The Barbarian's Mistress (35 page)

‘Herakles? Damn! A decent man. She must have been heartbroken.’

‘Yes. But she was determined to save her mistress from you. Brave and tenacious, for such a small woman.’

They’d entered the villa by this time, and the warmth was welcome. In the lamp lit Great Room, Braxus could see slaves hovering around the dim edges, not sure what to make of the drama playing out before them.

‘Potita, bring me some hot water and a clean cloth. The rest of you, everything is all right. There was a misunderstanding. It has been cleared up. These are friends. They mean us no harm.’ Vali spoke loudly but calmly, as he began to pull his torn tunic over his head.

The man was a powerhouse, with muscles that made most gladiators look small. He was glad they hadn’t got down to any serious hand to hand fighting. His brain wouldn’t have been enough against this opponent.

The slave called Potita, a skinny woman in her late twenties, arrived immediately with a bowl of steaming water and a clean cloth. Anni separated herself from her friend, and came to her husband’s side. She took the bowl, and immediately started bathing the wound that was seeping blood along the full length of the cut. It wasn’t deep, luckily. But it could have been. The woman shot him a furious stare, as she realised just how close she’d come to losing her man.

‘This will need alcohol to clean it properly. Stay there,’ the young woman ordered brusquely, and hurried away, returning moments later with a small stone jar with a cork stopper. She applied the liquid to the wound, and Vali hissed from the sting.

‘You… you’re different, Anni…’ Ninia said, coming to Braxus’ side so he could hug her close.

‘Lara, I’m Lara the liberti, wife of Gaius Annius Vali. And yes, I am different. I can’t believe the scared little mouse I used to be. It feels like years ago. So much has happened.’

‘Yes, I feel that way too. But this place… it’s…primitive. Are you sure you can be… happy here?’

Lara grinned, as she rested her head against the bare shoulder of her man. ‘You should have seen it when we first arrived
, a little over a week ago. It’s much improved since then. Vali is going to make beer with our hops, instead of selling them on. He thinks there’ll be more profit that way, especially as we grow barley here, too.’

‘What about… your mother?’

‘I imagine she thinks I’m dead,’ Lara said, trying to appear unconcerned.

‘She doesn’t. My partner and I were sent to retrieve you. She intercepted a message you sent to your father. We put two and two together and worked out …’

‘My mother? You work for my mother?!’ Lara backed away, eyes wide with horror. ‘Ninia, what…?’

‘It’s all right, An…Lara. He
worked
for your mother. He doesn’t anymore. I saved his life so he told me he owed me.’

Vali’s eyes narrowed with suspicion.

‘I wouldn’t be telling you what I know, if I still had plans to take her back with me. I might be a mercenary, but I have standards.’

‘Standards that say you don’t leave an assignment until it’s finished,’ Vali said slowly, his voice very deep.

‘Standards that say that when a young girl sits in the ocean all night trying to bring your fever down; feeds you; and cares for you, when she could as easily have left you to die… you say you’re first allegiance is to the girl who saved your life, not the bitch who’s paying you.’

Ninia buried her head against his shoulder, her hand soothing his back where their audience couldn’t see.

‘And she’s sweetened the pot with her favours too, it seems,’ Vali observed, still cautious. Braxus felt his temper surge upward, and he was very close to losing it.

‘That has nothing to do with it!’

‘Ninia, you’re… this mercenary’s woman? How could you… after…’

‘He’s not like Publius. He… he knows what it’s like…’

His growl stopped her from sharing any more of his secrets with these strangers. He didn’t have to justify himself to them. Ninia didn’t have to justify herself to them either.

‘Ninia, he’s a killer…’

‘And I’m a sex slave, a violent one. We are more than what we appear, Lara…’ Vali said, his voice grim.

A violent sex slave? So that is what Nin was afraid of for her mistress. That he would use her as he’d been trained to use women, or men… Poor bastard. Braxus would rather fight than be forced into that degrading world.

He could see that Lara was thinking, trying to make sense out of what she was being told. Finally she looked up and directly at him.

‘What else can you tell me about your assignment?’

