Chapter 17 Trajan
XVII
TRAJAN
“But are you sure he can be trusted?” asked Grandfather.
“Well, no,” I answered frankly. “But what choice have we got? We must take this chance.”
“Have you heard from your son Marcellus?” I asked Appius.
“Not in a while. But I know his general keeps him busy on the front. They are aggressively attacking the uprising in Macedonia.”
“This is a good alliance,” I told all those standing around my grandfather’s foyer.
The heads of families of our alliance had greeted me when I entered—twenty total—from every house of dragon. Even the Griseo line was represented by Horatius, who was a former gladiator champion.
They’d been anxious that I hadn’t met at the planned time.
I hadn’t told them I’d intended to visit the Visigoth king in Mamertine Prison, nor did I tell them how I’d gotten in without detection or killing a guard either.
Though I did trust these men with my own life, I wasn’t willing to gamble Lela’s.
I would keep her secrets, lest someone get the bright idea of extorting her talents for our own gain.
No one would ever use Lela again. Not as long as I lived.
“So when will we break him free?” asked Horatius in his deep-barreled timbre.
I liked Horatius. As a Griseo, he was one of the lowest caste of dragons, and yet he was more honorable than the most noble patricians of Rome. He was also a man of action. As a former gladiator, he’d gained the favor of the people and was appointed to the senate as a tribune for the people.
“During Lupercalia. As we all know, Caesar will wait to execute him after the festival. That will be the most prime time to set him free.”
“Then so be it,” said Agrippa. “It’s time we moved forward. Legatus Julian’s antics set us back and got two of us killed. No offense to your friend, Trajan, but it’s true.”
I couldn’t deny it, and yet it angered me to hear anyone say it aloud.
“Even if Julian were here, he’d agree with me that we need our own legion of warriors. This is the best solution.”
“Agreed,” said Grandfather. “So we sit quiet and wait until Lupercalia. I suppose you have a plan to break him free of prison without getting your head on a pike, my boy?”
“I’m working on it. Don’t worry. I’ll have it by the time Lupercalia comes around.”
We murmured our farewells as we exited my grandfather’s house out onto the front steps of Palatine Hill. There were many moving through the torchlit street, from one house to another. A triumph encouraged many to host parties in celebration.
Eight brawny litter-bearers in black tunics carried a fine gold-painted litter with shimmering black silk drapes over the doors as we walked out onto the street. They stopped in front of Grandfather’s steps and the curtain was drawn back.
Fausta smiled from within the dark interior, the torches on Grandfather’s front walk catching her pretty face.
“Good evening, gentlemen. Enjoying the festivities of Caesar’s great triumph?”
“Indeed, my lady,” said Grandfather. “I hope you are having a fine evening as well.”
“I am. I just came from Leto’s feast. Such a bore without you there, Trajan.”
My heart tripped when she centered her attention on me. She cast me a sultry look.
“Can I offer you a ride home? I’m heading in that direction.”
Some of the men behind me chuckled, thinking Fausta was my lover.
Let them think what they like. I hadn’t told Grandfather or anyone else about Lela, and I didn’t plan to.
I wouldn’t risk anyone knowing who might be tempted by the ransom more than their allegiance to me and our cause. I wasn’t a fool.
“I would like nothing better, Lady Fausta.”
I then ducked inside the litter and sat on the cushioned seat opposite her.
She closed the curtain and her litter-bearers marched on down the hill.
There were four oil lamps set on either side of each bench, the interior as regal and shimmering as the exterior, all flaunting Fausta’s great wealth and status.
“How did you know where I was?” I asked, knowing she must have been watching my grandfather’s home.
“You’re not the only one who can garner information.”
I arched a brow. “Koska?”
She nodded. “I received your letter.”
“I gathered as much.”
“I told him I’d like to speak with you personally, so he told me where to find you when I threatened to show up at your house.” She tilted her head in an inquisitory way. “Why wouldn’t Koska want me going to your house?”
“I believe you know the answer to that.”
She’d read my letter. She knew what I wanted. I was sure of it. Fausta was no simpleton.
Her eyes glittered with excitement. “So you are protecting the slave Lela who killed Valerius? The one Caesar is doing everything in his power to find?”
My gut clenched at that reality. I knew that Caesar was looking for her, but I’d kept that fact at the back of my mind, lest I go insane with worry.
“Tell me how you’re smuggling runaway slaves out of the city without being caught.”
