Chapter Five

at is impossible!" exclaimed Claudius as he sat on a chair in Romulus and Messalina's bedchamber. Messalina was resting in bed while Romulus did some writing. "Caligula could not have killed his father, my brother! That was a decade ago! He was a lad of seven!"

"That is what he said." Said Romulus. "Why do I feel like I'm forgetting a Greek king during the Trojan War?"

Claudius stood up and limped over to Romulus' table. "Probably because you are, now lets see here."

"I can't say I'm surprised that he'd have feelings for his sisters or that he would have ardor for other women." Commented Messalina. "As for having killed his own father it must be him trying to intimidate you, Romulus."

"Yes, it must be," agreed Romulus.

"How on earth do you forget about Achilles?" asked Claudius upon not finding his name on the list of Greek kings during the Trojan War.

"Because he technically wasn't a king, he was a prince." Romulus replied. "His father Peleus was king and did not partake in the war." Claudius sighed and took the scroll from Romulus' hand and made his exit from the bedchamber. Back to his own bedchamber he would go to figure out which Greek king was missing from the list. He, Romulus and Messalina had been discussing what Caligula had said behind the closed doors of their bedchamber and now he would be looking through this list in the open doors of his own bedchamber. Once he was gone, Romulus looked to Messalina and asked: "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine, dear." She replied. "Just a little bit of rest is needed. This one does not kick as much as Conn did."

"Do you remember how angry Tiberius had been when he learned that we were not going to call him 'Drusus?'"

"I prefer to remember the look on his face when you told him that there was already a Drusus in this family, having there still be two would be insane."

Romulus smiled and thought back to that moment. Tiberius had been so taken aback that day that he did not say another word and instead brooded well until the next morning.

"I've never understood the reason for multiple members of this family having the same name when they are all still alive." confessed Romulus. "I suppose I am lucky that I myself don't share a name with any living relation." He closed his eyes for a moment before changing the subject. "I am never going to let him touch you."

"I know you won't..." said Messalina. "You are my husband and you keep me safe, you always have. We have been married for thirteen twelvemonths and no harm has ever befallen me."

"I suppose that time I accidentally pushed you into a lake doesn't count."

"Of course not. We weren't married then."

Romulus gave a small chuckle. "Yes, it was, wasn't it?" He stood up and walked over to their bed, sitting next to Messalina. He placed a hand on her stomach and waited. The baby did kick but not often so Romulus was uncertain if he would feel a kick this time.

He remembered back to Messalina's pregnancy with Conn. They had been three and twenty then, married for five twelvemonths and wondering why a child had yet to come to them. Romulus could remember praying to Aton everyday that Messalina and their child would be healthy. He had been criticized for praying to some obscure Egyptian god instead of Juno, Goddess of Childbirth, but at the end of the day Messalina was healthy and so was the child. Conn had been healthy and now Romulus was worried. Conn had kicked often. This child seldom kicked. What if the child was not healthy? Was this Juno's revenge for Romulus not praying that Messalina and his child would be healthy?

And then he felt a kick.

A look of relief fell upon Romulus' countenance. Messalina smiled at him and he smiled back at her, his mismatched eyes looking into her reddish-brown eyes.

"Whose eyes do you suppose they will have?" asked Messalina.

"Could have yours just like Conn." Replied Romulus. "Of course, they might end up like me and have both of our eyes... Well, one of my eyes at least. One could be blue or green while the other would be reddish-brown."

"They could have blue eyes." suggested Messalina. "Or they might end up with green eyes. Either way they could still get your eyes."

"Having one eye color would be preferable. I remember being mocked about my eyes being mismatched when I was a child."

"What did you do, Romulus?"

"Do, Messalina? What could I do? I did not know how to respond to that, I merely walked away and wondered why I was like this. I supposed it had something to do with me not having been born of a Gaelic woman. It is said that the father determines the race and since my mother was not a Gael, a Hibernian, then there must have been something about her being Roman that caused this. I believed that Conn would have one of my eye colors in one eye and your eye color the other but he has yours in both eyes so that cannot be it."

"It is a shame that we cannot live in Hibernia." Messalina looked at the bedchamber doors. The thought that Caligula was out there somewhere roaming the halls, maybe the garden, perhaps he was even in Julia's bedchamber. Where ever Conn was she hoped, as did her beloved husband, that he was nowhere near Caligula.

"Claudius believes that Rome may one day conquer the world but I doubt it could ever conquer Hibernia." Romulus kissed Messalina's stomach and then looked at the door. "Still, an estate in Gaul is good enough."

"What will happen if Caligula should ever become First Citizen?" asked Messalina.

"Live in Gaul until he is ultimately assassinated." Replied Romulus.

"Assassinated?" Messalina looked astonished. "Do you truly believe that Caligula would ever be assassinated?"

"Yes, don't you?"

"I can picture the Senate declaring Caligula a public enemy and him falling upon his sword but I cannot picture him being assassinated."

"That would be interesting." Admitted Romulus. "The Senate declaring the leader of Rome a public enemy. I suppose with Gaul being under Roman rule I should rethink the living in Gaul thing should he ever become First Citizen."

"Somewhere outside Roman control then?" suggested Messalina. "Hibernia maybe?"