Call to Juno (Tales of Ancient Rome #3)(137)
Anger overtook Camillus’s disbelief. “And what is your secret, Genucius? I already knew you have a weakness for whores. What is it that she holds over you to forget your friendship and duty?” He cast a disgusted look at Pinna. “Or is it what you did with her that you wanted to hide?”
Genucius tensed. “I admit I’ve a few little perversions that harlots like her cater to. But I’m prepared to bear the brunt of ridicule if it means my fellow soldiers will see the man you truly are. One who would go back on his word and deprive them of hard-won spoils while strutting in a triumph. You’ll be judged as a fool. Strung along by your junior officer’s whore.”
Camillus glared at Marcus. “You knew about this? You weren’t also tricked when you took her as your army wife?”
Marcus stood speechless.
Genucius barked at Pinna. “Tell him, you slut. Tell the general how Marcus Aemilius shared you with Claudius Drusus. Tell him how all three of us took you in that lupanaria, one after another, on the same night.”
“Drusus? What kind of sick joke is this?” Camillus grabbed Pinna again. “Is there any man in this camp you haven’t f*cked?”
She sank to the ground, catching hold of his hand. “I’ve been faithful to you, my Wolf.”
He pulled his fingers from her grip. “Don’t call me that, you filthy little liar. You were prepared to cuckold Marcus in the first place.” He strode across to the tribune, thrusting his face close to his. “Genucius failed to warn me, but why didn’t you? Did you remain silent in vengeance for me stealing her from you?”
Pinna interrupted before the knight could speak. “Drusus raped me in the lupanaria. Marcus Aemilius took pity on me and made me his concubine when I told him my father’s story. He didn’t want me to tell you how his friend assaulted me.”
Genucius snorted. “Is that all? He protected you because Drusus raped you? Who would care?”
She bristled. “You claim to be such a champion of the people, Genucius. Yet you’ve been a patrician toady for years. Where were you when soldiers like my father were forced into bondage and my mother and I were reduced to prostitution?”
“Be quiet!” Camillus sank into his chair, holding his hand to his eyes as though under too bright a light. “Tell me the true reason you made her your army wife, Marcus. Did you really think I’d be concerned Drusus abused a lupa? I judge a man on how well he fights, not whether he frequents brothels.” He glowered at Pinna. “Or how he treats the whores in them.”
He might as well have wielded a cudgel against her. He had reduced her to nothing. And at last, she could winnow her emotions, blowing away the husk of her love for him. Her growing qualms since returning to Rome were justified. His charisma had hardened into arrogance and then been corrupted into hubris. “No, I won’t be silent. Marcus acted only with good intentions. He shouldn’t be punished for his kindness.”
She walked across to the cradle where Thia lay listless on her side, sucking on the corner of her sheet, pining for her mother. She’d eaten nothing other than a little honeyed milk for days. Now Aemilius wanted to kill her. And the man she thought she loved was going to let it happen. All because of their bitter hatred for Caecilia—the sins of the mother visited upon the daughter. She lifted the girl, guiding her to lay her head on her shoulder as she rocked her. “Will you save the princess?”
Camillus frowned. “Did you really think I would let you raise the child of my greatest enemy, Pinna? Besides, it’s Aemilius’s decision.”
She took a deep breath. She’d fought so hard to leave her past behind. But now she realized she should feel no shame. She might have been a night moth but she felt nobler than this general. She did not have the blood of a city, and now this baby, on her hands.
“All you need to know is why Drusus raped me in the first place. And that is because I saw him using black magic to damn Vel Mastarna and cast a love spell on Aemilia Caeciliana. I stole the defixios and threatened to nail them to the speakers’ platform so all Rome would learn how weak he was. I know this because I was a tomb whore. I found Drusus planting the lead sheets in a sepulcher while I was trying to find a customer on a rainy night.”
Camillus leaned back as though punched in the stomach. He stared at her, haggard. “You were a tomb whore? By the gods, I wanted to marry you! No wonder you were able to bewitch me with all your superstitions and charms.”
She straightened her shoulders. “I’m a warrior’s daughter, not an enchantress.”
Genucius crossed to Camillus and placed his hand on his shoulder. “My friend, this is worse than I imagined. We’ve both been soiled by this harlot. Our reputations will suffer if it should become public. I spoke hastily. Let’s talk about the matter of the tithe after the triumph.”
Camillus nodded, more concerned with Marcus. He shouted, “Did you know she worked in a graveyard?”
The tribune stuttered. “No, sir. If I’d known she was a night moth . . . I would never have protected her.”
His words were painful, but she could see him struggling with bewilderment. She’d not betrayed his love for Drusus. She may have been a she wolf, but she was not dangerous after all.
He dragged his eyes from her and addressed the dictator. “I admit I knew Drusus had damned Mastarna. He was besotted with my cousin. That’s why he lost control when he saw Caecilia in the temple. He disobeyed orders, then attacked me when I tried to stop him from fulfilling every part of his curse.”