“Tell me you’re sheltering her in your home first.”
I stared, wondering if I should trust her. My instincts said yes. How else was I going to get her help if I didn’t admit to it anyway?
“Lela is being protected by me. But I need to get her out of the city before one of my servants discovers her and reports us both to Caesar. Will you help me?”
She eased back against her cushion and smiled. “I’d never have guessed that you of all people had a heart for the enslaved.”
“I’d never thought you did either,” I replied. “How are you doing it?”
She shrugged a delicate shoulder in her silk stola. “How else? Through the granary and the shipments in barrels through the port.”
“I should’ve known.”
“No, you never should’ve. And you never would’ve if you hadn’t seen me speaking to her that one day. A misstep on my part.”
“Not really. Now I know we can trust you to help us. I need to get her out soon. The ransom for her head is high.”
“Five thousand denarii, I know.” She clicked her tongue. “It’s shocking your servants haven’t turned her in yet.”
“They don’t know. I keep them out of my bedchamber.”
Her gaze hardened. “Your bedchamber.” It was an accusation, not a statement.
“Where else can I keep her? And if you must know, I’ve been sleeping in my own study. I’m not a brute, Fausta.”
She arched a brow. “How did she come to you in the first place? No one knows how she escaped Valerius’s home undetected.”
I thought a moment and decided the truth was a risk worth taking. She’d trust me more.
“I found her standing over his dead body.”
“Oh, really? And why were you in Valerius’s bedchamber?”
“I believe you know the answer to that as well.”
She stared, a slight smile tugging at her lips. “Trajan Tiberius. An enemy of the state.”
“I had the same reaction when I realized you’ve been leading a smuggling ring for runaway slaves. When did you grow a heart for them to risk so much?” I asked boldly.
She paused, her expression turning somber. “When my first husband Titus taught me to.”
It was my turn to be baffled. She went on before I could come up with a reply.
“He made me understand the cruelty of it all, particularly the bastard children being born and murdered for the audacity of being conceived when a Roman took advantage of a human woman.”
The laws for many years of dragon-born bastards was to sell them to the gladiator pits abroad or kill them at birth, for there was no place for a dragon outside the nobility, according to the senate and the emperor.
In recent years, the laws demanded death.
Igniculus wanted not one of them left alive, which was why what Fausta was doing wasn’t simply risky, it was treason that would be punished by death if ever discovered.
“So he smuggled out the bastard children the mothers refused to murder at birth,” I said somberly.
“Yes. He did that for many years. And I saw his compassion. I loved him for it.”
“I never would’ve guessed.”
“No. No one would. Especially since they believe I murdered my husbands.”
“So that’s all a ruse then? You didn’t kill them?”
“Not Titus. He was the love of my life. As for the second…” She shrugged, letting me fill in the blank.
So she did murder her second husband. I didn’t bother to ask why. I honestly didn’t want to know what he’d done to garner her hatred enough to murder him.
“When can we get Lela out?” I asked, just as the litter stopped. I glanced out the curtains to see we were standing outside of my house.
“I’ll need a week’s time to get the plans together,” she said. “I use the outgoing shipments of grain heading to Egypt. I’ll need to know what port you want her dropped at along the way.”
I nodded. “When should I bring her to your house? It will need to be at night.”
“As soon as possible. Especially since you’re trying to avoid your servants discovering her. Mine can be trusted.”
I arched a brow, knowing Koska had gotten information rather easily from one of her girls. But I didn’t remark on it. I’d bring Lela to her house the night before she was to be smuggled out, at the last possible moment.
“Thank you,” I told her sincerely as I exited the litter.
Fausta grabbed my wrist to stop me. “Be careful, Trajan.”
It was the first time I saw the sincere woman behind the regal facade she wore so often.
“And you, Fausta. I’ll send Koska around for information.”
She nodded and let me go. I entered the house through the garden gate as always, glancing at the olive grove. For a moment, I hoped to find her there, to join her in the shadows as I had the other night. But she wasn’t there.
Hurrying up the steps, I crossed into the bedchamber quietly, wanting a glimpse of her safely in my bed before I adjourned to the study. The bedclothes were wrinkled but she wasn’t there either.
My heart skipped faster. Where was she? Had someone found her?
I charged out onto the balcony of my bedchamber. She wasn’t at the banister where I’d found her so many times before, gazing out at the city.
“Fuck,” I hissed, turning back toward the room.
“I’m here.”