Taurus (17 page)

“Taurus, I want you to know I didn’t mean for it to happen this way. Fate adds a twist and a turn that we…”

“You talk in riddles,” he chuckled patiently, unaware that fate planned to change him in a way no one could believe possible.

Kallie edged nearer the cart and cooed in her peculiar way.

“Are you truly all right?” Taurus asked, as a bundle of swaddling filled her arms.

She hesitated, knowing his world was about to shift and alter with the first glimpse of his baby. She offered the boy to his father for the first time, pride and joy filling her heart and soul.

“I haven’t given him his true name, but I call him Magnus. You’ll know why after you spend time with him. He has a big presence for such a little person.”

Taurus lifted the child out of her arms in awe. “This is my doing.”

“Yes, it most certainly was.”

“I paid the crone to switch your herbs into a mix to help bring a child. She tried to explain on her deathbed but I did not understand, at the time, that she meant a child.”

Kallie looked skeptical. “Why?”

“I thought it a way to annoy Rome and the East. Perhaps, all along, I searched for a way to keep you with me.” Taurus’ fascinated gaze held fast to his child. The baby’s hand moved in the air and grasped at nothing. Tiny eyes opened at the sound of a new and deep voice. He gurgled at Taurus, and then his attention strayed toward his mother.

“He’ll be hungry soon. There won’t be much time for talk while he is in need of milk.”

Arms and legs kicked wildly and the tiny mouth opened in excitement. Kallie sighed and took him into her arms.

“I can feed him in this wagon or at the house. I’d prefer indoors, away from the cool night air.”

Taurus jumped into action and led the horse and cart down the path, while she hurried alongside him. The house was meager but comfortable. Taurus drew up a chair and lit the fire. As Kallie sat feeding the baby, Taurus poured the wine and broke the bread.

“Here, you must be hungry. But what of your uncle?”

“Atticus will return later.” Kallie smiled down at the baby.

Taurus looked on as she fed their child, compelled to marvel at his son. “He’s so small and yet perfectly formed. A strange thing—children never interested me, and now I find I want to know everything about him.”

Kallie nodded. “Yes, he is all I can think about day and night.” She raised her head and looked him straight in the eye. “And his father, too. Taurus, I intended to write, once settled with my parents, but I heard rumors of Panua and the emperor’s proclamation—it is now a part of Rome.”

Taurus briefly outlined his trip and his meeting with Caius and Virga. Magnus dozed in her arms, drunk on his mother’s milk. Kallie passed him to his father, and Taurus held him like a man holding his most precious possession. He gazed tenderly, his lips curved in a satisfied smile as the baby lay sleeping in his arms.

“What do you think of Magnus Aquilus?” Kallie asked during a lull in their conversation.

“He is strong and sturdy,” Taurus said, solemnly.

“I meant his name. Perhaps you would prefer we call him Taurus, or some other family name.”

Taurus shifted, accommodating the baby’s weight in his arms. His long lean legs stretched out casually. “Hmm,” he thought for a moment. “He suits Magnus. It is a grand name for the nephew of an emperor.”

“He is your son. You must choose his name,” Kallie insisted, worrying he might later regret the boy’s name.

“Will you be my wife, Kallie?”

Caught off guard, she whispered, “I thought you didn’t want marriage. We discussed it in Panua, remember?”

“I didn’t want marriage with any woman until I met you, but I stupidly thought I could have you
and
Panua. I deluded myself with the fantasy of keeping the citizens of a petty little state happy, even if it meant hurting you.”

Kallie caressed the baby’s downy head, not daring to believe he truly meant it.

“Convinced that you were content with our arrangement, I foolishly considered you would settle for less than an equal part in our bond. Your brother is a wise man. He has with Virga what I wanted with you. A woman, a friend, and a companion, as well as the love of my life.”

Taurus glanced away in shame at the memory of his actions. “You suffered as my prisoner when I should have honored you as my guest. I am no better than the satrap and his minions.”

Kallie lifted Magnus and placed him in a reed basket beside her chair. He made a little squawking sound, and she soothed him for a moment until he settled. “I enjoyed our arrangement, except for the fact you were marketing for a wife,” Kallie mused.

