Vesta's Virgin

by Suzanne Ravelle

  ‘My Pontifex, please forgive me! I had no idea you would be subjected to such a shameless display of…of wickedness!’ cried Virginia, wringing her hands.

  ‘But -’ Achillea began again.

  ‘Oh my dear, think nothing of it,’ said Nero with a good natured chuckle and a dismissive wave of his hand to the Vestal Maxima. ‘Apparently most women find me irresistible, so I am told.’

  He smiled indulgently at Achillea before turning back towards Virginia. ‘It seems not even Vestal Virgins are immune.’

  Achillea just gaped at them both, opening and closing her mouth like a fish. She was lost for words.

  CHAPTER III

  Achillea stood in the dock at the Regia in front of the whole of the Pontifical College of Priests, Flamines and the full contingent of Vestal Virgins – the novices, the serving virgins and the six former virgins who were now their teachers.

  She was still speechless.

  She couldn’t believe what had happened in the space of mere days. She’d barely noticed the proceedings of the trial - her trial. How could this be happening!

  At least Nero had agreed to step down on this occasion. This much had registered.

  Luckily he’d actually agreed it wouldn’t be fitting for him to preside over the hearing. After all, as he pointed out, he himself could possibly be accused of being her lover if she were found guilty of immodesty or worse, incest - as it was so deemed when a Vestal was found guilty of sexual relations. He’d made some joke, that determining Achillea’s guilt and necessary entombment could also result in the public flogging to death of himself, the Emperor.

  Hence, it was a decision he did not care to have a hand in.

  Her trance was broken by the saluting stamp of the booted feet of the Rex Sacrorum as he came to a standstill on the piece of artfully painted floor she’d been staring at.

  She looked up to see his fearsome purple and flame-red apparel. His face was shrouded in the folds of his toga. She watched in awe as he raised his ceremonial axe aloft and then brought it down, arm outstretched, its blades pointing at Sastica Virginia.

  ‘Come speak Priestess. Tell us what evidence you bring to bear.’

  Achillea audibly gulped as she watched Virginia walk out onto the floor. She had not had a chance to speak to her since she was dismissed from her duties and confined to her rooms.

  She had no idea what the woman was going to say.

  ‘I went to the Temple of Vesta to speak to Achillea about…about a number of reports that had come to my ears. Apparently, she had been witnessed behaving immodestly, bragging and…and fawning with Nero at the Colosseum.’

  Achillea visibly winced as she recalled that day. She was not surprised matters had been relayed to Virginia in such a damning way. A number of the Virgins gasped in surprise and Virginia looked positively uncomfortable being the bearer of such news.

  The Rex raised his axe. ‘Silence!’

  She watched to see the Maxima’s next move. The woman stood anxiously, twisting her hands in her stola, her back hunched as if to protect her neck from the fall of the blade. Her eyes, like a frightened hare, were darting round the room.

  Achillea felt a pang of sympathy.

  She knew only too well the fear their chief must be feeling. If Achillea were to be found guilty it may not just be herself that suffered. Very often two or three virgins were considered to be tainted too.

  She felt a stab of hope Virginia would simply tell the truth and this awful mess would be cleared up within the day.

  ‘As I entered the temple I saw Achillea and the Pontifex Maximus. Achillea…I saw Achillea…cavorting on a chair! She had her skirts hitched up. She…she was performing, some kind of lurid dance -’

  The room erupted in turmoil.

  A number of priests shot to their feet exclaiming in surprise. The Virgins were either wailing in fear or covering their ears and shouting ‘Nooo,’ in disbelief.

  One or two of the older order fainted.

  Achillea herself was aghast. What Virginia thought she’d seen, couldn’t be further from the truth!

  Of all the people she should have looked at, her eyes immediately sought out Helios.

  She found him at the end, in the back row of the pews. He seemed to be an anchor of calm, seemingly oblivious to the raucous chaos around him.

  His eyes seemed to flicker for a second with concern before impassively returning her stare.

  From the age of seven, she’d relied on him - his protection, his kindness and reassurance.

  He’d always been there.

  She didn’t know why but, as she grew older, she’d started reacting to him in the way that she now did and in general, treated him poorly. It was a wonder he’d stayed serving her.

  Looking at him now, with her life hanging in the balance, she was oddly glad, as well as surprised, to see that his was the one face that did not seem to be condemning her.

  ‘Order!’ cried the Rex, wielding his axe in an arc above his head and pointing at various miscreants in the congregation.

  His directive was obeyed, almost instantly.

  ‘Please continue,’ he said, turning his attention back to the cowering Vestal Maxima standing centre stage. ‘And, what did our esteemed Pontifex, Nero, do?’

  ‘H-He looked like he was trying to get her down but, obviously, was hesitant as to whether or not to touch her.’

