'Were you about to fight him?'
Valens took Bato from her and set the dog down. He resisted the temptation to draw her into his arms and contented himself with brushing some tendrils of hair behind her ear. She gave a tremulous smile, one that made his heart skip a beat.
'If I had to, I would have. No doubt this little encounter has sealed my fate for the games,' he said to draw his attention from her lips, which were now back to their normal rose colour.
The words were easier to say aloud than to think them. Before him danced the tantalising image of beating Aquilia and being awarded the radius for it. Victory would be all the sweeter for avenging the death of his comrades. He could almost hear the roar of the crowd. And what would he do afterwards? Valens jerked his mind away from the thoughts. Nothing must exist outside the arena. To do that would be tempting the Fates.
The other possibility he refused to consider. He would win because he had to win.
'How so? How is your fate sealed?' Julia crossed her arms and looked up at him with narrowed eyes. 'Even knowing as little as I do about the games, I thought the matches were decided on the day. A great play is made of stones being drawn out. Vestal Virgins are used.'
Valens decided to give her an edited version of gladiator procedure, rather than the truth. He refused to believe that the Fates would place Aquilia in his path and not allow him to fight, to avenge his capture.
'I believe Aquilia and I will meet in the ring. Strabo saw the crowd, and heard the shouts. He might be annoyed now, but when he calms down, he'll see it as a commercial opportunity. Despite the nonsense of picking fighters from a hat on the day of the match, I believe the Fates have already decreed or at least been given a helping hand.'
Julia made an annoyed pushing-away motion with her hand.
'You make it sound like it was some sort of children's game. You could have been hurt. That man is frightening. I was quaking in my sandals.'
'Julia, that's my job, my profession.' Valens looked at her in dismay. 'Every time I enter the ring, I could get hurt or killed. Men like Aquilia don't frighten me—now.'
He looked into her face and realised it was a lie. What unnerved him was that Aquilia had instinctively found something that made him lose control—Julia.
Chapter Six
Julia tried to stop the trembling of her arms, her entire body as she stared at Valens. Now he seemed to have shrunk back to normal size, but when he had been arguing with that other gladiator he had seemed a giant consumed with anger. How could she explain to Valens that the entire confrontation terrified her? His reaction to Aquilia frightened her, as well as being so close to two such large men who seemed to be out of control.
As she had watched the two square off and Valens's angry retorts echoed in her ears, she had had flashbacks to her marriage when Lucius had gone into rages. Sometimes Bato's low growl had prevented Lucius from striking her and sometimes he hit her anyway. She swallowed hard and tried to rid her stomach of the empty hollow feeling. She had sworn to Venus, when she left Lucius, she would not have anything to do with men who lost their tempers easily.
Her eyes traced the line of Valens's jaw where shadowy stubble had appeared. She looked at the silver armour and tried once again to reconcile it with the man who had held her in his arms this morning.
'The arena is a foreign place to me. That sort of behaviour shocked me,' she said, taking care with her words.
Valens's face broke into a wary smile. 'It shocked me. But it was worth it to see his face when Bato tried to get the net, absolutely priceless.'
'You did that on purpose?' Julia stared at him in disbelief. 'How did you know that Bato would be here?'
'I didn't. The opportunity presented itself and I figured I could handle the consequences.' His eyes sobered. 'I had not intended to put you in danger, merely to teach Aquilia a lesson.'
'You picked a fight with that brute?' Julia asked, still unable to believe it. Her heart still thumped in her ears from the confrontation. What she was feeling wasn't exhilarating, it was something far more complicated. As for Valens, he seemed to treat it lightly. 'Why did you do that?'
Valens's face showed myriad emotions. His lips parted before pressing very firmly together. His face became a bland mask.
'Why, Valens?' she asked again.
'I've fought worse.' He laid a warm hand on her shoulder, but she twisted away. 'The brutish ones are generally easier to deal with. It is the sly ones, the ones who use trickery, who are more troublesome.'
