Beloved

compromising the family. When he sent for your man, our majordomo found him dead in his quarters, his throat slit while he slept. My son was trapped, unable to communicate with you.'

A sob escaped Dagian's lips, and she brushed away the tears of remembrance that were beginning to fall. Instinctively Zenobia reached out and patted Dagian's arm. Dagian caught the younger woman's hand and clutched it. 'My son was so terribly unhappy,' she continued. 'Then before Aurelian left for the East he told Marcus that he might have had Carissa marry any one of a number of eligible patrician men; but that he had chosen Marcus deliberately because he was your betrothed. He knew of your hatred for Rome because of your mother's murder years back, and he sought to rekindle that hatred so that you would rebel. The emperor wanted Palmyra back, not as a client kingdom, but as a province.'

As the enormity of the betrayal slammed into her, Zenobia asked in a low, tight voice, 'Are you telling me that Aurelian deliberately separated me from Marcus in order to take Palmyra from me?'

Dagian nodded.

'Then he is a bigger fool than I anticipated,' Zenobia said coldly. 'I fully intended declaring my son Augustus of the East long before Marcus left me. I did not, however, plan to do it until after Marcus and I were married. The news of your son's marriage to the emperor's niece left me with no reason for delay, and so I made my declaration in Alexandria.' She laughed bitterly. 'No, Dagian, I must accept full responsibility for my actions; but I will have my revenge upon Aurelian. Already because I am his mistress he grows to trust me. He will find in the end that that was a mistake.'

'Marcus has never stopped loving you, Zenobia,' Dagian said quietly.

'I am no longer the woman that Marcus loved,' Zenobia said somewhat sadly. 'Marcus loved a queen, a woman with pride and spirit. I am no longer a queen, and I have eaten the ashes of my pride in order to survive, in order to save my children. I can never forget that, nor can I forget the things that I must do in order to continue to survive. As long as Aurelian lives there is no hope for Marcus and me. I have not yet the friends nor the power to destroy him, but eventually I will.'

Dagian looked upon Zenobia with wondering eyes. 'My child, you will destroy yourself,' she said.

'If I can destroy Aurelian in the process then it will be worth it,' Zenobia replied.

'What of Mavia?'

'She has you,' Zenobia said, 'and she has her brother in Cyrene.'

'She has her father too,' was Dagian's answer, 'but she needs both her mother and her father, my dear.'

'It is impossible,' was the adamant reply.

'No, it is not!' Dagian declared. 'See Marcus! See my son!'

'Are you mad, Dagian? Where? Where will we not be seen and spied upon? Aurelian lives in terror that Marcus will reclaim me. When I first came to the villa he even lied to me about his niece's child, pretending that it was alive and well. He is beginning to trust me. He has even offered me marriage upon poor Ulpia Severina's death.'

'You would not marry him?' Dagian was shocked.

'I will do what I must to be revenged!' Zenobia cried passionately, and Dagian closed her eyes in agony.

'Once,' she said, 'my son's failure to act quickly caused a separation that has brought you both great pain. You have been given a second chance, Zenobia. Do not let your lust for revenge wantonly destroy what the gods have so generously given you both!'

'The gods!' Zenobia laughed harshly. 'Do you know what I was called by my people, Dagian? I was called the beloved of the gods; beloved of my people, and of the two men who loved me.' She laughed again, and the bitterness in the sound scalded the older woman. 'I honored the gods all my life, but they deserted me! If it appears that they have given me a second chance it is only so they may take it away!'

The tears sprang again to Dagian's eyes. In Zenobia's fierce and defiant words she could hear all the pain and hurt that the beautiful queen had suffered. Dagian wanted to reach out and clasp the younger woman to her bosom. She wanted to soothe her, and be a mother to her, and reassure her that everything would be all right; but she could not, for Dagian was not sure herself that everything was going to be all right.

