Slave to the Empire (Historical Erotic Romance Novella Book 1) (8 page)

So focused on r
unning away and making her escape, Lucilla didn’t even hear or notice the Captain running behind her.  Without a sound, the Captain was on Lucilla within a minute of her newfound ‘freedom’.  He grabbed for her from behind and put his hand around her mouth before she could let out a scream. 

“Quiet! What are you doing? I told you to stay put! Are you trying to get yourself killed?” the
Captain asked angrily. As Lucilla continued to struggle, the Captain half carried half dragged Lucilla into the room that he snuck into earlier.

Once inside the dark room, he pushed her against the wall with his body pressed firmly against hers to keep her in place.
With his hand still over her mouth and the wall against her back, she was finding it hard to ignore the feel of the Captain’s firm body against hers.  He was so close to her that she could feel his breath on her neck as he was trying to control his breath. She wanted to ignore the chills that she felt as his hot breath tickled her neck, but all it did was slowly drain the fight out of her.

While gripp
ing hard onto his shoulders, Lucilla stared into the Captain’s eyes as he continued to hold her mouth shut with his hand. The Captain matched her gaze and a flash of heat crossed his eyes.  Lucilla’s pulse quickened and her breasts heaved hard against his chest.

“I don’t know exactly why you thought running freely around the halls of the Emperor’s palace wearing nothing but a sheer curtain would be a good plan, but that’s how you
end up in the soldier’s barracks faster than you would like!” the Captain said calmly under his breath. 

“Now, I’m going to remove my hand and you’re going to not scream and you’re not going to run.  Correct?”

Lucilla absorbed everything the Captain said and then nodded hesitantly.

“Good,”
the Captain replied.  And with that the Captain slowly removed his hand from her mouth. He then loosened the grip he had on her and released her from the wall.

Lucilla took a moment to catch her breath
and then looked to the Captain quietly.  He lit a lantern in the corner of the room and the light of the fire finally allowed her to see the Captain fully.  She knew he was tall and large but she didn’t realize how muscular he was until the light of the flame accentuated the contours of his arms.  His frame was clearly a bit intimating, but Lucilla was more taken aback by his face.

There was stubble where it
should have been clean-shaven and there was a scar along his chin and it looked like his nose might have been broken at some point, but if it weren’t for all that, his face would have looked like molded perfection.  Somehow the imperfections made him look less beautiful but more appealing. His jaw clenched tightly as if deep in thought.

Lucilla hesitantly asked, “What’s going on then? What are you planning to do…if you’re not taking me to the barracks?”

The Captain glanced at Lucilla and responded matter of factly, “I’m going to get you out of here”

“What? Really? You’re taking me home?” Lucilla asked frantically.

The Captain frowned and replied, “I don’t think you can go home right now. It won’t be safe. Right now, we’re just going to have to get you out of the palace and hidden for a little bit”

Lucilla didn’t love this idea, but anything would be better than
being stuck in the palace as a slave for the soldiers.

“O
..okay, I understand.  What do we do? Where do we go?”

“We’ll have to be quick before anyone notices that I’m missing or before
the soldiers notice that their little treat isn’t where it’s supposed to be.  I have a feeling the Corporal will be looking out for you specifically”

At that
, Lucilla shuddered with disgust.  The Corporal already gave her an uneasy feeling and she didn’t even want to think about him laying his hands on her.

“Okay, so what next then?” she asked anxiously.

“We get you some clothes and sneak you out.  I have a friend who can hide you away for a little while.  If we’re going to do this, we need to do this fast and without you asking too many questions”, the Captain paused, “and without you tripping over everything”, he added as he glanced at her transparent robes.  His eyes then traveled up her body to her bare breasts. He tore his gaze away, but not before she noticed that he somehow managed to clench his jaw even tighter.

Lucilla’s cheeks reddened only a little bit, but suddenly she found herself not so ashamed of her bare body anymore and continued on.

“Okay, let’s get some clothes for me then!”

The
Captain nodded and walked towards a closet, “Good to see that you’re capable of being more cooperative”

The
Captain pulled out a plain dress out of the closet and handed it to Lucilla.

“Here, put this on quickly”

“Who does this belong to?”

“Does it matter? Just put it on”

“It doesn’t matter, but I’d like to know whose dress I’m stealing”

“You’re not stealing and it belonged to one of the maids who no longer works here”

Lucilla nodded and took the dress.  As she started to quickly untie her robe she noticed the Captain casually turn the opposite direction. She chuckled to herself at the ridiculous show of chivalry after what happened to her. But a part of her still appreciated it.

Once fully dressed
in the maid attire and ready to go, the Captain led her down the dark hallway.

“This section is the servants quarters, so we won’t be running into anyone who will ask us questions, but we need to be quick before any of my men notice you missing”, the
Captain said cautiously.

Lucilla nodded
and walked quickly in step with him.  The Captain then stopped and glanced down at her, “To be safe, make sure you walk two steps behind me and with your head down.  Maids would never walk with an officer of the Empire.”

She
responded by pulling back two steps and lowering her head.  She would not be putting up any fights at the moment. The Captain continued to walk briskly through the halls.

It wasn’t long before they reached a door that led to a s
ide courtyard. It was less groomed and appeared to be for the servants and service workers of the palace. 

