by Hazel Hunter
“Get out of here,” she whispered urgently. She went back into the main room as the slaves started freeing themselves.
Instead of a dog with bloody jowls, she saw a man standing over the dead slaver. She was shocked, but received an even greater surprise when she recognized him.
“Lucius!”
“I’m sorry we had to meet again like this, Liona, but really. We should be running now.”
• • • • •
Restless, Hailey had fidgeted. Now she and Liona lay with their foreheads snugged up to each other, close enough that she could look into the other woman’s eyes.
“Him again?”
“Oh yes. That was one of Lucius’s charms, turning up like a bad penny. Now do you want to hear this story or not?”
Hailey nodded quickly.
Liona chuckled.
They lay so close that the low laugh tingled in Hailey’s chest.
“So nice when the younger generation remembers to listen.” She caressed the side of Hailey’s face so softly that Hailey barely felt it. For a moment, she thought of covering Liona’s hand with her own, but then the older woman continued. “Well we ran, and we were nearly caught by the guard, but we escaped them. This time, we wound up back at my own home.”
• • • • •
“So they have one of your soldiers as well?”
“Yes, his name is Titus. He’s more than just another legionnaire. We’ve soldiered together for most of our lives. He was the man that they took with your sister.” Lucius glanced at Liona inquisitively. “I honestly thought you would have more questions about the wolf.”
“I’m a daughter of Rome. Our founder was suckled by a she-wolf, and old King Lykos was cursed to become a wolf at night. I’ve seen worse than you at a consul’s party.”
Lucius’s grin was toothy.
“Now that I’m not so sure about, little lioness. But that brings me to my next question. Was your sister–”
“Is.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Is. Is my sister, is what you meant. She’s not dead.”
Lucius nodded.
“In which case, is your sister a woman of power? I can guess given your profession that you are.”
“She is. She commands fire just as I see the future. And your friend Titus?”
“A man who brings the rain.”
Lucius shook his head.
“There are dark things in Rome, and our families seem to have been caught up in them. Liona, I will do my best to find your sister, but perhaps you are best off out of it.”
Liona looked at him levelly.
“You’ll have to tear out my throat too if you want to keep me away from this, legatus. You will not keep me from my sister.”
He looked chagrined, and then he nodded reluctantly.
“Tomorrow, I am going to speak to someone who may know the symbol of a hand emerging from flame. If you wish to come with me…”
“I do.”
He sighed.
“Then you can come with me. They won’t be available tomorrow until afternoon, I can come find you then.”
Liona hesitated.
“Stay?”
Lucius raised an eyebrow, casting a significant glance at the only bed in the place. She had shared it with Augusta, so it was at least fairly wide, but still, it was only one bed. Liona lifted her chin up defiantly.
“I’m not asking you to do anything in it. This…this may be naive of me, but I just don’t want to sleep alone. Is that so hard to understand?”
Lucius’s expression softened. He nodded.
“While I would perhaps suggest that you avoid making this suggestion to other men that you’ve only known for a short while, I do understand.”
Her face burning a little, Liona turned away from him to remove her robe and to slip into her sleeveless sleeping shift. She wasn’t sure that what she was doing was altogether wise. She wasn’t sure that she should be lying down with a man she knew so little, and trusting him as she did. However, she hadn’t been sure about anything for what felt like a long time.
What she did know was that she wanted this.
Liona climbed into the narrow bed and pulled herself against the wall, giving him as much space as she could. Behind her, she heard him remove his clothes. After a moment, he blew out the lantern. Then he slid into the bed behind her, tugging the blanket over himself as if they had been sleeping together for years.
“Yes?” he murmured, sliding an arm over her hip.
Liona nodded, relaxing against his muscular chest. He smelled of salt and of juniper, the common scrub at the bathhouses. The heat of his body against hers was wonderful. Liona’s eyelids fluttered closed.
“Thank you,” she whispered, before she fell asleep.
In the darkness, she felt the soft brush of his lips across the back of her neck.
How kind he is, was her last thought before the darkness claimed her.
CHAPTER FIVE
WHEN SHE AWOKE, Liona was startled by how late it was. For a moment, she thought that everything was normal, that it was Augusta snugged up to her back. Then she realized that Augusta was never so large or warm, and she remembered what had happened.
The late morning light slanted through the window shutters, but the room was comfortingly dim. It would be hours yet before she and Lucius could go find the information that they were looking for. There would be no harm in sleeping a little longer.
Liona squirmed in order to face the legatus. Abruptly, looking over his frame, she decided that sleep was the last thing on her mind. He was quite a beautiful man, she realized. The dark crop of his hair was soft to the touch. Asleep, his mouth was soft and wet, begging for a kiss. He looked more like a wild god than Mars.
Carefully, giving in to a desire that she realized had sprung to life as soon as she had seen him, Liona kissed his collar bone lightly. The faintly salty taste of his skin was delicious on her tongue, making her lap at it a little. She wished she could bite, but that would have awakened him for sure.
