Gods.
Valeria gasped in alarm. How easily people could transform into monsters.
Tristan stood behind her and braced his hands on the windowsill, caging her in with his warm, strong body. His nearness made her ache for his touch.
“This is the mob that rules Rome,” he said at her ear.
A woman’s anguished scream pierced the air. Valeria watched in horror as Septima was now dragged over to the wagon. A group of about five women descended on her in a fury. They stripped off her fine clothes and jewelry and beat her to the ground with their fists, then proceeded to shave off the long red locks of her hair. One of the women held a lock of hair up to the crowd and waved it through the air like a trophy. The people cheered while Septima was forced into the wagon with the Legatus and his wife.
Valeria started to cry, and hot tears slipped down her cheeks. It was no secret how much she disliked Septima, but she wept for the woman anyway. Or maybe she wept for herself. What a terrible fate to suffer.
“Domina! Domina!” her servant, Paula, shrieked as she scurried into the room. “Are you alive? Are you safe?”
Valeria was startled.
What was the girl doing in the palace?
Paula’s look of concern quickly transformed to one of astonishment when she noticed Tristan. Her eyes went wide. “Shall I fetch help, Domina?”
Tristan moved away from the window, allowing Valeria some space. He crossed his muscular arms over his broad chest and studied Paula with a curious, unflinching gaze.
“That won’t be necessary,” Valeria said. “I should be safe if the mob stays outside.”
“Nowhere is safe,” Paula said. “The rebels have taken the palace. You should see what they’re doing downstairs. Caesar Crispus will be very upset.”
“Crispus isn’t here, is he?” Valeria snapped, realizing how furious she was with her cousin for leaving her behind. Did her life really mean so little?
“Is there anything you require, Domina?”
Valeria was amazed by the girl’s loyalty. She had a chance to be free, and she had returned to serve. “There is nothing I require, Paula. You shouldn’t even be here. It’s not safe.”
“It’s safer than anywhere else in the city,” she insisted. “Senator Nero and Senator Braxus keep order among the rebels and the other Senators, and many of the servants have returned to the palace to assist them. There’s more help than they know what to do with.”
Was the entire city taking over the palace? Her uncle would have a serious conniption over this. Valeria found it all rather comical, in a distorted kind of way.
“What shall I do for you, Domina?” Paula bowed her head, ready to receive orders.
Valeria could think of nothing. With the city in the midst of a rebellion, it seemed rather silly to have a servant drawing her baths and fussing over her hair.
“Paula, your services are no longer required.”
The girl’s head snapped up. “What do you mean, Domina?”
“I am no longer your Domina.” Saying the words brought tears to her eyes. She cared deeply for the girl, so freeing her from service was something she owed to her in exchange for the years of her life she’d given. “You’re free to do as you chose. Your life is your own now.”
Paula burst into the fitful tears Valeria was holding back. “I cannot leave you. Please don’t send me away.” She sank to her knees and covered her face, sobbing uncontrollably.
Valeria hadn’t expected the emotional reaction. She briefly glanced at Tristan, and he frowned in confusion.
“Is the girl going to stay in here and cry all day?” he asked.
“Don’t be sad, Paula,” she said softly. “This is your chance to be free. Won’t you take it?”
Paula lifted her head and swiped at her tears. “I don’t know where to go. I’m all alone. I have no one.”
Valeria sighed, not sure what to tell her. The poor girl had been taken from her home and family and now the palace was the only life she knew. It didn’t seem right to send her off.
“You may stay in the palace as long as you like, but not to serve me.”
“Thank you.” She drew in a hiccupping breath as she calmed her sobs.
“Now leave me,” Valeria ordered. “Find some way to help downstairs.”
Paula bowed to her before she exited the room, maybe forever.
Valeria was left reeling, fully aware that she no longer resembled her old self. Things she’d once thought were important didn’t seem to matter anymore.
Not fancy clothes.
Or servants.
Or luxurious rooms at the palace.
And she had never felt more lost in her life.
“You’re a strange woman.” Tristan said, still surprised by what he’d seen Valeria do that day. “To free two servants in one day must be unheard of in Rome.”
“Freeing servants makes me strange?” she asked, a lost, confused expression on her pretty face.
“Maybe not strange.” He scrambled for the right word. “Just different.”
She lifted her chin proudly. “I guess we’re both different from what is commonly expected of us, are we not?”
Tristan considered her words. She’d once judged him to be a savage barbarian, and he’d assumed she was as selfish and spoiled as the rest of her people. How had he been so blind as not to notice Valeria was nothing like the majority of Romans? She was gentle and kind, yet strong-willed. He’d known this about her all along, but still he’d judged her based on where she was from.
What a fool.
He no longer had to be confused or disgusted by his feelings for Valeria. It wasn’t a Roman he craved, but a beautiful, amazing woman he’d been lucky enough to find tied up in his tent. Their meeting wasn’t a curse, it was fate.
“Did you send me all that armor this morning?” he asked.
