Her fist clenched. "You do not know?"
He halted and said harshly, "If I am about to be sent back to the barracks—"
She looked over her shoulder. Tears stood in her eyes. "Oh, not that," she said. "Be not afraid of that. Be glad! You are about to be honored and pleasured."
"What?"
"In fact, the highest honor and the noblest pleasure of which you are capable." She stamped her foot, caught her breath and strode on. He followed in bewilderment.
They crossed an open peristyle, where the first stars mirrored themselves shakenly in a mosaic pool. Beyond was a door inlaid with ivory, Venus twining arms about beautiful Adonis. A Nubian with a sword stood on guard. Eodan had seen him about—a huge man, cat-footed, but betrayed by his smooth cheeks and high voice.
Phryne knocked on the door. "Go in," she said. "Go on in."
Someone giggled, down in the flickering darkness of the corridor. Eodan pushed his way through, and the door swung shut behind him.
He stood in a long room, marble-floored, richly strewn with rugs and with expensive furnishings. Many lamps hung from the ceiling, till the air seemed as full of soft light as of incense. The window was trellised with climbing roses.
A table bore wine and carefully prepared food for two. But there was only one broad couch beside it.