“Now what is all this about?” Marios eased himself into a chair, grimacing from the pain in his leg. “Have you been snooping into your father’s affairs, boy?”
“You woke me up last night with your snoring,” Constantine said spitefully. “I went to get a drink of water, not knowing anyone else was awake, and heard my father and mother talking in here.”
“You mean you eavesdropped?”
“I I guess I was so stunned that I couldn’t move.” Constantine turned quickly to his mother. “Is it true that Emperor Diocletian has given my father a decree of divorcement so he can marry Lady Theodora?”
“What you heard is true,” Helena confirmed. “I signed the decree this morning, giving my agreement to the divorce.”
“But why? Last night I heard father say it’s you he loves.”
Helena looked away quickly and when he saw her shoulders jerk in a sob, Constantine knelt and put his arm around her. She buried her face against his tunic and he felt the warm dampness of her tears against his skin through the thin fabric.
“All of us thought it would be better if you didn’t know the truth for a little while.” Marios’ voice was kindly now. “But someone was bound to tell you and perhaps it is best that you learn it now, from those who love you.”
Helena dried her eyes on Constantine’s sleeve. “You must never believe anything except that I am the most fortunate of women, Flavius,” she said firmly. “I have had your father’s love and I have had you. Those who would rule are rarely able to marry for love, so I am happy that my birth did not make me a piece to be moved about, as in a game or at a throw of the dice.”
“But why did Father divorce you?”
Carausius from Britain and rule the Prefecture of Gaul
“A strong general is needed in the West, with the authority of a Caesar to expel the usurper Carausius from Britain and rule the Prefecture of Gaul,” Marios explained. “If Diocletian sent a man of your father’s ability there without some assurance to Maximian that he is not to be supplanted as Augustus, Maximian would try to hamper your father in every way he can. But by having Constantius marry Theodora, Maximian is appeased and your father can prosecute the war without hindrance. If your mother had been the usual concubina, there would have been no difficulty at all; many nobles have them. But your parents were legally married in Drepanum. I witnessed the ceremony myself. So the Emperor was forced to draw up a decree of divorcement.”
“Your father refused to sign it until he had talked to me,” Helena said, “but I love him enough not to stand in the way of his becoming Augustus and what that would mean for everyone, especially you.”
“Was it his idea for me to go to Nicomedia now?” Constantine asked.
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