She lowered herself onto the stool. “I don’t know what you mean.” Picking at the cloth on the table, she avoided his harsh gaze.
“That sounded different from any other one I’ve ever heard you give.”
“You don’t hear very many of them, though, do you?”
“Still.”
She shrugged. “He was a baby. There’s not a lot for the goddess to work with.”
How could he know? He couldn’t. Could he? “Were you just imagining things?”
“N-no. Why would you ask that?”
“I told you. It sounded . . . off.”
“I don’t know what to tell you.”
Max leaned on his palms, bringing his face close to hers. He waited until she raised her face. “If I find out you have been lying to our customers, it will not end well for you.” His voice was rougher than usual, if that was even possible. “So for your sake, I hope you’re telling the truth.” He stared long enough to make her flinch, then turned and left.
Shivers ran down her back. If he could tell she was nervous, he’d be even more suspicious than he already was. If she couldn’t figure out how to hear the goddess, she’d better figure out how to look like she did, and quickly.
A tall, fidgety man, who had been lurking around the edges of the forum since early morning, finally approached their stall. He sat at her table, but couldn’t look her in the eye.
That would make it even more difficult.
“May I ask your name?”
“I don’t want to tell you.” His eyes darted around the room.
“You don’t want to tell me your name?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“I just don’t.”
“All right, then what is your question?”
“I want to know if I should take my employer to court.”
“Ah.” That would explain the secrecy. “Is he mistreating you?”
His shoulders drooped. “Yes, and he is very powerful.”
“So this is a risky move?”
“Very.”
“Let me ask the goddess. May I have your hand?”
He slid his hand toward her, looking over his shoulder as he did.
As she had been all day, Brigid was silent. Reason was her only ally.
“She says you should avoid this perilous venture, and instead consider a new place of employment.”
“Are you sure?” He looked like she’d just told him he would die. Perhaps she’d made the wrong choice.
“That is her advice. But you don’t have to take it.” Especially since it wasn’t truly hers.
“No, no. Everyone says you’re the best.”
She forced a smile. “Thank you.”
Oh, Brigid . . .
The day dragged on, longer than any other.
One young man asked if he would be granted citizenship. She told him yes.
Another asked if it was safe to travel. Another yes.
A young girl asked to which god she should sacrifice. The only Roman god Tia knew was Jupiter.
When the day finally came to an end, and she was safely alone in the dark, she lay on her mat staring at the ceiling. Brigid, why have you abandoned me? Is this my fate? To be dragged to a land far away, because I can hear the goddess, to where I can no longer hear her, and then be punished for it? Killed for it?
It’s not fair.
Quin paced in Lydia’s rose-filled peristyle.
“Why are you so quiet tonight? You hardly ate anything. Are you well?” Lydia held out a goblet of wine. “I will take one guess at what—or who—occupies your thoughts.”
“How do you explain how she does what she does? How can she tell the future so accurately? She told me her goddess—Brigid, I think she called her—tells her things, shows her pictures.” He winced. “But I saw her today, and she told me she can no longer hear Brigid. Do you think that’s true? Do you think her goddess is angry with her?”
“I don’t believe the goddess is angry with her, because I don’t believe she has a goddess telling her the future. I don’t believe Brigid is a goddess.” Paulos’s deep but soft voice startled him as he entered the room, Silas behind him.
“You don’t?”
“I believe there is only one God, the living God.”
Again with that ridiculous statement. “I’m not sure I believe in the gods anymore, but I still do whatever I can to keep them from becoming angry with me. Just in case.”
Paulos sat and pulled out a stack of folded parchment. He held a bone needle up to the lights and poked a length of linen thread through its eye. “Jupiter, Mars, Brigid . . . these are not gods. They are statues, idols, gods imagined in the minds of men. How can they be angry? How can they hurt you?”
The image of Elantia’s face, her terror that day on the forum, the fear even today, stayed in his mind. If Paulos had seen her, he wouldn’t ask such a question. “I’m worried about her. I worry what they will do to her when they find out.”
Lydia set her goblet aside. “She is their property. You know that. They can do to her whatever they wish.”
“I know.” He dropped onto the lectus beside her.
“I would offer to buy her, but I doubt they would sell her. If she were just a house slave, perhaps . . . but with her skill, she is very valuable to them.”
“And if that skill disappears?”
“You may have good cause to worry.” Lydia placed her hand on his back. “These are not kind people.”
Quin aimed his glare at Paulos. “You said she’d be all right.”
“I said she’d be all right physically.” He guided his needle through the parchment, on the fold. The man seemed to be perpetually busy. Did he never stop moving?
“Why don’t you seem concerned?”
“Because I did what Yahweh asked me to do, and I don’t believe He would ask me to do anything that would hurt her.”
Silas smiled softly. “This is not over yet, Quin. You must have faith.”
Quin bolted from the couch. “In what? In whom? You have no idea how much power Gallus has in this city and what he can do to those who displease him. They are Romans. She is a slave, and you are a Jew, an outsider. He will be on their side. I could very well end up arresting you before this is over.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Silas chuckled.
