Boudicca wiped a hand down her face as she answered. “I have not encountered them since I left. They… were concerned, but…”
“Yeah, that’s okay,” I said, holding up a hand, other more important thoughts circulating through my mind. “What’s important is that you’re here. I can actually use your help. Agrippina and I plan to spend the next few days searching for the red orb. I trust her, but I can’t be sure there aren’t others in Rome watching us, who might move against us if we find it. Believe it or not, but I’m in no shape to take on the entire Praetorian Guard. So, I need you to follow us through the city tomorrow, just as you’ve been doing since Britain, and be ready to move if I need you.”
She nodded again. “I will obey.”
“Good,” I said with a wave toward the exit. “Now get out of here before someone realizes you’re here.”
She nodded a third time and rushed from the room.
Watching her go, I wondered if I’d actually seen her or not, but either way, nothing would be different come tomorrow.
I didn’t need any help.
I leaned down and picked up the orb.
Placing both the orb and my pistol beside my head, I settled back into the pool again. Comfort came quickly and easily, but then there came another frustrating swish of the curtain. I lunged for my gun again but quickly realized that the intruders were the two scantily clad ladies bearing fruit and wine for me to enjoy. They didn’t stay long, leaving almost as soon as they’d set down their trays.
I watched them as they left, shrugged, and then dove into the fruit and poured myself a goblet of wine. I munched and drank as I relaxed, noticing that even after ten minutes in the pool, the water temperature hadn’t dipped in the slightest. I was the most comfortable and relaxed I’d been in a year, maybe even since before I’d arrived in Rome, or even since joining the military. I wasn’t sure how long I could stay in the water before I started cooking my guts in the extraordinarily hot water, but I was determined to test my limits.
And then the curtain flung open again and suddenly I was angry.
This was supposed to be a private bath.
“Enjoying your relaxation, Jacob?”
I sat up straight so that I could look at the large pool room’s entrance, and found Agrippina standing there with her golden hair cascading past bare shoulders, a tray in one hand while the other supported herself against the doorframe. She wore one of the bath house’s ubiquitous sheer, silken sarongs, only she wore it better than any other woman I’d yet seen. Agrippina was glowing with perspiration, causing her outfit to turn almost invisible against her skin and cling to every curve of her body, making even Boudicca’s attire earlier look about as scandalous as a nun’s habit.
I shifted upon my stone bench, slightly uneasy at her appearance.
I cleared my throat and nodded. “I am.”
“That is good,” she said, her voice silky as she entered the room and padded her way around the pool. She walked slowly, without ever taking her eyes off me, and took her time as she circled the water to stand behind me. I watched her approach, but resisted the urge to look up at her as she stood over me until she knelt and touched the side of my head as she spoke softly. “I apologize greatly for my absence. I could not bring myself to leave Nero once we were together, and there was, of course, more business to attend to than expected.”
“And how is he?” I asked, not really caring.
She smiled gloriously. “He is perfect. I did not realize how much I missed him…”
I tuned her out and lowered my head to look back at the pool, feeling an odd sense of isolation despite Agrippina’s close proximity, and a stray thought crossed my mind: it must have been nice to have a son to miss…
I barely heard her when she finally noticed my inattention. “Jacob? Jacob?”
“Hmm?” I hummed, looking up at her again, my attention snapping back to reality.
She looked down at me with her large blue eyes that were as sympathetic as ever, as though she knew what I lamented, whatever it had been. She offered a small smile as she placed her tray on the ground in front of my pistol, blocking my ability to reach it easily.
I was about to push the tray away when she gripped my arms with her soft hands and asked, “Are you certain that you are well, Jacob? You seem agitated, distant, your thoughts always drifting to places unknown.”
“I… I’m fine,” I admitted, thinking I was being honest. “Excited, I suppose.”
She nodded and squeezed my shoulders, kneading them gently. “I feel it as well, Jacob. The next few days will be quite exciting should we achieve what we came here to accomplish. Just think of the possibilities!”