‘Your mother lied to you in the missive she sent back. Your father is still very much alive. He sent Ninia and her father to find you. To warn you about us. My partner is … well, I don’t know what happened to Menolus. I was washed off the deck during the storm. I assume the ship sank sometime later. I haven’t seen any sign of him since.’

‘If he’s alive, will he continue to search for Lara?’ Vali asked.

‘Yes. And your trail was easy to follow. You’re not hard to miss, big man. Although we were told he had a blonde woman with him.’

‘I bleached my hair, but it’s gone dark again…’

‘Hmmm… Beyond that, I would hazard that if your mother doesn’t get word from either of us, she will send out more men. The trail will grow weaker the more time passes, but there’s still a chance she’ll be able to track you down.’

‘If you went back and told her Ann… her daughter was dead? Washed overboard in the storm?’ Vali said thoughtfully.

Braxus felt his ties to the woman at his side being torn away. If he agreed to do this, he would have to leave her. She wouldn’t go back with him. She couldn’t. It would make it look too obvious that he’d swapped sides. He knew he couldn’t have her forever. Now it was here. The last thing he could do for her.

‘I could do that.’

‘But the season is ended. It’s too dangerous to travel now. If you died on the way back, Salvia would never know, and would send…’ Ninia interrupted hastily, looking up at him. He knew what she was doing. What he wanted her to do. Keep him at her side a little longer. Yet she was right. It was going to be harder to find transport until spring, and what there was would be dangerous. It would be safer to wait.

‘You could stay until spring. In case your partner shows up. I assume you don’t want him dead?’ Vali said.

‘He’s been good to me. So I prefer not. But…’ His heart was saying stay, but his head was warning that the longer he remained with Ninia the harder it would be to leave her. Better to go now while he still could.

‘Then stay in case Missing Fingers arrives,’ Ninia said, her voice filled with pleading.

‘Missing Fingers?’

‘One of the names we used for you two when we saw you that day at Palinurus.’

‘And I was?’ he was teasing, trying to lighten the tension. Ninia had gone bright red, in the lamplight.

‘It…it doesn’t matter…’

‘Hmmm… let me guess, something original like Scarface?’

The way she cringed told him he was right, and he burst out laughing. ‘Little one, I do have a scarred face. It doesn’t insult me to be called that.’

Braxus saw Lara and Vali exchange glances, and for the first time Vali seemed to really relax. So he was accepted. If he had been them he wouldn’t be so quick to accept his assurances that he’d swapped sides. Men lied. And they could use an innocent girl like Nin to achieve their ends. They couldn’t know for sure he was with them.

Lugdunum Cananefatium  GERMANIA INFERIOR

Gaius noticed the military detail entering the town as he headed towards the docks. Their standard was the Capricorn of his own Legion. Looking closely he noticed his brother’s diminutive figure mounted on a warhorse. He was gesticulating grandly to the other men, who were looking anywhere but at him.

Good, it was obvious Publius was held up by the rains and snow as he was. And conveniently
, he was able to leave so that their paths didn’t cross at the fort. With any luck, no one would mention he’d been here. If his brother knew he was travelling to Britannia too, he’d wonder why. It wouldn’t be long before he’d find out.

He hurried to the docks and boarded the naval galley that was just about to set sail. The storms had finally abated, and he was aboard the first vessel out of the harbour. It would be another two days before he reached Londinium, but at least he was finally on the move again. The longer this journey took, the more anxious he became. His dreams of his sister had all become dire. She needed him, that was apparent. He just hoped he was in time to save her.

Durnonovaria BRITANNIA

Menolus was green. It wasn’t an imaginative term used for someone with sea sickness; it was an accurate description of his facial colouring. He could see his complexion in the silver lid of the trinket box the ship’s master had held out to him. He hadn’t felt like this in that sand storm, when the sea had been just as rough. Why would this be affecting him so badly now? The Master laughed at him good naturedly as he took back his box.

‘It’s not just the waves; it’s the currents that are affecting you. We’ll be docking in an hour. You’ll feel better with the ground beneath your feet for the night. But don’t expect it to be much different tomorrow. This time of year this stretch is always turbulent. You should have travelled earlier, my friend.’