'I suppose you get used to it,' she said doubtfully. 'Perhaps it is in men's blood to fight. Women don't behave like that.'
'Some women fight in the arena.'
'Now you are teasing me.' Julia forced herself to laugh. She wanted Valens to stay and talk with her until she got over her fright. With each passing breath, her heart rate was going back to normal. 'Women would not fight in public. It wouldn't be dignified.'
'I've known several,' Valens said. 'They are what we call novelties, to whet the appetite of the crowd. I believe Caesar is using a two pairs of female gladiators before the mid-day interval on each of the seven days of his games.'
Julia stared at him in astonishment. Women in the arena! Was this another of his jokes? She searched his face, but it bore a serious look.
'Are they any good?' she asked at last. 'It would never occur to me that women would fight in public. I thought the arena was the most masculine of places.'
'It used to be, but the public want novelty, something new to whet their appetite. And the women gladiatrix I've seen can fight. All the ones I know have been prisoners of war. In some countries, women are trained from birth to fight. I believe they received their armour just after the tiros did.'
Julia shook her head. 'I was searching for Bato then.'
'You sound unconvinced. Shall I introduce you?'
Julia watched him closely. The world seemed to have shrunk to the two of them. She tried to tell herself that his attention was just because he felt guilty about subjecting her to that brute of a gladiator.
'Women can do many things if men will let them,' she said with a firm voice. 'They are capable of more than sitting at home, spinning and tending the household gods.'
'Ah, you are one of those independent-minded women. I should have guessed.' He lightly touched her shawl, allowing it to run through his fingers like water. 'Do you spend all your time playing games at the baths gymnasium?'
Julia's breath caught in her throat. Independent-minded— those words echoed the words Lucius threw at her when she finally said she wanted a divorce. He then called for his whip. She shuddered at the memory, tried to forget the sickening pain he had inflicted when she had let her tongue run on once too often.
'Julia, are you are all right? Look at me.'
She opened her eyes and saw Valens's face close to hers. Both his hands were on her shoulders.
'I'm fine. Please believe me,' she said and the memory faded. 'It's the excitement and the worry about Bato.'
'I think you should get back to your father's compound right away.' Valens clapped his hands and a servant appeared. 'Fetch a litter, please. Julia Antonia is going home.'
'I can walk,' she protested.
'Nonsense. Let me take care of you.'
Take care of her? She knew all about the hollowness of those words. She knew what happened when she refused to follow orders.
Julia felt the pit open again in her stomach. No man would ever take care of her again. After what Lucius had done to her, she was determined to stand on her own two feet. She'd marry when she had to, when there was no alternative, but she'd never let a man have that sort of control over her again. Once she had naively thought her husband would look after her. She shifted her shoulders in remembered pain.
'I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.'
Valens's eyes seemed to assess her before he shrugged carelessly with one shoulder.
'It is my way of repaying the debt I owe you. The litter
is here.'
Julia saw a curtained litter emblazoned with Strabo's logo and hated to think of what Sabina would say if she arrived home in a litter that had been ordered by a gladiator, how Sabina would shriek about what the neighbours would think.
Her heart sank further as she realised this afternoon's events were bound to be discussed by everyone. The news would be all over Rome that two gladiators had nearly duelled over her dog, travelling at the speed of a whispered hush. Dear gods, the betrothal to Mettalius might be being drawn up as they spoke.
'You don't owe me any debt,' she said carefully.
'But I do. Or rather, I owe Bato a debt.Thanks to him, I have had my fine reduced by twenty denarü.' His smile sent her heart soaring. 'Now, do you get in or do I sling you across my shoulder and carry you there?'
'You would not dare.' A tingle went through Julia as she remembered exactly what being held in his arms felt like.
