Octavia stared at her a little bemused. “You think Marcus and I were lovers? I’m flattered but that is not the case.”
“Then what?” Jenna was curious. Even more so when Marcus turned away from her.
“I’m your mother, Jenna,” Octavia’s voice wavered ever so slightly.
“I’m sorry?” Jenna thought she’d misheard.
“I’m your natural mother,” Octavia repeated.
Jenna took a few steps away from her, the woman clearly needed to be sectioned. “No, you’re not. My mother was born and died in Arula.”
“She was your adoptive mother.”
“No, she was my natural mother. We have certificates authenticating our births in Arula. Mine clearly has both my parents on it.” Definite crazy lady talking.
“I gave birth to a daughter out of wedlock eighteen years ago. I left her with Apollo to find a loving and caring home.”
“Now I see where you’re trying to make the connection. My mother never came to Rome and I am most certainly not your daughter who has found her way home.” Jenna was surprised Marcus was looking so uneasy, he knew her background.
“My baby daughter was born with the most beautiful bronze arrowhead mark on her shoulder. It was tiny but perfect.”
Jenna felt something start to knot in her stomach. The only people who knew her birthmark was once bronze were back in Arula. It had only ever shone gold in Rome. “There could be many who have a similar birthmark to me, it signifies nothing.”
Actually it did signify something rather important; there was another out there who bore the mark of Mars, and they must be Marcus’ life match. That thought left a very acrid taste in her mouth.
“Octavia, you need to leave us,” Marcus’ voice was ice cold. “I have to talk to Jenna.”
“But…,” she started.
“I said now before I throw you in jail,” he shouted.
She scurried out the room, leaving Jenna feeling decidedly concerned. “What is going on Marcus, I’m lost? You know I cannot be Octavia’s daughter, so why are you so uptight?”
“You think more than one person bears the mark of Mars, but in reality there is only one. I have checked with the seer who originally gave me my prophecy.”
“A seer cannot foresee someone from the future coming back to the past. I was born so long after your prophecy was given.”
“You are wrong. They can foresee the future too. Just one baby would ever have been born with that insignia.”
“What are you saying?”
“If Octavia’s baby had the mark of Mars upon them, then, my darling Jenna, that baby can only be you.”
“I was born in Arula, Marcus,” she said shakily.
“Were you?” he said flatly. “Your Institute works out of Apollo’s temple. Had a baby been left with them, what is to stop a student taking it through your gateway?”
“Rules. Whoever did such a thing would be dismissed from the Institute.”
“Was your mother not a student of the classics?”
“She never studied at McVale.”
“How do you know?” Marcus retaliated.
“Stop it,” she snapped. “I won’t listen to any more of this madness. It’s obvious there is more than one person out there who bears Mars’ insignia. You’re trying to twist the facts to suit your purpose. As I have been trying to tell you for some time, your life match cannot be me.”
The knot in Jenna’s stomach was tightening by the second. What Marcus was suggesting was preposterous, a student could not adopt a Roman baby. Not that her mother had ever been one. It was all fanciful madness, all linked around the notion that only one person on this planet could have the mark she had upon her. It was obvious someone had messed up and there were two. But how did she explain her ability to speak Latin? Her affiliation for this period of Rome? Then something hit her like a freight train. Her mother always said her blood was very precious, which was why she always insisted on having all records removed from her medical files. Why? Because it contained traces of diseases long extinct?
The sickening feeling was growing. She could stay here and convince herself that everyone around her had lost their mind, or she could go back to McVale and find the proof she needed that she was English born and bred.
“I have to go, Marcus,” she said softly, heading back out of his study.
“Wait,” he went after her.
“No, let me be. You and that woman have upset me enough for one day.” She held up her hand for him to stay put.
She walked in a complete daze to Mars’ temple. It was clear to her that she was not Marcus’ match, that because of her time travelling she had inadvertently got mixed up with him. The one intended for him was Octavia’s baby and they had not yet met. McVale would give her the answer she needed right away. Birth certificates could be forged, but her blood could not lie.
“Jenna, you look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Gaius commented.
“I need to visit the Institute,” she murmured.
“Is everything all right?”
“Yes. I need to speak with Professor Daniels.”
“Fine. Head on through.”
She crossed over and made her way to Professor Daniels’s study, not even bothering to change. She was not sure how long she would be here for.
“Jenna,” Daniels smiled. “We were not expecting you.”