He wanted to tell the master he wasn’t his friend, and that he would have been here earlier if another storm hadn’t kept him from his task. But his gut was warning him it was about to rebel again, so he lunged for the railing to puke up his stomach lining -- or so it felt.

So sick. He had never felt so sick. Death would be better than this.

But in an hour he’d be in Britannia. Not far to go. Would Braxus already be checking the lay of the land, finding out the necessary details they would need to make their move on the blonde giant? He’d killed five men in Carthago. He wasn’t to be underestimated. Would Braxus wait for him, or would he round up a team of locals and take him down alone?

Braxus never jumped in before he knew what he was facing. It was one of the reasons he’d been so good at his job over the last five years. Where Menolus was impatient, Braxus was not. Unless he was certain of success, he wouldn’t make his move. That meant Menolus had time.

As the dock approached, his aching stomach gave a cheer. It was going to take all his courage to get back on this vessel in the morning. If their task wasn’t so important, and if Braxus didn’t need him, he’d have just stayed here at the end of the world until the weather improved.

But that wasn’t possible. So, one way or the other, he’d be on this floating crate in the morning. Their quarry was finally in sight.

Chapter Twenty Five

Londinium BRITTANIA

Vali drew his wife in closer. Luckily his wound was on his sword arm side, which meant Lara could cuddle in as usual on the opposite side. He knew she wasn’t sleeping, but she was quiet, lost in her own thoughts, as he was. When she was ready to talk she would.

The thatch above them rattled with crawling creatures. Every so often one would fall down onto them. Lara hated that. But it was warmer inside than out, and a steady drizzle had started up shortly after dark had finally set in. Their room, separated off from the others by animal skins strung up on rope, was at least snug and comparatively clean. A long way from what Anniana had been used to, but somewhat better than Lara had faced on occasion.

Another divided off section of the room had been allocated to their guests, while the rest of the slaves shared the rush-covered Great Room, where the fire would burn warmly all night. It was so like his old home that he could almost imagine the quiet voices were speaking his own tongue.

He heard a woman moan and gasp nearby, muffled but distinct. Lara stiffened. They both knew it had to be Ninia.

‘Pleasure, Sweetling, not pain,’ he said softly into her ear.

‘I know. It just seems so… impossible for Ninia to be like that with …’

‘That violent brute?’

‘Mmm…’

‘I think that’s what Ninia called me at one point.’

‘That’s different.’

‘No, it’s not. If he loves her, and I think he does, whether he’s ready to admit it yet or not, then he’ll treat her well. A man can have many faces.’

‘I suppose. But what if one of those faces is still our enemy?’

‘I don’t think so, but he’ll bear watching. How are you?’

‘I’m not sure. Confused, happy… sad.’

‘Sad?’

‘Knowing father is alive, but knowing I’ll never see him again, makes me sad. I’ve spent all these weeks getting over losing him, because I thought he was dead. Now I have to get used to a different kind of loss.’

‘Don’t think that way. He’s alive, and while there’s life there’s a chance. Maybe not until Salvia has forgotten you, but one day…’

‘Will she ever forget? Even if she accepts her plans are foiled, that won’t mean she’ll forget. She’ll always want revenge. She might go after Gaius…’

‘Try to ruin him?’

‘Possibly. Or kill him.’

‘Her own son? Even Salvia would have to have a powerful reason to go that far.’

‘I hope so. Gaius is too good and honourable to be ruined or destroyed by that woman.’

Vali nuzzled into her sweet-smelling hair. He wanted to make love to her, but knew that she’d be too inhibited to enjoy it. Knowing how such sounds carried now, would embarrass her too much.

Walls, he needed to get his people building walls, now that the harvest was complete and the pipes laid to bring water up to the house.

He ha
d used the bilge pumping device he’d seen on the
Baal
to drawn the water uphill
.
It wasn’t perfect, and required substantial manpower, but it was still more effective than lugging buckets up from the river. When he had more time, he’d perfect the system. It might be possible to… No, he was getting ahead of himself. He didn’t have unlimited money and human resources to indulge himself. His job was to get the estate producing and returning well for Bibulus.

