Beloved

them if he could not force her, and so, leaning forward, Aurelian took one of her nipples in his mouth and brutally bit it. She screamed with the pain, and the crowd's attention was once more engaged, they groaned together. 'Say it, goddess!' he commanded her through gritted teeth.

For a moment incredible hatred blazed from her drugged eyes, and then she whimpered at him, 'Fuck me, Roman! Fuck me before I die!'

He rammed himself deep into her, making her cry out again, moving in and out of her with incredible swiftness as around them the other worshipers fell upon each other, men with women, women with women, men with men, in a frenzied orgy of sensual abandon. Mercifully Zenobia fainted, blotting the rest of the horror from her consciousness.

When she once more came to her senses she was surprised to find herself in her bedroom back in Tivoli. Next to her old Bab nodded, and Zenobia struggled to call to her through cracked lips, 'Bab!' Instantly the faithful servant was awake.

'My baby!' she cried. 'You are awake at last!'

'How long has it been?' Zenobia demanded. Her head was pounding.

'The emperor brought you back four days ago. He said you grew ill in Rome, but you have had no fever or other signs of illness. You have been unconscious all that time, and we could not rouse you. What happened?'

'I cannot discuss it, Bab. Do not ask! Where is the emperor?'

'I will fetch him. He asked to be called when you awoke.' She hurried off, to return a few minutes later with Aurelian, who looked as cool, elegant, and calm as always.

'Leave us, Bab!'

Bab departed swiftly, closing the door behind her with a resounding bang.

'What happened to me?' Her voice was icy with anger.

'Do you not remember, goddess?' His eyes mocked her.

'I did not dream it?'

'I hope not, goddess. We were both incredible, so incredible that donations to the temple the other night reached an unprecedented high.'

'You are loathsome!'

'When I had finished with you,' he went on, 'I took fifteen more women. The gods! How they fought and pleaded to be taken by me. They did everything, anything I desired. I was invincible!'

'You are disgusting, Roman! You defile the gods by your obscene worship of this Unconquerable Sun of yours!'

'You are now pregnant with my child,' he said, ignoring her anger.

She started at him in shock, then said, 'You have never in all your years with your wife or your other women fathered a child. What in the name of all the gods makes you think you have fathered one on me now?'

'Because it is foretold in the writings of the Unconquerable Sun that he who is the god upon the earth will father a son upon she who is the goddess upon the earth. From the moment I saw you I knew that you were she who is the goddess upon the earth. Why do you think I have spared you, Zenobia? Why have I always called you goddess? You are Venus reborn, my fair one, and from your womb will spring forth a mighty ruler! Were it not so then the other night when I finished with you, you would have offered yourself to the others as I offered myself. You, however, are the goddess, and my seed could not be defiled. So sure am I that you have conceived that in the few weeks I remain in Rome before my next campaign I will not come to you. I will not touch you lest I injure the babe.'

'I am to remain in Tivoli again while you are away?' she queried.

'Of course! I do not want either you or the child endangered, goddess. You will stay here in Tivoli. Surely Ulpia cannot last much longer, and when I return I will wed with you. If the child is already born, I will legitimize him.'

She could scarcely believe her good fortune. She had looked forward with dread to a month of his insatiable passion, and now he was telling her she was free. Zenobia was careful not to let her joy show. Composing her face, she raised her eyes to him. 'I did not like what you did to me the other night, Roman, but I have been without you for several months. Now you say we are not to be together while you are here in Rome.' Her lips arranged themselves in a pretty pout.

He smiled at her. 'I am pleased that you shall miss my loving attentions, goddess; but I will take no chances with you.'

'You are not bored with me? This is not simply an excuse because you have found another?' Her voice sounded delightfully suspicious in his ear.

'How could there be anyone after you, goddess?' he demanded. 'No, I adore you as always! There is no other!' No others that mattered, he thought, pleased.

'You cannot be sure that I am with child, Roman. It is much too soon to know.'

'Nevertheless, I will take no risks, Zenobia. I am returning to Rome today, and I will not be back again until just before we march. I have a great deal to do, goddess, and a very short time in which to do it. You must accept my decision. It is for the best.'

'Very well, Roman, it will be as you say. I see that you cannot be moved.'

Aurelian leaned forward and cupped her chin in his hand while his mouth found hers. His kiss was a possessive one, a demanding one, and remembering the other night, she shuddered. He was a ruthless man. Releasing her from the kiss, he said softly, 'I understand that your neighbor is Dagian, the wife of the late Lucius Alexander.'

'Yes,' Zenobia replied, choosing her words carefully. 'She is a pleasant and amusing woman, and she enjoys Mavia greatly.'

'And have you seen her son, goddess?' She could hear the dangerous undertone in his voice.

'Yes, Roman. I have seen him several times in his mother's gardens.' She must be careful not to lie lest he suspect her.

'You have spoken to him?'

'On at least two occasions,' she said, certain now that someone, an imperial spy undoubtedly, had seen them, and reported it to Aurelian.

'And?'

'And what, Roman?' She laughed lightly. 'You aren't jealous, are you, Caesar?' Leaning over, she kissed him teasingly. 'I do not know now what I ever saw in Marcus Alexander. He is really a very dull, pompous man.'

'Then you love me alone?'

'I told you, Roman, that it was doubtful that I should ever love again; but what could Marcus Alexander offer me, pray? You offer me an empire, and I should be a fool to refuse you. Especially since I am to bear your child.'

He looked long and searchingly into her face and then, certain that she spoke the truth, admitted ruefully, 'I knew that eventually you would see Marcus Alexander again, and I was jealous. I love you, goddess! You are my very life now!'

'I have never given you reason to doubt me, Roman,' she answered him, thinking, somewhat amused: But only because I have been careful, and not been caught!

He rose from the bedside. 'I must leave you now, goddess, but I will return before we march.'

She smiled up at him, and watched through narrowed eyes as he left her bedchamber. I shall only have to see you one more time, Roman, she thought; and at least I am free now of your eternal pawing.

A few minutes later both Bab and Adria entered her bedchamber, and Zenobia demanded, 'Is he gone?'

'He is on the road to Rome as we speak, Majesty,' Adria said.

Zenobia turned to Bab. 'Go to Marcus, and tell him that I am all right. Then tell him that there is an imperial spy in one of our houses. He is not to come to me until after the emperor has left Rome. If he protests, Bab, then you must tell him that Aurelian asked me if I had spoken to him, and I said yes, for I was certain he knew I had. We are watched, and must take no chances. Dagian will carry messages for us, but I will not endanger either of us when we are so close to escape. Tell him, Bab, that I love him.'

'Do not fear, my baby,' Bab soothed. 'Marcus Alexander Britainus values you above all things. He will understand.'

Zenobia prayed it was so.