The Last King of Rome

by Laura Dowers

  Matia sat up. ‘So Arruns…,’ she jerked her head to suggest what she couldn’t bring herself to say out loud.

  ‘Has to penetrate me from behind,’ Lolly nodded. ‘I find that far more agreeable.’

  ‘You don’t find it… uncomfortable?’ Matia wanted to say undignified or bestial but knew Lolly would think she was hopelessly provincial.

  Lolly shook her head. ‘Arruns is so small, I barely notice when he enters me.’

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Oh yes. With some men, a small penis doesn’t matter, they know how to use it, but Arruns…’ Lolly didn’t bother to finish the sentence.

  ‘My dear Lolly, I would never have guessed,’ Matia said, glad she had come now to hear this. ‘I mean, he’s really quite broad in the chest.’

  ‘You can’t go by that,’ Lolly dismissed. ‘Some men are pigeon-chested yet have the most enormous phallus.’

  ‘Lolly, how would you know such a thing?’

  Lolly burst out laughing. ‘Oh my, what must you think of me, Matia? I must sound quite the whore. My dear, no, believe me, I’m not trying any man I fancy. But I make sure our slaves are healthy; I see them naked to make sure they’re not diseased or malformed and I have seen the most unpromising upper-body specimens who are quite extraordinary below.’

  I bet you have tried your slaves, Matia thought. Poor Arruns, to have such a wife as Lolly.

  ‘Do you know, Matia,’ Lolly was still talking, ‘I almost envy my sister. Lucius is, so she says, not lacking in that area. But, of course, Tullia is such a quiet little thing, quite the mouse. She doesn’t know how fortunate she is to have a husband with such a large phallus.’

  ‘Tullia has told you how big Lucius is?’

  ‘Of course, we’re sisters. We share all our little secrets.’

  ‘It’s a pity that’s all you can share. Wouldn’t it be more fun to share husbands?’ Matia giggled.

  ‘Yes,’ Lolly murmured, her eyes gazing off into the distance, ‘wouldn’t it?’

  There was a banging coming from the other corridor. Tullia threw down her wax tablet on which she had been writing a letter and went to investigate.

  The door to Lolly’s old cubiculum was open and the banging was coming from inside. Tullia put her head around the door frame. Utica, one of the women who came in daily to clean, was sweeping cobwebs from the ceiling and the sound Tullia had heard was the knocking of the broom against the walls. The bed had been pulled into the middle of the room and a bowl of steaming hot water was beside it, ready to clean the wooden frame.

  ‘Why are you cleaning in here?’ Tullia asked.

  ‘Been told to, lady,’ Utica said, taking the opportunity to rest her arms for a moment. ‘Going to be occupied again.’

  ‘By whom?’

  Utica opened her mouth to answer but closed it at the sound of footsteps.

  Lolly entered. ‘Why have you stopped? Oh Tullia, you’re here. You, get on with your work.’

  Utica resumed her cleaning, making a face. Lolly brushed past Tullia. She put a hand on the bed frame and wiggled it, checking its sturdiness.

  ‘Who is this being got ready for, Lolly?’ Tullia asked.

  ‘For me, of course.’

  ‘For you?’

  ‘Yes, me, you little goose,’ Lolly said, watching Utica critically. ‘I simply can’t stand sleeping next to Arruns any longer. I don’t get a wink of sleep with his snoring all night.’

  ‘You’re having separate rooms? But doesn’t Arruns mind?’

  ‘He doesn’t know yet. He’ll find out tonight.’

  ‘Oh, Lolly, you should have asked him first. He may not allow you to come back here.’

  ‘Allow me?’ Lolly’s eyes blazed. ‘I don’t have to ask his permission.’

  ‘He’s your husband, sister.’

  ‘And I never wanted him,’ Lolly snapped. She shoved the bed frame aside. ‘Don’t stand there saying foolish things, Tullia.’

  ‘They’re not foolish,’ Tullia protested. ‘Arruns will be upset.’

  ‘Oh yes, and we can’t upset Arruns, can we?’

  ‘But how… how…’ Tullia blushed, her eyes darting towards Utica, who was pretending not to be listening.

  ‘Oh, spit it out,’ Lolly sighed.

