Read Selene of Alexandria for Free Online

is what you're hinting."
    "No. I just find it strange that a man in the prime of life and in such a powerful position has never married. Surely there were opportunities for an advantageous match over the years?" Rebecca pulled the loose hair back and quickly braided it to keep it from tangling during the night. "Is there anything else you require before you retire, Mistress?"
    "No, Rebecca. Wake me in the morning, no later than the third hour."
    "As you wish, Mistress."
    Selene turned Rebecca's words over in her mind as the servant girl exited. It was indeed strange for a man of Orestes' position to be unmarried. Perhaps he had made a vow to the church or had lost a true love. Or maybe he preferred boys. What was this unwanted feeling Orestes stirred in her? How could she find out the truth about him?
    What difference would it make, if he were unavailable? Why was she even thinking such things when just that morning she vowed she would remain unmarried? The thought shook Selene out of her romantic reverie.
    A sudden restlessness took over her body. Selene picked up the small alabaster oil lamp Rebecca had left burning on her cosmetics table, and left her room. She didn't know where she was going until she found herself before Phillip's door. Light spilled across the threshold. Selene knocked timidly with her foot. "Phillip, are you still awake?"
    She heard a groan and a faint, "Come in." Her brother lay face down on his bed, a male slave massaging his body. Lamplight rippled off corded muscles and flowed across brown skin. A faint scar ran up his backbone from his waist to mid-back. As a boy he had fallen from a wall, scraping his back raw. One of Selene's first memories as a toddler was of their mother soothing her brother's pain with a poultice of wet leaves that smelled of mint. Tears stung her eyes. She missed those simpler days, before her mother died and her older brother had gone away to finish his education at the capitol. Phillip turned his bearded face toward her. There were dark circles under his eyes. "What is it, Selene?"
    She collapsed on a bench against the wall, scrubbing her face with both hands. "Nothing. I'm just tired, is all. You look exhausted as well. I'll not keep you up." She rose from the bench to leave.
    "No, don't go." He reached out to stay her. Selene gave a significant glance at the slave putting away the oil. Phillip nodded. Most people treated servants like pieces of furniture, but Selene knew how the silent shadows gossiped in the kitchens and the marketplace. They provided much information to her.
    "Marcus, you may go now. Attend me in the morning," Phillip commanded. The slave bowed as he left the room. Phillip sat up, wrapping a linen sheet around his middle. "Now, little sister, what can I do for you?"
    "Just hold me a while." She sat beside him on his bed and nestled into his side, his arms snuggling her close. They sat quietly. Selene's breathing slowed and her eyes drooped. A sudden shift of her brother's body brought her out of a half doze.
    "You're too old for this type of cuddling, little sister, and I'm too tired." Phillip stifled a yawn.
    "I know. I just came by to see if the servants had cared for you properly and…" she hesitated.
    "And to see if I might arrange for you to see Orestes again?"
    "I came for no such thing!" Selene exploded off the bed, her recent lethargy forgotten in a surge of pique.
    Her brother laughed. "I'm not blind. I saw how you looked at our Prefect all during his appearance."
    "I did not!"
    "Yes, you did."
    She stamped her foot and turned her back on him. He stood and took her by the shoulders, turning her around. "Orestes is a good man, Selene, but he's not the one for you."
    "I don't want him! I didn't…I don't want any man. At least not for a long time. I...he just..." Her words stumbled to a stop. She stood in her brother's arms, trembling.
    "He just what?"
    "He makes me feel strange – like I've never felt before. I can't talk around him; I have