A Stray Drop of Blood (25 page)

Jason’s eyes narrowed in unveiled suspicion. If that was the simple truth, why the flush, why the averted gaze? “I do not like you here. Go home and do not come to this part of town again.”

A harlot filled the doorway, vial in hand and curiosity on her face. She regarded them for half a second before smiling. “Good morning, officer.” She took up position against the post of her door. Her gaze flitted dryly to Abigail. “You have a handsome one here, love. Of course, if I had known the father agreed with your decision, I would not have been so disagreeable. Here you go.” She helt out the vial to Abigail, who, mouth agape, made no move to take it. “This should take care of your little problem. Although, it really is a shame. It would be a beautiful child.”

“
Child
?” Jason turned his gaze, hard and unblinking, on Abigail. Her lips were still parted, but she seemed to have nothing to say. When she forced her eyes up to his, there was fear in them. She looked as though she expected a blow. He just grabbed her arm. “Home. Now.”

“
Master, I–”

“
Quiet!” He would not even look at her. He kept his gaze on the path before them, his jaw clenched as tightly as his fingers were around her arm. He said nothing more, just kept propelling her forward so quickly she was forced to break into a run once in a while to keep up with his long strides.

It had been a long time since he had been so angry. It bubbled inside him, boiling just under the surface, making his vision blur and his veins rush with the power of it. He was not absolutely certain he could keep a hold on it, and he was not absolutely certain he wanted to. The deception enraged him, the betrayal cut deeply. The poison she had been about to ingest pumped through him.

Was he that distasteful to her? Did she detest him so much that she would kill his child? Kill herself? Was life with him that terrible? He was not cruel. He did not abuse her. Never had he raised a hand in violence against her, nor so much as denied her anything she asked. He gave her gifts, he touched her gently, he did not insist upon taking his pleasure if she was tired or unwell. He was not only fair, he was kind. He thought he was treating her as she deserved.

Now he wondered if she deserved anything better than the harlots his friends frequented. She had acted no better than one. With no more loyalty. What happened to her promise to honor him as she would a husband? Would she have tried to kill the child of her husband? No. A woman without a son to see after her in her old age faced poverty and despair. What had she been thinking?

He barely noticed when they reached the house. Simon opened the door for them, confusion on his face. Jason merely took the full basket from Abigail’s grasp and shoved it into the servant’s arms on his way past. He did not so much as pause, however, until he had pulled her into his chamber and slammed the door. He tossed her onto the bed, then paced the floor silently for a moment more.

When he stopped and turned to face her, Abigail visibly braced herself. He opened his mouth, raised a hand in gesticulation, then paused. Closed his eyes, made an effort to calm himself, and tried again. “Abigail.” His voice was at a normal volume, if still too tight. “What in Jove’s name were you doing?”

She swallowed. “I am pregnant, Jason.”

“
So I gathered.” He let out a growl, raked his hand through his hair, and paced again. When he turned to her, his control was once again slipping. “Were you going to tell me, Abigail? Or were you just going to poison yourself so that you lost it, probably killing yourself in the process?”

“
I had not decided,” Abigail admitted quietly.

“
There should have been no decision!” He cursed, wanting desperately to throw something to a shattering death. Nothing was handy, so he settled for cursing again. “It was that friend of yours, right? That slave of Julia’s. That was what was wrong with her. She was getting rid of a pregnancy. What, is she sleeping with the general?”

“
Yes. To all of it.”

He cursed her this time, and she flinched at the words he used. Then he was deathly silent for a moment. When he spoke again, the fury was calmer, but not abated. “She had a reason. You did not. You are in no danger of stoning, Abigail. The worst that can happen to you is remaining mine. Why is that so dreadful to you? Am I not fair? Am I not kind? Do I not treat you well?”

“
You are fair and kind.” Abigail quaked. He heard the tears in her throat, but she wisely held them back. They would not help her. “You treat me well. It is only–I do not want to go to Rome.”

It took him a moment to register what the murmurs meant. “You do not wish to go to Rome?” he repeated hollowly. “
That
is what this is about? A possible decision
five years away
?” His wrath suddenly snapped, sizzled, erupted. “I would have let you stay if you asked! But not now, Abigail. Now you have proven yourself undeserving of such regard. You are my
slave
, and you will remain so for the rest of your life. You will have my child.”

He approached her so quickly and forcefully that she recoiled. He loomed over her, pushing her into the mattress by the pure power of his anger. Putting an arm on either side of her to support himself, he glowered down into her terrified face. “You will have my child,” he said again. “You will do whatever you must to be sure it is healthy. There will be no more deception. You will not attempt to harm it again. If you do, I will have you stoned. Do you understand me, Abigail? There will be no excuses, there will be no second chances. There will be no more mercy. When I want you, I will take you, and I when I do not, you will stay out of my way.”

He pushed himself away and up as quickly as he had come down on her, then pulled her up with him, tacitly ignoring the shaking in her limbs. “You will tell no one how you have shamed me. Not even my mother. You will rejoice at this blessing as a woman should, and if the other servants ask you why I dragged you in here so angrily, you will tell them it was because I found you visiting your friend’s mother, that you were just going to inform her of her welfare. To make me forget my anger, you just informed me that you are with child. I am overjoyed!”

He pasted on a bright smile that probably still simmered with rage, holding out his arms in demonstration. “I am going to rush to share the news with my friends.
You
,” he said, grabbing her by the hand and pulling her toward the door, “are going to tell my mother that you will be giving her a grandchild. Come.”

~*~

Once more Abigail followed.

Jason’s mother, perhaps stirred by the commotion of their entrance, came into the hall just as they reached her chamber. “Jason.” Confusion etched her countenance. “I did not expect you back so soon.”