“No. I need to see something, Professor.”
“What is that?”
“My blood analysis.”
He stood up and came around the front of his desk. “Ah. How long have you known?”
“I didn’t.” She sat down before she fell down. “Perhaps you would be good enough to tell me what is so important about it.”
“I myself have only just found out the truth. It was your blood that gave your past away. How did you find out?”
“This crazy woman in Rome saw my birthmark and is convinced I am her long lost daughter. Naturally I think it is all rather far-fetched.”
“I imagine it must have been a huge shock, but a lot of your life will now fall into place.”
“To be honest, I don’t believe it. My mother studied with McVale?”
“Yes. She was a promising student apparently, but on seeing you in your little basket on the steps of Apollo’s temple, she fell in love. It was an easy decision. Take the child back through the gateway and raise her as her own. After all, how could removing one abandoned child change history?” He removed her personal file from his safe and handed it to her. “Everything about your past is in here.”
“Why would my parents never tell me I was genuinely adopted?” she looked at Professor Daniels with a pained expression.
“I imagine because many adopted children like to find out about their birth parents. That would be kind of tricky in your case. Also there would be the issue of the adoption certificate if you needed to produce one. It was easier for the Institute to register your birth.”
“But my dad hadn’t met mum then. And his name is on my birth certificate.”
“He could have been legally added afterwards. That is something you will need to check with your family solicitors.”
Jenna clutched the folder to her chest, half hoping she would wake up from this bizarre dream. “I’m going up to my room,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry you had to find out,” Professor Daniels rested his hand on her shoulder. “Sometimes it is easier to live in ignorance.”
She headed up to her room in a daze. This all sounded far too preposterous to be true. Curling up on her bed, she opened the folder Professor Daniels had given her and started reading. It was there in black and white. Her mother’s shocking act, taking a baby from its rightful era. A tear ran down her cheek. Her mother had supposedly given up her entire future for her; one chubby little Roman baby. She felt shivery and cold, numb to the very core. By rights, England was no longer her home, it had never been.
But she still needed to find out about her father’s p
art in all of this. Her so-called adopted father. Hunting around in her desk, she found her old address book and called Michael Greenberg.
“Jenna Duvall,” he boomed jovially as she was put through to him. “It has been an age since we last spoke.”
“I know, Michael, I do apologise. And whenever I do phone, I’m usually after something.” She tried to keep her tone as light as possible, inside her head was spinning.
“You’ll be glad to know the estate in Bath is ticking over nicely, and I have your financial consultants working hard on your behalf too.”
“Thank you. I’d be lost without you.”
“We aim to please. Now what can I do for you, young lady?”
“Did dad adopt me?” she asked bluntly.
There was a lot of spluttering down the phone. Clearly it was a question Michael had never expected to be asked. “What makes you think that?”
“Something about my birth has just come to light. I do believe at the time my birth certificate was first issued, dad was not on the scene.”
“Yes,” he gave a heavy sigh. “Alexander never wanted you to know he was not your natural father. I’m not sure why the big secret, perhaps the original was bad news. He met your mother when you were just a few months old, so you had never known anyone else. As the name of the father was blank on your original certificate, he was happy for his name to be added at a later date.”
“Does anyone else know?”
“No. Excluding your parents, I was the only one party of this adoption.”
“Thank you for telling me,” she murmured.
“Your father was devoted to you, Jenna. Does it matter so much that he was not your birth father?”
“No. I loved him and mum equally. But to find out is quite a shock. Especially as the only two people I really need to quiz are lying six feet under.”
“Well next time you’re home, you should give them the mother of all ear-bashings.”
“I plan to,” she attempted a lighter tone. “Thank you again.”
“And don’t leave it so long to call next time.”
Jenna sat staring out the window for hours on end. Her mind was having problems coping with the truth. Had she really been lied to all her life? Was her natural homeland Rome not England? If so, how come it was so apparent that she did not fit in there? She was quite literally without a home.
Had her mum ever intended for her to return to her natural time, or would the city forever be missing one if its citizens? Was that why she was taught Latin from such an early age? And did her father know her true roots or was he as much a victim of her mother’s deception? So many questions and sadly no-one to answer them.
Curled up in the middle of her bed, Jenna felt hugely displaced. The rug had been pulled out from under her entire world. It struck her as highly ironic that her so-called natural mother was probably one of the hardest, most un-maternal women she had met. One thing was certain, there would be no chance whatsoever of rekindling a mother-daughter relationship. She detested the woman.
