“She’ll be a damn sight more pleased knowing Trajan is her father, than Octavia her mother.”
“I am sure she will. That is if she returns to us.”
“She loved her parents, so I imagine this news had hit her hard. Give her a day or two to come around.”
“I will tell Gaius she must be back by noon of the following day, else I go through the gateway to bring her back myself.”
“That’s more like the brother I know.”
“How are you, Jenna?” Professor Daniels asked.
“I’m confused. I don’t know what I should do,” she sighed heavily.
“Do?”
“Yes. I always thought I would study for a few years in Rome and then return home. But now Rome is my home. If I return back to England, will I be changing history once more?”
“I see the dilemma. But the choice is yours. History has already been changed, so the choices you make cannot damage it further.”
“Can I stay in England?”
The Professor laughed. “You are English bred, Jenna. Of course you can choose to live here. In fact I would be concerned if you didn’t.”
“Yeah, the lure of chocolate and coffee is too great.”
“I should warn you whilst you’re coming to terms with recent developments. Marshall Vilnus has told Gaius that he wants you back in Rome by midday tomorrow.”
She was glad Marcus had not lost his domineering touch. “And if I don’t reappear?”
“He’ll come and get you himself.”
“He’ll come through the gateway?” Jenna was shocked.
“I think it a lot of hot air from the Marshall. You can of course return when you feel up to it.”
“Thank you.”
“Now you’re back, I expect some quality essay writing about your experiences at the Imperial Palace and the Circus Maximus. No student has ever got to meet an Emperor, so I am expecting something extraordinary from you.”
“Yes, Professor,” Jenna smiled. She would be glad for the distraction.
Marcus was pacing up and down outside his temple. Jenna had not yet reappeared, and he was torn as to what to do. He was Olympus’ second most powerful God. Would the family survive if for any reason he did not return? Would Rome still thrive without its Marshall? He just knew that he did not want to spend his mortal and immortal life without Jenna.
He strode into the temple. Gaius was half-expecting him.
“She is not yet back, Marshall Vilnus.”
“I know. Now you will take me through,” he ordered.
“I’m sorry?”
“Through the gateway, Gaius. Now.”
“But….” Gaius was floundering.
“I have no interest in seeing the future. My aim is purely to bring Jenna home.”
“Your mind may not be able to cope with life in the future.”
Marcus let out a small chuckle. I think it more likely your mind will not be able to cope with the fact I am the God you worship, he thought. “I’ll take this risk. Now let’s go.”
Gaius looked positively nervous as he opened the gateway. “Follow me.”
Marcus took a deep breath and stepped through. It felt very much like transporting to Olympus. Nothing too out the ordinary for him. The room he found himself standing in was average. A large stone space with strange equipment at the far end. Gaius spoke to the man behind the screen in a language he did not understand. Obviously Arulian.
“Come,” Gaius showed him to a door. “I will take you to Professor Daniels, Jenna’s tutor. You have already met him.”
Marcus eyes were everywhere as he tried to take it all in. It did not seem that advanced to him. Gaius knocked on a door and ushered him inside.
“Daniels,” Gaius announced. “We have a visitor.”
Professor Daniels’ jaw dropped open as he rose. “Marshall Vilnus.”
“I am here for Jenna,” Marcus stated flatly.
“So it would seem. I think first we should have a talk.” The Professor indicated for him to take a seat. “You can head back to the temple, Gaius. I will see that the Marshall gets back.”
“Jenna is here?”
“Yes. I will take you to her soon. I have to say, I am very impressed you came through the gateway. You had no idea what lay on the other side.”
“Sometimes we have to embrace the unexpected.” A chart on the wall got Marcus’ attention and he stood up to inspect it. “This is a chart of Rome’s territories?”
“Yes. But obviously you have not yet conquered some of those regions.”
He looked curiously at the other landmasses. Jenna had once said Rome only occupied a fraction of the world and she was right. “Where is Arula located?”
“That I cannot show you, for our own security.”
“I am sorry, I got distracted.” Marcus sat back down.
“I take it you are fully aware of Jenna’s background?”
“That she is in fact Roman born, yes.”
“She is obviously very upset about it. Her bond with her parents, or rather her adoptive parents, was very strong.”
“Yes. And she has no great liking for her birth mother.”
“Do we know anything about the father?”
Marcus gave a wry smile. “No. The mother did not want that known.”
“Fair enough. I guess I should not keep you here too long. The less you see of this world, the better.”