“
I am going out again.” He sounded remarkably cheerful, even smiled convincingly. He kissed his mother on the cheek. “We are having a baby, Mother. You will soon have a grandchild. Is it not a blessing?”

Ester beamed, her joy genuine and evident. “Jason! Abigail!” She hugged first one, then the other, framing Abigail’s face with her hands. “Dear one, you do not look well. Is it making you ill? That is normal enough, especially so early in the day.”

“
I will be all right,” Abigail said meekly.

“
See that she eats.” Jason’s tone brooked no argument. “I suspect she has not yet done so this morning. Am I right, beloved?”

The endearment sounded like wormwood, but Abigail kept by a hair from wincing. “You are right. I was waiting for my stomach to settle.”

He nodded, still smiling. Before leaving, he kissed Abigail’s forehead, then Ester’s cheek once more. “I will be back soon.”

To Abigail’s ears, it sounded like a threat. She closed her eyes, the tears welling up again. Was this how it would be now? A loving face before others, and hatred when they were alone? She was not sure she could bear it.

A gentle arm came around her, and Abigail opened her bleary eyes to see Ester’s compassionate smile. “It is much for you to adjust to.” Her mistress led her into her chamber and sat with her on the luxurious chaise. “I remember that much. The nausea, the fluctuating emotions. You will be crying one minute, then laughing the next. It is a blessed time, Abigail. And Jason is so pleased. Perhaps now he will marry you.”

“
Perhaps.” She could hold the tears at bay no longer. As they squeezed through her shuttered eyes, Ester urged her to lie down.

“
Rest, child. I will have Dinah make you something to eat. You must take it easy now,” she said cheerfully. “No more waiting on me hand and foot. You have my grandchild to think of.”

Abigail wished she could fall asleep and never wake up. Ester’s joy would be as hard to handle as Jason’s ire.

Chapter Seventeen

She was waiting for him. Jason saw her standing outside her door, arms crossed over her chest, lazily scanning those meandering nearby. He could tell by the way she straightened but did not move upon spotting him that it was he she was waiting for. Which was fine with him. He intended to get a few answers. Before he could head in her direction, though, he heard Lentulus hailing him rather desperately.

“
Jason! By Jupiter, man, give me a hand! Where did you go?”

The sight of his friend trying to haul Menelaus up the street, the latter draped over him like a child’s rag doll, was enough to bring a smile to Jason’s lips. Lentulus had apparently had a difficult time rousting Menelaus at all, for even now he was so drunk that he could not stand on his own.

“
One moment!” Jason called back, then headed for the harlot.

The harlot did not so much as push off from the frame, just regarded him with those old, cynical eyes. She held out the vial to him. “Before you chastise me for assisting your little woman in her dark task, why do you not see what I put in here?”

Curious enough to put aside his anger, Jason accepted the small pot and removed the cork. He dipped a finger into it, then stuck it on his tongue. His brows shot up. “Honeyed water?”

She shrugged, tamping down a smile. “Fear and expectations can go far. She would have felt ill, but she would have truly suffered only the pangs of conscience. By the time she realized I tricked her, she would have panicked herself into realizing she wanted the babe.”

His eyes narrowed, and he handed the harmless potion back to her. “Why?”

“
Because she is just a confused child. She saw that Elizabeth was recovering and thought it would be an easy way out of what seemed like a problem.” Her face grew serious, intense. “But she does not understand, Lord. Elizabeth was lucky. I have given this poison to six women now, my daughter included. She is the third to survive. Your girl–she did not realize the risks, she was too scared to recognize that her problems were not big enough to justify them. I could not reason with her. So I thought to fool her.”

Jason measured the woman for a while. She was still attractive, though age was creeping in, the kind of woman that a man took in the night and forgot the next day. The kind that no one ever thought to attribute feelings or sense to. But he saw in a heartbeat that her life had taught her many lessons. He nodded. “Thank you.”

She returned the nod, smiled. “Be easy on your woman, Lord. She is young and disappointed. And now the rest of her life is not her own.”

His smile was wry. “I shall keep that in mind.”

She obviously did not believe him. “I know she is your slave. But I have recalled some of the things Elizabeth told me about her. She was born free, and a soul does not ever forget that feeling.”

His felt his face harden, and he took a step away. “She would have married a slave. She cannot mind it so much.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “But being the wife of a slave is very different from being the slave of a rich man. I am technically free. But I would trade every vestige of freedom I have to be a wife of any man. Abigail is probably not so different.”

He left then and headed for his friends, telling himself a whore knew nothing that was relevant to his life. But still, her words tunneled into his mind.

“
It is about time,” Lentulus said testily when Jason joined him and put an arm around Menelaus from the other side. “This idiot is not light.”

He could not resist a tease.“But you are strong, Lentulus. Wiry, is that not what you call yourself? Able to run faster, jump farther, leap higher–”

“
But drag less. We each have our talents. You should have brought Titus for this task.”

Jason laughed, and they began hauling the lolling Menelaus up the street. “Titus has no patience for Menelaus when he is like this. He may have tossed him in a gutter.”

“
As would I, if I could heft him high enough.”

Menelaus, blinking against the bright sun, muttered something incoherent and nearly convinced Jason to assist in the effort. Instead, he half-carried him back to his quarters, doused him in water, and told him in no uncertain terms that next time, they would leave him to his vices.

It was after midday by the time Jason returned home. His mother greeted him with bright eyes and a ready smile.

“
She is sleeping. I have noticed that she has been tired lately, and now I have an excuse for making her rest.” She clasped her hands together, then gave him an impulsive hug. “I am so happy, Jason.”