It felt good to know it was his patron who would be benefiting from his work. It felt good to know he would be relieved that his trust had been rewarded, even if, in the short term he’d hate Vali for not keeping his daughter safe.

‘Ninia has changed,’ Lara said after a long, comfortable silence. The noises next door had quietened finally. Apparently Braxus was as competent in bed as he was in the arena. A man who worked hard to please his woman had worth, as far as Vali was concerned. If his past life had taught him anything, it was that selfishness in pleasure divided lovers. Giving was as good as getting in this area, and a man or woman who knew that, would hold his partner’s love or loyalty for a lifetime.

‘She’s grown up. As have you.’

‘Mmmm. That’s probably part of it. But we used to be so close. I was her best friend… now …’

‘Now you think Braxus has taken your place in her heart?’

She nodded into his shoulder, not wanting to say the word. He tightened his arm around her thin shoulder, feeling how fragile she was.

‘She probably feels the same way about me. Remember, she crossed the world to save you from this brute. I took you away from her physically, and now she knows it’s emotional, too.’

‘But how I feel about you doesn’t change… oh, I see. Clever, husband, clever. So what you want me to see is that her feelings for that killer don’t change her feelings for me?’

‘Clever wife. You can love in different ways.’

‘When did you get so wise about love? You were so determined NOT to love.’

‘I was lucky enough to have a lot of love in my early years. My father loved my mother, and yet he loved his other wives too. Not the same; not as well, I think; but he did. My mother loved him with all her heart, and that heart allowed for other women. In our world, too many men died aviking, and so it was only right that a man who could afford to care for more than one woman, should. It was a duty, and an obligation. In her way, mother loved his other wives as sisters, their children as her own. But I was always her greatest love. I knew that. It gave me the confidence to go after what I wanted. She taught me that I was of value.’

‘And then the Empire taught you that you weren’t.’ Lara’s voice was soft with compassion.

‘My anger was my way of protecting my value. But when I finally let it go, I discovered I still believe
d in myself… because of you. Your love has been like my mother’s. Your love has reminded me that I am of value.’

She sniffed back tears and kissed his neck. ‘You make me feel very proud. But, just so we’re clear, I’m not like your mother in other ways. There will be no other wives.’

He burst out laughing, and Lara’s warm hand came up to cover his mouth. He quietened down and kissed her palm. ‘I will never take another wife… another woman. You are all I’ll ever want.’

Lara levered herself up so that she could press a kiss to his lips. Her tongue explored his mouth languidly until his arousal was as hard as a rock. Her hand found it and stroked so he was forced to muffle his own groans. Then she disappeared under the covers, and moments later, the feel of her warm, wet mouth closing around him nearly had him releasing. But he held himself still, allowing her sweet torture to turn to bliss. When he could hold back no longer she took all of him, just as she’d done during those hot nights in the south.

When she came back up, he could almost see her smug smile in the dark. He kissed her lips, tasting his own essence on her. ‘Trying to be quiet was torture,’ he said into her mouth.

‘There’s torture and there’s torture. I hope it was good torture.’

‘Need I bother reassuring you it was? Go to sleep, Sweetling, or I’ll torture you in return. And you have a lot more difficulty being quiet than I do.’

She chuckled, and snuggled in for sleep. Blissfully, he let go of the world and floated off into the dark.

Ninia was just dozing off when the roar of laughter, quickly muffled, woke her. Braxus was pressed against her back, and she felt his chest vibrate as if he was chuckling at what he’d heard. Moments later, his lips slid across her naked shoulder.

Vali wasn’t like she remembered him. Or maybe her memories had been tainted by what she had seen and then later experienced. His laughter, usually constrained, had been a part of him back then. But it had always had an edge, as if it was more bravado than real humour that drove him. This laugh was nothing like that. It was light and uncontrolled, for all it was belatedly muffled. It said he was happy.

The memory of what she had seen the day before he was sent away had always been the only memory she had of him, after P
ublius. She’d slipped into the Salvia’s room to fetch something, she no longer remembered what. It was always her way to never draw attention to herself around her mistress. It was never wise to catch the attention of a snake.

