they're capable of? Let's assume that whatever it costs, I can afford it."

Alyse raised an eyebrow for a moment, giving Corvus a chance to take that back, but he held his ground. She picked up her coffee cup and cradled it in both hands. "In that case, I'd say you should start your own network. These agencies like I work for - we're generally going to be able to help you catch a cheating spouse or find a runaway slave. What you're talking about, you generally want to have your own spies full-time. That way, you have a freer hand in dealing with them. You'll still have the problem of divided loyalties, but they won't be built into the network itself."

"Do people really do that?" Corvus asked.

Alyse nodded. "There are at least four major spy networks operating in the capital with a dozen full-time agents or more. Two of them belong to senator, one to a general, and one to a criminal who uses it to blackmail public officials. And of course, everyone is spying on everyone else in a less official capacity. You're going to be a senator. Right?"

Corvus smirked and didn't answer.

"Fine," said Alyse. "Let's assume you're going to be replacing Senator Petronius starting in the next senatorial term. He's got about two dozen staffers and at least three-quarters of them have divided loyalties. Everybody in Rio knows what he's going to do before he steps foot in the senate house."

"So ... I should fire everybody and start over?" Corvus asked.

Alyse shook her head. "The harder you make it to spy on you, the more people think you have something to hide and the harder they spy. Besides, right now, you know who your spies are and you can make sure they hear what they're supposed to and not what they shouldn't."

"But I don't know who the spies are," Corvus pointed out.

"I do." Alyse smiled. "I checked our files once I learned I was going to be working for you. I'll tell you if you like."

Corvus smirked. "And what will that cost me?"

"Nothing." Alyse's smirk matched his. "I understand you're considering hiring your own spies full-time and I thought I'd try to make a good first impression."

Crispa breezed into the receiving room even later than Corvus had told her the meeting was to start. She had Clover in tow, Corvus's body slave dressed in a yellow silk tunic he didn't recognize.

The widow kissed Corvus on the cheek and settled into the seat set for her. "Good morning. How's the spying business going?"

Clover had stopped halfway across the room, doing a double-take at the sight of Alyse sitting at the table, slave-mark clear on her neck. Corvus gestured her over. "Clover, come here."

She came over and knelt at his side. "How may I serve?"

Corvus turned to Alyse. "What should we be telling the ... slaves currently in my father's employ about you?"

Alyse scowled. "I'd rather not tell them anything. I didn't realize they would just be wandering in and out of what's supposed to be a secured room."

"I brought her in here..." Crispa bristled. "Is that a problem?"

"Only if anyone sees the two of us interacting and realizes she's acting strange," said Alyse. To Corvus, she added, "Can you send her away for the duration of this assignment? I don't want her blowing my cover."

Corvus frowned. "I'd rather not. What's the problem? Clover doesn't gossip and she does what she's told. Your cover is safe."

"Then tell her who I am and why I have a provenance mark," said Alyse.

Corvus turned to his body-slave. "Clover, this is Alyse Londinia. She's a Roman citizen born in Britain. I've hired her to spy on Plautus Iunius for me and she's disguising herself as a slave to do so. You're to treat her as a fellow slave any time anyone other than Crispa or me can see you together and not tell anyone - even Rose - who she really is. All right?"

Clover's eyes widened at the revelation, but she nodded. "Of course. It will be as you say."

"Is that sufficient?" Corvus asked.

"Nearly," said Alyse. She dropped smoothly to her knees in front of Clover. "I've been impudent to our master and need a good slap. Give it to me."

Clover's brows furrowed and she looked at Corvus, "Sir?"

"Humor her," said Corvus. "If she wants a slap, give her one."

Clover raised her hand, but looked to Corvus again. "Sir, you said she was a citizen..."

"One who might need you to strike her to save her life," said Alyse sharply. "Slap me."

Clover looked to Corvus again. Bemused, Corvus gave her a faint nod. She drew back and slapped Alyse's cheek, but pulled back so that it barely had any force behind it. Alyse looked at Corvus. "Do you think that will convince Plautus Iunius if he sees it?"

Clover dissolved into tears, falling at Corvus's feet. "Forgive me. I ... she's a citizen. I ... please."

Corvus was immediately on his feet, drawing Clover to hers. He crushed her in a fierce hug and kissed the top of her head. "Easy, Clover. You did nothing wrong."

Clover blinked up at him through her tears. "Please ... I won't fail again. I wasn't ready."

"It's all right." Corvus kissed her softly on the cheek. "You are what you are, Clover. I just didn't realize how hard it would be for you to treat Alyse like a slave if you knew she wasn't."

"I can do it," Clover shuddered in his embrace. "Please, give me another chance. Don't send me away."

Corvus stroked her hair and looked at Alyse. "Is it sufficient if I keep her in my inner rooms? Plautus Iunius has no reason to come in here."

"If it means that much to you," said Alyse. "I would feel better if she were sent away."

Corvus shook his head. "No. Clover, don't leave my rooms until after the wedding unless I come and get you. Rose will work reception for a while. If you need anything from outside the rooms during that time, ask her to bring it to you."

Clover nodded slowly. "It will be as you say, sir."

