The Perfect Concubine (5 page)

Piso put his arm about Valeria and she snuggled into the warmth of his body. ‘Did this sailor say which gladiator's house Marcus fights for?'

‘I think it was Strabo.' Valeria sat up, as her mind searched for the answer. ‘Yes that's it, Strabo the Cyrenian. Strabo in Cyrene.'

‘And you are certain of this?'

‘Yes.' Valeria settled back against his arms. ‘Will you take me to Alexandria when the winds change?'

‘If it's your desire, Valeria, we'll go.' He pressed a kiss against her temple and his kiss was a healing balm rather than a raging storm.

 

Piso watched Valeria breathe. His body protested as he eased himself out of her warm embrace. Her confession earlier had shown him what a self-important fool he'd been. He should have believed in her love for him. He longed to turn back time and save her from all that misery but he couldn't. He could only ensure her life from now on was full and complete and that she lived her life how she wanted to.

He pressed his lips together. Someone had given Valeria the wrong information. Strabo was one of the leading lanistras in Capua rather than in North Africa, making it much easier for him to travel there and plead with Marcus to return.

‘I'll keep you safe,' he whispered against her hair. ‘Trust me. Believe in me. This time, you will have a choice.'

He went to his private shrine and withdrew the little Artemis figurine. After Valeria's wedding parade, he'd discovered it tangled in his bloodied clothes. He thought the gods were mocking him. He had tucked it in his shoulder bag until he found a suitable place to leave it. On that first voyage after Valeria's wedding, it had saved his life as he returned to the boat to get it, intending to finally leave it at a temple of Artemis, but he surprised a gang of thieves and saved the cargo. Thereafter he kept it with him as a symbol of his renewed fortune. He'd thought it was the figurine, but now he knew that it had been Valeria's love, which had kept him safe and brought him home. He scribbled a brief note on a scrap of parchment before leaving the figurine and the note beside her pillow.

 

Valeria woke between tangled sheets to bright sunshine. She reached out but the bed was cold.

Valeria drew her hand back as disappointment filled her. She remembered his words about not being alone, but they brought her little comfort. She drew her knees up to her chest and tried to think. Surely he couldn't be tired of her! Last night had been beyond describing and the third day had barely begun.

She concentrated on breathing steadily as she searched for a reasonable explanation. She'd overslept. He had business. He'd be there in the atrium, listening to clients' petitions, solving problems, and she wanted to be there, near him.

Valeria hurriedly dressed and went into the deserted atrium.

‘Where's Piso?'

‘He has left. Urgent business,' the steward said with a sniff when she ran him to ground in the dining room. ‘You're to remain here until he comes back.'

He looked at her disapprovingly as if such a thing had not happened before. Valeria's insides twisted. He had left without saying goodbye. ‘Did he say where he was going?'

The steward shrugged. ‘You're to remain. That is all I know.'

Valeria walked back up to her room and discovered the Diana figurine wedged under her pillow with its scroll stating that although their agreement was for three full days together, he expected her to remain there until he returned, or he'd hunt her down and carry out his threat of tying her up. And his knots were proper sailor's knots!

She fingered Diana. He'd left his talisman for her. The goodbye would have to do. Somehow she'd have felt better if he'd taken it with him on his mysterious business. Carefully she set up a small shrine and lit a single lamp. She prayed to any god who might be listening to keep Piso safe and bring him back to her. Swiftly.

At first it seemed like a small thing and that he would be back the next day. Then, as more days passed, she began to wonder if he had regretted what they shared and was deliberately staying away. She sat for a long time, holding the figurine in her hand. Finally she went and saw her parents. Her father sat with a vacant expression while her mother complained all the time about the food, and the other furnishings that Piso had sent, even though they were of excellent quality.

‘You do want me to find Marcus? Is that truly my only purpose in life?' she asked, exasperated beyond measure. A steady rain was falling and Valeria had become soaked walking across to the small apartment.

‘You cursed our family. You were the one who took the Diana statue. If that came back…'

‘Piso left this.' Valeria walked over to the shrine and placed Diana down. ‘He had it all along. He kept it. It is mine to do what I want with, but the loss of it didn't cause this family's ill fortune. My father's and your greed caused our downfall.'

‘Do you love him?'

‘Yes, I always did,' Valeria whispered. ‘And I want him to come back but there is nothing I can do. All anyone ever says is that he is on business in the south.'

