“I will try, but I am in need of distraction.”
“Distraction?” she asked.
“Yes,” I said with a nod. “Speak with me.”
Her chest rose and fell with a deep breath, bringing my attention to the outline of her breasts through her dress. She sat up a little straighter and looked at my face as her lips pressed together in thought. She glanced around the room, which was lit with both candle and torch. There were openings along one side of the room to allow in daylight, but the light from the sun was obscured by thick clouds.
“How were you injured?” she asked.
“I was injured when a Gaul shoved his gladius in my side,” I responded dryly. “It was decidedly sharp.”
She smiled and glanced down to my dressing again. Her eyes remained dull, unaffected by the curve of her lips, my soldier’s humor lost on her.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Aia,” she replied, confirming her Gaul heritage.
“And how long have you served the medicus?”
“Two years,” she said.
“And before then?”
“I served in the house of the breadmaker in the market,” Aia said.
“What were your duties there?”
“As a child, I watched the bread as it baked and made sure it didn’t burn. Later on, I learned to mix and knead the dough as well.”
“When did you begin to serve the breadmaker?”
“When I was a young girl,” she said.
“And before?”
“I don’t have many memories from before,” she told me. “My father had many debts, I understand, and had to give me up to pay for them.”
It was a common enough occurrence but one that infuriated me. How could a parent be so careless as to incur such debt? My only child—a son—had died as an infant soon after his mother contracted a fatal fever. The idea of losing him through my own doing was abhorrent.
“Do you have siblings?” I inquired.
“None,” she said.
“Is the doctor your dominus?”
“No,” she said. “I belong to Appius Cassianus Germanus. He owns the hospital here and has many dealings in the marketplace.”
“I have heard the name,” I said with a slight nod. The movement cause
d me to wince, and I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain. Cassianus was a powerful man in Mediolanum and known to be quite wealthy. He had family in the Senate as well.
“You should rest.”
“I rested enough on the cart that brought me here,” I scoffed. I tried to wave my hand dismissively, but the ache in my body betrayed me, and my hand shook painfully instead. “I’m tired of resting.”
I watched her as she brought her hands together in her lap and stared at them a moment. Her fingers twisted around each other, showing her nervousness.
“Do I cause you distress?” I asked, the answer obvious on her face.