Note: This is a work of fiction and any resemblance of any characters herein to any persons, real or fictitious, is purely coincidental and unintentional.
Note 2: This work includes themes of a graphic sexual nature and involves persons who, although entirely fictional, are all above the legal age of consent. This story is set in the slightly historical, but primarily imagined world of Ancient Rome, however, no offense is intended to any persons or cultures if I have mis-portrayed any historical, factual, or cultural aspects of the setting; the setting is used solely for its exotic and romantic attributes. If you find anything in this work objectionable or offensive, please move on to other content.
Note 3: This work is my own personal intellectual property. Copyright © 2017 Audrey07. All rights reserved.
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I'm back! Work had me completely bogged down there for a bit, so I skipped off to the continent for a little much needed R&R in sun-drenched Italy. Some good food, good wine, and lots of hot Italian girls got my creative juices (and, well... other juices) flowing. I was walking the ancient streets of Pompeii with a tour group when the idea for this story hit me. Enjoy!
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Chapter 1: The Journey
Cassia pouted. It was insufferably hot in her carriage. It had been two days since her family had left the hustle and bustle of Rome on their annual escape. Most years, the family fled to the highlands of Bracciano, to pass the worst part of the summer by the lake, refreshed by cool evenings and comforted by soothing mountain breezes. Bracciano was less than a day's ride from the imperial city and therefore made a convenient summer retreat for Rome's elite classes. Everyone Cassia knew would be there... probably already WERE there. She imagined her friends laughing and playing in lake, flirting with the boys who would be trying their best to show off their skills at sport to impress the girls. She imagined the parties and the wine and the wonderful fresh foods brought in from the surrounding farms.
But this year, she would enjoy none of that. Cassia's father was a Senator, and he along with a faction of other Senators had been called to meet with the emperor, Tiberius, at his retreat on the island of Capri. Tiberius had fled Rome a few years before and had refused to return, exiling himself to his island palace. There had been talk of a coup; grumblings about the emperor's madness and of plots to overthrow and replace him. Emperors don't exactly get fired or asked to step down; there was only one way for the mad emperor to leave office. Fearful of plots against his life, the emperor had called for those loyal to him to come to Capri under the guise of advising him on the ordinary affairs of the empire.
Whatever. Politics bored Cassia. Angered her, even. She had been betrothed in an arranged marriage to the son of a powerful general who commanded forces in Gaul and Thrace. He was supposedly in line for a senate seat himself, representing expansion territories that he, himself, had helped conquer for the glory of Rome. But, rumors were starting to circulate that questioned his loyalty to the emperor and so Cassia's father had nixed the marriage of his daughter to the general's son. Cassia had been furious. A marriage to the boy, Aeurlio, seven years younger than her, would have been perfect for Cassia. She would have lived a life of abject luxury with grand homes in both Rome and the expansion territories, surrounded by servants and a husband that she could thoroughly dominate and control. Now, she'd probably be married off to some terse old goat just because he was loyal to the emperor.
And so she sat in her carriage with her two handmaidens; hot, angry and miserable as they bounced and jolted along a rutted country road. Her body ached from the constant jarring of the journey and she was covered with a fine dust from the road. It coated every inch of her exposed skin, infiltrated her hair and itched her scalp and stung her eyes. Athalia, her favorite handmaiden, offered her a drink of wine. Cassia regarded Athalia. Technically, Athalia was a slave, but she had been with Cassia since she was a child and they had grown up more as inseparable friends than as master and servant. Athalia was tall and thin, with delicate features, a pointy chin, large, dark eyes, and deep olive skin. She, too, was coated with the road dust, but she was still lovely, and she moved with a silent grace that captivated Cassia.
Cassia took the offered wine and sipped it. Immediately, her face screwed up in disgust. "Argh!" she exclaimed. "Even the wine is hot and tastes of dirt!"