For a Roman's Heart (32 page)

A cry ripped from Adrenia before she could stop it. “No! Terentius!”

The room silenced, and all eyes turned toward her and Terentius. Terentius released her arm.

Longa and Capito headed through the crowd toward them. Adrenia’s cheeks grew warm with embarrassment. Would Terentius suffer for her folly? For a vision she didn’t understand and that filled her with terror? Whispering and strange looks followed, and Adrenia turned away from the curious faces. Terentius’s mouth hardened with disapproval, his eyes flashing.

“Is something amiss?” Capito asked as he arrived at their side with his wife.

Longa put her arm around Adrenia. Her expression accused Terentius. “She’s shaking.”

Terentius heaved a long breath. “Everything is fine. Adrenia, we’re done here for this evening.”

“But...the night has just started. I—”

“We’re done now.” He took her arm, and though he wasn’t rough, the command in his voice and touch said there would be no argument.

Terentius walked away toward his host, made apologies and told him his wife was ill.

“My dear, what happened?” Longa asked as she steered Adrenia to the atrium and away from prying eyes filled with varying degrees of pity, curiosity, and even contempt.

When they left earshot of the crowd, Adrenia managed a short accounting of what she’d seen. Longa knew Adrenia had visions, but Longa had never witnessed them.

Adrenia pulled her
palla
over her hair. “Terentius is very displeased.”

Longa squeezed her shoulder. “I would say so. Capito looked none too happy.”

“I saw it, Longa. Terentius and Victor are in great danger if they go to Germania. So is Capito.”

Longa straightened, eyes filled with anxiety. “What did you see? Was Capito hurt?”

Adrenia shrugged, a heavy weariness now lying upon her shoulders. “I don’t know. Victor was hit and Terentius...”

“Oh, my.” Longa’s lips thinned. “This is grave indeed.”

“Then you believe me?”

Longa nodded. “I do.”

Terentius stepped into the atrium in short order, his cheeks suffused with color. He bowed toward Longa. “Good day, ma’am. We make for home.”

Terentius took her arm again, and she trotted along beside him for quite some time without speaking. Terentius’s displeasure was as dark as the night. Light flickered from torches along the walls, but the black weight in her heart couldn’t be illuminated. Deciding she’d say nothing until they reached his quarters, Adrenia hoped she could salvage her relationship with him. When they reached his quarters and went inside, he didn’t speak.

She watched him anxiously as she stood in the center of the room. She slipped the
palla
from her head and looped it over a chair back. “Terentius? I had a terrible vision. If I could have controlled seeing it, I would have.”

He removed his clothes item by item, each important symbol and battle-scarred piece. He remained silent while he sat on his bed and took off his boots. Before long his beautiful body stood naked before her. His cock lay semi-erect between his legs—not something she expected.

He strolled around the room as if she did not exist, and her anger drove her to respond. “If you are angry with me, just say so. Your silences are infuriating.”

He found a wine
krater
and poured some into a goblet. “I
am
angry. I thought we agreed there would not be visions, no scenes.”

“My visions are not controllable.”

He strode across the floor until he stood right in front of her in naked glory. Despite the irritation radiating from him, she couldn’t ignore how his maleness affected her. Her pulse raced and her breathing quickened.

“Then why did you tell me you
could
control them?”

Failure rose up and swallowed her, a sense she’d ruined whatever chance she might have for acceptance as a centurion’s woman. “I didn’t say that exactly. I promised to try and be...suitable tonight.”

He gulped his wine. “When you heard I was going to Germania this so-called vision just appeared?”

“Visions come whether I want them or not. I saw a battle scene. You were there with Capito and Victor and fought against a large force. I sense terrible danger for all of you.” Impulsively she clasped his forearm with both hands. “Don’t go to Germania.”

Though she expected his animosity to continue, some of its potency drained from his eyes. He handed her the wine goblet. She took a grateful sip and it soothed her tight throat.

“I know you too well to question the accuracy of your visions,” he said. “Be that as it may, we leave for Germania within a day. Tomorrow will be taken up by preparations. After tomorrow night I will not...we won’t see each other for months.”

Brutal knowledge sent a shockwave of hurt piercing deep. The news shouldn’t have blindsided her, but it did. She should have known this could happen. She twisted her fingers together as her body went cold.

Her voice trembled as she spoke. “It is October, and winter has come. They can’t send you on a campaign.”

His eyes snapped with impatience. “It will take some weeks to reach our destination. By that time the first stirrings of spring may arrive. Then there is preparation before battle.”

Her throat tightened further. “I... I am sorry I disrupted the event tonight. I regret it deeply. If I could change it, I would.”

When his expression remained icy and remote, every bad thing she had ever thought about herself came to a head. Dignity she hoped to hold onto dissolved under his censure. Losing his affection wounded more than she could have imagined. She turned away and hung her head. Before he could react, she headed for the door and had it part of the way open before his big hands slapped down on the door and shut it.

“No,” he said. “Please.”

She turned around and found her back against the door, his arms caging her. “Would you make me be a prisoner, just like I was in my father’s home?”

His gaze boiled, but not so much with fury as with a feral strength that screamed animal desire. “Of course not.” His voice went hoarse, a sexual nuance threaded through every vowel. His lips touched her forehead. “It’s dangerous out there. If you went out alone, I’d fear for you.” His voice softened to a husky, compelling whisper. “Your safety is everything to me.”

Her heart melted a little. So he did still care. At the thought of him leaving, her heart returned to a dull, throbbing beat.

