Kairos

Chapter 16

I sighed as I sank into the delicious heat of the hot bath. The warmed water surrounded me like a cocoon of comfort, easing the knots out of my tired muscles. It soothed the tightness locked in my body and I lay back against the side, utterly relaxed. A trip to the baths was just what I needed. Although I was dreading visiting the frigidarium after, maybe I would just skip that part.

A group of women entered the caldarium with me, and the water sloshed as they got in. But with the steam I could not identify them, or them me.

I ignored them, eyes closed in the bliss of the bath.

"Yes-a slave of mine heard the same thing." They were speaking in hushed whispers, and the tone of the woman's voice was so electric with excitement that she struggled to contain her volume and it spiked highly a few times.

I tilted my head, half-interested. It was likely pointless gossip, but I needed entertainment.

"I cannot believe it, by Jupiter." Another one said breathlessly, likely from both the heat and her obvious excitement. But what was it?

"Perhaps we will see him." The first one said and they both broke off in a fit of hushed hysterical giggles. Him? Could it be-

"The Marc Antony!" She confirmed my thoughts and my heart stopped. And then started again. It was hard to separate Octavia's feelings that swarmed like a wave at the mention of his name, but I had gotten used to it now.

"What do you think about it?" It took me a second to realise the woman was talking to me. Clearly, she hadn't recognised me as Octavia. Still slightly overwhelmed by the swarm of emotions, I picked one and rode with the reaction that it gave. Anger.

"I don't know...Antony doesn't really strike me as the manly type."

"Whatever do you mean?" Both women were facing me now, as if eager to hear more gossip.

"Just, his sort of man can't be trusted."

"What men do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," I forced a bashful, almost embarrassed tone to my voice, and they leaned further towards me like I was fire on a winter day, "a taker, not a giver."

One of the women gasped dramatically, hand flying to her mouth as her eyes glinted with the promise of dirt on one of the most influential men in Rome.

"I'm afraid I don't follow." The other said innocently, looking desperately for an explanation. It really was funny how much they wanted any information.

The first woman's smile was full of humour and she whispered to her friend.

"He is a scabbard and not a sword." She burst into a fit of giggles as the ignorant one blushed a deep red that even I could see it through the steam of the bath.

"Gods, really?"

"Yes, I heard it from a senator who is good friends with him." I made that part up, not that it mattered because the two women had stopped paying me attention and were chatting animatedly to each other.

"I always knew it, there's something strange about that man! I'm telling you, that was why he divorced Octavia..." I found the harsh contrast in their opinions hilarious and sad in a way, why would they change loyalty so easily? Without even further investigation on the truth of my point?

If I'd have said Octavian was the son of Venus, it would have been around the city before dawn. I was starting to realise the importance of propaganda in these times. Women who had never before even seen Marc Antony, were desperate for even dregs about this legend.