“You’d do better to take the babe and return to Rome. Allow your brother to arrange a decent union, a suitable match for your station.”

“I want my son raised by his true father, not by a social climber who wishes to advance a political ambition.”

“You could have any man you laid your eyes on. A senator, a governor, even a king, if you set your mind to it. Your hesitation in the woods belies the sureness of your decision.”

“I know who I can have,” Kallie replied without arrogance, “but I want my son’s father.” She flashed a defiant yet playful look. “As the father, you hold dominion over your child’s life—and your wife.”

“No woman affects me the way you do. It is you who hold dominion over me. I am mad to suggest an alternative, even if it’s better for you and the babe.” He took her into his arms. “Are we in agreement? You and I, and Magnus, are a family.”

“Yes,” Kallie echoed, “we are a family.” She glanced at their son, sleeping peacefully after drinking his fill. “We have some time before he needs mothering again.” She tilted her face up to his. Her lips parted and her eyes invited him to make advances upon her.

“I hardly deserve your attention, Lady,” Taurus groaned as he kissed her cheek.

“But I merit yours.” Kallie sighed as his hands found their way under her clothing. She reached for and tugged the hair knotted at her neck. It tumbled down in long, dark waves. Her fingers found the lacings of his tunic, and after a few kisses they withdrew into the next room, shedding the last few garments separating their desire to be together.

****

They slid between the cool sheets, caressing one another. Kallie gasped at the boldness of his exploration. Enough time had passed since her baby’s arrival, but she blushed at the uninhibited delight her newly enlarged bosom brought to her beloved. He stroked and petted her tender breasts, licking and nibbling with a minimum of restraint, until she pleaded for him to release the milk straining to burst from her swollen mounds. “Your son will fuss if you take all his milk,” she moaned.

“I may leave him something to suck on,” Taurus growled. He reached for her hips and pulled her close, his hard shaft trapped between their bellies. She braced against his body, anticipating the moment they came together as one, rekindling their love and passion with a familiar intimacy shared so often in the past.

“Every day I missed you, Taurus.” Kallie pressed her lips against his forehead.

“Before we join as one, know that I adore you and only you, Kallie. I pledge my fidelity to you, and from this day forward I give you my everlasting love.” He took her hands and kissed her fingertips.

She gazed at him in awe. “I pledge mine. My fidelity and love is for you only.”

This moment meant more than all the treasure in the world. Neither money nor power could ever buy the joy she experienced in the arms of Taurus, her one true love. She guided him into her willing body, shivering in ecstasy at his touch. With slow and deliberate strokes he took her beyond the brink of joy as he poured out sweet assurances of his devotion.

Afterward, in the golden glow of their union, Taurus stroked her arm with his long fingers. “I will find a proper place for us to live. Not this hovel I’ve called home for months.”

Kallie bit her lip.

“What?” Familiar with her manner when matters gnawed upon her mind, he waited.

“Your son enjoys a gift of property from the emperor and his wife. It is ours until Magnus is old enough to claim it as his own.”

Taurus nodded. Wealthy nobles normally received expensive gifts bestowed at birth. “And where is this land?”

“Not too far,” Kallie waved in a vague gesture.

“Not near Panua. The emperor would not give land reclaimed by Rome after twenty-odd years.”

“Silver Lake!” Kallie’s eyes shimmered.

Taurus’ mouth twitched slightly as he digested the news. He gave no other reaction, and she couldn’t tell if he was pleased. Taurus slowly shook his head.

“You don’t want to live there?”

“Yes, I want to live there, and I am pleased Magnus is the heir to a fine estate and an equally fine upbringing, but surely you are set on Greece or Actinium. What about your home and your family?”

“I intend to see my family often, but the thought of Silver Lake as our home pleases me. I asked for it when Caius suggested bestowing a property. Virga favored the idea immediately, and the emperor trusts his wife’s instincts.” Kallie slid her hand across his hard-muscled belly. “We will visit Greece and Actinium, but our children will thrive and grow where we are happiest.”

“You have more babies planned?” Taurus laughed.

“Judging by our reunion, it will not be long before Magnus has a sibling.”

“Whatever you want, Wife.” He grinned. “We’ll leave for Silver Lake in the morning. Atticus is welcome to come along and help us settle in.”