Terentius cupped the back of her neck, his eyes retaining an untamed ardor. Unspoken words hung between them, and for her part, she couldn’t force them past her lips. She feared and ached for his touch. His chest heaved up and down as if he’d taken a long run. As he tilted his head and moved in closer, excitement moved in her heart and body.

He kissed her with ferocious passion. Adrenia’s arms went around his neck, and she returned his compelling embrace with exhilaration. Wine flavored his mouth and tongue.

He drew back quickly. “I believe your visions, Adrenia, but you must restrain yourself from showing them in public.”

She almost pulled from his arms. “I did
not
lie to you. I can’t control my visions. They come when and where they will.”

Caught between anger and surging passion, she strained against his touch, and he held her tighter. “You don’t understand. If men in power at this fort learn about your visions and decide they are true, they’ll want to use you. Or their superstitions will require that they ostracize you. Their wives will fear that you want their husbands for your own. No god, not even Jupiter or Mars, will save you. The mob that attacked and killed your mother and father would seem small and petty in comparison. Don’t let your foreknowledge be your death.” His eyes looked tormented. “I could not bear it if anything happened to you.”

His eyes went glassy, and she recognized with stunned fascination that tears touched his beautiful gaze. Before she could reply, Terentius showed her in touch and taste how much he desired her. He rapidly stripped her of her clothes. He cupped her under the ass and her legs went around his hips. Raging desire didn’t stir lightly—it burst into full life.

He backed up until he sank into a chair. She straddled him, and he nestled between her legs. When he found her moist and ready, she sank downward with a gasp and a moan. Root to root, they held steady, and as her body welcomed him with hot embrace, she kissed him. Wildness escaped, and she threw all caution away. The ache inside her danced and sparked, demanded a conclusion even more exhilarating than their earlier couplings. Though she’d endured his antagonism, the fever between them demanded their bodies connect in an age-old connection. With one hand under her ass, he helped her motion. She began slow, but as they heaved and bumped together, panting moans and sobs of pleasure escaped and soon their rhythm grew to a heaving, writhing search for fulfillment.

Adrenia didn’t open her eyes, but savored the exquisite thickness parting her folds again and again as she quickened the pace. Surging, thrusting, his hips rocked upward to meet her. His own groans and gasps continued, and with a growl he powered into her.

She gasped sharply, quivered and pulsed around him as ecstasy ripped through her. Wild aftershocks held her enthralled by the power. Terentius growled again as with a last hard thrust, he burst into quivering, shaking joy. They held each other in the quiet, connected together by more than lust, and less than complete understanding.

All ideas she’d harbored a few minutes ago about leaving his arms dissolved.

Chapter Seventeen

“Time is generally the best doctor.”

Ovid

Roman Poet, BC 43– c. AD 18

Two days later

Adrenia awakened when light spilled in weak rays through the high window over her pallet. Urgency brought her awake with a gasp. She glanced around the room with frantic attention and saw that Terentius wasn’t there. Neither was his armor, his weapons, his cape...nothing. She scrambled to leave the pallet, and that’s when she saw the note left on a table. She snatched it up. Adrenia’s reading ability was spotty, but Longa had started to teach her more and she’d learned quickly.

Adrenia,

If you are reading this, then I managed to leave before you awakened. I’m sorry to depart like this, but you needed the sleep, and I’m horrible at goodbyes. Please speak to Longa this morning. I’ve posted a guard outside the door who will not leave his post until he’s delivered you to their door safely. You may trust him. I know you are to open your shop today, and I wish you all good fortune. You will make a great success out of the shop, you and Longa. By the way, even though you vowed to make your own way, your rent at the shop is paid in full...at least several months. If I should not return—

Adrenia fumbled around for a chair and sat down heavily. Tears threatened, but she pushed them back. She needed her strength for the days ahead without him. She started reading once more.

If I should not return, they have promised me you will want for nothing. There is money on the table that should provide for your necessities in the months while I am gone. If you encounter any emergency, you can rely on Longa to assist you.

Adrenia closed her eyes and drew in a shivering, painful breath. Ripped apart by sadness and sorrow, she almost crumpled his note in her hand. Instead she forced her eyes open and continued reading.

Adrenia, you are the light in my life. When I found you I had no idea what my feelings would become. I’ve been a fool in many ways, but never in knowing you and making love with you. Please stay safe, and know I hold you close to me at night and think of you many times during the day. I hope, in my heart, that you could feel but one small degree of the things I feel for you.

“Stupid man,” she whispered as tears escaped and ran down her face. “Goddess Coventina, doesn’t he understand?”

I’m sorry that Sulla is still out there. If I could have found him and killed him for you, I would have. When I come back, I will find him. He’ll know the punishment he so richly deserves.

Weave me a cape, please, so that when I return I’ll have a fresh new one. No doubt when I return from the campaign in Germania, I’ll need it. Adrenia, my sweet, please think of me during this long time apart. I can’t wait to return home to you.

Yours,

Terentius

The missive slipped from her fingers and floated to the floor. She covered her eyes and leaned forward as grief and regret pierced her.

A sob broke through her lips. “I love you, Terentius. I love you.”

One month later

“You haven’t received a letter?” Pella asked Adrenia as she sat down at the large table.

“I haven’t received one either,” Longa said as she watched Adrenia work the loom and then stop. “It’s too early.”

Adrenia loved this shop and so did Longa. That were open six days a week and so far their success almost overwhelmed them. She still couldn’t believe she’d lived here a month and enjoyed such freedom and was earning her own money. But, she didn’t live here alone. When Capito had left a few short days after Terentius, Longa had also moved into the quarters above the shop.