The Glory That Is Rome (a Percy Jackson AU)

You Only Live Once

     Dylan was as rough as ever. Piper had lost track of the times she had pleased him. She knew he visited other lupae, but he had requested her favors for years. A month ago, she had asked him why he spent his time in lupanaria when he could be praying to the gods or debating about the new laws that the emperor had passed. Dylan had smiled and told her that "You only live once, so why should I not enjoy the life I have?"

    His words had stuck with her. He was right, after all. She only had one life and she spent it pleasing men when when she could be pleasing herself by being a hairdresser or midwife. It wasn't as if she had a choice, though. Her mother had been a slave and as a punishment for striking her master to fend off his advances, Aphrodite had lost two of her daughters.

    Silena and Piper had been sold to a lupanaria despite their mother's protests and at thirteen, Piper learned more about the ways of men than she ever wanted to know. Piper was glad when Dylan left. She slipped on her toga, the garment that signified her profession. It was time for the midday meal and all of the lupae gathered around the table in the dining room to eat warm bread and olives.

     The owner of the lupanaria, Octavian was as rich as a senator, but he fed his lupae simply. He used to be an auger, but after he was caught trying to seduce a Vestal Virgin named Rachel, he was stripped of his position. Only his wealth had kept him from a worse fate. 

      Piper sat beside her sister, Silena, and ate her meal. The other lupae were tired as always, but there was always gossip. Octavian's lupanaria was the largest in all of Rome and had a reputation for housing beautiful women. Due to this, men from all parts of Rome and even visitors from foreign lands frequented Octavian's establishment. The result was that the lupae knew more gossip than the empress Hera.

         "Did you hear that Helen got exiled?" Gwen said.

          "What for?" Silena asked..

         Helen was a matron known for her stunning beauty. Her father had married her off to a man named Menelaus for the price of a two large villas. 

     "She cheated on her husband!" Gwen said. "Her husband, Menelaus, caught her in bed with a handsome youth named Paris. He killed Paris, divorced his wife, and sent her to the island of Cyprus. I'm glad we're lupae instead of adulteresses. We get paid and don't have to worry about being exiled."

      "But at least mistresses get the pleasure of being with a man they like," Piper said, "and many of them enjoy better reputations than we do."

       "Would you be a mistress if you could?" Leila asked Piper.

      "No," Piper said. "From what I've seen of men, I want nothing to do with them."

      "I would," Silena said. "If I found a man charming enough, I would be his mistress because marriage is nearly impossible for us."

     The other women nodded, but Piper pushed away her plate of half-eaten chunk of bread and left the dining room. She didn't want to hear about mistresses or marriage. Didn't the other women realize how futile their hopes were? Venus had cursed them. As lupae, they were doomed to always be lusted over, but never loved.