up now, Cailin, and you will soon feel better.”
Cailin sipped slowly at the wine while she watched the half-full dishes of food being returned to the kitchens. No one, she thought, could eat all that food. Such a waste when so many are going hungry. Then she gasped as a hard pain tore through her.
“You are in labor,” Antonia said calmly. Of course she was in labor. If her earlier pains had been but false labor, the drugged wine had ensured the onset of the child’s birth.
“Send for my husband,” Cailin said, trying to keep the fear from her voice. “I want Wulf here for his child’s birth!” Oh, the gods! Why had she promised to remain here for even a day?
“Of course you want Wulf here by your side,” Antonia cooed. “I remember when I bore my darling son how very much it meant to me to have my Quintus with me. I will send a slave for Wulf. Do not fear, dear Cailin. I will take good care of you.” She helped Cailin into her bedchamber.
Leaving her maidens with Cailin, Antonia sent for a young male slave she had intended to make her lover. It was unfortunate, she thought, but she would have to kill him for his part in this matter, and she would not even get to enjoy him for a night. “Go to Simon, the slave merchant in Corinium. He sends consignments to Londinium monthly and will be dispatching a caravan shortly. Say I have a female slave I wish to rid myself of and he must send someone tomorrow to fetch her. She is a troublesome creature, and a liar. She must be kept drugged until she reaches Gaul. I want her sent as far from Britain as possible. Do you understand, my handsome Atticus?” Antonia smiled up into the young man’s face while caressing his buttocks suggestively.
“Yes, mistress,” he answered her, returning the smile. He was new in the household, but he had heard she was a lusty woman. She would certainly have no complaints over his performance when she was healed from her childbirth and ready to take a lover.
“Tell Piso to give you the fastest horse in the stable,” Antonia instructed him. “I want you back by dawn. If you are not, I shall whip you.” Her hand moved about to fondle his hardening manhood. “You are well-made,” she noted. “Did I buy you, Atticus? I do not remember.”
“Your father bought me, mistress,” he replied with more aplomb than he was feeling. He was as hard as iron within her hot hand.
“We shall have to find a suitable position for you shortly,” Antonia remarked, thinking that perhaps she would not kill him immediately. After all, he would not understand what she had done. “Now, go!” She turned away from the slave and hurried back to her patient.
All through the night, Cailin struggled to birth her baby. Her body was wet with perspiration. She strained under Antonia’s direction to bring forth the child. “Where is Wulf?” Cailin repeated over and over again to the older woman. “Why does he not come?”
“It is dark,” Antonia told her. “There is no moon. My messenger must go slowly over the fields to reach your hall. It is not as if he could simply gallop easily down the Fosse Way from my home to yours, Cailin. He must pick his way carefully. He will get there, but then he and your husband must come back just as slowly. Here.” She put her arm about Cailin’s shoulders. “Drink some of my Cyprian wine. You will feel better for it. I always do.”
“I don’t want it,” Cailin cried, pushing Antonia’s hand away.
“Do not be such a silly goose,” Antonia told her. “I have put some herbs in it that will ease your pain. I take them myself when I am in the throes of having a child. I see no reason to suffer.”
Cailin reached out, and taking the goblet from Antonia, drank it slowly down. She immediately felt better, but her head was also spinning. Another pain tore through her, and she cried out. Antonia knelt and examined her progress. She began to smile and hum to herself.
“Can you see the baby’s head?” Cailin asked her. “Ohh, I wish Ceara and Maeve were here with me. I need them!”
“They could do nothing for you that I cannot,” Antonia replied sharply, then her tone softened a bit. “I can see the baby’s head. Be brave, Cailin Drusus, just a