Chapter VII Trajan
VII
TRAJAN
By Jupiter, she was radiant. Magnificent.
Standing over Valerius’s body, blood spattering her pale face and white gown, Lela glowed with gratification like an avenging goddess.
She faced a beast twice her size in height, quadruple her size in weight and muscle, and she didn’t even flinch as I bent my head and tucked my wings through the archway.
“The goddess Nemesis couldn’t look more magnificent than you do right now, Lela.”
Her brow pursed, her heart pumping faster, exciting my dragon. But I kept him locked in half-skin. He wanted to meet her face-to-face, but that would have to wait.
She didn’t recognize my voice since it rumbled much deeper in this form. Yet my words were clear enough.
“Who are you?” she asked, voice steady but her brow pinched in confusion. “How do you know me?”
I recognized the presence of magic wafting in the room. I snuffed the air, grunting at the electrifying sensation skimming over my scales.
“It is Trajan,” I told her, noting the barely perceptible softening of her features.
“What are you doing here?”
I pointed toward the stone floor where blood spread wider as we spoke, now encircling one of her bare feet. “I came for him. But it seems you have beaten me to it.”
She frowned again. “You came to kill the consul?”
“Don’t seem so surprised,” I added, stepping farther into the room, listening intently for movement on the other side of the house. No one stirred.
She gave a stiff nod as if understanding. “You want to take his place in the senate.”
I wasn’t ready to confess my reasons. But I needed her to trust me.
“Why haven’t you tried to kill him before? Why tonight?”
“I wasn’t ready to die for it,” she answered easily. “But now I am.”
“That’s not necessary. We must get rid of the body. I—”
A sound in the distance. Footsteps.
“Someone’s coming.” I reached out an arm, my wings flaring wide, readying to take flight. “Come with me.”
She scoffed and stepped back. “So I can trade one master for another?” She shook her head, her long hair brushing her hip. “I’m not going with you.”
“It won’t be like that. I don’t want to be your master. I want to save you from execution.”
The footsteps were drawing closer. They must be nearing the corridor leading to his bedchamber.
“I don’t trust you,” she said simply. “I’d rather death than more of this.” She gestured around her.
“Lela. The emperor will make an example of you. You killed the consul who did all of his bidding, his hand of power in the senate.” I pointed down at her feet.
“You took that away from him. He’ll have you ripped apart publicly in the arena.
Only when you’re barely breathing will he have the praetorians set your body on fire and put you out of your misery. ”
Her eyes rounded as she let that sink in. I extended my clawed hand.
“You can trust me. Remember, you were the one who foretold I would protect you. Let me protect you.” I glanced at the door. “They’re almost here, and then I’ll have to kill half the household.”
“No.” She leaped over the body and set her hand in mine.
Scooping one arm beneath her legs, I cradled her in my arms and took three long strides out onto the terrace and then flew into the night. I didn’t dare waste a second, flying low and close to the rooftops to avoid being seen by the deathriders circling the city high above.
Her arms wound around my neck and she held on tightly as I made evasive maneuvers when I heard a voice on a balcony or on the street not far below. I didn’t want anyone catching sight of me in half-skin, but it was the only way to get back to my house quickly and safely.
Fortunately, I didn’t live far from Valerius. A fact that I’d once loathed, but now found quite convenient. Within minutes, I was landing on the wide veranda that led into my bedchamber on the back of the house facing downhill.
As I set her down, she shoved out of my arms. I marched immediately into my bedchamber, transforming back into human form as I went. I grunted at the sting of forcing the dragon back. He growled in my chest as I shoved him aside.
Even in this form, I could smell the few blood drops of Valerius that had transferred from Lela to me.
After shoving into a plain tunic, I grabbed a rag and soaked it in the water bowl on a stand near my bath chamber.
I wrung it out then walked back out to the veranda where Lela still stood. Right where I left her.
“Here.” I held out the wet rag. “I have a full bath to wash if you like.”
She narrowed her sapphire eyes at me. “This will do.”
I figured she’d say that. I kept my distance while she wiped her face, arms, and hands.
I’d seen her in the shadowy temple without the bridle, but seeing her by the torchlight on the veranda so clearly, I was mesmerized.
I took note of every fine detail—the lovely soft lines of her jaw and nose, perfectly rounded cheekbones, the gentle slope of her wide forehead.
