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A fresh breeze rises from the waves below. Capri smells of sea. Two slave boys come to bring cold wine.
"You're a very dear friend of mine, Seianus. You've been and you are of great service to me, and that, I agree, must be rewarded."
Tiberius sits on a comfortable padded chair with his back to one of the many little artificial ponds around the villa. His Prefect, Aelius Seianus, sits before him, a small round table separates them: he's not in his uniform, this time. A fine, elegant tunic and toga, and a medallion with a cornucopia engraved on it. The Emperor, on the other hand, seems to have forgotten his rank and role. He wears something very simple and grey and white.
Seianus smiles a little, "You misunderstand me, Caesar, I wasn't asking for any reward," he justifies himself, but the older man raises his hand with a knowing gesture.
"I simply cannot allow you to marry Livilla. You are a mere knight, and she's my widowed daughter-in-law. Do you think she'll settle for someone your rank?"
"The situation in Rome is harsher than ever. Her girl and, mostly, her boy child, your favored heir, could be in danger, without a father. I believe no one would try and dare to harm them, if I... I am only saying this, of course, because there are no man of marriageable age in the family,"
"I know what you mean, Seianus, and I do appreciate your concern, but it simply isn't possible. Too much jealousy, too much prejudice."
The Prefect nervously fixes the toga over his shoulder, and goes for the cup the slave boy has brought him. It was even a risk just bringing up this matter, and now, with this refusal...
After some thought, Tiberius speaks again, with his hand on his chin for a moment, scratching where a bit of stubble has grown.
"I am not opposed, however, to an alliance between my family and yours." He threads very carefully, as if he's still thinking about it. "There is one woman, who has expressed more than once the desire to remarry, and I forbade her until I found a reasonable match. This marriage would also safeguard Livilla's children, even though in a more indirect way. What harm could Agrippina do to them if she's married to you?"
Seianus' eyes go wide.
"Agrippina?"
Livilla hits him on the chest a couple times, while he tries to keep her still, holding her arms. "You liar! You said you'd marry me!"
"I asked him, he said no! Livilla, will you listen to me?"
"You miserable bastard,"
"After he proposed such a thing I could not refuse it! Else he would've gotten even more suspicious, do you understand? Livilla?"
Her blows soften and she blinks away a tear. "What will I do with myself now? A husband dead, my girl is off to get married soon, and my son is but a little child. Agrippina? Agrippina, of all people? Why must you marry her? Take your wife again, I'd feel less offended!"
Seianus' arms circle her shoulders and he brings her close to him. "Agrippina means nothing to me. She won't ever see me. It could be that she chooses death rather than marrying me - I love you, only you. All I do, all we did,"
The woman looks up at him, a closed fist on his chest, and her eye make-up lightly smudged, "All we did, we did it to be together. To be married, husband and wife! Like before, when we were younger, we came so close to it. Agrippina wants nothing but the worst for us, and you go and marry her! You're... You're..."
She covers her face and her shoulders convulse into sobs. The man hugs her tighter and brings one of hands on her head, gently. "Tiberius' will,"
"Tiberius can go to Hell!" she cries against him, "And you, too, and Agrippina, I hate you! I hate you!"
Livilla breaks free and steps away, but the other grabs her arms again, "How do you think I feel? I went to him asking to marry you! I wanted to marry you! I still want to -"
"Then why don't we do it? Let's get married. He doesn't need to know, he doesn't need to be told all your affairs. Tell him Agrippina refused! Marry me instead, like we planned. Lucius!"
Seianus watches her as she wipes away a tear. "That's treason,"
"Oh, you know a lot about treason, do you?"
"She means nothing to me! She hates me, I hate her. You're all I want. I'll visit you as often as I possibly can, every night,"
She furrows her brow, "What am I now, your whore? You I think I only want to have sex with you? I want to be married! I want to be your wife,"
"You know that is not what I meant -"
Livilla crosses her arms and turns her back on him. "All I know right now is that you won't be my husband,"
"But I want to!"
Silence falls, for a few minutes. The Prefect stands with his hands on his hips, thinking the situation over. Livilla bites her nail nervously, with teary eyes.
Someone knocks on the door. A slave comes in, and with thick Greek accent says, "Prefect, the Lady Agrippina wishes to see you in her rooms," and leaves.
"In her rooms, already! Promiscuous lady, isn't she? So much for honor," the other woman comments through her teeth, tense. Another tear runs down her red cheek. "Go, go to her! See if I even care."
The man looks at her, upset and disappointed at the whole inconvenience. He puts his hand on her shoulder gently and she shudders. He does not kiss her.
Agrippina paces the room like a commander waiting for news from his subordinates. Ever since Germanicus died, she only wears dark colors. She stops, suddenly, only when she notices Seianus at the door. Her brow is set, prideful, determined,
"Before you rage at me, Lady," the Prefect raises his hands, "I didn't ask for this. It was Tiberius' offer."
"Which you accepted!" she hisses through her clenches teeth. "You think so highly of yourself, you think I would stoop to marry you! The root of all evils,"
Seianus chuckles, "Seems an exaggeration to me, my Lady,"
"Scoff all you like," Agrippina walks closer to him.
"I am not so bad..." The man looks at her kindly - they're the same height, he smiles, almost condescending. "It's a win - win agreement for you and the Emperor, after all. You are smart enough to understand. Marrying me, you won't be a 'threat' to him anymore, and in consequence, being my wife... he won't be a threat for you either. I am just the vessel of a truce. He is tired. You are tired. And I am free to marry,"
Agrippina's dark eyes run about as she flutters her eyelashes thinking. He is right, after all. Or so one can hope.
"Tiberius has a twisted sense of humor and political stability, that's all." Seianus reassures her with another little laugh, the one that makes him even more charming to most women - and men.
The woman glances at him with an intellegibile look. Her deep, sea black eyes stare right into his blue. She looks glowing when she's angered.
It was all true, all that he said. That refusing the offer was dangerous, marrying in secret was treasonable, that he loved Livilla more than anything. He did lie on one thing, though. Seianus wanted Agrippina more than anyone he'd ever had. More than his former wife - though he obviously wanted many more than his wife - more than the power that came with Tiberius, more than Livilla herself, for whom he is risking it all. He did not love her, not like he loved Livilla, but he wanted her: he wanted her all to himself, he wanted to have her and he wanted her to have him. Never he had met such a woman. He was entirely, completely fascinated by her, from the first time they had ever talked, and Agrippina had been determined, and hostile towards his siding with Tiberius, years and years ago.
She was not a brute and she was not unlady like: she was strong, willfull and resolute, a pinnacle of virtue, the strong mast of the ship at which Seianus wanted to be tied to like Odysseus during his travels. She would break before she'd bend, and that's what he liked about her, and what he always wanted to test. He wanted her to give in to him, and he wanted himself to give in to her.
Agrippina was the knife stuck in his side that he'd been dying to twist.