Quin scoffed. “You are unbelievable. How can you sit there as if nothing is amiss when her life may be in danger? When your life may be in danger?”
Paulos’s hands stilled for only a moment as he caught Quin’s gaze. “Quin, how do you draw such drastic conclusions? I see no evidence of danger for anyone yet.”
How did he not see it? “She will stop earning them money, and they will punish her severely. Then they will blame you. How else could this possibly end?”
“Are you the seer now?” Silas grinned.
“I just know how Roman society works. It’s worked against me often enough.”
Paulos’s brow furrowed. “Is everything for you a matter of life and death?”
Quin stepped nearer to the older man. “I am a soldier. A legal, hired killer. I’ve caused more death in my life than you can possibly imagine. Death—on a massive scale—is what keeps the Empire alive. So, yes, everything is a matter of not life, but death. And when she shows up dead, you shouldn’t be surprised.”
“And when she doesn’t, you shouldn’t be.”
Quin huffed and stormed out of Lydia’s house.
Until now, he’d thought Paulos an intelligent man. Learned, fascinating. His theory of only one god was interesting, amusing. But this—his callous disregard for such a beautiful young woman who had done nothing to him except perhaps embarrassed him . . .
Quin knew how things worked. And he gave it a week before Paulos was in his prison, and Tia was either dead or sold as a slave to some old man who wanted a new and pretty bed partner.
His stomach roiled at the thought.
Why? It wasn’t like she
meant anything to him. She’d never even had a kind word for him. Still, he had an overwhelming urge to protect her.
But he wasn’t a protector. He was a killer. And even if he could save her, she’d never see him as anything else.
He shrugged off the thoughts. Time to get back to the prison.
Where he belonged.
14
“Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord.”
Psalm 130:1
As soon as Tia saw him stomping toward them, she knew there would be trouble. In the open forum, there was no place to hide. The fountains were too far away, as were the columns that fronted the basilica. She could only stand there and wait for the punishment to fall.
“Where is she?” The wiry man nearly ran into Cassia, red-faced and sweating, even in the cool autumn air.
“Who?” Cassia pulled him out of earshot of a group of Roman women admiring the new cloth one of them had purchased.
He towered over Cassia and his cloak reeked of sweat and vinegar. “Your seer! Or so she says. Her prediction did not come true. And I want my coin back.” He shoved his hand out, long fingers twitching.
“Now wait, wait.” Cassia gently pushed his hand down, and with her other gently patted his upper arm. “What is your name?”
“I am Drakon. I have a small farm outside the walls.”
“Drakon, sometimes it takes a while for her prophesies to come about. But never once has she been wrong. What exactly did she say?”
The Macedonian blew out a breath. “I came to her a few days ago and asked her if the young women I wanted to marry would agree, if her father would accept me as a husband for his only daughter. She assured me he would.”
Tia hugged her middle. Drakon was one of the first after Paulos touched her, one of the first times Brigid had withheld her voice.
“But I went to him last night, and he laughed in my face, in front of all his sons and brothers! It was the most humiliating experience of my life. Nothing can remedy this. I want my coin back, two times over, or I shall tell everyone in Philippi she is a fraud.”
“Surely we can work something out. Another session, perhaps, at no charge, of course.” Cassia’s voice was honey-sweet—the one she used to convince Max to do what he did not wish to do.
“Why would I want to hear any more words from her? I don’t trust a single thing she says.”
Cassia fingered the purse on her belt. “I don’t see why you should get twice your price.”
“To pay me for my humiliation and suffering. Otherwise . . .” Drakon held his arms out to the side, as if to include the whole of Philippi.
She held up a finger. “But you promise, not a word to anyone else.”
“Of course not.”
Cassia counted out the coin into the Macedonian’s hand, and then barged toward Elantia. “Explain that!” She pointed in the direction of the unsatisfied customer who was walking away.
“Well, umm . . .” She searched for words. Her stomach knotted, her face heated. “That was the day after I fainted in the forum, after that Jew talked to me. I still wasn’t feeling well, and I must have misheard the goddess. It was an aberration.”
Cassia pursed her lips, as if she were trying to decide whether or not to believe her.
“I promise it won’t happen again.” Yet another lie. How many customers had she given prophecies pulled out of thin air?
“It better not.” She glanced around. A small group of three or four hovered nearby. “Get ready. You have customers.”
Tia let out a long breath. She still hadn’t heard from Brigid, not since that day. What would she do if it did happen again? It was bound to.
She put on a smile and beckoned to the first man waiting. She tended to everyone in the group and then she strolled through the forum, offering messages from the goddess that she wasn’t really hearing.
The last one for the day was dropping a coin into Cassia’s hand when Max marched across the forum.
He was not happy.
Cringing, she waited as he stormed toward her, fists clenched, sandals pounding the tile, toga slipping off his shoulder.
She felt dizzy. He had to be angry with her. He’d never embarrass Cassia in the forum like this.