But it was her eyes that entranced me the most—cerulean like the deepest clear sea.
“Why would you save me?” she asked directly.
I clasped my hands behind my back.
“You did something I was going to do. Now, instead of looking for me as the culprit, they’re looking for a slave woman.”
That should keep her curiosity at bay. It was also true, though I hadn’t planned it. Her expression relaxed further.
“How fortunate that I did your dirty work for you.”
“How fortunate indeed.”
Neither of us spoke for a moment, then finally she asked, “What was your plan?” She finished wiping her hands and clutched the rag in one fist. “Were you going to frame someone else for the murder of Valerius tonight?”
“No.”
“Then how would you get away with it?”
“You are quite serene and calm for a woman who just murdered a man.”
I wasn’t comfortable giving her my reasons for murdering Valerius.
Specifically since what had truly set me off tonight had nothing to do with political machinations and everything to do with her.
After the confrontation at the party and the fight with Quintus, I needed blood.
And I knew whose to spill. I wasn’t going to wait one more night to take Valerius out of this world. I moved on to another topic.
“You were worried for your lover in the consul’s house,” I continued. “When I said I’d have to kill the household.”
Her frown was back. “I have no lover.”
The tightness in my chest loosened somewhat. “The blond man. Andreas, I believe was his name.”
“Andreas.” She said his name with affinity and care. “He is a dear friend. He is likely the only reason I’m still alive.” She stepped closer to me, but I kept still. “What will become of him? To the rest of the consul’s slaves now that he’s dead.”
“Since the consul was unmarried and has no close kin, everything and everyone he owns will become the property of Rome. They’ll all be sold.”
“And fill Caesar’s coffers,” she said with disdain.
“Yes.”
She grunted with disgust and turned her face toward the twinkling lights of the city below. “What happens to me now?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.
She stared pensively. “You can pretend you won me in a game of dice and add me to your household. Valerius has done that before.”
“No. All those in my household know that I don’t gamble. And it will be awfully suspicious that I’ve added a handsome woman to my house after the praeco announces Valerius’s death in the forum tomorrow. When it is known his prized beauty Lela is the likely killer and now gone.”
She turned her head to me. “They will announce tomorrow, won’t they?”
“Undoubtedly. Caesar will want all eyes in Rome looking for you.”
And that was going to be a problem.
“Does Caesar know of your powers?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Valerius told me that Caesar would take me from him if he knew. He only told Quintus and Leto what I could do.”
“Didn’t others wonder why you wore that thing over your mouth?” I couldn’t help the spark of anger rising in my voice at the memory of her wearing that atrocity.
“Of course not. They assumed I had done something awful to be punished in such a way. No one bothered to ask.” She held my gaze. “Only you did.”
I could hardly believe that so many had gawked and stared at her at Valerius’s parties or even on the street and no one had asked more about her. By the gods, this Rome must fall.
“What will you do with me?” she asked without fear.
“For now, nothing. You’ll have to hide here in my bedchamber. I don’t want anyone in my household to know you’re here. I’ll tell my man Koska so he can get what you need.”
“Who is he? Your body slave?”
“Koska is an employee. He handles business for me.”
“You don’t trust your slaves to keep quiet, but you trust a free man? There will be a ransom on my head.”
“Of that, I’m sure. But Koska is loyal. And I already pay him handsomely to keep my secrets.”
“What other secrets do you have?”
“Too many to count, my lady.”
She frowned. “My lady? Do you mock me?”
“Not at all.” It was a slip of the tongue really. “You seem so…”
“I do not carry myself like a slave, you mean.” Her voice grated with the edge of anger, with frustration. “Valerius liked me to appear like a patrician. A noblewoman. One of his many sick fancies.”
“That may be,” I agreed. “Still, it does not all appear to be pretense. You are indeed a woman of power and strength. Like all noblewomen.”
She examined me closely, trying to discover my lie. There was none to find.
“What if the ransom is high?” She changed the subject. “Won’t your Koska be tempted?”
“It will be very high. Fortunately, I’m a wealthy man, and I pay him very well. So it won’t matter.”
Silence fell between us once again. And the image of her only moments before standing proudly over Valerius’s body struck me hard. She appeared so majestic. It was a strangely beautiful sight. I couldn’t get it out of my mind.
“Though I wish I’d had the chance to end him, I am glad that it was you who did the killing.”
“I had more cause,” she snapped.