“I’m trying not to,” I admitted, lowering my hands into the water and rubbing my thighs with them distractedly.
“I understand,” Agrippina admitted as she lowered her hands and dropped from her haunches to sit on the lip of the pool beside me, her thigh touching my arm and her feet dipped into the water. “Although I do hope you have considered the words I spoke to you that day I first shot your rifle. You live in this world under such restriction, with such strict rules to a game that no one – not you, me, or anyone – has ever played before. You have no understanding of what we may find and no way to predict how you will react to it, and you should allow for all possibilities.”
I turned my head so that I could look away from her. “One thing at a time, Agrippina. I have to stay focused. We need to find it first.”
“Is that why you talk to your horse, Jacob?” She asked randomly. “To stay focused?”
“I talk to him because he doesn’t judge me!” I snapped, whipping my head around to glare at her. She recoiled at the force of my exclamation, but did not look upset over the anger I’d displayed. Instead, she exuded sympathy and care, and leaned a hand in to place it against my bearded cheek.
“I do not judge you either, Jacob,” she said with a shake of her head. “I respect you. Everything you’ve been through and experienced… I cannot imagine it. All I want is for you to succeed and make your life what you want it to be. I have been too much to blame for your sorrows in the past and I only want to make amends for it now.”
I lowered my head. “I want to believe you, Agrippina. It’s just that I wish I had the orb already.”
“I know, Jacob, I know, but such things should not be rushed. Today, you and I should simply enjoy ourselves as much as we can.”
In an effort to cool off, she repeatedly yanked the front of her sarong away from her chest. I couldn’t help but notice how the movement framed her breasts beneath her slick clothing. I tried to ignore her, finding it horribly difficult, but used the tray she’d brought to distract myself, gesturing at it.
“What did you bring?” I asked.
Her expression turned infectiously joyful at my question, and she looked at me with a mischievous smile as she reached beneath the cloth atop her tray and swiftly retrieved a nasty looking dagger from beneath. I flinched away from her, instinct kicking in once again, and I was certain that this was the moment where she finally eliminated me, finishing what she had tried and failed to do on so many occasions.
Forgetting completely about my pistol, I moved quickly and climbed off my bench.
I was halfway out when Agrippina finally snatched my ankle, laughing. “Jacob, no! Where are you going? I simply thought you might enjoy a shave.”
I had one foot on the lip of the pool, my other on the stone bench, as I turned to look down at Agrippina who continued to beam at me. She flicked her eyes up and down my body as I stood there, and while I still wasn’t sure she meant me no harm, my sense of danger dissipated once she started to giggle.
I let out a breath and slowly returned to the pool, glancing reassuringly at the orb and feeling neither shame nor embarrassment.
I glanced at her. “Sorry,” I said with a shrug. “For not trusting you.”
Her smile only seemed even cuter. “Don’t be, Jacob. Believe me, there was no
harm in it and I certainly enjoyed the display. Now, the shave?”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “I’m not sure you’re qualified…”
“Oh, do not be a baby,” Agrippina chided as she returned to her feet so that she could stand directly behind me. I watched her as best I could, noticing as she tugged her dress up her thighs so that she could straddle me from behind, her feet dipping in the water. Suddenly, the dagger was in her hand and at my throat, but she didn’t move it from there. She leaned her head in beside my own and whispered in my ear. “Trust me, Jacob, this isn’t the first time I have done this.”
I lifted a finger to place it against the blade at my neck, and slowly pushed it away. “At least lather my face first.”
She chuckled. “You are so spoiled…”
But at least she did as I’d suggested, and used a pleasantly scented oil to prepare my skin for the shave. She then placed the blade against the base of my neck and, with extra beads of sweat pouring down my face, slowly lifted it toward my jaw, leaving everything in its wake smooth and clean. She placed her other hand against the freshly shaved portion of my neck and used it to test what she’d done, humming approvingly in my ear at her work. She then repeated the process over and over, turning my face from a horrid, scraggily mess into something that could have held up to the old grooming standards back at Officer Candidate School.
