A Stray Drop of Blood (21 page)

The four guests stared at her in complete amazement. It was Titus who regained his tongue first. “Then this god-man would look at you, want you like every other man, have the power to take you, but turn away?” He gave a scoffing laugh and looked at his friends. “Then he is not a man.”

Abigail raised her chin a notch. “My God, and hence his Son, would look at me and see my heart rather than my face. As only the
best
of men can ever do.”

Apidius gave a smile that was warm rather than hot. “I think we have been chastised for our roaming eyes.”

Titus waved that off. “It is a point not worthy of debate anyway. There is no
one
god with those qualities. Israel is the only nation backward enough to dare think there is. Look around you.” His cold gaze bore through her as he held out a hand in demonstration. “How could one being have created this world, and how could one being maintain it?”

Abigail picked up her wine pitcher and moved around the room to refresh their cups as she answered. “Perhaps you should ask how
more
than one could do such things, Lord. Your gods–” She poured the fruit of the vine into his cup and glanced briefly into his face “–their powers are divided. You have Jove, with power over the heavens, Neptune over the sea, and Pluto over the underworld. The earth was available to them all. Juno, goddess over women. Apollo, the sun. Diana, the moon. Mars, war, and Cupid, love.”

She had moved to Apidius as she spoke and was at Lentulus’s elbow when she paused to shake her head. “If these gods were harmonious, perhaps it would be conceivable that they could keep the fabric of the universe from fraying. But their natures are more tempestuous than the sea. They disagree on everything. They imprisoned their own family, cuckold one another, and undermine the other gods for a bid at more power.” She was at Menelaus now and offered him a smile. “If your soldiers behaved that way, Lord, what would the legion look like?”

“
Not like a legion.” Menelaus turned his grin toward Titus. “The woman has a point. If one being could have all the power of our gods, but without the multiplicity of wills, he would be much better able to control the world and all within it.”

“
And Odysseus would not have been ten years returning to Ithaca,” Abigail added dryly.

Titus’s lips itched upward but did not break into a full smile. “I daresay your righteous god would not have made his way any easier than Menelaus’s did.”

Apidius had pursed his lips in thought. “Going back to a Son, then. How would this not make that multiplicity? If such a man was a man but with the powers of a god, how would that not make him another god?”

Abigail had to give a moment’s thought to that one and looked over at Jason to see if perhaps he wanted to handle it. But Jason looked at her as expectantly as the others, his mouth curved to show that he was enjoying the discussion. She put down her pitcher carefully to give herself time to think. “Perhaps it would help to think of God not as one thinks of a man,” she began. “Think of him as–Rome. Rome is an entity in itself, one thing bound together into a cohesive whole that lets it be called Rome. But there is also the Roman Empire. Corinth is not Rome. But it is under Roman control. If a map of the empire were drawn, it would include Corinth. Now, Corinth can act on its own interests, can indulge in the lives of its private citizens, and that makes it no more or less Roman. But if Corinth aligns itself with its capital, if it were ruled by a man whose will was dictated by the will of Caesar–well then, it would be but a limb of Rome, would it not? Separate, but part of the whole. Having its own wills, but choosing the greater good instead. A Son of my God would be like Corinth, I think. Individual, but inseparable. He would have the authority of Rome, let us say, without the location.”

Lentulus sent his eyes to his host, brows raised and impressed. “Jason, your woman is as articulate as our professor at the academy.”

Jason smiled. “You should hear her talk of Plato.”

It was Titus, this time, who maintained the serious subject. “So then this Son of the one God would have all of this God’s powers, a will of his own that he deliberately subjected to his Father’s, and a place of his own.” He shook his head. “Then if such a man ever existed, he would indeed be a threat to us. He would come and set up rule of the world with a snap of his fingers.”

But Abigail smiled. “Jehovah would not will that, though. The God of the Jews wants alone to reign in our hearts, and if he does that successfully, we will all treat each other with love and respect. There would be no need for a king, just a prophet to hear the words of God. So his Son would not come to rule nations. He would come to direct the people’s hearts back to the Father.”

Menelaus arched his brows. “So I suppose you think this Jesus is not threatening, then.”

Abigail shrugged. “I think I do not know who this man is. I can speak of a hypothetical Son and what he would necessarily be. But I will not ascribe that office to a man just because he teaches well. He may turn out to be a sophist rather than a philosopher.”

Laughter rang out again, and Abigail bowed out of the conversation under the guise of going to the kitchen to replenish the food. By the time she returned, talk was on other topics, and their eyes were back to assessing her very much as a woman and not at all as a source of knowledge.

Her goals of blending into the walls were impossible to meet.

Chapter Fourteen

“
You made me proud today, Abigail.”

Abigail glanced over to where Jason was helping clear the room of the evidence of his friends.

He should not be doing such work, but he smiled into the scowl she sent him. “Romans tend to be a bit–arrogant. Sometimes I feel the need to assure them the other half of my heritage is every bit as admirable as theirs. You certainly did that today, proving the Hebrews can be as articulate as they can be beautiful.”

Abigail smiled now too. Ester would love to hear him uttering his pride. “They seem to accept you readily, Master, for all you are. They respect you.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “They respect me because they think of me as a Roman. And while I am that, it certainly does not mean that what my mother gave me is worthless. Just because I favor my father’s traditions does not negate the other half of my heritage. Indeed,” he added dryly, “with my father embracing my mother’s religion as he does, it seems I
must
defend it to them. I fear, though, I have been ignoring it too long in their presence to adequately do so. But you did well speaking for the Hebrews, Abigail.”

