Conn Iggulden - The Gates Of Rome

She guessed the girl was keeping a coin or two from what she was given, but what did that matter? She was saving them silvers, so if she kept the odd bronze, Carla didn't begrudge them to her.

"Go on with you. I want you back in two hours and not a minute later, understand?"

"I do, Carla. Two hours. Thank you."

The older woman grinned at her, remembering when she had been young and the world was such an exciting place. She knew all about Alexandria's visits to Bant the metalworker. The old man had taken quite a liking to her, it seemed. There was very little in the house that Carla didn't find out about sooner or later, and she knew that in Alexandria's room was a small bronze disc that she had decorated with a lion's head using Bants tools. It was a pretty piece.

As she watched the trim figure vanish around a corner, Carla wondered if it was a present for Gaius. Bant had said the girl had a talent for the work. Aye, perhaps because she was making it for love.

The market was a riot of smells and swirling crowds, but Alexandria didn't dawdle over the items on the list for once. She completed her business quickly, getting good prices, but leaving the discussion before they were pared right to the bone. The shopkeepers seemed to enjoy the arguments with the pretty girl, throwing their hands into the air and calling for witnesses to see what she was demanding. She smiled at them then, and for a few the smile dropped the price further than they could believe after she had left. Certainly more than their wives could believe.

With packages stowed safely in two cloth bags, Alexandria hurried on to her real destination, a tiny jewelry shop at the end of the stalls. She had been inside many times to look at the man's designs. Most of the pieces were bronze or pewter. Silver was rarely worked in jewelry, and gold was too expensive unless particular pieces were commissioned. The metalsmith himself was a short man, dressed in a rough tunic and a heavy leather apron. He watched her as she came into the tiny shop, and stopped work on a small gold ring to keep an eye on the girl. Tabbic was not a trusting man, and Alexandria could feel his steady gaze on her as she looked over his wares.

Finally she summoned enough courage to speak to him.

"Do you buy items?" she said.

"Sometimes," came the reply. "What do you have?"

She produced the bronze disc from a pocket in her tunic, and he took it from her hand, holding it up to the daylight to see the design. He held it for a long time and she didn't dare speak for fear of angering him. Still he said nothing, just turned it over and over in his hands, examining every last mark on the metal.

"Where did you get this?" he asked at last.

"I made it. Do you know Bant?"

The man nodded slowly.

"He has been showing me how."

"This is crude, but I can sell it. The execution is clumsy, but the design is very good. The lion's face is very well scribed; it's just that you aren't very skilled with the hammer and awl." He turned it over again. "Tell me the truth now, you understand? Where did you get the bronze to make this?"

Alexandria looked at him nervously. He returned her stare without blinking, but his eyes seemed kind. Quickly she told him about her bargaining and how she had saved a few tiny coins from the house money, enough to purchase the bare metal circle from a stall of trinkets.

Tabbic shook his head. "I can't take it then. It isn't yours to sell. The coins belonged to Marius, so the bronze is his as well. You should give it to him."

Alexandria felt tears threaten to start. She had spent so long on the little piece, and now it had all come to nothing. She watched, almost hypnotized, as he turned it over in his grasp. Then he pressed it back into her hands.

Miserable, she put the disc back in her pocket. "I'm sorry," she said.

He turned back to her. "My name is Tabbic. You don't know me, but I have a reputation for honesty and sometimes for pride." He held up another metal circle, gray-silver in color.

"This is pewter. It's softer than bronze and you'll find it easier to work. It polishes up nicely and doesn't discolor as badly, just grows dull. Take it, and return it to me when you have made something of it. I'll attach a pin and sell it on as a cloak fastener for a legionary. If it's as good as the bronze one, I could get a silver coin for it. I'll take back the price of the pewter and the pin and you will be left with six, maybe seven quadrantes. A business transaction, understand?"

"Where is your profit in this?" Alexandria asked, her eyes wide at the change in fortune.

"None for this first one. I am making a small investment in a talent I think you have. Give Bant my regards when you see him next."

Alexandria pocketed the pewter circle and once again had to fight against tears. She wasn't used to kindness.

"Thank you. I will give the bronze to Marius."

"Make sure you do, Alexandria."

"How… how do you know my name?"

Tabbic picked up the ring he had been working on as she came in. "Bant talks of little else when I see him."

Alexandria had to run to be back before the two hours were up, but her feet were light and she felt like singing. She would make the pewter disc into a beautiful thing, and Tabbic would sell it for more than a silver coin and clamor for more until her work brought in gold pieces, and one day she would gather her profits together and buy herself free. Free. It was a giddy dream.

As she was let into Marius's house, the scent of the gardens filled her lungs and she stood for a moment, just breathing in the evening air. Carla appeared and took her bags and the coins, nodding at the savings as always. If the woman noticed anything different about Alexandria, she didn't say, but she smiled as she took the supplies down to the cool basement stores, where they wouldn't spoil too quickly.

Alone with her thoughts, Alexandria didn't see Gaius at first and wasn't expecting him. He spent most of his days matching his uncle's punishing schedule, returning to the house at odd hours only to eat and sleep. The guards at the gate let him in without comment, well used to his comings and goings. He started as he saw Alexandria in the gardens and stood for a moment, simply enjoying the sight of her. Evening was coming on with late-summer slowness, where the air is soft and the light has a touch of gray for hours before it fades.

She turned as he approached, and smiled at him.

"You look happy," he said, smiling in return.

"Oh, I am," she replied.

He had not kissed her since the moment in the stables back on the estate, but he sensed the time was right at last. Marcus was gone and the town house seemed deserted.

He bent his neck and his heart thumped painfully with something almost like fear.

He felt her warm breath before their lips touched, and then he could taste her and he gathered her up in a natural embrace, as they seemed to fit together without effort or design.

"I can't tell you how often I have thought of this," he murmured.

She looked into his eyes and knew there was a gift she could give him and found she wanted to.

"Come along to my room," she whispered, taking his hand.

As if in a dream, he followed her through the gardens to her quarters.

Carla watched them go.

"And about bloody time," she muttered.

At first, Gaius was worried that he would be clumsy, or worse, quick, but Alexandria guided his movements and her hands felt cool on his skin. She took a little bottle of scented oil from a shelf, and he watched as she spilled a few sluggish drops onto her palms. It had a rich scent that filled his lungs as she sat astride him, rubbing it gently into his chest and lower, making him gasp. He took some of it from his own skin and reached upward to her breasts, remembering the first time he had seen their soft swell in the courtyard of the estate so long ago. He pressed his mouth gently against one, then the other, tasting her skin and moving his lips over the oily nipples. She opened her mouth slightly, her eyes closing at his touch. Then she bent to kiss him and her unbound hair covered them both.