  ‘And what did the accused do when she saw you?’ said the Rex nodding his head in apparent agreement and understanding.

  Virginia looked like she would herself rather be buried alive then have to reply. She glanced directly at Achillea, the colour all but drained from her face, before answering. ‘She exclaimed in surprise and then…then she swore at me.’ Virginia flushed scarlet in shame.

  It was a rare and punishable occurrence for the principal virgin to fail to instil decorum and respect in her pupils.

  Her words were met with stunned silence.

  Achillea buried her head in her hands in horror and despair. She felt that Vesta had truly abandoned her.

  She was undoubtedly doomed!

  CHAPTER IIII

  Achillea looked out to sea, at the coast of Italy disappearing over the horizon. Her heart constricted as she lost sight of her home. A nagging memory tried to surface of one other such occasion when she’d felt equally bereft. But not knowing what it was, she pushed the feeling back into unremembered obscurity.

  In reality, she told herself, she was lucky to be alive.

  If it hadn’t been for the fact a finding of guilt would have created a political catastrophe for Rome and Nero, she would, at this very moment, be suffering her worst nightmare, alone and abandoned in the dark.

  Instead, she had been reprimanded to change her ways and charged with heading a convoy to Briton to install and tend the sacred flame in the Empire’s newest settlement.

  In two years, after memories had faded and if she proved herself worthy, she could return.

  She would see her Rome again.

  She looked over at Helios, standing tall and proud, near her at the stern. He had done her a great service when he’d given his testimony. She promised herself from now on to treat him well. Things would be again, as they once were.

  ‘I haven’t had the chance to thank you for the way in which you defended me at my trial.’ She kept her voice moderate and returned her gaze to the calm of the sea. She tried not to compare the sunlight twinkling on the surface with the way it similarly had been glinting off his bare, oiled skin.

  The smell of cinnamon and musk, carried on the breeze, as he came towards her.

  Her hands tightened fractionally on the railing when he came to a stop at her side. The caress of a light wind, she told herself, made her body give a slight shudder as if she suffered a moment of cold.

  ‘I simply told the truth,’ he said casually, as he leant against the rail, looking down at her.

  He was standing so close that Achillea could physically feel the warmth of his
body’s heat. She felt like stepping sideways to put some distance between them but remembering her decision to be more amenable from now on, she managed to stay put.

  ‘The noise was deafening - most of the time. Who’s to say what was heard and what was actually said?’

  Achillea could hear the smile in his voice. ‘Well thank you nonetheless,’ she said, inclining her head awkwardly in acknowledgement.

  She found this gentle, kind Helios unnerving. She dared not look at him lest he saw it in her eyes.

  ‘As for Nero,’ he said, turning his attention to the retreating horizon, ‘the man’s a lunatic. I expect he would have come for you in the dead of night even if you had been buried alive!’

  Helios’ laughter felt like butterflies fluttering over her stomach.

  ‘I’m glad you believed my version of events,’ Achillea said, despite the fact she was beginning to feel decidedly uncomfortable. The deck seemed uncharacteristically quiet with only the snap and rustle of the sails. The faint calls of the crew from the bow and the mild lap of the waves were the only intrusions on their conversation.

  She was technically alone with him.

  ‘Bella, I never doubted you for a minute,’ he said leaning out across the guard-rail so he could stare her directly in the face.

  Achillea’s breath caught in her chest at his audacity and… the honesty she saw shining in the liquid depths of his eyes. Flustered, she stepped away. No one used her first name, let alone as a shortened endearment.

  Helios gave a short laugh. ‘Why do you always pretend to be so indifferent to me?’

  ‘What on earth do you mean!’ exclaimed Achillea, genuinely confused.

  Helios closed the gap between them. ‘You treat me like I’m some common slave.’

  ‘But you are, near enough, a common slave?’ She was genuinely surprised!

  ‘No I’m a free man,’ he said, with a look of determination. ‘And, before my village was invaded as a boy, I was of noble birth. Just like you.’

  Achillea stared at him in frustration.

  Her decision to behave better towards him had obviously affected his brain and given him ideas above his station.

  She turned to fully face him, hands on hips. ‘Well? What would you have me do?’ she snapped in irritation. ‘Invite you to have a goblet of wine with me and share my table?’

  She almost laughed out loud at her own joke but the scowl, now marring Helios’s otherwise striking features, made her think better of it.

  She bit back what would have been an equally snide remark and took a moment to breathe. She managed a conciliatory sigh before continuing. ‘If things are as you say, you obviously chose to be in your current situation. May I remind you, despite being afforded the same start in life, we are not equals.’

  ‘Is that how you see it?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Achillea, uncertain as to why his clear-sea eyes were searching her face as if she would lie.