"Go get yourself cleaned up," said Corvus gently.

Clover nodded again, but turned to shoot a dark look at Alyse. "It will be as you say, but I swear I won't fail again. If I do have to slap her, I won't hesitate again."

Corvus gave a smile and kissed her one more time. "I don't doubt it. But it's important we keep you two apart so no one suspects what you know. All right?"

"Yes, sir." Clover bowed, shot Alyse another dirty look, and left.

"I'd steer clear of her if I were you," Crispa offered Alyse. "I think she might look for any excuse she can find to slap the shit out of Tansy now."

Alyse smirked. "It's a better reaction than behaving like I'm a bloody patrician."

Corvus scowled down at her before taking his seat again. "I would appreciate going forward if you don't go out of your way to torment my slaves."

Alyse shrugged and reached for a plate of muskmelon. "You didn't want to believe she would blow my cover. I didn't want her getting me killed. A demonstration was in order."

"Even so..." said Corvus darkly.

Crispa looked at the two of them and sensed the tension growing in the room. "Speaking of slaves, I suppose if Clover's not going to be able to come back to my rooms, I should retrieve Sunya Green. I didn't see her out in the antechamber."

"She was still sleeping the last I checked," said Corvus.

"Oh, well done." Crispa laid a hand on his wrist. "She's usually such an early riser. You must have kept her awfully busy."

The embarrassment that rose at the odd compliment was powerful enough to wash away Corvus's anger at Alyse, which might well have been the point. In truth, he'd kept Sunya up most of the night, only falling asleep a couple of hours before he had to be up for this meeting. He gave Crispa a diffident smile. "Your gift was most thoughtful. Thank you."

"As was yours. If I'd known how hospitable you could be, I might have visited sooner."

Corvus cleared his throat. "Yes. Anyway, Alyse - you had something to report?"

Alyse shook her head. "Surprisingly little. The ambassador rode straight from the airport to this house, stayed in his rooms until the banquet, spoke only to the Gallicus family and their hand-picked allies, retired at one, and slept through until morning. We have him under observation now, but I suspect he'll still be sleeping when I get back there." She gave a faintly smug smile at that last bit.

"Are you sure?" Crispa asked. "That doesn't sound like my father at all. He didn't do anything else?"

"We can never be completely sure of what a target isn't doing," said Alyse. "He could have passed notes too small to see or some prearranged signal that means nothing to anyone except the intended receiver. All we can do is observe closely and report any suspicious behavior."

"And you didn't see any of that?" Crispa asked. "'Suspicious behavior' is practically my father's cognomen."

"Nothing worth reporting," said Alyse. "Maybe he was tired from his long flight. We'll keep watching."

"Speaking of flights, he spotted his tail at the airport," said Corvus. "His first words to me were to ask if I was the one who sent him."

"What did you tell him?" Alyse asked, sharply alert.

"Nothing. Thanks to my mother, I'm well used to people making outrageous statements in order to try to get me to blurt out what I know. I waited for him to change the subject." Corvus allowed himself a faintly pleased smile that he wasn't totally new to the world of espionage. "On the plus side, he didn't seem at all perturbed to be spied on. I think he likes the attention."

"Did he say anything interesting to you - apart from asking you if you were spying on him?" Crispa asked.

"He didn't ask so much as stating it baldly," said Corvus. He turned to Alyse. "If you have nothing else to report, shouldn't you be getting back to it?"

Alyse looked at Crispa, then Corvus and gave a faint nod. She rose, brushing the provenance mark on her neck with two fingers. As if that touch were a cue, her posture and demeanor changed so that Tansy the slave was again standing in front of Corvus.

"May I return to my duties in Ambassador Iunius's rooms?" she asked softly. "He should be awake soon."

Corvus nodded and she left. Crispa watched her go. "That is downright creepy. It makes you wonder if your own slaves are spying on you. Doesn't it?"

Corvus considered it. "Not particularly. My slaves are pretty well accounted for in terms of where they come from and someone would have to be playing an awfully deep game to ruin a well-positioned plebeian family just to spy on me. I suppose if John turns out not to actually be a half-wit, I'll have to re-evaluate. I do worry about my father's house, though. He has so many slaves, I don't think he even knows all their names. And at least some of them were political gifts."

"Ibis ... was a gift to my grandmother," said Crispa thoughtfully. "From some powerful British merchant, I think. I wonder if she was meant to be a spy."

"If she was, your grandmother did an excellent job of putting her somewhere that she couldn't do any real damage. What secrets do you have that the British would care about?" Corvus asked it casually, as if the were bantering, but he was keen to hear the answer.

"None ... unless the British have started printing their own tabloids," said Crispa, raising her coffee cup to her lips. "So, what did you and my father talk about that you didn't want Tansy to hear?"

"He wants me to marry you in order to improve my claim to the purple when I become emperor," said Corvus almost casually.

Crispa took a long sip of her coffee before putting the cup down. "That's not funny ... even as a joke."

"He wasn't joking."

Crispa stared at Corvus, looking for any sign that he might be pulling her leg. "You refused him of course?"

"I did," said Corvus. "I told him I couldn't marry you unless your house was in order."