“Yes, it was from me.” She went back to the window and looked down at the raging mob outside. “I didn’t know what else to do to help you.”
Her gift seemed all the more special in light of his realization. Every other woman had wanted something from him, had wanted to degrade him, where Valeria had only wanted to give him what he desired most.
Freedom.
Now he desired something even more. He desired her. Tristan wanted her love, her kindness, her soft touch. He would possess her once again, and this time he would never let her go.
He stood behind her as she stared out the window, seeming lost in her thoughts, and circled his arms around her waist, pulling her up against his body.
“What do you want?” She twisted out of his hold. “Haven’t you had your fill of Rome yet?”
“Not until I have you.” His gaze roamed over her slender form as he imagined how he’d tear away her clothes and bury his hard, aching shaft deep inside her until she screamed in ecstasy.
“There are plenty of other women in Rome you can use to slake your lusts.” She turned her back to him. “I don’t want to be among that number.”
“I’m not interested in other women.”
“How dare you say that to me after you’ve whored yourself all over Rome?” She flung the insult over her shoulder.
Tristan felt the bite of her words like a slap in the face. He’d done no such thing. “That’s a strong accusation.”
“Do you deny it?” She turned and met his gaze, her eyes snapping fire. “I saw you with that slave girl, or do you forget?”
Could it be possible she was jealous? Tristan’s spirits soared. She had feelings for him after all.
“You saw me do what exactly?” He remembered that evening. Valeria had fled the room before anything had happened. She had no idea what he’d suffered that night.
“You had intercourse with her in front of all those people,” she shrieked, the outrage clear on her face. “I’m sure you enjoyed yourself immensely, she was very beautiful.”
Tristan couldn’t keep from smiling. “Do I detect a note of jealousy?”
&n
bsp; “No,” she insisted, her lower lip pouting. “I have no reason to be jealous. I have no claim on you.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “You have more of a claim on me than you know.”
Her lips parted, but she said nothing in reply.
“I didn’t do anything with the girl.” Tristan sobered as he remembered the rest of that evening. “Do you think so poorly of me that I would degrade myself and another in such a manner?”
“But they made you do it. They—”
“They didn’t make me do anything. I took ten lashes for refusing to do as they ordered.”
Ten lashes that had been delivered by a cruel, unsatisfied mistress. He had a suspicion the public flogging had been more titillating to the onlookers than the act of copulation they had expected to see.
“That must have been awful for you,” she said in a soft voice. “I’m sorry you were treated so poorly.”
Tristan stood close to her and cupped her face in his hand. “None of it is your fault.”
“All of it is my fault.” She cast her eyes to the floor. “You’d still be free in the north if you’d never found me.”
He took her head in both his hands and lifted her face upward. “We don’t know that. The Romans have been after my armies for a long time. You got caught in the middle.”
She placed one of her hands over his and pressed her cheek into his palm. “What are you going to do? The closest legions will be returning from the front as soon as they get word of what happened. There may not be much time.”
He was well aware their time was running out. “I need to meet with the others. Then I’ll decide what to do.”
“Get out of the city, Tristan,” she pleaded, her eyes welling with tears. “Before it’s too late.”
He captured her mouth in a languid, heated kiss, as if they had all the time in the world. Blood pounded through his veins, his shaft hardening and lengthening, hungry for the feel of her velvety warmth surrounding him.
But first he had to be certain how much time they had left.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Senator Nero stood behind the giant wooden table in the palace library, his brows furrowed in consternation.
Attila’s suggestion that the nobles who were tried and convicted be forced to fight in the arena against the gladiators would only fuel more violence. He was learning that was one thing Rome loved.
“While it’s a good plan,” he said in his smooth, authoritative voice, “some of the nobility served in the legions, and others could afford private training. What if by chance they were to best one of you?”
“We let them live,” Atilla replied. “Just as we were allowed to live. They have a chance to earn their lives.”
The other men in the room nodded and voiced their agreement.
Senator Nero looked to Tristan with uncertainty. “What do you think?”
Knowing he’d been a general, in command of three northern armies, the senator placed more value on his opinions. Tristan honestly didn’t care what the city of Rome did with their noble class. He had the only one who mattered to him secured in her room upstairs with a guard at the door.
“I have no desire to be involved in what goes on in the arena,” he said. “If I am free, as you promised, I should like to return to my home.”
Senator Nero’s brows quirked inquiringly. “The hero of Rome would leave the city?”
“It was never mentioned I had cause to stay.”
Behind Senator Nero, the younger man who always accompanied him, Senator Braxus, appeared deep in thought. “It wouldn’t do well to have you leave Rome so soon,” he finally said. “We’d have you stay, at least until the trials in the arena are concluded.”
Tristan clenched his fists at his sides, suppressing his rage. He’d asked from the very start of this if he would simply become a slave to a new master, and they had promised him freedom, only to forswear on the agreement after the deed was done. When was he going to learn to stop trusting Romans?