Suddenly the silence of the grotto was broken by a man's voice. 'Mother? Ah, there you are. I wondered where you had gotten to.' Marcus Alexander Britainus stood within the entry of the little green hideaway.

Both women leapt from the marble bench, Dagian's hands flying to her heart, Zenobia turning pale at the sound of his voice. There was no escape! She tried to turn away, but Marcus's eyes were now used to the dimness and filling themselves with her.

'No!” His voice was hoarse with shock, and his hand reached out to rum her about. 'No, beloved, don't turn away from me.' Slowly he entered into the grotto, brushing past his mother as if she were not there. Stunned, Dagian could but watch them as they devoured each other with their eyes. Marcus gently grasped Zenobia by her upper arms, and, looking down into her face, now tear-streaked, spoke in a low but audible voice. 'I love you,' he said. 'I have always loved you. I have loved you from the beginnings of time, and I shall love you long after our memories have faded from this earth.'

'I have never stopped loving you,' she said, 'but our time is past. It would have been better if you had not seen me this day.'

'Do not say it!' he almost cried.

'I belong to Aurelian, Marcus. Do you understand? I am Aurelian's imperial captive.'

'You cannot give yourself to him willingly, beloved. I understand! I truly do!'

'But I do give myself willingly. I must for the sake of my children, and Aurelian is not a fool. In the beginning I fought him, but I am weary of fighting a battle I cannot win, and I have Vaba and Mavia to think of, Marcus.' She sighed sadly. 'I am no longer Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra. Palmyra, like my spirit, lies shattered into a million pieces beneath the desert sun. The woman you knew died with her people.' Then, pushing past him, she fled through the gardens back to her villa.

He made to follow her, but Dagian blocked his way, hissing at him in a voice so fierce he hardly believed it was his mother, 'Do not follow her, Marcus, lest you compromise us all! Aurelian is frantically jealous of her, and fears you.'

'He is wise to fear me, for I intend taking her back,' Marcus vowed.

'No, my son. He plans to make her his wife when Ulpia Severina dies.'

Marcus's face darkened with anger. 'Never!' he spat. 'I will see him in Hades first!'

Dagian shook her head sadly. 'Why are you both so destructive, my son? You would fight the emperor openly over Zenobia, and she plots to destroy him even at the cost of her own life. Be patient, Marcus. Aurelian cannot last much longer. His time will come, as surely as it did to those soldier emperors before him. You have but to wait, my son!'

His face contorted with pain. 'How can I wait any longer having seen her now, Mother? It has been two years since Aurelian separated us, and I have ached every day I have been away from her. Who planned that Zenobia live in the villa next to ours? Surely not the emperor?'

'No,' Dagian said. 'It was Ulpia Severina who arranged it.'

'Because she wanted Zenobia and me to be reunited!' he said excitedly.

'Yes,' Dagian admitted, 'but I do not believe that she knew the depth of her husband's involvement with Zenobia, Marcus. Now she is dying, she will do everything in her limited power to see Aurelian is happy after she is gone; and if Aurelian wants your queen for his second wife then Ulpia will try to see he has what he wants.'

'We could flee Italy, Mother. You, and Zenobia, Mavia, and I could flee to Britain!'

'And what of Zenobia's eldest son and his family in Cyrene, Marcus? What fate would await them in Aurelian's anger? Besides, the emperor's passion for her is all-consuming. He would come after her with every legion at his command, and when he caught us he would destroy you, my son. Zenobia loves you, Marcus. I was not sure of it until this afternoon, but when she saw you, spoke with you, left you, every fiber of her being proclaimed her love for you. You can do no less. You must not put her or her family in jeopardy. Trust me-and wait.'

He sank down on the marble bench, and with a sob put his head in his hands. Zenobia! Her name burned like a brand within his brain. It was almost like a dream now, their brief encounter. Had he really held her in his arms again? Why had he not kissed her? The gods only knew he had wanted to. Another groan escaped his lips.

Heart pounding, Zenobia had fled across the gardens to her own villa. Marcus! She