A Stray Drop of Blood (71 page)

Abigail dashed quickly at the offending droplets. “I am sorry. I just miss my sons and Titus.”

Sophia’s hands paused in her task, eyes wide. “You have Titus’s son?”

Abigail drew in a shaking breath. “No. No, I have my late husband’s son. Jason Visibullis. I am his widow, and Titus brought me to Rome to claim the estates when Jason and his father were both killed.”

Sophia stared at her blankly. “Jason is dead?” Her words were no more than a whisper.

A chill moved up Abigail’s spine at the recognition she saw in Sophia’s eyes. “In an uprising in Jerusalem six months ago.” She waited a moment, trying to convince herself not to ask the question that spilled forth anyway. “You knew him?”

Sophia nodded, looking back to her cauldron, her chest rising and falling a bit too rapidly. “He came by often. Several of us . . .” She halted, as if debating whether or not saying what was on her mind would offend Abigail. She apparently decided it did not matter much. “Titus gave several of us to him over the course of the years. He was a kind man. A gentle lover.”

Abigail concentrated on her vegetables.

She felt Sophia’s gaze on her profile. “He must have loved you very much, if he married you. What I heard of the men’s conversations led me to believe Jason would never wed a Hebrew.”

A soft smile pulled at Abigail’s lips. “His conversations led me to believe the same, Sophia. Moreover, I was only his mother’s handmaid. But he did love me very much. And you are right. He was a kind man. A good man.”

Sophia shook her head in remonstrance. “And yet you say it is Titus you miss, not your husband.”

This time, Abigail did not flush. She just looked up at the older woman without even stilling her hands in their task. It may have been a while since she worked in the kitchen, but years of skill did not simply fade forgotten from one’s fingers. “I do miss Jason. He changed my life more than I could have ever dreamed; but that made it difficult for me to open my heart to him at the time. Titus, though, has changed with me over this last half year. We became friends.”

Sophia arched an unbelieving brow. “Titus is never the friend of a woman. Women are but to be conquered and taken in his eyes. And if his friend married you, a Jewish slave, he would harbor nothing but hatred for you. The Asiniuses had high ambitions for Jason.”

“
I know.” Abigail moved the cut vegetables aside with a quick swipe and picked up a few more. She did not see the point of saying more. She knew very well she would not be believed.

A moment later, an unmistakably large shadow fell over them. Abigail stiffened, suddenly wondering if talking was forbidden and she would meet with the consequences for it, but she did not stop her work. Perhaps he was simply checking up on them.

That idea fell flat when his meaty hand came down and gripped the top of her head. He at once pulled her head back and leaned over her so that she was looking into his face upside down. It may have been comical had it not been terrifying.

“
You are good with a knife,” Goliath said, indicating the considerable pile of vegetables before her.

“
Yes.”

He moved her head back into the proper position, then turned her toward another corner of the room, where a stack of cheeses stood. “When you finish the vegetables, slice the cheeses. This thick.” He held up fingers in front of her face to illustrate. “All of them.”

“
Yes, sir.”

He removed his hand and turned to glare at Sophia. “You would do well to learn a few things from this one.”

He sauntered away, and Abigail sighed, closing her eyes briefly. There went her hopes of not making enemies among the slaves. Without even glancing up again, she set to work with a fury.

Chapter Forty-Four

Ester looked from one man to the other. “What do you mean, she is gone?”

“
I am sorry.” Caius Asinius offered a smile that fell short of sincere. “It shocked us all to find that she had left, but it was unmistakable. Her things were gone, clothes and jewels and everything, when we awoke this morning.”

Ester did not narrow her eyes in suspicion. She did not have to. She just regarded him unflinchingly and recalled everything her son had told her about this man. She straightened her shoulders and held Caius’s gaze. “Where is my grandson?”

“
I do not know. She must have taken him with her.”

“
I see.” Ester let her eyes move over the room. It was beautiful, far lovelier than the place she had called home for so many years, but she wanted nothing more than to escape its oppressive walls. She looked back to the owner, whose eyes refelcted his home’s ice.

Her family had been tampered with enough. She did not need this arrogant Roman interfering with what happiness she still had available. “You are obviously not as smart as you would have me think, Caius Asinius, or you would know that Abigail would never run away on the morn of our reunion. You would know that I am her mother and that she would not react to me as
your
slaves do to you, because she is
not
my slave, she never was by your definition. So whatever you have done, you will not convince me you were not the one behind it. And though I may not be able to make you pay for it, I will certainly not let you get away with it.”

She turned and strode from the room, Andrew, Simon and two of Drusus’s men surrounding her. She headed for the door that would take her outside.

“
Wait!”

It was not Caius’s voice, but a woman’s, so Ester obeyed. She turned to see who was obviously the lady of the house rushing up. There was a younger woman behind her, clutching a bundle to her chest as they hurried, slaves protecting them as well.

The woman came to a harried halt in front of Ester.“I am Aquilia, Titus’s mother. Titus is out of town, Phillip, Abigail’s bodyguard, has not yet returned with news of her, but I swear to you we shall get her back.” She motioned the girl behind her forward. “This is Miriam, Abigail’s handmaiden. And this is Benjamin.”

Ester looked with awe at the small boy who gazed back at her with infant interest out of Jason’s eyes. She reached out to take him, holding him close to her chest. “You are beautiful, my child.” She closed her eyes against sudden tears.

“
I recommend taking him and Samuel and Miriam to the villa at once,” Aquilia went on. “My people know the way. In fact, I would ask to be allowed to come with you. I will not spend another day under the same roof as that monster.”