Too soon, he stood face-to-face with her.
The pain was unexpected. Heat seared her cheek, her eyes watered, she stumbled. Her hip hit first, colliding with the cold tile floor, followed by her elbow and wrist. She would surely have a bruise tomorrow.
She pushed herself to a sitting position. It took a moment for the dizziness to subside.
“Max!” Cassia grabbed his arm.
“I have just had a most infuriating conversation. Several of them, actually.”
“What about?”
“Our seer here doesn’t seem to be seeing the future all that well lately.”
“I had a similar complaint earlier.”
Max raised his fist.
“No, Max, not here.”
Max grabbed her arm and dragged her east out of the marketplace toward their villa.
Struggling to keep upright, she stumbled more than once. She managed to keep from falling only because he was walking so much faster than she was. They turned onto his street, speeding toward his domus.
Once inside he threw her onto the hard floor of the atrium.
Cassia rushed in after. “What do you intend to do?”
“I feel like killing her. Do you know how much coin she cost me just today? And how many more will be behind them? Word has spread that she is a fraud, and we will soon lose everything. All the money we invested in her, and now she will bring us nothing. She is utterly worthless now.”
“Are you sure no one will trust her?”
“No one. I have given back coin to at least twenty people just this afternoon.” Max threw his hands in the air. “How long do you think it will take before all of Philippi has heard she no longer can see the future? Before everyone knows her goddess has abandoned her?”
Cassia paced like a trapped cat. She was the only one of the pair who had even slightly cared about her, and now Elantia had lost her trust as well.
“Although, she’s not quite worthless. She can serve other purposes, now.” Max knelt before her and fingered a lock of her hair, causing her to shudder. “If she’s not a seer, she doesn’t have to remain pure. We could still sell her and regain some of our cost. Or keep her for ourselves.”
Horrible, disgusting thoughts filled her mind, and her food threatened to come back up her throat. She continued to stare at the floor, but it didn’t take much to imagine the lewd smile on Max’s face.
He rose. “But right now I am too angry to even think about any of that. She needs to be punished.”
“Fine then. Punish her. Just don’t do anything that will lower the price in case we decide to sell her.” Cassia’s hurried footsteps faded.
Max yanked her to her feet. The first agonizing punch with his closed fist thrust her head and shoulders back so hard she slammed into the wall.
The next one knocked her to the ground. Then the kicking began, and mercifully, her mind went blank.
Gallus reclined on a couch in his dining room. The day had been long and busy, and he looked forward to a simple cena and a quiet evening, as out of custom for him as that was. Even he tired of entertaining occasionally.
Leonidas entered. “Max and Cassia are here to see you.”
He groaned. Not what he wanted tonight. But she was his cousin. And he’d promised his aunt he would use his power to help family, even if she did marry that idiota. “Give me a moment, then show them in. And bring more food.” He sat up. “Wait. First bring me my toga.” He’d shed it as soon as he entered the domus.
Leonidas left and sent Nicanor in with his toga.
Moments later Max and Cassia entered the dining room.
Cassia kissed his cheek. “Cousin, I apologize for coming by without an invitation.”
“Nonsense. I’m so glad to see you both. I was just a
bout to eat. You must join me.” He clapped his hands. “Wine! I’m terribly sorry. My servants are so lazy. I really should purchase new ones.”
“A common problem, it seems.” Max moaned.
Cassia placed her hand on her husband’s arm. “Max, not yet.”
Gallus gestured to the couches around the low, square table. “What? Has something happened to one of your slaves?”
Cassia shrugged as she reclined next to her husband. “It’s our girl from Britannia.”
Leonidas entered with goblets and pitchers of honeyed wine. Nicanor placed platters of meat, fresh bread, and fruit before them.
Gallus laughed. “The seer? What could she have done? She can’t refuse to prophesy, can she?”
“In a way.” Max rolled his eyes.
“Explain.” Gallus reached for a piece of beef.
“That newcomer. Paulos?” Cassia spoke around a fat grape in her mouth.
“Please don’t tell me he’s already causing problems?”
She raised a brow. “What do you mean ‘already’?”
“Never mind. Go on.”
Cassia frowned. “He did something to her. Now she can’t tell the future.”
The incident in the forum. For now, Gallus would just keep to himself that he’d seen that.
“Cassia. Let me speak.” Max silenced his wife. “We invested three years’ pay in her. And now she’s worthless. Today I gave back almost three months’ profit to people whose fortunes proved false.”
“And why do you think this is the newcomer’s fault?”
“Because it has happened only since he spoke to her.”
“I see.”
“So what remedies do we have against this Paulos?”
Just when it looked like the visitors might not cause any trouble. “Are you sure he is the one who caused your slave to not be able to tell the future?”
“I saw him talk to her. He told ‘the spirit’ to come out of her.”
“What kind of prophecies did not come true?”
“She told a man it was safe to travel; he drowned at sea. She told another he would be granted citizenship; he was denied. She told a man his wife was faithful—he caught her in bed with his brother!”
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