“You were so busy telling me you were going to marry me and become Augusta that I never had a chance,” he retorted. What do you want me to do now? Tell your father I’ve changed my mind?”
“Of course not.” She came over to stand on tiptoe and kiss him. “There we are betrothed. But don’t tell anyone else about it, until I say the word.”
“And when will that be?”
“Not for a while yet.” She dimpled suddenly in a smile, one of the changes of expression that made her so adorable. “I’ve waited this long, I can wait longer.”
Constantine said hoarsely
“But can I?” Constantine said hoarsely. “Sometimes I want you so much I can hardly bear it. Don’t you ever want me?
“Certainly I do. But that must wait too.”
“Why?”
“We’re not like ordinary people, dearest.” It was as if she were a teacher, lecturing to a child. “We have the Empire to think about and our own part in it.”
“I’m better at battles than at politics,” Constantine said doubtfully. “Maybe I should remain only a soldier.”
“You’ll learn how it’s done,” she assured him. “Father wants to remain Emperor after Diocletian abdicates, but I’m sure he will not be allowed to do it, unless we all work together.”
“We?”
“Your father is already tied to my family through Theodora,” she reminded him. “When you and I are married, we can make a common front against Galerius; he doesn’t really deserve to be an Augustus after that shameful defeat in Persia. The Illyrian soldiers in the eastern army will follow you and your father and, with them behind us, we can make Father the Emperor of the East, too, and keep it all in the family.”
“What about Maxentius?”
“He can become a Caesar, or go to Africa,” she said airily. “You have it all planned, don’t you? Did all this come to you at once?”
“Of course not. I started on it before we returned from Nicome dia, as soon as I decided to marry you. Goodbye, dearest.” She kissed him quickly on the lips and was gone before he could take her in his arms for a more ardent embrace.
When the door had closed behind her, Constantine stood looking at it for a long moment. It was hard to believe that such an enchanting little creature could have drawn up a plan of empire and, what was more, embarked already upon putting it into effect. But somehow he couldn’t escape the strange feeling that it would all work out just as she had planned and was suddenly a little afraid, as anyone would be at discovering that he was destined to be a puppet like the painted dolls he’d seen in the street shows since coming to Rome whose every movement was controlled by a woman.
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