For a Roman's Heart (19 page)

Voices chanted. “Burn the sorceress! Burn her! Burn her! Beheading is too good for her!”

Adrenia felt the heat on her face.

Oh, goddess, please. Give me strength to face this horrible pain. This undignified death.
Tears poured from her eyes as she struggled, kicking, biting, fighting.

More than anything, she regretted that she’d never experienced total love with Terentius.

Thunderous hooves pounded the earth, a rumble that couldn’t be mistake for anything else. More people determined to see the end of her? Torches lit up the distance as men on horses approached with incredible speed.

From down the drive, a furious male voice shouted clearly over the horse’s hooves. “Stop, on the order of the governor of Britannia!”

Terentius and Victor, in full battle gear, rode horses at the front of a contingency of soldiers. A measure of relief rushed through her. She could feel the frenzy inside the mob demanding surcease. Terentius and Victor rode their large mounts through the crowd and stopped in front of Adrenia and the men holding her.

Terentius held his sword in his left hand. “Release her at once.” He growled the words, his face marred with fierce anger. “Or I will gut you on the spot.”

The men dropped her, and she fell to her knees. Terentius dismounted but didn’t go near her. His gaze flickered over her, then rushed over the remaining situation, his gaze hard as his mouth drew into an uncompromising line. Victor also dismounted, and the crowd started to break apart. Somewhat more clearheaded, she noted there were few women in the group. All the soldiers with Terentius and Victor stayed on their horses but held their swords at the ready. The very air bristled with barely restrained violence. Hate smoldered from within, ready for one last spark to set it afire. The soldiers looked like vengeance. Like death.

Terentius paced back and forth in front of the crowd. “This is an unlawful gathering and an attack on a family.”

More conversation erupted from the mob, a rebellious stirring. Adrenia’s fear resurged. The execution crowd far outnumbered the soldiers.

She wrapped her arms around herself as cold sank through her clothing. Snowflakes drifted on the wind and landed with tiny, bitter bites upon her face. She couldn’t stop shaking. The heat from the fire roaring through her home didn’t even warm her. Flames continued to crackle and surge.

Terentius kept his attention on the crowd. “Under my command every one of you could be imprisoned and tried for murder. Only the government and its authorities have the power to execute. I could unleash these men upon you with no more thought than I would squash a fly. You’ve bloodied your hands and disgraced yourself. May the gods forgive you for such treacherous bloodshed and harming an innocent.”

“The bitch is not innocent,” came a cry from the crowd.

Terentius motioned with his hand to Victor. “Bring that man to me.”

Victor stalked through the crowd, taller and fiercer looking than almost anyone in the gathering. He grabbed the small man who had spoken and dragged him forward to stand in front of Terentius. Terentius stood a good head taller than the man.

Terentius’s lips tightened, every muscle coiled to strike. “If I so chose, I could kill you now. But I’m a merciful man and never kill because of words spoken in haste and ignorance. I
could
make an exception. Apologize to Adrenia Tertia Brigomalla for your part in this disgrace and your false words. Apologize or face the consequences.”

The man walked up to her under Terentius’s watchful gaze. The man trembled from head to foot, as terrified as she’d once been. She stayed on her knees.

“I beg your forgiveness, mistress.”

She didn’t speak, her body quaking from head to toe. Her throat tightened until she couldn’t form a word.

Terentius grabbed the man by the arm and shoved him toward the crowd. “Be glad she didn’t ask for your head, you cretin. Because I would have given it to her.”

The man stumbled away into the crowd, as far from Terentius and the rest of the soldiers as he could without leaving the area.

One man broke in with, “These Brigomallas were evil, sir. Cordus has allowed them to breed here. We have a right to protect our families.”

Another man, thin and sickly in appearance, stepped forward. “My Claudia was only ten years old, sir. She was taken two weeks ago.”

More cries went up from the crowd speaking of wives, daughters, nieces who had disappeared over the years and some over the last few months.

“No one has helped us!” A man said from the back. “Our reports have fallen on deaf ears.”

“You’ve never come to me,” Terentius shouted his reprimand over the rustling crowd. “I’m searching for the man who may be responsible for recent disappearances. I’ll find him, and he will be suitably punished. You must
not
take the law into your own hands.”

Terentius moved closer to Adrenia. She longed to rush to him, but knew it could put him in danger with this unpredictable crowd. Some of their urgency had faded, perhaps appeased when blood lust eased.

“And this man who kills women,” one man said. “What will you do about him?”

“I’ll kill him myself.” Terentius’s voice held truth in the vow. “As required of me as
beneficiarius
at the fort of Durovigutum.”

A hush settled over the crowd.

A man gestured towards Adrenia. “What of her?”

“She is innocent,” Terentius said.

A growl exploded from the man, and he lunged at Adrenia with a short knife. She gasped and threw herself backwards.

Terentius jumped in front of the man, his sword plunging deep into the man’s belly. The man gasped and blood poured from his mouth. He sputtered, hanging and quivering on Terentius’s sword like a fish until Terentius pulled it from the big man’s body with a jerk. The man crumbled and lay nearby with eyes wide open.

Adrenia wanted to scream, to run. She stayed rigid upon the ground, the cold earth beneath her hands and buttocks.

Terentius gestured toward the crowd with his gore-smeared sword. “All of you get out of here and take this man’s body with you. Never engage in this treachery again. If I ever hear you have tried to harm this woman again, I will personally hunt you down.”

Soldiers surrounded the crowd on two sides and herded the people away. Victor kept on guard. Terentius turned toward Adrenia. Slowly he reached up and unbuckled his helmet. He dropped it on the ground and started toward her. Bizarre feelings of trepidation and utter relief mixed together inside her as he neared. He still held his sword at the ready, his face speckled on one side with blood.