I settled into the process, growing comfortable as Agrippina continued her work, feeling her free hand work its way down from my neck to settle on my chest, where it ran itself through my chest hair soothingly. It all felt amazingly good with the warm water continuing its magical effects on the rest of my body. With my eyes closed, I almost felt as though I were on a deserted tropical island, lucky enough to be stranded with the loveliest creature in existence.
Minutes later, I felt another swipe from Agrippina’s knife against my chin, but then felt no others for quite some time. I reached up and felt my face, smiling at how slick it felt, amazed at how a simple dagger could rival the most advanced shaving razors back home. I splashed some water on my face to cleanse it of any lingering oil or wayward hairs, and started to turn so that I could thank Agrippina, but she’d disappeared. A large, flesh colored blur splashed into the water beside me, and all that was left of Agrippina was a piece of cloth lying on the stone. I looked back to the bath and tracked the blur as it sped its way under the water, watching as it looped around in an arc before stopping in front of me.
The top of a blond, long-haired head breached the water seconds later, and I looked into Agrippina’s eyes as they hovered just above the water line, her head gently bobbing as she floated toward me almost aimlessly. When she was close enough, she extended her hands and gripped my knees tightly, pulling herself in close. Pausing momentarily, a small grin on her face, she walked her hands up my body until one was just beneath my arm, which allowed her to pull herself up and seat herself on my legs.
I squirmed a bit at the suddenness of her advance, but had little room to maneuver when she reached her other arm up and placed it against the back of my neck. All I could do was sit there and watch as her glorious body emerged from the water, even though all I wanted to do was look away and forget she was there at all. A blue glow shone from beside me like the blinding light of the sun, keeping my face from turning away and ensuring my eyes never deviated from her.
Agrippina seemed to notice my apprehension, and scooted herself even closer. “Something is the matter, Jacob. I know it. Why won’t you let me help you?”
I felt the light upon the side of my cheek more intently now, and with it came an abrupt and almost uncontrollable desire to kill Agrippina right here, right now. I was tempted to strangle her, but I forced the murderous darkness back, reaching below the water instead to take her ass into my hands, tired of her half-baked attempts to seduce me. I squeezed tightly, the frustration and anger in my chest growing, and shook her roughly. “Do you really think this is what I want from you? What I need? Is this all you even have to offer?” I laughed derisively. “I don’t need you.”
Agrippina didn’t seem insulted at my comment in the slightest. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying herself. “I only offer my body to you, Jacob, because I want to. I want us to enjoy each other, but you already know that what I truly wish goes far beyond lust of the body.”
I looked into her blue eyes, wanting nothing more in that moment than to hear what she had to say. “And that is?”
She looked at me so supportively that she looked almost sad. “I’ve already offered it to you, Jacob. Not just my body, but me, my life, a home shared together. But what I offer you most of all is a purpose, prestige and power beyond anything you can imagine, the means to alter destinies and turn fate in our favor.” She shot out a hand and snatched the orb, pressing it roughly against the side of my cheek. “With this, we can take Rome to heights beyond anything ever conceived. With your foreknowledge, my pedigree, and the orb’s potential, we can do things no one ever thought possible. Just you and me, together.”
She let the orb slip through her fingers and I heard it splash into the water and fall to rest in my lap. I could feel the heat blazing from the orb against my skin as Agrippina brought her lips against my own in a kiss so sudden and deserved that I was powerless to stop her, even if I had wanted to.