“I do not wish to cause offence, but it does not seem that advanced,” Marcus commented.
The Professor laughed. “We are a strange breed here. We like to keep our feet firmly placed in the past, so you will find a mix of ancient and new. Almost everything in this room relates to ancient Rome except the most advanced piece of equipment sitting on my desk.” He indicated his laptop.
“What is that?”
“What isn’t it would be a better question. It is our means of communication, knowledge, business. We use it basically to run our lives.” He picked up a strange implement and spoke in to it, again in a language he did not recognise. A voice echoed from the metal that he held.
The Professor stood back up. “Come. She is out in the garden, we believe.” He glanced at Marcus’ clothing. “You’re so going to love our wonderful weather.”
Marcus followed down another series of corridors until they stepped outside into a courtyard. The cold wind hit him right away.
“Be grateful it is not raining,” the Professor smiled. “We are not known for our warm sunny days here.”
They walked across the courtyard to the far end and through an archway. “See down there,” Professor Daniels pointed off into the distance. “That’s Jenna down there on the battlements. I think it best if I leave you two alone.”
“Thank you,” Marcus nodded and strode off, trying to ignore the biting cold. The figure his eyes were fixed on had not moved, she was staring off out to sea. Her clothing was most unusual too. Long boots, tight trousers and a very bulky cloak like top. Her hair was largely concealed under something.
“I have been worried about you,” he murmured, resting his hands on her shoulders.
Jenna jumped and turned around. “Marcus,” she looked stunned. “What…what are you doing here?”
“I said I’d come and get you,” he ran his icy hand down her cheek.
“You came through the gateway?”
“No. I waited two thousand years to come and see you,” his teeth chattered.
“You’re freezing,” she took his hands in hers and rubbed them.
“It’s not quite the weather I am used to,” he grimaced.
She reached up and kissed him. “Let’s get you back inside. Even your lips are turning blue.” She linked her arm through his and led him back towards the main building. “Did Gaius bring you?”
“Yes. He did not have much choice in the matter.”
“But now you are out of your time zone,” Jenna felt a little panicked. “What if a major riot breaks out?”
“With
out you, I do not care what happens to Rome,” he responded bluntly.
Jenna stopped and kissed him again. “That is very romantic but crazy. Rome is in your blood.”
“As it is in yours.”
Jenna turned away from him. “I still find it hard to believe.”
“Mothers give up their children frequently. Is that so hard to understand?”
She shook her head. “No. I mean that my parents were not my birth parents. Quite frankly I don’t care about Octavia. If what she says is true, she will still never be my mother. The woman is odious.”
They reached the main building and Jenna took him up a series of stairs to a small turret.
“This is my room.”
“That is a good size bed,” he remarked.
“Trust a man to notice that,” Jenna shook her head removing her coat and hat. She noticed Marcus staring at her. “What?”
“Your clothes. Are they usual for this time zone?”
“Yeah, pretty much. A woman can wear trousers or dresses.”
“But they are so very tight. As is your top,” his eyes ran over her figure appreciatively.
Jenna felt herself turning a little pink. “Behave.”
“Weren’t you going to warm me up?” his voice had dropped quite low. Before she had a chance to respond, he’d caught hold of her and backed her up to the bed. “I am appreciating the fashion here,” he murmured running his mouth down her neck to the top of the little cardigan she was wearing. His hand slipped down her back and over her butt. A moment later they were on the bed. Jenna wrestled off his cloak, but she knew the chest armour would be a problem. He kindly pulled it off and deposited it with a thud on the floor.
How she had missed his touch, his hand sliding gently under her cardigan. That followed his armour.
“What is this strange apparel?” he murmured kissing the soft mounds of flesh above her bra.
“We wear undergarments here,” she responded, in a very high pitched voice. He was creating havoc on her nervous system.
“It is very beautiful, even though it keeps me from my target,” he grinned mischievously. “Do you wear them elsewhere?”
“Yes. And you are definitely not getting that target,” she tried to sound as convincing as she could, but it was difficult with Marcus’ touch on her body.
He gave a deep heavy sigh a few minutes later. “I think my manhood has finally reappeared. After that icy wind, I thought I’d lost it for good.”
Jenna laughed. “Cold can do that to a man.”
A knock at her door made her jump. She leapt off the bed and grabbed her cardigan. “Yes?”
“It’s Professor Daniels, Jenna. Just a reminder that we can’t keep the Marshall here for long.”