“I’m English,” Jenna murmured to herself. This whole scenario was a series of errors, the truth was just too incredulous. One just did not raise a Roman baby in twenty-first century England. She headed down to the medical lab, Dr Poulssen should be able to offer some clarity about what was so abnormal with her blood.
He glanced up from his microscope as she strode into the lab. “It’s not usual that we get willing volunteers.”
“I’m not here to donate blood, I just want to look at my old sample records.”
He looked over the top of his glasses at her. “Your old samples?”
“Yes. I understand there are some anomalies I would like explained.”
He beckoned her over to his computer and pulled up her electronic records. “That whole section I’ve highlighted in blue should not be there.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Traces of extinct diseases and viruses.”
“Could I not have contracted them when I was out and about with Dad? We did go to some pretty remote jungle places where modern medicine had not been seen before.”
“There is a very slim chance that is possible. However, look at this.” He pulled up an elaborate 3D image. “This is of your DNA.”
“And?” It looked pretty but she didn’t know what it should look like.
“Compare it against Amelia’s.” He put the two side by side.
They were different, enough for Jenna’s untrained eye to see. “Aren’t people supposed to have unique DNA?”
“Yes. And yours is more unique than normal in that a sequence like that is not available in modern man.”
“Great. Anything else I should be aware of?” she grunted. This was not going how she wanted it to.
“When you were injured after saving Trajan’s life, can you remember what the Marshall gave you?”
“No. Some elixir that put me to sleep. Why?”
“That elixir altered your blood.”
“Like a mutation?”
“No. Whatever you were given caused your blood to repair itself at a phenomenal speed. You’re bordering on indestructible at the moment.”
Jenna thought for a moment; he was right, she was healing at an exception rate. “That would explain why the few small cuts I’ve received have healed almost immediately.”
“If you ever get the opportunity to ask the Marshall what was in that potion, I’d love to know as we cannot synthesise it here.”
Jenna headed back to her bedroom feeling even lower. Everyone she cared for might have lied to her, but her blood couldn’t. It spoke loud and clear. She let out a frustrated howl. She was English through and through, not a blood-thirsty Roman. They were all wrong. They were fools.
CHAPTER 23
Mars had retreated to Olympus, it was the best place to try and get his temper under control. He was angry with himself for once again not handling Jenna better. And Octavia. Had he managed to silence her, Jenna would not be in Arula.
His growl resounded around Olympus. How could such a diminutive mortal cause him so much grief? Their volatile relationship was making him dizzy.
“You appear vexed, brother,” Minerva appeared by his side.
“What was your first clue?” he grunted.
“More bad-tempered than usual, growling, general foul demeanour. What has my favourite mortal done now?”
“She’s gone.”
“Gone?” Minerva was shocked.
“Yes. She went through the gateway yesterday.”
“Is she coming back?”
“I don’t know,” his shoulders slumped. That was the crux of the problem. Jenna could slip out of his life so easily and there was very little he could do about it. The gateway taunted him, almost challenging him to see if he was brave enough to go through it.
“Well, I suggest you find out pretty quickly. If not, we need to go get her.”
“You’d go through the gateway with me?”
“Yes. You need my brains. Now what made her run off in such a flap?”
“She met her mother yesterday.”
Minerva’s jaw dropped open. “You know who her mother is?”
“She recognised Jenna’s birth mark from when she was a baby.”
“Well, come on. Put me out my misery,” she snapped impatiently.
“Octavia.”
Minerva exhaled loudly. “That old windbag? No wonder Jenna left, I would if I found out that shrew was my mother.”
“So warm and welcoming,” Marcus shook his head at his sister. “At least now we know one of her Roman parents.”
“Actually, we know both.”
“We do?”
“Father and I figured it out at the Circus Maximus. Jenna is of imperial blood.”
Marcus hissed very loudly. “That is not good. Not good at all.”
“It will be fine unless Trajan officially recognises her as his daughter. Then you will be in for a whole heap of grief.”
�
�We cannot alter the line of succession.”
“Which is why you need to persuade Trajan to keep quiet on this subject, if Octavia has already blabbed to him.”
“Now I know why Jenna has such a bond with the Emperor,” Marcus gave a hint of a smile. It was filial affection.
Blood Never Lies (Mark of Mars) Page 16