She ducked her head at the compliment.

“
Well.” He looked around him with satisfaction. “That seems to be the last of it. We have the next day to relax, beloved. I will not even make you cook. There is enough here already to feed us until Dinah returns.”

“
Surely you will want dinner tonight before your shift begins.” As she spoke, she realized for the first time that she would be left alone all the night long. The idea did not settle well. She would not mind a night in her own chamber, but with
no one
else around? An uneasiness began to claw its way up her throat.

“
Oh, did I not tell you?” Surprise shone on his face. “Another centurion is covering for me tonight, repaying a favor he owed. I will not have to go anywhere.” He grinned with a hint of mischief. “Although I see no reason to tell my father this little bit of news. He will be angry that I did not then take the opportunity to go hear the Nazarene teach.”

Relieved at not being alone, Abigail could not drum up any aversion for the deception. She nodded.

They spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening in normal activities for Abigail; for a while she sang, lute in hand, and then she read aloud to Jason from Aristotle’s
Politics
, a manuscript he had just recently acquired. As dusk settled, they engaged in a lively debate on the subjects brought up in the treatise, and on more than one occasion Jason looked at her with complete disbelief.

“
I am beginning to understand the decisions my father made on your education,” he said at one point. “To
not
instruct you in these subjects would be to deprive oneself of hours of entertaining argument.”

She rolled her eyes and turned to another point in the treatise.

After the moon had risen and the stars made their appearance, they settled into bed for the night. Jason ran his fingers lightly over her back as she rested against his chest. “I think you would like Rome, Abigail. In Israel, so much emphasis is put on the Law that other literature is hard to come by. But there, there are libraries, academies–everywhere you turn, there is the opportunity to read and learn.”

Abigail studied his profile in the moonlight, unable to miss the love in his voice for that city he had left so recently. Surely it was a vain hope on her mistress’s part that he might remain in Jerusalem forever. “When do you plan to return?”

Jason took a deep breath, then let it back out slowly. “I do not know, really. I hope within five years. Caius Asinius, Titus’s father, has promised to help me launch a political career when I return. Hopefully when that happens Father will gift me with the land he still owns outside the city.”

This was news to Abigail, and she wondered why she had not heard of it in six years. “Your father owns land in Rome?”

“
Yes. Titus and I went out to look at it before we left for Israel. The steward is a trustworthy man, one Father knew since he was a child. He takes excellent care of it, and he corresponds with Father regularly. But I cannot imagine my parents ever going to Rome to live.”

“
No. I cannot either.”

“
It is a beautiful place.” A smile colored his voice. “The estate is large, probably about five miles outside of the walls of Rome, and absolutely breathtaking. The house is three times the size of this one, at least. Not exactly the largest in the area, but nothing to scoff at. Titus was impressed, and that must say
something
.”

He glanced down at Abigail. “Perhaps I will take you back with me.”

Abigail stiffened with panic at the suggestion. “Five years is a long time, Jason.”

To her surprise, he chuckled. “Indeed it is, beloved. That is why I make no firm promises to you. But many things could happen in that time. We could have children. If that happened, I would naturally take you wherever I went.”

The possibility of becoming pregnant had not been one that Abigail wanted to entertain. “Would you?” She squeezed her eyes closed to try to force the idea from her mind.

“
Of course. You are my responsibility, Abigail. And if children come, they will be too. I would never ignore the existence of my own child, and I would also never separate him from his mother. You would therefore both come with me.”

“
Of course.” She said no more and was glad when he, too, kept silent. The possibility of being taken from the home she had grown up in, away from the only people who had loved her since the death of her own mother . . . . She would not think about it. Surely he would tire of her soon. She would be content with today’s troubles and not borrow any from tomorrow. That was what Andrew would have told her to do.

~*~

Ester did not attempt to hide her turmoil from her maid. Instead, as the daily routine was reinstated after the short reprieve and the men were off to the day’s work, she drew her friend onto the couch beside her and let out a laborious sigh.

“
I simply know not what to think of it all.” She focused her eyes on the ceiling. “I watched him heal a blind man, Abigail. Just a simple touch, and the man could see. And this Jesus himself.” She interrupted herself with another sigh. “He looked like any other man. But his words, Abigail–his lessons were sound, but then a man asked him a question obviously meant to make him stumble, and do you know what he did?”

Abigail arched her brows in question.

“
He said, ‘Beware the poison of the Pharisees, for they seek glory for themselves at the cost of their souls. They speak the Law and live for their own whims.’”

Abigail made no reply, but Ester shook her head. Resentment clouded her vision. “My father was a Pharisee. Does that necessarily make him a bad man? A selfish one?”

“
No, my lady.” Abigail’s quiet voice cut through her temper. “But he is a perfect example of a man who thought more of his own position and the reflections upon it than of love for his child, is he not?”

Ester froze, shocked that the girl would stick up for her even against her own words. “Perhaps. But many men would do the same.”

“
And perhaps that is so because men see their leaders doing it. If a man’s heart is not obedient to the Law, does it matter that his lips are?”

“‘
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and strength,’” Ester quoted softly. “You are right. But who is he to see into the hearts of man? To judge whether they are obeying in deeds only, or also in their souls?” She shook her head almost mournfully. “It is easy to condemn those who despise you.”