A yearning that had burned inside of me for what felt like years slowly waned. Like the orb, Agrippina’s firm body and soft lips now felt like the security blanket I’d always needed. She wasn’t just a woman anymore, but an extension of the orb, tying us all together. Were I to throw her off me right now, deciding I was done with her forever, I was certain I’d feel that loss almost as brutally as if it had been the orb that I’d discarded. And there was no denying the wisdom in her words. There no longer seemed a point to doing what I’d always thought was right anymore. Agrippina was right. I didn’t have a home, and I hadn’t had one for years. I hadn’t had a place in any world, not this one or even the one I was working so hard to return to.
Nothing was left for me there.
Agrippina knew what was in my best interest better than I did, and she was right.
She was totally right.
With the historical knowledge I possessed, the power of the orbs I would soon wield, and Agrippina’s connections, station, and ruthlessness, we could do anything. I could create a Roman Empire that would truly last ten thousand years. I could do what so many wannabe tyrants had tried and failed to do in the intervening years between the fall of Rome and the twenty first century.
I could make it work.
In response to these thoughts, I pulled my hands away from her soft and supple rump and placed them against her back, pulling her in roughly. Our kiss intensified but only for a moment until Agrippina pulled away and smiled at me. “I knew you would make the right decision, Jacob.”
I found myself smiling back as she pulled herself back in for another kiss, her hands plunging into the water, but just then, the memory of the dark haired individual my mind so often drifted to returned, and it stared at me with such disappointment and sadness that I found myself feeling the same.
I tried to pry Agrippina away from me so that I could breathe, but she was extraordinarily persistent as she tugged at my lip with her teeth. “No, Jacob,” she said longingly, her teeth still closed until I managed to tug free. “I want…”
“It’s all right, Agrippina,” I said, suddenly out of breath and perturbed by the memory of the apparition and how easily it had altered my perception. “Another time. Soon. After we find the orb.”
“It will be quite the celebration then,” she said with a coy smile as she pulled her body against my own and hugged me. She nipped at my ears and neck with her lips as she continued, her voice devious. “You really are quite lucky, Jacob Hunter. Perhaps I will invite others to our celebration. Perhaps your two lovely escorts?”
“Sure,” I said evenly, although I still felt shaken.”
Agrippina kissed my neck one last ti
me and rested her head against my shoulder. “We’ll do great things together once we find the red orb, Jacob. Great things.”
I nodded, feeling her damp hair against my cheek.
“We certainly will,” I said, my resolve strengthening.
While I couldn’t understand the reason why that dark figure so often plagued my thoughts, it never seemed to manifest itself when thoughts of the red orb entered my mind. Despite the memory’s apparent reluctance to see Agrippina and me fully consummate our relationship, I knew it would be of no trouble once I had the red orb. The world would be my playground then, and with all the power in the universe to bend it to my will, there wasn’t a thing it could do to stop me.
Part Two
V
Leadership
May, 44 A.D.
Eastern Gaul
Diana Hunter
Although I’d lived my entire life in a world at war, the sounds of warfare weren’t ones I was at all familiar with. I’d never been on the front lines, nor had I ever been witness to any of the domestic military actions that had plagued America since before I was born. I’d led a rather sheltered life, and while I was quite aware of how bleak a world stuck in an endless loop of destruction could be, nothing had prepared me for this.
Over a month ago, the Romans had abandoned their conquered territory in Britain the day after Galba had announced his intention to leave. No one had been very excited about the decision, least of all the legionnaires who had bled and died to conquer it in the years before, but they hadn’t grumbled much, knowing it wasn’t their place to question or argue.
As for the rest of us, it had been met with mixed emotion.
Most of us had wanted to go straight to Rome, under armed guard or on our own. All we wanted to do was find Jacob and help him, although there were still grumblings among some about abandoning him completely. Jeanne wanted leave to connect with his wife, which had been our plan all along even though we weren’t anywhere near our previously agreed upon rendezvous site. James was still upset over Jacob’s betrayal and TJ and Georgia were both nervously aware that they didn’t really have a reason to fight anymore.
Praetorian Series [4] All Roads Lead to Rome Page 14