The Lady Out of Time

12 - Danger

It was a crime for a slave to indulge in a citizens' bathhouse. Even with leave from the master, it simply wasn't permitted.

But this one was empty, devoid of any haughty citizens who would scream upon realizing they were sharing water with someone not of their social class. Ironic that under most circumstances, they would never even realize unless they were told. In the baths, where the clothes and pretenses came off and everyone walked bare in the water, a typical slave would be indistinguishable from his master.

Standing outside the luxurious building on the cobblestone pathway, Agrippa turned his head and looked down at Julia to observe her reaction. This wasn't one of his more grandiose works such as the Pantheon, but he put no less care into the beauty of a bathhouse's design if he could help it. It carried his signature architectural tics just the same, and he found himself wondering if the girl would spare a moment to appreciate them.

And appreciate she did. He watched as her bright green eyes roved from column to column, from roof to steps. She had brought her linens with her since the bathhouse wouldn't be staffed and therefore have no supplies yet, and she wrung it now between her hands in visible excitement. He smiled at the sight. This was one of those moments when she didn't seem so eerily mature for her age: most Roman women he knew, young or old, all dearly adored the baths.

"Shall we?"

She didn't even pause to give him an answer. She strode ahead with quick, too-hurried steps, her sandals slapping on the stones at a comical speed. Thankfully, his natural stride was far longer than hers, and he was able to keep up until they reached the end of the wide pathway and climbed the steps to the top. She came to a sudden halt there, and he looked down at her once more to meet her gaze.

She was frowning. What was wrong?

"This is the way to the women's baths," she said.

"Yes."

"...You're not a woman."

A single laughing scoff left his nose, and he raised his eyebrows to counter her furrowed ones. "Indeed. But I do have to enter both areas of the bathhouse to ensure that they're in working order. Unless you know of any female architects nearby who can come on short notice."

He so enjoyed watching her fume. He shouldn't, he told himself. He was far more awful in his teasing with her than he was with anyone else, least of all the other young women slaves whom he always treated with level, chaste respect. He rarely ever compromised his seriousness for anyone, least of all his own household servants - except her, only her. Infuriating her had become not just a daily habit, but one that he indulged in as much as he could.

He was kind to her too, though. Too kind, far more than he should be. That, he had no choice but to admit freely. Who could deny it? He had even brought her here to bathe in this place, flouting all social conventions and exploiting the privilege he normally took so much care not to exercise when it wasn't necessary. If anyone ever discovered what he had done here, he would be getting raised eyebrows behind his back for weeks to come.

But he wasn't being overly kind without reason, he assured himself as Julia continued to glare at him with her hands on her hips. She was an industrious girl, clever, bright, entirely too much so. He had even been consulting her these last two weeks as he worked on the preliminary plans for the new defendant system Augustus had commissioned him to create, and her input had been invaluable. He had long since put aside his wonderment at her shrewd intelligence and understanding of the minds of men, and now he was only gleefully benefiting from it.

What did it matter that a slave would advise her master? What they would accomplish in the end was more essential than their limited identities.

"Fine," she huffed at long last, and she tossed her towel so that it draped over her shoulder. Her lower body turned with a slow movement and she took a step forward in the direction of the bathhouse entry, but she kept her narrowed eyes fixed on his face for a few seconds longer. "But on one condition. You can't look. Alright? No peeking! At least not until I'm completely in the water."

A laugh tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop it, low and quick. But it did serve the purpose of removing the mistrust from Julia's eyes and replacing it with offended indignation instead.

"Fear not," he mocked. "My interest is reserved for adults, not little children. You're a bit too tiny to tempt me, I think."

He laughed again when her cheeks reddened in instant rage. What was it about her that made her so furious every time he pointed out how young she was? Even when he was her age at the cusp of eighteen himself, he had understood that meant nothing relative to the responsibilities of true adulthood. He had bowed his head to his elders, humbly took their direction as did all of his peers.

Not so with Julia. It amused him how confident she was in the wisdom of her young age. Where did she get it?

"Excuse me! Too tiny - I'm - you -"

"Yes, me," he interrupted. "Now, should I fetch a nurse to help you bathe? Perhaps some toys to keep you entertained while you splash around."