“What happens when the legions return?” Tristan asked. “Will I still be the hero of Rome then?”
The two senators exchanged wary glances. Tristan knew that look. They weren’t telling him everything. Whatever their plans, he wanted no part.
“You have your rebellion,” he said. “My only wish is to return home.”
“I’m with Tristan on this.” Angus stepped up and joined his friend. “We were promised freedom if we inspired your rebellion and broke out of the arena. It would be false to go back on your word.”
Damn these Romans.
Tristan was right. None could be trusted. Angus had thought himself content to enjoy the luxuries of the palace, along with the ladies brought in to entertain them, but it was only a fleeting distraction. Hearing Tristan speak of home made him anxious to return to the north. This city held nothing but lies and trickery. And what would happen to them when the legions returned to restore order? They would be heroes no longer. Angus wanted to be far away from Rome when the time came.
“I fear what would become of the rebellion if you were to leave the city.” Senator Nero walked around in front of the table and leaned back against it, placing his hands on either side of him. “What can I do to convince you to stay?”
Tristan sent Angus an anxious glance. Both of them were united in their decision.
They would leave Rome.
“We were brought to this city against our will,” Tristan stated. “Now that we are free, it holds nothing for us.”
Senator Braxus stepped forward. Tristan hoped the younger man would speak with more sense than his partner. He’d been there when the alliance was made and knew Tristan’s only desire was freedom.
“I wonder what would become of the lady Valeria if you were to leave,” he said with staid calmness.
Tristan tensed. Was there a threat underlying his words?
“How do you know about her?”
“Don’t think you can play us for fools.” He swished up to Tristan in his green toga, his eyes shrewd and assessing. “We all know you have her upstairs, that you protect her from the mob.”
Tristan had been too quick in thinking no one would be concerned about what happened to Valeria. The leaders of the rebellion could seek to use her to their political advantage. Had he known who she was when he’d first found her, he would have done the same.
“It didn’t seem right to turn her over to their violence,” he said. “She’s done nothing against the people.”
He also wouldn’t feel right handing her over to the senators. The two men were proving to be less than trustworthy.
Senator Braxus clasped his hands behind his back, assuming an imposing stance as he looked down his regal nose at Tristan with the loftiness endowed to one of his position. “What will happen to her without your protection?”
Tristan clenched his jaw in annoyance. “Do you think I have a care what happens to her after I leave?”
It pained him to say the words, but letting these men know he did care about her would reveal a weakness they could exploit. He wouldn’t put it past the senators to use Valeria as a means of controlling him for the purpose of their rebellion, and that was something he couldn’t allow.
“I think you must have a care for her,” Senator Braxus replied. “Or she’d be imprisoned in the arena with the rest of the nobles.”
Tristan had to come up with a believable excuse. “Where I come from, women are spoils of war. I intend to enjoy my prize first.”
The senators exchanged another calculating glance.
“Let the man have his prize.” Atilla clasped his large hand on Tristan’s shoulder. “He’s earned it.”
“Make certain she remains in the palace,” Senator Nero instructed. “We may have need of her in the future.”
Tristan should have seen this coming. As fate would have it, he and Valeria had less time than he’d thought.
Valeria wondered what was keeping Tristan away for so long, when he
entered her room as if her thoughts had conjured him out of thin air. He closed the door and secured the broken bolt with his sheathed sword.
“Did you miss me?” His confident smile was absolutely devastating. With his shorter hair and shaven beard she could see every handsome detail of his face.
She’d missed him more than she wanted him to know. He would be leaving Rome soon, and she would be left behind with only her memories to comfort her. She should be angry with him, but neither she nor Tristan could change the fact that they belonged to different worlds. Sometimes worlds collided, however briefly, before continuing on their separate paths.
She could see by the haunted look in his eyes that they would be continuing on very shortly.
Tristan stalked up to her, grabbed her by the arms, and brought his mouth down over hers in a hungry, crushing kiss. Valeria threw her arms around his neck and clung to him as she returned the passion of his searing kiss. Their tongues twined together, and between their bodies, a fiery heat exploded, melding them together so each knew what the other wanted because what they both wanted was the same.
He gathered one of her breasts in his hand and stroked her nipple through the fabric of her tunic with his thumb until it hardened to an aching peak. She felt his touch as if he’d done it between her legs, bringing that throbbing, aching need to life.
She moaned and clutched his shoulders, desperate for the release only he could give her. They fumbled with each other’s tunics, practically ripping the clothes from their bodies until they were bare. Tristan backed her to the bed and fell upon her, his hot, wet mouth latching onto one of her nipples. He licked and suckled the sensitive pink tip, then moved to the other, all the while his fingers worked between her legs, spreading her until he found the swollen bud he was seeking.
Valeria cried out from the stunning pleasure of his ravenous assault. Her senses were on overload as he touched, licked, sucked, each dizzying sensation building upon the last until she thought she would burst from the pleasure.
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