Kallie giggled. “Did I ever tell you I often dreamed of a wolf when I slept in your bed?”

“No.” Taurus frowned. “What does it mean?”

“You are the wolf, the untamed life I have always wanted. Our family will be happy and full of joy, like mine when I was a little girl.” She sighed and laid her cheek on his chest.

“The moon is full tonight, Kallie. Perhaps it’s a sign.”

They got up to look out the small window at the moon eerily washing them in a silvery cast of pale light.

“Yes,” Kallie muttered superstitiously. “Legend says the wolf rules Rome.”

She picked up their son and held him securely in her arms. No harm would come to him, she silently promised. Her beautiful boy embodied the center of her world. A shiver ran down her spine.

Magnus will be Emperor one day
.

Her son, the son of Taurus, would someday replace her brother, Caius. The dearest wish of Lidia Paulinus, to end Gregorian rule, had become a tangible possibility. The heir of Paulus Paulinus would rule the Roman Empire.

Was it the old woman’s plan all along?
Lidia had waited twenty years to fulfill her dream, and in Kallie’s arms rested the male heir to both families. Her hand gently rubbed Magnus’ back as he tipped his little head with partially opened eyes, and gave his mother a toothless smile, happily slumping onto her chest.

Taurus need not know of her vision. Caught up in the happiness of becoming a father and a husband, Lidia’s manipulating hand might change his views. For now, they had a child to raise and a new family to create together.

Taurus reached out and circled the two of them, mother and child, in his strong embrace. Kallie sighed in complete contentment and leaned her body against his. Who would have thought she held the key to the empire? The future was set, the path hers to follow.
Magnus, Emperor of Rome!

She smiled up at Taurus. “Are you sure you want this life? You are exiled forever more.”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything.” He hugged them both gently. “My heart belongs to you.”

Epilogue

Ten Years Later

A watercraft hove into view and Kallie waved at the five passengers returning from an afternoon on the lake. Magnus and Maximus sat in front, and Marcus, her four-year-old, sat by Taurus, who watched all three of his boys with the vigilance of a loving father. Atticus poled the craft along the edge of the reeds, older but still strong and vigorous.

Kallie held the latest addition to their happy family. Carissa Attia Taura, affectionately named Catia.

The older boys jumped from the skiff and ran to their mother, yelling and laughing over their exciting adventures, dutifully waiting until their little brother Marcus released his father’s hand and kissed his mother. They took him to the house, where Kristokus patiently waited for his charges to wash the dirt off their bodies before allowing them near the kitchen.

Taurus eyed Kallie as she bit her lower lip with her perfectly white teeth.

“What has happened?”

“News from Rome,” she said thickly.

Atticus motioned to leave, thinking she preferred to speak to her husband alone.

“No, Uncle, stay! This concerns all of us.”

Atticus froze. “You know me as superstitious. To see fish floating on the lake and a rotting bird this morning was a bad omen.”

“A letter arrived from my parents this morning. Virga delivered twin girls a week ago.” Kallie trembled as she spoke, her voice a thin quiver of its usual strength.

Taurus lifted Catia out of her arms and handed his daughter to Atticus. He offered his open arms to his wife and she stepped into his embrace, chilled even though it was a warm summer’s day. “And?” Taurus asked, knowing she had dreadful news.

“Virga is dead. She died having the twins. Caius is distraught. He is in seclusion and will not see the babies.”

Kallie’s eyes widened with horror as she spoke. Every woman knew having a baby was a life-threatening situation, but Virga had birthed one daughter successfully. She and Caius were in the prime of their lives, both healthy and happy. And now this!

“I am shocked by this news. We have four children, and for each one I prayed to the gods for your life, and every time my prayers were answered. The wife of the emperor, the subject of every prayer in the empire, should not succumb to childbearing.”

Kallie wrapped her arms tight around her husband, sobbing quietly.

“We must go to Rome,” Taurus said with a surety that caught Kallie off guard.

“Why?” Kallie asked, unwilling to leave their perfect world at Silver Lake.

Atticus spoke up. “He’s right. Your boys are the heirs to Rome. Caius needs them to pull out of his distress. And the new babes need a proper mother, not servants.”