Aurelia || SERIES ROMANA I

Chapter 37 ~ Garum

Full of impatience, Ennia eyed her reflection in the mirror as she once again had to wait for her husband. Normally, she didn't really mind the waiting itself, because the thought of her husband's high position and the duties that went with it compensated her for his absence. But that evening she had lost her confidence. That evening, for the first time in her life, she had felt too old and not pretty enough. Gaius' little fiancée had appeared out of nowhere and outshone all the other women. She hadn't even made any special effort, because she hadn't worn any special make-up or had her hair artfully draped.
For the first time in her life, Ennia had understood why potential heirs to the purple were also called Prince of Youth or Prince of the Sun. The Princeps, Gaius, was the glistening sun of power around whom everything revolved. But his perfect betrothed, the golden Aurelia Vespasia was the human moon goddess Luna in this system. She shone alongside the stars in the night sky who were no competition for her. Ennia herself was just one of those many little stars that sparkled prettily but would always remain just one of many. How unfair the goddesses of fate were!
She ran her hand thoughtfully over the rim of her precious silver goblet, which her husband had given her as a wedding present so many years ago. What was taking him so long?
Just as she was about to drop into bed without him to slide into Somnu's comforting arms, her bedroom door opened and her rather exhausted-looking Macro stumbled into the room. With a sigh, he sank onto the bed and closed his eyes. Hastily, Ennia rose and helped her husband out of his heavy uniform.
Suddenly he sat up with a jerk and their faces almost collided. With a fiery gaze he eyed her.
"Do you see any way for us to take advantage of this situation?" he asked her calmly and she just shook her head. Powerless, he let himself fall back again and stared at the ceiling.
"I've gone back through all the files that back up this woman's story and they're all real," he continued in frustration. "Her family was on their way to her father's camp about twenty years ago when they were ambushed on the border of Germania. Soldiers later found only the bodies of her parents. At the time, they blamed the Germanic tribes for the raid and presumably assumed that they had taken the little girl for one of their human sacrifices - even though it doesn't say so exactly. In any case, she was also declared dead a few days later, although her body was never found."
Slowly Ennia lay down beside him and watched him think. She loved it when he let her share in the politics.
"Our problem is not her person," she interjected. "Our problem is that we can't control her. We can't use her against Gaius the way Sejanus then used Julia and Aemilia Lepida against Gaius' older brothers, Nero and Drusus."
Her husband snorted. The downfall of Germanicus' two eldest sons had hardened him and made him rise. Nevertheless, even today he did not like the means his predecessor Sejanus had used to get rid of them.
Macro and Ennia lay next to each other for quite some time, quietly whispering immature plans to convince Aurelia to their cause or to fall out of favour with Gaius. But they went round in circles. They simply knew too little about this woman. Aurelia had left Rome too quickly for Ennia to have met her and Macro had first seen her in Misenum. There he had not been blind to her beauty, but he had not considered her important. Before Tiberius, Gaius had hardly given the beauty a glance and Gemellus' interest had successfully nipped her in the bud. If anything, Macro had considered Aurelia for Tiberius, but he had fallen ill and had not recovered - which Gaius and Macro had seen to.
At the time it had seemed right to him to back Gaius. Gaius was an able statesman and loyal. It had been Macro who had so smoothly opened all the doors to the purple for Gaius. He had been so busy trying to get Tiberius' commuted will invalidated with the hare-brained idea of a divided principate that the depth of Gaius' mutual attachment to that bastard Clement had escaped him. It slowly dawned on him that there might be more to this than he had assumed. Thoughtfully, he returned his faithful wife's gaze.
"We must find out more about the bride of our princeps!" it escaped from their mouths.

A few hours later, as Ennia slept soundly in Somnus' sweet embrace, Macro slipped noiselessly out of the room under cover of darkness and made his way unseen to one of the palace's roof terraces. A small figure was already waiting for him on the balustrade. Her cloak and long hair fluttered in the nocturnal autumn wind. Silently he stepped next to her and immediately she intertwined her cold fingers with his. Smiling, he studied her beautiful face. She was the only one who always noticed him, even when he wanted to make himself invisible. Ennia was his wife, but his heart had always belonged to Agrippina, whom he had at first only been able to admire from a distance. Agrippina was his mirror image: she was clever, she was cunning, and she was driven by an insatiable ambition. Soon, when he had removed all obstacles, they could finally be officially together. But until then, he would have to be content with these small, clandestine, stolen moments.
Besides, right now she was his best hope of unravelling the mystery of Aurelia. After all, she had lived with Aurelia for a while. Quietly, he inquired what she thought of her brother's fiancée.
"Aurelia is not only beautiful on the outside. I have never seen a better heart than hers," she commented and for the first time since she had entered the roof, a smile appeared on her face. "Because of her, my brother is becoming a different, better person and I'm sure it won't have escaped your notice that their feelings for each other are genuine. Their love makes them stronger, and I haven't seen my brother this happy since our father died"
Macro frowned thoughtfully. Was it possible for two people to fall in love so quickly? After all, the two of them had only met in Misenum and after their flight to the countryside they had not written to each other either. There was something fishy about this. Besides, Macro had already seen the purest and best hearts go to waste in politics. Gaius' latest bedfellow would be no exception - even more so if he were to place her permanently at the centre of power by marrying her. Hastily, he changed the subject to a question that had been on his mind since their last meeting before the failed assassination attempt. His plan was to divorce Ennia and do away with Agrippina's wretched husband - of course, he would do away with Ennia too if she refused the divorce. Agrippina would only have to agree, then he would take the first steps.
"What kind of person would I be if I continued to put my needs above everyone else's?" she said, and her voice sounded so hollow and empty that Macro listened and only slowly understood the meaning of her words.
"You know what this means for us?" he asked her, moved, but her expression was as expressionless as her voice.
"Yes, and I pray that we will meet again in the next life and that our story will have adifferent ending," she replied, withdrew her hand, turned on her heel and strode into her chambers without looking back at him.