She was awakened by the clicking sound of a closing door. Blinking she opened her eyes and looked with a risen eyebrow at the hollow next to her. She sat up fast and registered in relief that she was alone. A little bit calmer she fell into the pillows again. Instantly she had his smell in her nose again that she had noticed yesterday for the first time. Sighing she hit her palm at her forehead. Why wasn't it enough that he was looking like a fucking Roman god? Why did he had to smell like one, too? Why couldn't he be a stinky, enzymatically jerk? This way it would be so much easier for her to hate him.
But she had to start to be honest with herself. Until now he hadn't been anything else than polite to her and she probably owned him her life. Was she in his dept now? As far as she was able to remember did the Romans had a very strong sense of honour. Maybe, but only maybe – and she was really horrified that she started to consider that thought – Caligula wasn't that insane like the old sources painted him to be. Who with an insane mind would risk so much for a stranger? Maybe he would lose his mind really after a few months of ruling Rome caused by a strange illness. The thought that he would never turn 30 made her very sad. In the end are all humans unimportant.
To not fall asleep again she grabbed the book that was lying next to the bed. Although she had translated some parts of Ovid's Metamorphoses already at the beginning of her study, she was still at the beginning because she had forgotten about most parts. But the Roman way of writing made it really hard for her to read the book: Who had the idea to not separate different words on a piece of paper? But after some time she started to get used to it. Ovid's stories were simply too beautiful.
"Interesting lecture?", a soft voice destroyed her concentration. She needed a few blinks to fix him. Caligula's hair was still wet from his bath and it sticked up in all directions. He looked incredible hot with tousled hair. Hot? Aurelia shook her head fast and was glad that Caligula was wearing his tunica already and not just a wrapped towel around his waist.
Aurelia forced herself to close the book and nod. Caligula was running his hand through his hair and hesitated for a short time. Then he sat down next to her at the bed and took the book from her hand.
"The last thing you could do was to ask before you take my things", he said and Aurelia tried to look very regretful but she didn't had any regrets. Never in her life had she ever been so close to the real Ovid and not just an over centuries distorted and diluted hand script of a hand script of a hand script of...
"Thank you", she mumbled and hoped that she hadn't said something silly like I joy you in Latin. It was still strange to speak and listen to Latin and not just to work with texts. Caligula scratched a point behind his ear and looked a little bit embarrassed. Was a blushing right now? He opened his mouth, but Aurelia stopped him: "I am sorry how I have behaved the last days, although you have done so much for me. The thing is, I shouldn't be here in the first place. When you told me who you are I.. it was just too much for me to deal with"
They stared at each other in silence. Then he sighed deeply, leaned against the wand just like her and closed his eyes.
"You are so fucking frustrating", he mumbled. Suddenly she felt the desire to tell him everything. She had to talk with someone about all these crazy things that had happened to her. But would he be able to believe her? Could she trust him? Would something change the second he knew the truth about her? Probably everything. Telling him would make everything real. She didn't belong her. He sat up suddenly and their gazes met.
"Please", he whispered and took her hand in his. "Please tell me already who you are"
Aurelia felt her eyes being filled of tears and she tried to hold them back. She didn't want to cry. Not again and not in front of him. She whispered back quietly: "I am just me"
A single tear escaped her will power and flow slowly from her eye over her check. Stunned he caught the tear with his free hand and whispered: "Please, don't cry, my beauty"
He pressed her hand calmingly and this small gesture gave Aurelia the power to suppress her tears. She breathed a few times. Suddenly she realised how close Caligula was and especially that he was still holding her hand. She looked at him in confusion.
"I know that you don't trust me, Aurelia", he said and hold her gaze with so much sadness in his eyes. "Probably you are really scared of me. But I promise you that I will protect you from any danger. I swear on the river Styx. Your secrets will always be safe with me from the day one you will be ready to tell me everything"
His gaze became more intense and his seriousness echoed in every single word. He was able to activate something inside her that she was scared of.
