Salvia Vorra drew in a deep breath and stretched languidly in the emperor's bed. She'd formed the habit of pretending to be asleep until he rose and left for his dressing room suite. The protocols were so awkward otherwise. She yawned and then threw off the silken coverlet. The air was pleasantly warm on her naked body. The emperor preferred her in that condition, at least in private, and she was more than willing to oblige.

The cold marble floor shocked her feet as she padded through the concealed doorway and into the adjacent suite that constituted her quarters in the Emperor's Palace. "Officially," the area was designated as a "storage closet." Unofficially, it comprised a bedroom, an office and a dressing room with a private bath and all the amenities.

Salvia Vorra relished her role as "unofficial" mistress to the emperor. It was so very entertaining to observe the uncertainty and speculation in the eyes of her colleagues in the Senate. She'd never accepted a commission to present any private petitions to Titus. And that too caused food for gossip. It seemed so very odd to people that she would not exploit her opportunities to the hilt.

The simple truth was that she very much enjoyed sleeping with the emperor, and intended to continue doing so for as long as he would keep her. She judged that Titus, while he might have been willing to humor her from time to time, would not like it if she tried to profit from his favor. As it was, he felt free to consult her on matters of state and she was able to give honest answers to him.

Titus had been very generous with her, and certainly he was much kinder to her than her husband ever had been. Salvia frowned at the thought of her husband. After their divorce, the podex had actually tried to prevent their daughter, Claudia, from going to Vindobona to study water scrying. There was no possibility that he could have succeeded. Her mother and father had seen to it that the marital contract was airtight in its provisions concerning the education of any daughters born of the marriage. His efforts to constrain the girl had created a very bitter rift that was not at all typical of proper divorces. But then Claudius was not a man who cared about the polite usages of the mos maiorum. At least not when it was an inconvenience to him.

Salvia frowned. The women of her family were scryers. They had always been so. The right passed from mother to eldest daughter and had nothing to do with the agnatic kinship system followed in Rome. Unfortunately, the talent did not always follow the right. Salvia sighed. She wasn't very good at scrying and it was not from lack of trying! Salvia very much hoped that young Claudia Vorra would be blessed with all the gifts and persuasions of the goddess.

The Senate would not be meeting this day, so there was no need to rush. Salvia dressed informally in an almost transparent silken tunica and draped a blue stola over her shoulders. She knew the effect such an outfit had on the emperor. It was demure in covering her body, but the extremely thin fabric left little to the imagination. It wasn't something she would wear outside the confines of his suite, however. So she hung a white over-tunica on a hook by the doorway. If Titus wanted her in private, she was ready. If not… she was prepared to don the heavier garment and walk out with him.

The emperor's birthday was a movable feast. But whenever it occurred, the day was market day and feria rolled into one. Normal business was suspended and the people of Rome celebrated with special sacrifices followed by dinners and toasting parties, as well as public feasts. The day would end with spectacular fireworks and largess distributed to the masses by the emperor.

Salvia Vorra looked forward to inspecting the gifts presented to the emperor. The foreign ambassadors in particular sent such entertaining items. She smiled secretively as she thought about the special gift she intended to give him. Salvia was quite certain he would enjoy it very much. He'd probably like the books she had found for him too, a complete set of the Etruscan Histories composed by the Emperor Claudius almost 700 years before. Titus was very interested in history.

It would not do to waste the morning while waiting on the emperor's pleasure, however. She dismissed her maid and settled in to read the latest Senate reports. The factions had become highly divided lately, pushed by the new possibilities opened by recent scientific discoveries and by the challenge of the new lands to the west. So far she'd managed to avoid becoming involved with the conflict, but that state of affairs could not long continue. Ah well, it did no good to brood on such things. Today was the Emperor's Birthday and she intended to enjoy the celebrations… fully.