“Right. We’ll be down soon. We just have a few things to discuss.” She tried to keep her voice as level as she could, but it was very difficult with Marcus’s arms wrapped around her waist. She eventually wriggled out of his grasp. “Come, we need to return you before anyone realises you are missing.”
Marcus felt a little guilty suddenly. He knew his parents would insistently sense he had gone when he went through the gateway. He cursed himself for not telling them. But then they might have tried to stop him. He glanced at the image next to Jenna’s bed. “This is them?”
“Yes. My parents. And they will always be my parents whatever anyone tries to tell me.”
“Of course they are. They loved you and raised you. Whatever your blood says, no-one can take that from you.”
“I just cannot believe my mother stole me from Rome.” She flopped down on a chair.
“We sometimes do crazy things on the spur on the moment. From what you have told me, your society is a lot softer than ours. Perhaps she could not bear to see this infant sold into slavery. Although had she known what a handful you would turn out to be, she might well have left you.”
Jenna threw a cushion at him. Cheeky beggar. “I find it strange that you, of all people, stand on her side. Her actions could have cost you your life match.”
“Fate is fate, Jenna. You would have found a way back to me. In fact you did.”
“Convenient,” she smiled. “But I find it so difficult to understand.”
“Really? You care for Julius do you not?”
“Yes. But I would never take him from Rome.”
“What if he were suddenly orphaned and you were leaving Rome for good? There is a bond between you that is very strong indeed. Could you really leave him behind to fend for himself?”
Jenna puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. The bugger had found her weakness. “I should, but probably not. He would have a much better life here.”
Marcus gave a victorious smile. “Now you know what made your mother do what she did. You say Julius could have a better life here, but that is only through your eyes.”
“True. But then I do know best.”
Jenna noticed Marcus’ gaze was fixed on the photo collage she had. “Something interests you?”
“Is it usual for women to be captured getting so close to men?”
She laughed. “Yes, we are an open society. But these are just friends of mine.”
“Like Luke?”
“Yes. We are only friends.”
“In this image, are these your undergarments?”
Jenna laughed. How the hell did you explain the difference between underwear and a bikini? She gave it a go. “Undergarments are not usually seen in public, however when we go swimming or to the beach, we wear something similar which is acceptable. Don’t ask me why, but it has always been like that.”
“This is what you wear swimming?”
“Sometimes it is in one piece instead of two, but yes. Although this is not really for swimming but catching the sun on our skin.”
“You try to darken the colour of your skin?”
“Yes. Many of us believe it makes us look healthier, to have a bit of colour.”
He ran his hand down her neck. “I prefer yours the colour it is.”
“Good, because I tend to turn a vile shade of red when I’ve been in the sun too long.”
His eyes wandered back to the image of her parents. “Do you have any other images of your parents?”
“Lots,” Jenna smiled. She grabbed her tablet and pulled up her photo library. “How far back did you want to go?”
He looked at her quizzically, not understanding her question.
“I’m got a selection from when I was six. Or would you prefer something more recent?”
“I would love to see you as a troublesome child,” he grinned.
Jenna pulled up some photos and scrolled through them slowly. Marcus’ eyes were glued to the screen.
“These were taken in Egypt,” she started to give a running commentary. Her favourite was one of the family taken whilst they were riding through the Valley of the Kings.
He stopped her from moving off one picture. She wondered if he would recognise it. “That is Athena’s temple is it not?”
“Yes. Amazing to think it has stood for over two and half millennia.”
“How can such a small object contain so much?” He turned the tablet over clearly perplexed.
“The miracles of our modern times,” she smiled. “In truth, I don’t understand how it works. I just know it does.”
He studied a picture of her taken at a tiger sanctuary in Africa. “Our gladiators fight tigers at the Colosseum, yet here you are hand feeding them.”
Jenna laughed. “The cubs are so cute. We don’t tend to get that close when they get big enough to eat you.”
Marcus was equally captivated by the pictures of her family safari. “These animals, I’ve not seen the like before.”
“Giraffes. They are one of nature’s oddest looking creatures.”
He pointed to the jeep. “What is this?”
“Our equivalent of a chariot.”
“No horses?”
Just horse power. “We don’t need horses to pull them.”
“And is this your equivalent of a sword?” He pointed to the rifle in her father’s hand.
“Yes. Amongst so many wild animals, it is prudent to be armed.”
Blood Never Lies (Mark of Mars) Page 17