  Concerned by his behaviour, she turned her back on him and ran her hand along the capping of the rail as she took some steps away. ‘You are here to serve and, need I remind you, protect me.’

  She stopped some distance from him and looked out over the ocean. ‘I admit I have not always been kind to you.’

  She looked over her shoulder at him before returning her gaze to the building waves. ‘I will endeavour to redress this but more than that, I cannot do.’

  She assumed that would be the end of the matter. Jupiter blast the man! Even when she was striving to be nice he still gave her cause to be reactionary.

  Achillea rubbed her bare arms against the growing chill. The wind was picking up the further they went out to sea. The blue sky of home was now just a ribbon on the horizon. The first drops of cold rain splattered unexpectedly against her skin. She turned to leave the deck and nearly hurtled into Helios.

  Somehow he was standing directly behind her. She pressed back against the capping, startled.

  ‘It’s beginning to rain. I want to go inside.’ Helios stood, unmoving. She went to step past him but his hand shot out to grip the guard-rail. Startled, she hesitated before turning to exit the other way.

  He similarly blocked her path.

  Achillea gasped in surprise. ‘What do you think you are doing?’ Her head was level with his muscled chest. His loin cloth barely inches from brushing against her dress. His strong, defined legs, almost straddling her thighs.

  She had to edge even further back to try and avoid any contact being made.

  Helios lowered his head so that hers was craned back only a hair’s breadth from his face. ‘We are not so different.’

  Her eyes opened in alarm at his closeness, she daren’t move in case any part of her touched him by accident. ‘Please, Helios. Why are you standing so close?’

  ‘We were both taken from our homes,’ he said, choosing to ignore her. ‘We were both thrown into lives we would not have chosen to lead.’ His intense blue eyes raked over her face.

  Achillea could feel the warmth of his breath on her neck almost as if he were physically caressing her.

  The subtle, sensuous tang of his odour felt like an assault on her senses. Fear and some other, unknown, but equally as frightening, sensation trembled through her body.

  Never had she suffered such an invasion of space and threat to her person. Not even by Nero.

  ‘Please Helios, we can talk. But please, move back. Please make sure you don’t touch me.’

  ‘All I want to do is touch you,’ Helios rasped in anguish, a fraction away from her ear, his hands clenching on the barrier.

  Achillea’s heart jumped of its own volition and a bolt of heat penetrated her to the very core. She froze in alarm and confusion. Then, alarm got the better of her.

  ‘Get away from me!’ she hissed. ‘I could see you flayed for this!’

  ‘But you wouldn’t would you,’ stated Helios, looking at her again, directly.

  She flushed in shame at her empty threat. He knew her too well. If she were truly honest, she couldn’t imagine a life without him. He’d always been there. There was no one she would trust so completely with her life if it came to it.

  ‘Do you think I don’t know how you feel about me? Do you think I am blind and cannot see?’

  ‘Helios, what are you talking about?’ she said, although she couldn’t stop her eyes from briefly sliding away.

  ‘I have watched you grow from a child. As a woman I have come to love you.’ His blue regard softened as he looked at her. ‘I know you feel the same way about me.’

  Achillea could only stare at him in shock and disbelief.

  CHAPTER V

  Achillea spent the next week trying to avoid Helios, which, within the confines of the ship was pretty hard to do.

  But, somehow she managed it.

  She made sure she was never alone in his company. She took her meals with the crew and the rest of her convoy, instead of in her own quarters. And, she made sure she averted her eyes whenever he was near so it was impossible for him to catch her attention.

  She thought often of Rome but found her fond memories tainted by her recollection of the young novice who’d been assigned to take her place. The child had looked little more than twelve.

  All Achillea kept seeing was the expression of terror on the poor girl’s face, when she’d been informed. Her ten years of training were suddenly up. Of course, the youngster may still have been traumatised from witnessing the hearing, but it made Achillea question things, and the image nonetheless haunted her.

  Was what Helios said, true?

  She was seven, so she was told, when she was taken by the Pontifex from her parents’ home.

  Now, at twenty and one, it was so long ago she could barely remember. She only had three years of service remaining before she herself would be a teacher. Everyone knew it was an immense privilege to be selected to serve as one of Vesta’s Virgins.

  So, why would she not have chosen such an honour, if it had been down to her to cho
ose?

  As for his declaration of love! And his irrational belief she felt the same way too, Achillea found her mind was simply incapable of even contemplating let alone dwelling on the matter.

  How on earth could he have come to such conclusions?

  She didn’t know the answer. All she knew was that somehow their relationship was changing. The thought of actually getting rid of Helios brought a physical pain to her heart. However, at least for now, until things could, in some way, be resolved, she knew it was best to keep away from him.