David Wishart - Nero

'It's a lie!' Acte was furious when I told her later, in Silia's boudoir. 'Lucius has never slept with his mother!'

'Are you sure, dear?' Silia was holding still while Lalage worked on her eyebrows with a pair of tweezers.

She shifted uncomfortably on the couch's edge. 'Of course I am.'

'Persicus may be an oaf, Acte,' I said. 'But he's a well-informed oaf. He's seldom wrong where gossip's concerned.'

She reddened. 'Yes, okay,' she said quietly. 'He wants to, I know that, it's obvious from the way he looks at her sometimes. And she leads him on, she always has done. But that's as far as it goes.'

'If they are having sex together it'd certainly explain a lot.' I was watching Lalage. The girl had the most endearing habit of putting her tongue between her teeth when she concentrated. Nice eyes, too. 'And Agrippina isn't exactly scrupulous.'

'I wouldn't be especially surprised either,' Silia said calmly. 'Agrippina's had enough personal experience to consider incest almost a commonplace.'

I caught the reference, of course, although Acte obviously didn't: she only looked offended. If gossip was to be believed (and I always make it a point to believe good gossip) Agrippina's late brother Caligula had bedded all three of his sisters. Sleeping with one's sister, however, was one thing — the old Egyptians did it all the time, and there are other reputable precedents — but mother and son did seem to be taking things a little too far. I said as much.

'Titus, dear, you really can be most incredibly naïve at times.' Silia sniffed. 'Agrippina will do anything for power. And Acte admits that the lad is sexually attracted.'

Acte's good-natured face bunched into a scowl. 'She's got him so he doesn't know which end's up.'

'Oh, how dreadfully embarrassing for him,' I said.

Acte turned on me. 'Look, don't joke about this. It's serious, and it's complicated.'

'Complicated?'

'Deep down Lucius hates Agrippina's guts, but as far as he's concerned she's everything. He might break with her, but if she broke with him it'd be the end of the world. You understand?'

'Oh, yes. I understand. In fact, I'm ahead of you.' I was, and it was worrying. Very worrying. What Acte was saying was that if push came to shove and Agrippina presented Lucius with an ultimatum the boy would cave in; in which case Acte would be quietly disposed of, Silia and I badly compromised and Agrippina in a stronger position than ever. This was what we got for meddling, and it served us right.

'You don't know the half of it.' Acte took a deep breath. 'She…caught us together one day. You know?'

I nodded. 'Persicus did mention that as well, dear.'

She stared at me. I thought she was going to blush, but she didn't. Instead she said, slowly and sourly: 'Hey, your friend's a real mine of information, isn't he?'

'The biggest in Rome.'

'He tell you she hit the roof?'

'Yes.'

'Damn right she did! I've been around, and I've never heard language like that, nowhere, not even on the Ostian barges. The woman's crazy, Petronius. I swear she didn't know what she was saying.'

'Wait a moment, Acte.' Silia laid a hand on the maid's arm. 'Lalage, that's enough for now. This isn't for your sensitive ears.' The girl (sensitive ears, my foot! She was enjoying every minute of this) picked up the cosmetic box and left the room with a flounce. 'I'm sorry, dear. Carry on, please.'

Acte frowned. 'Anyway, when she's finished Lucius is great. I was really proud of him. He's shaking like a leaf but he tells her very firm and quiet she can't talk to him like that, that he's a grown man now and the emperor and he can handle his own life.' She paused. 'Then she says…the empress says…, "Britannicus wouldn't hurt his mother like this. He's a good boy."'

I almost laughed, even though I knew it wasn't funny. And it wasn't. Not at all. That much was obvious from Acte's expression.

'Lucius goes chalk-white,' she went on. 'He doesn't say anything, but mother, that hits him hard, and the bitch knows it. She looks straight at him and she says real slow and cold, "Britannicus wouldn't hurt his mummy like this, Lucius. Britannicus is a better boy than you are. Better in every way. Britannicus is Mummy's pet lamb now." I tell her to go and she goes. Then Lucius just…curls up.'

'What?'

'Curls up, Petronius. Like this.' Acte lay down on her side and brought her knees up almost to her chin, hugging them hard. Then she sat up again. 'He looked dead, only he was breathing okay and his eyes were open. It took me hours to bring him round.'

'Jupiter!' I whispered.

'The boy isn't normal,' Silia said decisively. 'He needs a doctor.'

'He needs a priest,' I said.

Acte turned on us furiously. 'Look, just lay off, will you? I told you, Lucius is just scared. He's shit-scared of life without his mother. It's not his fault.'

'It's not a matter of fault.' I was still shaken. Silia was right, behaviour like that wasn't normal. 'The boy's emperor. The last thing Rome needs is another Caligula.'

Acte got to her feet; she was almost crying. 'I wish I'd kept this to myself now!’ she said. ‘Lucius isn't mad! He was okay after we'd talked it over, reallyhe was. It just hit him hard at the time, you know? It could happen to anyone.'

'Of course it could,' I said neutrally. 'Anyone at all.'

'You've never even met him! You don't know what he's like! He's-'

'Sensitive. Yes, you've told us that several times. And, Acte, I don't have to meet him. As Silia says, the boy isn't normal. I only hope his abnormality doesn't become too…embarrassing.'

'Fuck that!' The tears were obvious now. 'And fuck you as well, both of you! I wish I'd never told you! If you met him you'd know at once he was okay!' She looked from one of us to the other, her chin with its wart jutting out aggressively. 'He's an artist and he's…all right, yes, he's sensitive!'

Neither of us spoke or met her eyes. I don't know about Silia, but I couldn't have trusted myself to do either. Acte stormed out. In the distance we heard the front door slam.

Three days later an invitation arrived to have dinner at the palace. Obviously we were being given an opportunity to judge Lucius for ourselves.

Not the best evening to choose, as it transpired, by any means; but of course poor Acte couldn't have known that at the time.

We arrived at the palace in great style, thanks to the matching set of gleaming Nubian chair slaves I'd borrowed from Persicus. It was my first ever imperial dinner party, and I must admit to feeling a little nervous: even although I had no respect for Lucius personally the lad was emperor and, whether I liked it or not, the most powerful man in the world. Arruntius being a senator and from a respectable family, I had assumed that Silia was used to moving in such exalted circles and would know the score. As it turned out, she wasn't and didn't; and she chose the moment when, invitation in hand, we were approaching the guard at the gate to disillusion me.

'It's all Gnaeus's fault, Titus,' she explained. 'As usual. We've never been welcome at the palace since the poor silly dear helped murder Caligula.' She sniffed. 'Personally I would have thought Claudius would have been grateful, but there you are.'

I handed the invitation to the huge German, who checked the official seal and gave it back. 'Do you think my mantle's all right?' I murmured as we passed through.

'Very smart, dear. You look most distinguished.'

'Then I have failed lamentably as a reprobate.'

A slave in green livery led us through the entrance hall and along a well-lit corridor towards a pair of cedarwood doors studded with ornamental brasswork. He knocked and the doors swung open on to the imperial dining-room.

We were honoured, it seemed. There couldn't have been more than a dozen people there, and from the small number of empty places we were among the last to arrive. A slave led us to one of the side tables near the imperial dais. We put on our party slippers, reclined, and another slave poured perfumed water over our hands.