'Try me.' He crossed his arms and positioned himself straight in front of her. His gaze deepened and held her. 'Between your fright and your ankle, you are in no fit state to stumble back to your home. If you would prefer me to carry you…'
Julia took a step backwards and the plinth from the statue of Venus dug into the back of her thighs. She had no doubt about Valens's seriousness. He would carry her, kicking and screaming if necessary. The scandal would then be unstoppable.
'Very well, I accept your offer of a litter, because it is the best way home for Bato. I can walk over to it on my own.'
Their gaze held and her heart whispered despite the possibility of scandal she would do it all again.
'May the gods go with you, Julia Antonia.'
'And with you too, Valens.' She turned and hurried after the servant.
Julia decided Juno, Minerva and Venus were with her when she arrived back at the compound. Neither her stepmother nor her father was at home and a quick check with Clodius the porter revealed neither had been home in her absence.
Perhaps it was all deniable, Julia thought as she picked up her spinning again. Bato flopped down on the mat next to the brazier and went to sleep, his nose buried beneath his paws.
'Julia, Julia Antonia!' her father bellowed from the courtyard. 'Come here, daughter of mine.'
She knew that tone of voice. There was little point in hiding or pretending she had not heard. She twisted the thread around the spindle's handle and placed it on top of the wool.
'Here, Father,' she called from the window. 'Shall I come down or you come up?'
Her father, dressed in the white toga he wore to court, shielded his eyes and gestured for her to come down. Julia's heart sank to the hem of her gown. His face was thunderous. In his hand, he held a sheaf of scrolls.
As she ran down the steps, she tried to think of a reasonable excuse for this afternoon. Should she mention it first or wait for him to bring it up? Perhaps he wanted to see her about some other misdemeanour.
'What is this I hear about two gladiators fighting over you?' her father thundered as she entered the atrium.
Julia swallowed hard. How could she explain? She widened her eyes and began the explanation she had concocted. A white he, but she knew another scandal might turn her father against her.
'Two gladiators fighting over me? Father, you know how the rumours fly in Rome—'
Her father cut her short with an impatient gesture of his hand.
'The entire Forum was buzzing about it late this afternoon. My very own daughter in the centre of a gladiatorial brawl! Bringing her family so publicly into disrepute! I never thought you would be involved in so vulgar of a display. Not my daughter I said, but Fabius Claudius swore it was you. And he has known you since the day you were born.'
'I wasn't at the centre, more to one side,' Julia mumbled, picking at the skirt of her gown.
'I didn't quite catch that, Julia. Look at me when you speak.'
Julia forced her gaze from her sandals.
'I said I wasn't in the centre of the fight,' she shouted.
Her father's eyes widened at her voice.
'But you don't deny they were fighting over you.'
'Over me?' Julia shook her head and said quickly before she lost her nerve, 'They were fighting over Bato.'
'Bato?'
Her father lowered his eyebrows and pierced her with his dark stare. The elephants began trampling Julia's stomach. Any hope of glossing over the incident or giving a polite lie vanished. Her father had adopted his inquisitorial lawyer pose.
She began to rapidly explain what had happened, her words tripping over one another in the rush to get them out. When she reached the end of the tale, Julia's voice faded away and she waited. If her father thought she had brought disgrace on the family, he was capable of banishing her or worse. Cold sweat began to prick the back of her neck. She should have run when Valens approached her. Her only hope was that she had told her version of events before Sabina had had a chance to poison him with the bath-house version.
'It was all down to this dog of yours escaping from Caesar's niece?'
'That's right,' Julia said. She twisted her belt around her hand, feeling the cord dig into her palm. He had to believe her.
'That rascal.' Her father's face broke into a wide grin. 'I should have made you return him to your ex-father-in-law weeks ago when you first arrived back on my doorstep. Senator Gracchus should take care of the dog, if his adopted son refuses to. Rascal then and rascal now. I knew there had to be more to it than my daughter behaving badly. You have never given me cause to worry about such things before. In that case, I shall have to thank him with the largest bone possible.'