Squirming a little, she kissed a soft line down his chest to his erect nipple. She teased it with her tongue, holding her breath when it made him stir. The flat, toned muscles of his stomach called to her hand, causing her to stroke him gently. When she drifted a little lower, she found the sharp curve of his hip.
His breath stuttered, but when Liona glanced up, she could see that his eyes were still shut, though his lips were parted.
Giving in to temptation, she peeked under the blanket. What she saw made her smile. His cock was almost fully hard. It made her long to wrap her hand around it. How much would it take to make him spill? How would he like to be handled? She remembered what one of her friends had said, that men were mad for mouths on their members. The thought made her blush.
She glanced up at his face, her eyes narrowing.
“How long have you been awake?” she asked.
Lucius’s laugh was a deep velvety rumble.
“A little longer than you,” he confessed. “I wanted to see what you would do.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think that you are a lovely woman, and that I would give you all the pay the Empire owes me if you would continue.”
Liona bit her lip.
“It’s not so easy for me,” she said finally. “I have no protections, not if there is a child. I…I want to, but I can’t.”
She tensed to see what his reaction would be. For all of his genial good humor, she had always thought that you saw a man’s true nature when you told him ‘no.’
Lucius sighed and nodded.
“As you will, beautiful lioness. Though…”
“Yes?”
“Have you any objection to me starting what you finished?”
Liona felt her face turn red. She tried to cover it by looking away.
“Why…no, not at all.”
“Good.”
She meant to turn away, but somehow she forgot to do so as Luci
us took his cock in his large hand. She glanced up at his face to see him watching her with a glint in his eye.
“I believe it’s customary to charge at least some silver if you want to watch,” he murmured teasingly.
“I’ll owe you,” Liona whispered, unable to take her eyes away.
On his back, completely naked and with his cock in his hand, Lucius was beautiful. The muscles of his body stood out in gorgeous relief, and as he pumped himself to a full climax, Liona felt a heat grow between her own legs as well. She found herself breathing in time with him, wondering if he would make the same noises if he was burying himself to the hilt in her body.
When he came, Liona shivered as well. She averted her eyes as he rose to clean himself.
“What’s the matter?” he asked over his shoulder. “Have you changed your mind about owing me?”
“No… You’re just beautiful.” The words were hastily blurted out, a virgin’s shy compliment. She would have been embarrassed, but Lucius only laughed.
“So are you, little lioness.”
She lay back in bed, watching him cleanse himself with the urn of water and the bowl on the shelf. There was something lovely about it, something safe and warm. She wondered if there would be other days like this. She wondered what Augusta would think of him.
Then she shook her head. She had to find her sister. He had to find his friend. There was no time for wooly-headed romantic nonsense, and she rose to dress herself for the day.
• • • • •
“You watched him,” Hailey whispered.
The thought had never occurred to her. Unbidden and uncontrolled, images of Kieran and Piers came to her as her breath quickened. What would it be like to watch them, each gorgeous in his own way?
But she and Liona still lay face to face, and when she realized that Liona was eying her with a wry smile, Hailey tried to banish the thoughts from her mind. The struggle must have been apparent.
“I take it you’ve never done that,” Liona said lowly, “watched your lover pleasure themselves.”
Hailey shook her head a little, not trusting her voice.
“Not every delight comes from touch, dear one.”
• • • • •
Liona stared at the sheer handful of fabric that Lucius offered her.
“I… You must be joking.”
“You said you wished to come. This is the price of entry.”
She recognized the robe, of course. It was sheerest, softest silk. It was a valuable material, brought all the way from the distant east. It was common enough among the finer women of Rome, but only a certain class of woman would wear it outside of the home or a very special, very private party with her husband.
“We’re going to the Golden Bough to find information. You can’t go as a fortuneteller, I’m afraid. You can come along as my companion, or you can wait here until I return with what I have found out.”
Liona bit her lip. She needed to go with him. She needed to know that she was doing everything that she could to make her sister safe.
Imperiously, she gestured for him to turn around as she took the robe in hand. Liona could see him hiding a smile as he did so, but she ignored it.
The silk was slippery smooth and sleek against her skin. It was as light as a breath, and her every movement caused it to flutter. To her dismay, instead of being long and flowing as most women’s gowns were, it fluttered around her thighs. It looked like what an athletic young boy might have worn. Her dark nipples were faintly visible through the fabric, causing her to cross her arms over her chest.
“Well?”
Lucius inspected her carefully from head to toe. Liona could feel her nipples tighten under his gaze, but she held herself proudly erect. She wanted his eyes on her, wanted the way his breath quickened slightly.
“Almost perfect, but may I?”
Without thinking about it, she nodded.