  ‘Babies, Lolly,’ Tullia whispered. ‘How will you become pregnant if you sleep apart?’

  ‘Oh, I’ll let him have me now and then.’

  ‘It will serve you right if Arruns—,’ Tullia broke off.

  ‘If Arruns what?’ Lolly raised her eyebrows at her sister.

  ‘If he takes another woman to his bed,’ Tullia said defiantly.

  Lolly laughed. ‘He’s welcome to, if he thinks he can manage it. Just as long as it isn’t you, sister dear. I won’t have you in his bed.’

  ‘Lolly!’

  ‘Oh, don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it. Why, how you blush, Tullia.’

  Even Utica was laughing at her now. ‘I don’t know how you can say such things, Lolly, I really don’t,’ Tullia said, her cheeks burning. ‘I would never betray Lucius.’

  ‘Would you not? Not even for Arruns?’

  ‘Never. I am a good wife.’

  ‘And I’m a bored one,’ Lolly said flatly. ‘Don’t lecture me, Tullia. You’re no good at it.’

  She wouldn’t stay to be laughed at. Tullia hurried back to her own room. She picked up her wax tablet and tried to resume her letter. But Lolly’s words kept coming back to her. Lolly was mean to say what she did but she was right. Tullia did think of Arruns in that way and she knew it was wrong. What a bad woman she must be!

  Arruns watched Cossus throw his arm around the whore’s shoulder and stumble out of the back door with her. At last, Arruns could talk to his brother without Cossus listening in and laughing at him. Lucius wouldn’t laugh, at least Arruns didn’t think so, but if he did, Arruns could take it from him. Lucius would know what to do. Lucius would help him.

  ‘Lolly’s moved back into her old room,’ Arruns said.

  Lucius belched. ‘Why?’

  ‘She says I snore too much, that she can’t get any sleep.’

  ‘Sounds about right.’

  Arruns leant closer. ‘I’m not happy about her leaving me. Do you think I should forbid it? Tell her to move back?’

  ‘Why are you asking me? She’s your wife.’

  ‘What would you do?’

  ‘I’d tell her to get her arse back in my bed where it belongs,’ Lucius said, brushing crumbs from his toga. ‘Actually, I think it’s a good idea. Maybe I’ll tell Tullia to go back to her old room.’

  ‘You wouldn’t do that.’

  ‘I would if I wanted. I’d have the bed to myself and I could do as I please. I could have that pretty little slave, the one with the red hair. You can have her now Lolly’s gone. You should think yourself lucky, brother.’

  ‘Lolly’s my wife, she should be by my side.’

  ‘Then tell her that’s what you want,’ Lucius said, bored with the conversation. ‘But it’s Lolly, remember. She only does what she wants to do.’

  ‘Or does what you want,’ Arruns muttered. ‘Hey, that’s an idea. You could tell her to move back.’

  ‘Don’t involve me,’ Lucius said, waving his hands.

  ‘But she’ll listen to you, I know she will. Oh, please, Lucius.’

  Lucius leant back in his chair and sighed. It pleased him to have his brother beg him, and to know that Lolly listened to him. He wondered if it was true. ‘Yes, all right,’ he said, thinking it was one way to find out. ‘Anything to shut you up.’

  Lucius found Lolly in the garden. She was lying on cushions thrown on the ground, arms over her head and legs splayed, only the folds of her dress covering her modesty.

  Lolly angled her head back at his approach, smiling upside down at him. ‘Hello.’

  ‘Hello. You look very relaxed down there.’

  ‘I am. Isn’t it lovely to be able to lie here and do nothing?’

  ‘S
houldn’t you be spinning something?’

  ‘Oh, don’t be a bore, Lucius,’ Lolly said, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers.

  ‘Is that what Arruns is?’ Lucius asked, settling down beside her on the cushions. ‘Is that why you’ve started sleeping apart?’

  ‘Oh, let me guess,’ she said, ‘he’s sent you here to ask me to move back. Typical. He’s so spineless, he won’t ask me himself.’

  ‘He thought I could persuade you.’

  ‘To move back into his bed? Is that what you want for me?’

  ‘I’m here for my brother,’ he said, flustered a little by her manner.

  ‘How strange you must find that. I’ve never known you to help him before.’