That day she had entered the room and seen them. The young Vali had his mistress on her hands and knees in front of him. Her head was down, hair falling loose to the bed and then floor. Vali was slamming into her with such violent rage it stunned her. Like a rabbit caught in torchlight, she had stood frozen, as Vali’s handsome face had lifted. With sickened heart, she had seen his expression. Fury, ugly madness, and pure evil had been written on that face like a mask. His eyes were like the pits of Hades, and unseeing. It had taken her endless moments before she realised he wasn’t looking at her at all, hadn’t even registered her presence, lost as he was in his own maniacal world.

Then he’d turned his gaze down again as he delivered even more vicious strokes. Her mistress was crying, sobbing, but he wasn’t listening to her. He was beyond anything but rage.

Somehow, she’d found the energy to run. But she’d never been able to outrun that face. Especially when it b
ecame superimposed upon Publius’, only a short time later.

It was impossible to equate the man she’d seen that day with the affectionate, easy going man she had met tonight. It was an act. It had to be. No one could change so completely.

The memory of the first time she’d seen Braxus suddenly surfaced. He’d looked and behaved like a ruthless cutthroat. There had been no mercy in him, no kindness. He’d been cold and arrogant.

She compared that memory with the man she now knew: the man who had cried; the man with the silly, drunken grin; and the man who was fiercely protective of her. It was like he was a different man completely. Which was the real Braxus?

Shivering at the thought, she felt his arms close more tightly around her, even in sleep. Her body relaxed against him. It seemed to know what her brain didn’t. It trusted him. Loved him. But it would make no difference. When he left, it would be forever. It may be tomorrow, or in spring, but he would leave her. It was who he was.

16 October 79CE
,  Londinium BRITANNIA

‘Look,’ Lara said, pointing out to the river where a large barge was being pulled along by oxen. ‘It’s loaded with quarried stone… greenstone.’

‘Hmmm,’ Vali answered, as if she was commenting on the weather.

The four of them were sitting around an open fire outside the villa as they rested from a morning of threshing, while the other slaves rested nearby. Their skin itched and their clothes were scratchy with chaff. But for Ninia, it felt good to be working after so much time sitting. Travelling was exhausting, simply because it forced you to sit for such long periods of time.

‘Last night you talked of walls. There’s our walls!’
Lara said triumphantly.

Walls? Why were they talking about walls? Then she remembered her cries of pleasure that she couldn’t contain. Surely they hadn’t heard…? Her face flamed at the thought. Braxus must have been thinking the same thing because he looked her way with a wolfish grin. Men! It was almost as if he was proud of being overheard.

‘That stone will be earmarked for the government buildings going up,’ Vali said, scratching idly at his side.

‘That load, yes. But
what if we bought our own load? We could lay proper floors and real walls, not that draughty, mud packed wood. It would be cleaner.’

‘Money, Lara. Your… my patron,’ he changed the way he spoke of Bibulus pointedly, in case there were any too-interested ears around, ‘won’t be happy with us wasting good money on a stone villa.’

‘So we just build an extension in stone. For us. And… Ninia?’ She looked at her friend, a question unspoken. Was she asking her to stay? Was she planning on building her a room of her own? She had always shared Anni’s room, as her slave. But things were different now. She was a liberti, and so was Lara. And her friend shared her bed with a husband, and wanted privacy.

‘A room for me?’ she clarified, wondering if she’d misunderstood.

‘Yes. If you’ll stay. I want you to stay.’

Ninia felt her face heat with pleasure. She had not allowed herself to consider where she stood with this new person, Lara. This young woman didn’t need a handmaiden. But clearly, she still needed a friend.

‘Of course I’ll stay… but the main house with the other sl…’

‘You’re not a slave anymore, Ninia. Two small rooms wouldn’t be that much more expensive than one, would it Vali?’

Ninia watched the blonde giant. His face was serious, thoughtful, as if he were making calculations in his head. Then he nodded.

‘If I’ve got an extra back I can count on?’ He looked at Braxus.

For a moment, her lover seemed stunned by the possibility. Was it that he’d never done manual labour, or was it that he hadn’t considered being here long enough to make a constructive addition to the estate? Or maybe it was just the unspoken acceptance of his place amongst them that was startling him.