The Most Desired Woman in Rome
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine.
Author’s Notes- This is another fic that has been in my drafts for ages, but I finally managed to finish for ACOR appreciatin week. Xanthe was not my favorite character but I thought there was so much more they could do with her and I felt that there were so many directions they could take her story or even start it and this isn’t way of giving her more of a back story/motivation. There are some darker themes here, though they are more implied.
Rating- PG-13
Summary- Xanthe reflects on her desire to be Rome’s most celebrated Courtesan.
Xanthe debuts in the winter.
Her debut is hailed as a big event, though less because of her, and because she is the first courtesan to debut under Lena’s tutelage. Lena, once Rome’s premier Courtesan, who took over the scholae after the death of Attia, the woman who taught both Lena and Xanthe.
The woman who raised Xanthe.
Xanthe’s debut is a success, but there is bitterness, the fact that the praise is as much for Lena as it is for her and that Attia isn’t there to see Xanthe’s success.
If only she had let me debut earlier…
Xanthe’s body has been mature for several summers, but Attia had kept pushing off her debut, telling her she wasn’t ready.
“Men don’t pay my prices for a body,” Attia would instruct as she taught Xanthe some skill, “they can get a body for far less coin, but they want the total package and that is why they pay.”
Xanthe hears the lecture countless times, but she is not sure she believes it. If she were ugly, she would have been cast on the street long ago, she knows that, and if men really valued everything a courtesan had to offer, wouldn’t the man who bought her mother’s freedom have taken Xanthe too? Wouldn’t he have wanted his lover’s happiness and not just her body?
Still, Xanthe is dutiful. She attends her lessons, learns poetry and politics and all the social graces. She watches the other girls, learning from them, and vowing that one day she will surpass them all.
After all, she has had a lifetime of watching, of waiting for her turn, for the time shen she won’t be passed over and forgotten. When she will be the most important of all.
And that moment comes.
After her debut, the patrons all come running. It isn’t long before she is one of the most sought after Courtesans in the scholae.
Lena urges her to choose one or two patrons and let them take care of her, but Xanthe has no interest in that. She wants all of Rome to admire her. Besides she refuses to put her trust in one person.
After all, the last time she did that, that person left her and never looked back.
Mama, don’t leave me.
All she has is herself. So she will be the best courtesan in Rome and she will take what she can and she will leave them before they can leave her.
**
It is winter when the girl comes.
A year has passed since Xanthe’s debut and she is on her way to fulfilling her goal.
She will be Rome’s premiere Courtesan.
No one can stand in her way,
At first, she pays no notice to the new girl, though she has no idea what Lena sees in her, a savage, covered in dirt. Who would pay for her?
She says as much to another courtesan and is surprised when the older woman laughs.
“Lena knows what she is doing. One day that girl will be the most desired woman in Rome.”
“She is a barbabrian,” Xanthe dismisses.
“She is a Princess,” Arin corrects, “that is what Lena intends to call her, the Princess of Gaul.”
“As if that is some great prize,” Xanthe sniffs, “She is not Roman.”
“You think that matters? Roman men are conquerors, they don’t want what they can easily have, they want to claim dominance, and the idea of claiming a Princess, no matter where she is from, will be irresistible to them.” Arin’s eyes glittered unkindly, “and a king’s daughter will always be worth more than a whore’s.”
The words are a blow, though Xanthe fights to hide it.
Still, after that she considers the Gaul girl more carefully. Is Arin right? Will this wild girl be a threat? It seems impossible. Xanthe has spent a lifetime training for this, working for it.
No wild girl is going to take it from her.
**
It is winter when the Princess of Gaul debuts.
9 years have passed sine Xanthe’s debut,
She has achieved her goal, she is the most sought after Courtesan in Rome and yet… There is a measure of success that eludes her.
She has plenty of patrons, though less than she once did, but she has never reached the very top. The ones with the most power and those are the ones that truly appeal to her.
Also, as Portia’s debut looks,Xanthe finds herself less sought after.
Their is a bidding war to host the princesses debut and Xanthe is reminded uncomfortably of Arin’s long ago words.
A young Senator wins, a particular favourite of Lena’s, and Xanthe finds herself on edge the night of the debut, waiting for word, though she tells herself she is not worried.
Portia’s debut is a success but it is overshadowed by Marc Antony’s return to Rome.
Antony. Caesar’s most trusted lieutenant and a man with reputation.
The kind of reputation that he Lena issue warnings, but leaves Xanthe more intrigued than ever. She can’t resist asking Portia about him.
“He wanted me on sight.” The Gallic princess boasts, her lips curving into a secretive smile. The smile of a woman who knows she is desirable. That she can have anything or anyone she wants.
Xanthe knows that smile well and yet… Is it true? If she and Portia both set their sights on Antony, who will be victorious?
Xanthe wants to believe it will be her, that this will be her great triumph, that she will be the most celebrated woman in Rome at the side of the most powerful man. It is all she has ever wanted and she will not let anyone stand in her way.
Even a princess.
Especially the princess.
- End