The hardness in his face crumbled, his lips twisting in pure, sympathetic anguish and concern. “Adrenia.” His voice choked as he dropped his sword and settled to his knees beside her. He caressed the side of her face, and she flinched. His brow furrowed with concern and a tenderness she never expected to see again. “Easy. It’s all right. You’re with me. Are you hurt?”

She couldn’t speak as her entire body was wracked by the most awful shudders.

“Adrenia.” His voice ached as he slowly, so very slowly slipped his arm around her and drew her into his embrace. “Thank the gods we made it in time.”

As his arms settled around her, their power a comfort she couldn’t resist, the heat of his body warmed the icy core that once surrounded her. A whimper escaped her throat and turned into a tiny wail.

“It’s all right.” Terentius combed his fingers through her hair as he offered shelter. “Shh. Shh. I’ve got you. They can’t hurt you.”

She buried her face in his chest, fingers clutching at hard scale armor and the red cape that half covered him.

Snow came down sideways, cold and stinging and as merciless as the people who had stormed into her life tonight. The fire crackled, popped, roared like a beast. Beyond her fear she heard the soldiers talking and shouting commands. Victor’s voice came but she couldn’t make out the words. A huge void opened in her heart with nothing to fill it.

She burst into strangling, moaning cries as tears burst from her eyes.

Terentius kissed her forehead and pressed kisses to her nose and cheeks. He gathered her closer and tighter, as if he could absorb her into his body and protect her in perfect safety forevermore. Though they stood some distance from the fire, she heard the roar and heat, the consuming beast that devoured her parents and would have eaten her if not for Terentius.

Grief poured from her in gulping sobs. Grief for the violence that had torn her world apart. She couldn’t wrap her mind around what had happened, so she sank into his arms and cried until exhaustion drained her of tears.

Chapter Ten

“Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength which will always spring up if thou wilt always look there.”

Marcus Aurelius

Roman Emperor (AD 161–180), AD 121–AD 180

Terentius stalked Cordus Villa, his mind in turmoil over the events of the last several hours. Sunlight peeked into the courtyard beyond where he paced and snowflakes clung to the flowers and grass.

Today held something foreign to him, as unusual as anything he’d experienced. Just as light filtered into the courtyard and snow sparkled like jewels along the ground, worry invaded his heart like a marauding Gaul bent on expelling Roman invaders.

Disquiet hadn’t touched him for many years. At least not until he met the petite Adrenia. She lay abed in an extra room, her eyes closed, her breath assuring him that she slept. He’d looked in on her once, and he’d left her alone since then. But he couldn’t bear to leave her yet. Not yet.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. He tried to regain the equilibrium he needed to face the rest of the day. Instead he found uncertainty and a growing rage akin to battle lust burned within his body. Once again memories sliced with painful intensity as he recalled the sight of his parents’ charred remains lying in the blackened villa ruins so many years ago. He jerked from the hideous thoughts and opened his eyes.

Footsteps echoed in the courtyard to the south, and Terentius turned toward the sound quickly, reaching for his
gladius
in reaction. He didn’t know if violence had ended, and he felt primed for anything. Cordus strode toward him, robed for a full day, his eyes bright. Cordus had ridden out to the burning long house after the villagers had left the area.

Horror resided in the man’s eyes. “I’ve seen to the guards, just as you said. There are five posted around the entrances to the villa. Plus, I saw to Brigomalla and his wife. They will be buried near the villa main house.”

Terentius nodded, his hand lowering from his weapon and some tension easing away. “Good. Thank you. I still think five guards is not enough. I’d hire more.”

Dark circles marred the man’s eyes. “It’ll be done. Have you taken any sleep or nourishment?”

Terentius strode toward him until they met near one of the two fountains. “No.”

“You’ve stayed awake all night?”

“It’s not the first time.”

“Of course. I sometimes forget what it is like to be a soldier.”

Terentius asked Cordus about Adrenia’s arrangement to stay with them and pay rent. “If she stays here, you must keep her safe. If any harm comes to her—”

Cordus held up one hand. “Never fear. She is quite safe with us. She may stay as long as she wishes.”

Terentius would take the reassurance for now.
She’s lost almost everyone.

Everything.

But she has me.

Adrenia awakened, her consciousness as cloudy as a plain obscured by fog. She heard footsteps far away, and voices chattering low. She couldn’t decipher what they said, yet both voices held a sharp edge that alarmed her. Instinct instructed her to waken, her desire for preservation on full force. Memories raced through Adrenia’s head like lightning and tightened her muscles. She opened her eyes to a semi-dark room. Someone had pulled the shutters closed, but light leaked between slats and under the door. The bed was far softer and bigger than anything she’d slept on before. She had no sense of time, and as she sat up, confusion peeled back.

She gasped and put her hand to her mouth as her stomach rebelled.

Screams echoed through her mind, the singular, ugly sight of her parents’ headless bodies.

The stench of burning bodies.

She saw a chair propped under the door. She didn’t remember blocking the entrance that way before she lay down to sleep. Yet she couldn’t be sorry. No one could reach her now. No one could take her by surprise, drag her out of bed—

The doorknob turned.

Panic slid up her throat and choked her.
No. No.
Every muscle tightened in anticipation as fear swelled. When the door opened and came up against the chair, she sucked in a breath.

“Adrenia? Adrenia, let me in.”

Terentius.

Relief left her weak and trembling, and she headed for the door with slow steps.

“Adrenia, answer me. Are you all right?”

“Yes. I’m coming.” She moved the chair aside and allowed him to enter.