Rather than replying, her mother started to put a kettle on the brazier. ‘Shall we have peppermint tea before you go, Valeria?'

‘Valeria,' boomed a voice from the doorway. They turned to find a broad-shouldered man standing there. He sported a beard and his arms were massive but Valeria knew it was her brother.

Valeria rushed forward as her mother stood frozen like a statue, the water from the kettle dripping onto the floor. She hugged him tightly. ‘Marcus. Thank the gods. We need you. How did you know where to find us?'

‘The man who found me and brought me back is outside. Ask him,' Marcus said, putting her from him.

‘But how? Why, after all this time?'

‘He convinced me that I was wrong to be angry and stay away. He told me what the family and, in particular, you had suffered, Valeria. Threatened to knock my thick skull in until I listened. And once I did, I knew my place was here as the head of this family. Our parents are my responsibility now.' Her brother went and knelt beside their father. He took the clawed hands in his. Her father made a muffled noise as tears of joy flowed down her mother's face. Valeria stood awkwardly outside the little circle until Marcus turned to Valeria. ‘Go now, Valeria. He waits. We'll talk later after Mother makes me a cup of peppermint tea.'

Valeria rushed out and the bone-chilling rain pelted down. Piso stood alone in the deserted courtyard. His eyes smouldered when he caught sight of her. ‘Valeria. Our wager is finished.'

Her feet suddenly seemed to have turned to stone. She wanted to shake him for daring to leave her, for putting her through such misery, and she wanted to shower his face with kisses, to touch him and make sure that he was real.

‘You left without saying goodbye,' she said carefully. ‘Before the end of the third day. And it is not over until I say it is.'

He crossed the courtyard, but she began to run and they met in the middle. She lifted her face to his and accepted his kiss. ‘If I'd woken you, I would not have gone.' He caught her face between his hands. ‘I did not want to offer false promises. I might have been chasing ghosts. And it took me less than three days to figure out what I wanted for the rest of life.'

‘You left the figurine.' She wiped a raindrop from his cheek. ‘Your good-luck charm. I worried.'

‘My good-luck charm is not a figurine but a person. You.' He put his arms about her. ‘I found your brother for you, Valeria. He was in Capua, rather than North Africa, and has made a success of his career. He was furious with me for buying out his contract as he had one last fight scheduled—against a
tiro
Valens. But I made him see sense. After all, I owed him a life debt.'

She leant back his arms, searching his face. ‘From what Marcus said, you did more than that. But why did you bring him back?'

‘I wanted to release you from the wager. Under the terms, you were only released if your brother returned.' He lifted her chin, so she stared directly into his eyes. ‘I wasn't prepared to risk it.'

A great black hole opened up inside Valeria. She had misunderstood everything. He was getting ready to say goodbye. His three-day rule. He never broke it. She stepped away from him. ‘But what if I didn't want to be released? What if I want to stay with you?'

‘I want you for my wife, Valeria.' He gave a crooked smile as his hand prevented her from leaving. ‘I wanted to do things properly this time.'

His words reverberated through her brain. He wanted to marry her. Not live with her but make her again into a Roman matron. To give her back her
meaningless virtue
as he called it. ‘You want to marry me? What about your pronouncement that you'd rather face the rocky shoals of Alexandria in the teeth of a gale than marriage to a respectable Roman matron? And what about women being like fish and guests, only good for three days?'

‘There are times when I talk too much. Far too much.' He laced her fingers through his. ‘I want to spend my life growing old with you and if that means making you into a Roman matron, then so be it, I'll endure the general hilarity of the Aventine. You're as necessary to me as breathing. I've only ever wanted one woman—you. Thank all the gods, I've grown up enough to see it. Will you be my wife, Valeria, for you are already my world?'

‘Yes, I'll marry you, if only to get you to come out of this rain.' Valeria caught his wet face between her hands. ‘But if you ever leave me again without warning or word, I will take one of your ships and hunt you down…' She paused and allowed her voice to drop to a husky promise. ‘And tie you to your bed. I've been working on my knots.'

‘That is the Valeria I love.' He put his arm about her waist. ‘With a promise like that, how could I ever leave you?'

‘You mean the whole world to me, Piso.'

With Piso's arm about her waist, Valeria walked back towards where her mother stood with her brother. She knew that far from being her worst day ever, the day she had gone to Piso had been her best day. The gods had smiled on her, not because she was virtuous but because she had dared to fight for love.