"Caligula...", she mumbled and he flinched. She went quiet in surprise.
"My name is Gaius", he told her curtly. "Caligula was a small boy, too small to understand the world around him. Do not call me that ever again, please"
Embarrassed she asked Gaius for forgiveness. He nodded lazy and promised to tell her everything at another day because his time was running out today and he wanted to start her lessons.
"Lessons?", she asked and he nodded again. He pointed domineering at the book in her lap and required: "Read to me"
With a raised eyebrow she opened the book and looked for a passage she had decoded already. The letters started to mingle in her eyes. Why should she start in the middle of the book? She breathed deep again, opened the first page and cleared her throat. Then she started to read a little bit hesitant.

„In nova fert animus mutatas dicere formas
corpora; di, coeptis nam vos mutastis et illa
aspirate meis primaque ab origine mundi
ad mea perpetuum deducite tempora carmen..."

At that point Gaius gave her a sign to stop. She hurried to close the book and looked at him uncertain. Why was he looking at her this way? Did she forget to elide some letters or did she pronounce a syllable wrong? After a short time she felt really uncomfortable with his silence and decided to ask him what she did wrong. He busted into laughter. Offended she stared at him until he took the book from her hands, opened it again and told her that she should read with him. Then he recited the same verses again without looking at the letters those were laying in her lap. Now she couldn't stop herself from laughing, too. Every time Aurelia accentuated a syllable by lengthen or shorten the syllable, Gaius created a rhythm by speaking this lengthened syllable higher than the other ones. In her ears it sounded so ridiculous. In the moment he finished his recitation he was looking at her expectantly. But Aurelia didn't know what to say. Gaius sighed heavily.
"Aurelia", he mumbled tired. "I shouldn't have laughed about you in the first place. It sounded really beautiful. But you have read the verses more like a prosaic text. These poems have a melody, they are recited with music and the origin of rhythm is the dance. That is why they are called lifted and lowered syllable"
She held his gaze perseveringly and answered: "I have learnt that they are called long and short"
He examined her for a while, then he shrugged his shoulders. Did he really stop arguing just like this?
"One day you will understand and master the differences", he said, then he grabbed the book and put it carefully back in his bookshelf like it was made of glass.
"Did it belong to your father?", she asked quietly and he flinched like she had attacked him from behind. Slowly he turned around and shook his head. His face looked very sad again.
"No", he answered calmly. "The codex belongs to my mother. I have smuggled it to Capri to have something from her with me"
Getting suspicious she frowned, grabbed her wax tablet and started to calculate. Carefully she checked her result again and again. She must have made a mistake. But it didn't matter where she was looking for a mistake, she didn't find one. In shock she lifted her head and looked deep into Gaius' sky-blue eyes those were fixed at her in confusion.
"Your mother died a year ago", she said surprised. His eyes widened, then he shook his head vehemently.
"No", he said plain. "She is alive. Tiberius had exiled her and my brother..."
"I know!", she interrupted him harshly. "They both have died there"
Slowly he came closer to the bed on that she was still sitting on and his gaze was fixed on her like a lion hunting down his prey.
"Aurelia", he said, their faces only a few inches away. "If my mother and my brother die, I will be the first to hear it from Tiberius. He knows exactly that I am only here to ask for their freedom"
Aurelia shallowed down the growing fear and repeated in a stronger tune that Tiberius was lying to him. He looked at her more and more intensively, came closer and closer, if she lifted her head just a little bit, their lips would touch. Her gaze flickered from his sensual lips back to his sky-blue eyes. She cupped his face with her hands tenderly and whispered softly: "I swear, Gaius, that I am not lying to you – neither now neither in the future. There are things that I can't tell you now because you won't be able to believe me. But I will always tell you the truth. They are dead. You can't help him anymore with your sacrifice. You have to rescue yourself before it is too late"