A stifled scream of frustration trilled from her closed mouth, but all he did was wave her off before turning on his heel to enter into the men's side of the bathhouse.

"You - fine! But don't you dare peek! I'll be watching."

He laughed again, no doubt sending her into more indignant convulsions. But as he strolled down the tiled corridor in strangely heightened spirits, the fleeting thought occurred to him that truly, Julia had no right to stop him if he ever wished to walk in and take a long, brazen look at her. Whatever her secret origins, she wouldn't say - so under the law, he owned her, as any master did a slave.

But damned were those thoughts, he cursed the instant he realized he had entertained them, no matter how briefly. He wasn't like the lecherous old men who polluted Rome's council - he didn't prey on women so much younger than he was. He just didn't. Never had. So why were such thoughts crossing his mind when it came to Julia? True, he didn't turn his nose up at his servants the way his peers did, but he had never wanted to regard her as anything more or less than perhaps a surrogate younger sister. Not at first, anyway.

It was true. He couldn't deny that he treated her differently from the others...far too differently. But how could he help it? In his foolish adolescent days, Scribonia had been his first love, but in his adulthood, he had yet to meet a woman who could match his intellect and challenge him this way. Wise beyond her years and always keeping him on his toes the way no one else had or ever could - Julia was unlike anyone he had ever met. It didn't help that on top of everything else, there was a poised charm to her that made him forget over and over again that she was a full decade younger than himself.

But these were thoughts that he didn't want to find himself slipping into too deeply; there would be no one to pull him back out. With a shake of his head, he put away his wandering, troublesome thoughts and got to work inspecting the men's side of the bathhouse and ensuring that everything was in working order.

When he exited the building, however, he found himself toying with the idea of inspecting the women's side now. Julia had given him 'permission' to enter so long as she was submerged, after all. Would it be so wrong of him to...?

He stayed himself with a burst of angry willpower and remained outside the bathhouse in a stiff stance. He would wait until she was done to walk in and inspect the women's facilities, he decided. He was an adult, a full grown man - he was not so weak that he would be tempted by a little girl -

A sudden, piercing scream that twisted and echoed from within made his heart stop.

Julia!

His legs were moving before he even thought to run toward the sound; the sound of her terrified voice had cut through something in him that triggered an automatic, instant reaction. His worst fears surfaced in his mind like ominous shark fins cutting through the water. Bathhouses - despite any architect's best efforts to make them safe, there were always dangerous accidents every year with slips and falls. He should have warned her, he cursed himself. He should have remembered that she wasn't used to things like this, should have known that with her perpetually determined stride, she would fall and hurt herself on the slippery tiles and c***k her head open, maybe even paralyzing herself like that young woman had done last year in a different bathhouse -

He burst into the women's area, eyes wide and shoulders heaving. It was so steamed inside that he couldn't see anything, where was she -

"SNAKE! SNAKE!"

Snakes? It might be even worse than he had feared then - damn the builders! He had instructed them to make sure that the vipers in this area were cleared out as they worked. There were vipers in this area, asp vipers particularly, and one bite....

He had to hope that it was just a whip snake or some other nonvenomous variety. He wasn't a praying man, but he winged a silent request in the direction of the clouds -

"Julia!" he shouted. "Where are you -"

Something streaked toward him through the rising steam, and he opened his arms wide to receive Julia. His eyes roved about and saw the snake slithering across the floor and retreating to the wall -

But that was the least of his concerns a second later, when Julia suddenly tripped on the floor and came barreling toward him head-first. She collided with his chest, knocking the wind out of him with more force than he would ever care to admit a young woman half his size was capable of.

"It's alright," he said as he stroked her hair, and he looked over her head to make sure that the snake was no longer within sight. He would make sure to be stern with the builders later and have the problem taken care of, but at least it hadn't been a viper. He had recognized the streak of black and yellow - a harmless whipsnake. But even so.

Another squeak from Julia brought his attention back to her, but before he could look down, she scurried out of his arms and escaped behind him.

"Don't look!"

He rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but give release to his relief with a little teasing. "I'm sorry I called you tiny before," he said as he glanced over his shoulder. "I stand corrected. Very corrected."

With his chest still swimming in that cool spring of relief that proceeded to flood the rest of his body, all he did was laugh when she angrily pinched his arms, no doubt blushing madly behind him.