  ‘What’s your answer?’ he said, pulling a fold of her dress down to cover her calf.

  She sat up and rested her chin on his shoulder. ‘My answer, Lucius, is no.’

  Lucius felt her breath on his cheek, the point of her chin digging into his flesh. ‘Then I’ll tell him,’ he said, moving slightly so his shoulder slipped from beneath her chin.

  ‘Is that all?’ Lolly said, sounding disappointed. ‘You didn’t try very hard. I don’t think you want me to share my husband’s bed.’

  ‘I don’t care what you do,’ Lucius said, looking away from her.

  ‘If he was any kind of man, he’d make me move back,’ Lolly sighed. ‘You wouldn’t let Tullia move out of your bed, would you?’

  ‘No, I wouldn’t.’

  ‘Unless that was what you wanted,’ she purred. ‘So you were free to take your pleasures where and when you wanted.’

  ‘And if my pleasure lies with my wife?’ he said, eyeing her sideways.

  She laughed, a soft silky laugh that quickened his heart. She rubbed her leg against his. ‘Then, Lucius, you’re not the man I took you to be.’

  14

  Lolly pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and stepped out the back door of the domus. It felt strange, and a little exciting, to go into the city in disguise. She had borrowed her maid’s dress, leaving off her jewellery and cosmetics and tying her hair back with a leather thong, so that anyone glancing at her would not have seen the daughter of the King but only a pretty young woman. The impression she was nothing special would be reinforced by her being alone, for Lolly would never normally leave the domus without a guard or a slave to accompany her. Rome, even in the daytime, could be dangerous.

  Lolly knew where the shop she sought was though she had never been there before. She hurried along, hood up, head down, watching her feet as they moved swiftly over the ground, ignoring the grit and dirt that clung to her toes and crept inside to torment the soles of her feet.

  As she drew nearer to her destination, she realised she was entering an area of Rome she had never visited before and curiosity as to the kind of plebs who inhabited it made Lolly lift her head a little and study her companions on the streets. They looked the same as those on any other street and she chided herself. What had she expected? Hunchbacks and crones? She examined the sides of the buildings, looking for the sign of a horse. A few more steps and she found it, carved into the stone beside a striped brown and blue awning.

  The front of the shop had tables spilling onto the street and these held an assortment of herbs and spices in woven baskets and small wooden bowls. A man was standing behind the table, eyeing her with curiosity. What she was after would not be on display, Lolly knew, but shame held her back from asking the man for the item she sought. She hesitated, peering into the dimness of the shop’s interior.

  ‘You want my wife?’ the man asked.

  Gratefully, Lolly nodded, and the man called into the shop. A female voice shouted, ‘Coming,’ and a moment later, a fat woman emerged from the doorway. Her husband pointed at Lolly.

  ‘What you after, love?’ the woman asked. ‘Come on, speak up. You’re blocking the way.’

  ‘I want… something special,’ Lolly said.

  The woman’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’d best come in,’ she said and beckoned Lolly inward, past the table with its baskets and into the shop, where she had to duck her head to avoid hitting the bags and herbs hanging from the ceiling. ‘Now, what can I get you?’

  ‘A love philtre,’ Lolly whispered, holding her hood so it covered half her face.

  The woman smiled, revealing the gaps in her teeth. ‘There’s no need to look so scared, my sweet. I get lots of women coming to me for such things.’

  She moved to a wooden crate at the back of the shop covered by a rough woollen blanket. Pulling the blanket back, she reached inside, pulling out a small glass bottle. ‘Here you go.’

  ‘Will it work?’ Lolly asked, taking the bottle and inspecting it, watching as the liquid inside ebbed and flowed as she tipped it first one way, then the other.

  ‘If you do it right. You have to put it in his drink or food every day and say prayers to Venus. You do that, my sweet, and the man you want will be yours, body and soul.’

  ‘I’ll take it.’ Lolly tucked the bottle into the purse tied to her belt. The woman named her price and Lolly paid it without hesitation. No price was too high for something that promised so much.

  He had drunk too much, Lucius decided, and groaned. Why did he always do this? It wasn’t that he minded the hangover the next morning all that much; he minded the way he invariably made a fool of himself. Sometimes, he would remember the things he’d said or done and cringe in embarrassment. At other times, he wouldn’t remember a thing and this was worse, for then his friends would say he did this or said that and he would never know if they were speaking the truth or lying.