Less than a second later, she was pinned against the wall of her apartment, Lucius’s weight pressing against her and making no secret of his arousal. His lips crashed down on hers, and his tongue pressed between her lips, the insistent rhythm a hint of what he was thinking. His hands were buried in her hair, holding her still as he kissed her breath away.
When he pulled back, there was a sharp grin on his face that reminded her that yes, his soul was twined with that of a wolf.
“Shall we go?”
Though she was a moment recovering, she could give as good as she got.
“A moment, let me fix your robe.”
She stepped close and tugged on a fold, making him lean towards her. It gave her exactly the clearance she needed to wrap her arms around his shoulders and latch her teeth into the flesh at the base of his neck. After a soft cry, Lucius was still as she nipped and sucked at the space, bringing the blood to the surface.
She stepped back, grinning at the dark mark on his skin and licking her red lips.
“There, now we’re a match.”
Lucius looked down at her with eyes that were more yellow than brown. His grin was fierce.
“So we are, beautiful lioness. Come, let us go before we decide to really prove what kind of match we are.”
They set off with hurried steps, down one street, then another. But eventually they wound their way to the old center of an already ancient city. The Golden Bough was one of the richest and most luxurious brothels in Rome, which likely meant it was one of the richest and most luxurious brothels in the world. There were armed guards at the doors. The inscription above the lintel, “Peace and Pleasure for All Within,” was as much a threat as it was a promise.
Liona had worn a long, hooded cloak to carry her safely through the city, but now she could cast it aside. Everywhere she looked, there were beautiful men and women serving the most powerful men of the Senate. Most barely gave her a glance. The ones who did seemed appreciative, something that made her walk a little more closely to Lucius.
He walked through the halls of the Golden Bough as if he had been born to it, though she knew that was not the case. If he had not proven himself at war, he would never have been allowed to darken the door of the Golden Bough.
He spoke briefly with a guard carrying an enormous spear, who nodded and guided them to a secure door at the back of the house. To Liona’s surprise, instead of being a palatial room clad in marble and silk, as was the rest of the house, the room that they entered was quite plain. There were shelves full of bound records and scrolls on all the walls, and a tray of simple fruit and cheese set close to a tall, narrow window. Behind a tidy desk sat an attractive woman with sleek, dark hair and olive skin, her eyes shadowed with powdered pearl.
When she saw Lucius, she stood immediately, coming to him with her arms open.
“Oh, it has been too long, Lucius,” she purred.
Liona bristled a little at this woman’s warm embrace, but stayed silent. Lucius greeted the woman warmly enough, but then he shook his head.
“It’s business, not pleasure today, Sophia. I need information that I believe that you can give me.”
Sophia’s laugh was rueful, and she pulled away with a sigh.
“So stern you are. I remember when you were not so focused on your business as all that.”
She must have been watching Liona out of the corner of her eye, because she laughed outright when Liona gasped.
“Forgive me, little beauty,” she said warmly. “Lucius and I are a thing of the past, but could you forgive me for wanting to play a little?”
“I will forgive you because you are a thing of the past,” Liona said firmly, making both Lucius and Sophia laugh. It made her feel young. They were both at least ten years older than she was, but there was no malice in their laugh.
“So I will stop playing with you now, and you will tell me what you need. Perhaps I can satisfy you, and perhaps I can’t, but I shall try.”
Lucius shook his head.
“I’m not going to tell you too much. If trouble comes to your door, th
e less you know, the better it will go for you. What we are looking for is a sect of men who are represented by a hand rising from the flames. These men are dangerous, and there may be many of them. Do you recognize the symbol at all?”
Sophia’s face immediately became guarded. She sat behind the desk, distancing herself from them. Liona also realized that, though she hid it well, the woman was afraid.
“Now that is something that you don’t want to get mixed up in,” she said quietly.
Lucius shook his head.
“I’m afraid there’s no getting around it,” he said. “We need to know who these people are. We need to know where they are and what they do.”
Sophia looked lost in thought for a moment, and reluctantly, she nodded her head.
“The men you are looking for are part of a mystery cult that has been circulating for a few years. You know me, I respect the gods as much as any rational person does, but these people, they’re insane. They have a god that they follow, one that is not recognized by the city.”
“Are they looking to have their god become one of the city gods?” asked Liona.
Sophia laughed a little bitterly.
“That would make sense if they thought that it meant anything. No, they’re trying to create their god anew. They want to bring their god up to rule, and they want to do it through sacrifice.”
A chill of terror ran up Liona’s spine.
“Sacrifice. You mean of humans.”
“You hear things in this business. You hear people talk. We hear confessions, and we hear boasts. It’s a terrible thing, but yes. Humans.”
Lucius’s face was thunderous.
“The highest officials in the Senate must be told. This is far beyond anything any mystery cult should be allowed.”
Sophia’s laugh was tired. But Liona, who had been to parties with entitled Senators, had to agree with her.
