The Empress of Rome

6: Goddamn Greeks!

GLOSSARY
Koprìas: means "dirty buffoon" in Greek
Kèpfos: means "stupid" in Greek
Tabiculum: an office

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My eyes snapped upwards to discover the source of the voice.

Goddamn Greeks!

Two dark eyes fixed on me. The tall, muscular Greek was peering out from behind the trunk of the tree, leaning forward over me. I looked like a child compared to him.

You are a child.

I could feel my blood freeze in my veins as his unwavering gaze washed over me. Onesimus reached out a meaty hand and grabbed Lepidus, who simply looked like a plaything in contrast to the Greek's defined muscles that tensed as he lifted Lepidus off the ground.

"Who are you?"

Onesimus hissed, sounding more like a wild animal than apart of our household. Or maybe all Greeks had that accent.

Lepidus, lifted by the collar of his tunic with his mouth agape, only managed a hoarse whisper in response.

"N-Nobody!"

"Fool! Odysseus tried that trick already."

With one swift movement, Lepidus was thrown to the floor and gave me one panicked look before scrambling to his feet.

"Get out of here, koprìas!"

Lepidus, in an instant, darted around the corner, without a glance back.

Sitting under the tree, I watched this all unfold, my hands balled into fists. I stood up and tried to punch Onesimus, but he managed to grab ahold of my fist in time.

"How dare you! You- you brute!"

Onesimus remained perfectly calm as he deflected each blow I attempted to hurl at him.

"He is my friend! You are not allowed to- to go chasing off my friends!"

Onesimus grabbed ahold of both my wrists and forced them downwards, lowering himself to my eye level.

"Excuse me, Domina, but that man is not looking for friendship."

Why I ought to-

In an instant, I'd tried to knee him in the crotch. He simply stepped out of the way. The Greek just smiled at me, which only made me more furious.

He had a point. Lepidus would never just be a friend. He always wanted more.

I tried to kick him this time. It didn't work.

"Respectfully, you are bad at combat, Domina."

All at once, Onesimus let go of me and took a few steps back, crossing his arms.

Oh I'm gonna kill him.

I started to lunge for him.

"I can teach you, if you promise to stop seeing that man."

Upon processing his words, I stopped, almost falling flat on my face, causing Onesimus to sigh heavily as I regained my balance. Looking up at him, I was at a loss for words, so I just nodded.

Stop seeing Lepidus? How could I? I loved-

"Kalós, we'll start tomorrow. Go back to bed, Domina."