  Lucius mumbled he needed to piss and left the table, pulling his arm out of Tullia’s hand as she tried to help him up. He didn’t want her help, didn’t want anyone’s help. He stumbled out of the room. They were probably talking about him, Servius and Tarquinia, all of them, now he was gone. Tarquinia would be telling Tullia she shouldn’t allow him to drink so much, as if Tullia could stop him doing what he wanted. If Tullia started moaning at him when they went to bed, he’d bloody well give her something to moan about.

  Lucius steadied himself against the wall. I mustn’t fall down, he told himself. He didn’t think he’d be able to get up again if he did. He flinched as something touched his shoulder.

  ‘No need to jump so,’ a silkily soft voice said. ‘It’s only me.’

  ‘Tullia?’

  Hands crept around his ribs and splayed across his chest, squeezing gently.

  ‘I was just thinking of you,’ he said, his eyes closing.

  ‘Nice thoughts?’

  ‘No. Don’t nag me. I’m only a little bit drunk.’

  ‘You’re slurring your words.’

  ‘I am?’

  ‘Stop talking.’ Her hands moved down and spread over his hips, teased the top of his thighs and moved to his groin.

  ‘This isn’t like you,’ Lucius said, wondering what had got into his wife.

  ‘You like it, don’t you?’ her voice purred as her hands delved beneath his tunic, giggling as her fingers closed around him. ‘Oh yes, you like it.’

  Lucius moved his feet, wanting to stand up straight, but he fell sideways and slammed against the wall. He grabbed at the hands holding him and pulled her against him.

  ‘You’re not—,’ he said, peering into the face now inches from his.

  ‘I’m Tullia,’ Lolly said, using her real name.

  ‘Not…,’ he searched for the right words, ‘my Tullia.’

  ‘I could be, if you wanted.’ He felt the heat of her body as she pressed herself against him. ‘Do you want?’ Her hands began to massage their way up his thighs. It felt so good and Lucius heard himself moaning as his neck arched, pushing himself against her. Touch me again, he mentally begged. But then her nails painfully raked his skin.

  He shoved her away. ‘What you doing?’

  ‘Showing you what you’re missing, Lucius.’

  ‘I’m not a fool.’ He heard his own voice,
loud in the corridor. She put her fingers to his lips and he swatted them aside. ‘Go away. Leave me alone.’

  Lolly smiled and stepped away from him. ‘One day soon, Lucius, you’ll ask me to stay.’

  He closed his eyes, listening to her retreating footsteps, and slid down the wall, his legs unable to sustain him any longer. Tullia found him there fifteen minutes later, his chin upon his chest and snoring, and ordered the guards to carry him to their bed.

  Lucius looked over to where Lolly was standing at the opposite side of the temple.

  She was pretending not to notice him, he knew. Maybe she thought he didn’t remember what had passed between them the previous night, but he did. Well, most of it, not the ending. He remembered being annoyed with her but he wasn’t sure what about. He’d found thin red scratches on his thighs that morning and it tormented him that he couldn’t remember how they had got there. What had Lolly done to him? More to the point, why had she done it?

  She must have felt his gaze upon her because Lolly suddenly turned her head towards him and met his eye. There was determination in her expression, and something more, something almost victorious.

  Lucius dragged his eyes away. He had to put the previous night out of his mind. It was nothing, Lolly’s idea of a joke, probably. And if it wasn’t a joke... well, that was something he didn’t want to get caught up in.

  Yes, Lolly was pretty, he thought now he bothered to look at her properly, and she was a damn sight more intelligent than her sister, but that didn’t mean he wanted to bed her. There were other women he could have affairs with if he wanted, easy affairs, no complications. Lolly was too close to home for comfort. Going to bed with her would cause him no end of problems. No, he would forget their little encounter and stop thinking of Lolly naked in his bed.

  He would stop thinking of her.

  Lucilla had invited the whole family to dinner. Servius and Tarquinia declined, Servius claiming he was too busy and Tarquinia that she wasn’t well enough, so it was only the younger generation who followed the torchbearers to Lucilla’s house on the Capitoline Hill.