Ester looked up at the woman. She saw a rich and bejeweled Roman noble, one who had probably never known a day of want in her life. She saw a sad and empty woman who had never had a day of happiness in her life. She smiled. “I can think of nothing better. How soon can you be ready?”

“
I am ready now.” Aquilia returned the smile.

“
Ready for what?” Caius appeared in the doorway. He looked from Ester to the babe in her arms to his wife to the handmaiden.

Aquilia made no reply. She simply turned and began issuing orders for her things to be brought out, then moved to Ester’s side and ushered her out the door.

He grabbed his wife’s elbow. “You will go nowhere! Would you make a laughingstock of this family?”

Aquilia pulled her arm free and glowered at him. “You have already succeeded in that, Caius, by forcing your son to choose between his father and his heart. Because there was never any question, and all of Rome knows it. If this family suffers, it is no one’s fault but yours.”

Moments later, a woman brought out Samuel, and a processions of slaves followed with the rest of the belongings to be moved. Caius sputtered, though he calmed somewhat when a provocatively dressed slave slid up behind him and put a hand on his arm.

Aquilia raised her brows at them. “I considered sending you to the arenas as a parting gesture, Caelia, but I decided it was more fitting that the two of you poison each other. I have no doubt you shall feed on each other’s misery until one of you kills the other. I wish you all the worst.” She spun away, leading the procession outside.

Ester said nothing about that parting exchange until they were well on their way. “I hate to think that my family has come between yours, my friend.”

Aquilia gave a humorless laugh. “My family was in ruins at its start. All yours has done is make us see that there is something better to be had.” She met Ester’s gaze. “Titus is completely in love with her. No thing, no one before Abigail has ever inspired him to be so strong and kind. Your daughter has saved my son. I feel as though I owe you for that, knowing as I do that it was the love of you and your husband that made her into the woman she is.”

At that, Ester had to smile. “Thank you, my friend; but you are mistaken in that. The heart Abigail has was the heart she came to me with. She suffered much in the first years of her life, but it only made her soul great. I am not surprised to hear that your son loves her. Everyone does.”

Aquilia nodded and drew in a breath. “They plan to marry.”

Ester’s eyes widened in surprise. “Marry? But she has been a widow only–”

“
They know that.” She reached over and rested her hand on Ester’s wrist. Ester had a feeling that such a sign of compassion was unfamiliar to the Roman, but it meant all the more for that. “But when you see them together, you will understand. Their hearts are one. They need each other. That is the news that pushed Caius over the edge of his anger with Abigail.”

Ester covered the elegant fingers with her own. She kept her gaze on their hands as thoughts whispered through her mind. At last, she said, “Then there is only one thing to do. We must pray.”

~*~

Her breasts were so sore and heavy with milk that Abigail wanted to do nothing but wrap her arms around herself and moan. Every time she blinked, she saw Benjamin, and it only made the pain that much worse. It was evening by the time Goliath slanted a glance at the stains seeping through her tunic. As darkness was falling, Abigail found herself shoved into a small room without any explanation. A moment later, a baby was put in her arms who was fussing healthily. She knew not whose child it was or why she was in the arena compound, and she did not ask. She simply gave her a breast and let her own tears fall as this one innocent child took the milk that should have gone to another. But knowing Benjamin would be cared for, Abigail comforted herself in that she was helping
some
babe, at least.

She wanted her own.

As soon as the child had eaten her fill, the same slave that had put the girl in her arms reappeared to take her back. Abigail was not given much time to wonder about where she was to go. A man she had not seen before appeared and beckoned for her to follow him. “You go to Ares. Come.”

Afraid to do otherwise, she obeyed. After minutes of walking, they entered what seemed to be a corridor of cells. Judging by the space between the doors, Abigail decided they could not be much larger than the closet she had called her room for most of her life. But behind these there was no familiarity, no trunk of small treasures, no peace and solitude.

“
Let your hand rest upon me, Jehovah.” Abigail prayed silently, her lips moving though she let no air take the words from her mouth. “Protect me and deliver me, I beg you.”

The guard stopped in front of a door at the very end of the corridor. Without a word to Abigail, he knocked quickly, inserted a key into the lock, and turned it. Opened it, pushed her inside. She was still regaining her balance when the resounding thud of the closing portal shook the room. Abigail’s eyes adjusted quickly, so that she could make out the man kneeling below the one window in the room, as if in prayer.

Abigail fell to her knees, too, and bowed until her forehead kissed the cold stone floor. “Do not cast me out, Lord.” Her voice trembled

Through the hair that had fallen over her, she saw him turn his head partly, as if irritated at the interruption. The profile he presented showed a nose obviously broken at least once, a scar running from midcheek to ear, and a hardness born from a life of violence. “You will not flatter me, woman. Knock and leave, I will not be your lord.”

Abigail’s fingers clenched tightly, until her nails dug into her palms. “I have heard that you accept no one. And I do not ask to be an exception to that, no matter your reasons. I ask for your protection, Lord. If you send me away, they will give me to one who will not refuse. Please. I only wish to remain faithful to my betrothed until he comes for me.”

Ares stood and turned to face her. “Rise, woman. I am not a god for you to bow to.”

Abigail lifted her head. Sat up. Then rose to her feet. They stared at each other for a long moment.

“
You are a Jewess,” he pronounced dryly.

She did not know whether it was hope or fear that sprang up in her. “And you are a Samaritan.”

Ares folded muscled arms over his chest. “What an interesting turn of fate, that one of the chosen shows up in the prison of a dog to beseech him for her virtue.”

Abigail did not so much as look away. She raised her chin a degree and returned, “Indeed. How blessed I am, that the Lord has brought me to the door of one who recognizes his sovereignty, when so easily I could have been given to a heathen.”