Lucilla paused for only a moment to take in t
he slightly cool night air.  Since her captivity, she wasn’t sure when or if she would get to step freely outside ever again, so feeling the chill of the night on her skin felt perfect.

“Hey! You can stargaze later
. We need to move!”

She
snapped back to reality and scurried up to the Captain and maintained a distance behind him.

“You can come up and walk with me now.  It’s dark and people won’t even notice”

Eager to not be walking openly by herself on palace property, Lucilla happily walked next to him and kept up with the Captain’s pace.

“I don’t want to risk walking through the main gate and have any of the men recognize me, so we’ll have to use the service entrance, which will dump us into a less desirable part of the city
.”

Lucilla nodded her acknowledgement quietly. She didn’t care if she was dropped into the middle of Saxon
territory; at this point she just wanted to get as far away from the palace as she could.

The
Captain kept a brisk pace, but Lucilla managed to keep up without a problem.  It wasn’t long before they reached the service gate. Before they reached the gate the Captain whispered, “Just act as if you are a maid heading home and I’m a soldier flirting with you and hoping that I might be able to join you.”

Lucilla snorted at that, “That’s the best you got?”

“It’s the only thing we got and the only thing keeping you out of a barracks cell.”

At that,
Lucilla quieted down and casually looped her arm through his, trying to play the part of a flirty lover as much as possible. The Captain chuckled and then wrapped his arm around her waist.

As they got closer to the gate, Lucilla could see more activity stirring. There were some delivery wagons waiting to be processed as well more than a handful of guards.  Without even realizing it, Lucilla held her
breath as they got closer.

“Don’t say anything and keep your head down and close to mine. When we’re only a few steps away, laugh like I said a joke and then I’ll take it fro
m there”, the Captain whispered as he casually threw his cloak over his body to cover his officer’s uniform. 

Lucilla nodded and gripped onto the
Captain’s arm tighter.

“Okay, laugh now – “

And before she even realized it, Lucilla let out the loudest and most manic laugh she ever heard.  She couldn’t control it and what’s worse is that she couldn’t stop it. The Captain stiffened immediately and looked down at her in utter shock, but continued to walk towards the gate as she laughed uncontrollably. As they approached the gate, not only did they get the attention of the guards but a few of the delivery men were now looking at them as well.

“She’s having a good time, ain’t she?” one of the guards asked the others.

The Captain responded with a good-natured smile, “Well, I just told her part of a little joke”

“Hah! Only part? I’d love to see her reaction after hearing the rest of the thing!
” one of the guards said with a laugh.

“She’ll hear the rest of it later on tonight
if she’s lucky”, the Captain said with a knowing wink to the rest of the men. All the men laughed and one of the guards at the gate waved them through.

Once through the gate, Lucilla’s wild laughter had become a quiet, uneasy giggle.

“What in the gods name was that?” the Captain asked.

“You said laugh!”

“I said laugh not scream like a banshee!”

“Well that’s my laugh!” Lucilla replied angrily, knowing full well that display was
nowhere close to her real laugh.  It was nothing she heard before to be honest.

“Well, try not to laugh ever
again!”

“Fortunately, that shouldn’t be too hard while I’m around you,
Captain.”

With a grunt, the
Captain grabbed her arm and picked up the pace.

“Come on, we need to hurry.  It’s well after midnight and it’s not the safest area to be running around
.”

It was then that Lucilla looked around and noticed what part of the city they were in.
This was an area that she always made a point of avoiding.  Honestly there was no reason to ever visit this part of the city.  The seediness coupled with the vagrants and the pickpockets definitely deterred most law-abiding folk from coming here.

“Where are we going
, Captain?”

“To a friend of mine.  They have more than enough space to hid
e you for a little while”

Lucilla paused for a moment, quietly grateful that she had a place to hide and a means for escape.

“Who’s your friend? Why would they allow a complete stranger to stay with them? All because you asked them?”

The
Captain responded matter of factly, “They owe me a favor.”

“But – “

“Would you like to stop and discuss this further right here? Or would you prefer to distance yourself further away from the palace and get to someplace safe?”

At this, Lucilla abruptly stopped talking altogether.  This didn’t seem to
phase the Captain. They continued to walk in silence for what seemed like hours down winding roads and alleyways until they were well into a much nicer area of the city. Lucilla was just about to ask when they were going to reach their destination when the Captain stopped walking and was standing in front of building.

“What? Why have we stopped?”

“We’re here”, the Captain replied nodding at the building in front of him.

Lucilla then looked up anxiously and read the sign that hung at the door.

“You can’t be serious?”

Staring down at
her in large brightly painted letters read, “LADY LUPA’S HOUSE OF SOLACE”

“A whorehouse?”

“Wanted by the Empire”

By: Lilly Fey

Lucilla has finally escaped the lecherous grasp of the Emperor, and thanks to a certain Roman officer she now finds herself hidden away in Rome’s most premier house of pleasure. Initially, she couldn’t have been more relieved to have a place of refuge, but soon things take a turn for the worst.

Mistakenly
getting the attention of one of Rome’s most powerful Senators, Lucilla finds herself forced to play the part of a courtesan and she soon becomes Rome’s most desired woman, whether she wants to be or not.