The words of protest died on Julia's lips. She looked at her father in amazement. 'I don't understand. You want to reward Bato?'
'That little escapade has resulted in three briefs coming in for me today. Everyone is discussing it. It has raised my profile no end.'
'Then you're not angry?' A great wave of relief washed over Julia.
'Had the gladiators actually been fighting over you, that would have been another matter entirely, but as it stands—it is another of Rome's rumours. The dog will do as an excuse. People can be reminded of whose dog he was to begin with. The name of Gracchus should strike fear into the scandalmongers' hearts. They wouldn't want to anger two powerful politicians from opposite ends of the spectrum—Caesar and Gracchus.
Julia felt the tension rush out of her, leaving her body tired as if she were the one to have fought a battle with Aquilia.
'Who are the briefs from?' she asked, a suspicion forming in her brain.
'They were sent from Caesar by special messenger. This morning, nothing—by late afternoon, I am back in favour.' Her father grinned and patted the scrolls. 'He is pleased that you, or rather your dog, raised the games' profile. You have ensured the match will be on everyone's lips. And Caesar wishes to reward me for it. Caesar always repays his debts.'
Julia stared at her father and offered a small prayer of thanks to Venus. When was a scandal not a scandal? When it resulted in work for her father!
'I am pleased Bato was of service,' she replied quietly, trying to hide her relief.
She stood, shifting from foot to foot, waiting for her father to dismiss her with a nod as he normally did.
'Shall we go for a walk?' Julius Antonius gestured towards the garden. 'Spend some time together? I see little of you these days.'
Julia released a breath. That was all? No explosion. No threats to marry her off. He wanted something, but what? She had at last something to bargain with.
'A walk with you, Father, would be a lovely idea.'
They took several turns about the enclosed garden, speaking of nothing very much. Her father stopped by the portrait bust of her mother, hidden in a small nook between two clipped bay laurels.
'How like her you are,' Julius Antonius said, placing a hand on the statue's shoulder. 'It seems hard to believe that her shade has been in Hades these last five years.'
'I remember her as be
ing very kind, a model of Roman womanhood.' Julia ran a hand over the smooth marble, tracing the outline of her mother's mouth.
'Sabina wanted me to get rid of the bust, but I refused. Had it moved here in this nook to where it can't be seen from the house.'
'Sabina took the news in her usual calm and collected manner?' Julia laughed, pleased that her father, contrary to appearances, did not give in to Sabina in all things.
'Her shrieks could be heard from here to the Aventine. The she refused to speak to me for a week. But she gave in when she realised I was determined. It cost me a violet gown though.' Her father gave a barking laugh and then his face sobered. He placed his hand on the shoulder of the portrait bust. 'Now that we are here, Julia, there is something I must ask you.'
'Yes, Father?' Julia's heart leapt. Would he ask her for her opinion about Mettalius? Perhaps In the wake of the briefs, she could convince him Mettalius was not the man she should marry. That his star was on the wane in the Senate…
'Is there anything going on between you and that gladiator?'
Julia's heart stopped. She pulled her shawl tighter about her shoulders. How to answer? If her mother were here, Julia knew she could explain the situation and her mother would understand, but would her father? He had changed so much since her mother's death and she knew what Sabina's reaction would be. Could she take the risk? She looked at his stern mouth. Later, she knew, she'd get down on her knees and ask the gods to forgive her for deceiving her father, but she hoped they would understand.
'We have met once or twice. First in the marketplace, then here and when he returned Bato to me this afternoon,' she said, choosing her words and making sure her voice sounded strong. 'I'd hardly call that something going on.'
She offered a quick prayer up to Venus that no one had seen the kiss she and Valens had shared earlier this morning. Surely, since Venus was the goddess of love as well the protector of the Julius family, she'd understand and help her.
'You are willing to swear that on the shade of your mother?'
The Gladiator's Honor Page 8
