Beloved

dreaming. Find your beds, Bab, Adria.'

The two servants scurried out, and waiting until they were just gone, Zenobia threw herself into her husband's arms, raising her face up for a kiss. He stared down at her for a moment, his fingers gently caressing her cheekbones, and then his mouth descended to meet her eager lips. Her heart leapt wildly within her chest, threatening, she was certain, to burst through her skin. He kissed her softly at first, and then as his mouth grew more certain of possession, he demanded surrender, total surrender of her. She joyously gave him that surrender, wrapping her smooth arms about his neck, pressing herself as close to him as she could.

'You are mine now!' and she could hear the triumph in his voice.

'I am yours now and forever!' she answered him, her eyes shining up into his with so much love that he felt humble.

Unable to resist her, he kissed her gently once more, and then he led her to their bed where they sat down so they might speak.

'Aurelian is gone, Zenobia. Two days ago from Brindisi, according to reports received this morning in Rome. The news came by pigeon, and was welcomed by the senate.'

'Tacitus came to visit me this morning,' Zenobia said excitedly. 'I had requested the senate to withdraw the Praetorian guards from the villa.'

'On what excuse?' he asked.

'I said I wished to live quietly, and not cause the government unnecessary expense.'

Marcus laughed loudly. 'Indeed, my love, you certainly must have caught their attention with that excuse.'

'He practically admitted a plot against Aurelian. This emperor will not, I wager, return from Byzantium alive.'

'How can you be sure, beloved? Tell me exactly what Tacitus said to you.'

'I do not doubt that you have heard the rumors, Marcus, of what happened to me in Aurelian's temple,' she said slowly.

'I have heard,' he said tersely, his face suddenly dark and grim with anger.

'It was not my fault,' she whispered, afraid.

He drew a deep breath, and then took her onto his lap to comfort her. 'I know that, Zenobia, but I cannot help but be angry about it. I am not angry with you, but at the situation. I am not one of these new Christians who can turn the other cheek. My wife, the woman whom I prize above all others, was taken publicly in a fertility rite! The mere thought maddens me!'

'It was the most horrifying experience of my life, Marcus, and I have lived through much. I was drugged just enough to make me helpless, but not enough to render me unconscious. I was bound upon their high altar for all to see, and all about me those unholy people chanted for Aurelian to take me.'

She sighed deeply, sadly, then said, 'At least one good thing came of it. Aurelian was so certain that he had impregnated me that he never came near me after that.'

He groaned, pained. 'How many times have you been helpless, and I not able to defend you, beloved? Never again! I swear by all the gods it shall never happen again! Now you are in my keeping, Zenobia, and I will protect you always.'

'And I will protect you, my love. Alone we seem but half a person; only together are we whole.'

He was comforted by her words, for he seemed to need the comfort more than she. She smiled with the thought that where she was weak he was strong, but where he was weak she was strong. After a long moment Marcus spoke again, saying, 'Tell me what else Tacitus said.'

'He said that the senate needed reassurances, which, I realized, meant that they wished to know if I was indeed pregnant as Aurelian kept insisting. He said that, given those assurances, I might be granted my freedom entirely. I, of course, told him I am not pregnant. I offered my women to the senate for questioning, and myself for examination by a physician of the senate's choice.

'Why would they want such knowledge if they were not planning to assassinate Aurelian? They would kill me as quickly as Aurelian if they thought there was any chance I was bearing his child. Since he has no other heirs, and poor Ulpia will shortly be dead herself, they seek to tie up all the loose ends. I wonder who will be the next emperor? Are there any generals who stand out in your mind?'

'None,' he answered her.

'Then why kill Aurelian? Why-without someone else to take his place-destabilize the government?'

'Aurelian has offended enough men,' Marcus explained, 'that it matters not to them what happens to the government as long as their own interests are protected. And rest assured, my love, the interests of the conspirators will be safe. The powerful will find a new emperor. And when he offends them…' Marcus made a slicing motion across his throat with his finger.

'Then surely the time is right for us to flee, my love! Now, while they are involved with their plots.'

'Yes, beloved, it is time for us to flee. I have spent these last days planning our escape. I have bought a ship, Zenobia, a Roman merchantman, only two years old. If we are to live on an island we shall need transportation between our new home and the mainland.'

'A merchantman? Then you mean to trade?'

'I am not a farmer or a herdsman, beloved.'

'Will you leave me then in this strange land that you are taking me to, Marcus. Leave me to pursue your business?'

'No, beloved, I will never leave you again, but my ship will trade for me, and I will have an interest.'

She squirmed about in his lap, and looked up at him. 'What will I do?' she wondered aloud. 'I am a queen without a kingdom, a general without an army. What on earth am I to do, Marcus?'

'You will be a good Roman wife, beloved,' he answered, and Zenobia laughed.

'No, Marcus, I should be bored to death. For me there must be something else. Perhaps I shall make this island of ours the new kingdom over which I reign. I must think on it.'

'You think too much,' he chuckled, falling back upon the bed, still clutching her within his arms. 'Come, and be my good Roman wife,' he teased, repositioning her to lie in the curve of his arm beneath him as if she were a child's toy. 'I think that you should begin by kissing me, wife,' and he lowered his head to brush her lips with his own. 'My wife,' he murmured against her mouth. 'My beautiful wife, my sweet wife, my adorable wife.'

Her smile was deceptively sweet. 'I have only been upon the sea once, when Aurelian brought me from Macedonia to Brindisi. I liked it, and I believe that I shall learn to navigate this ship of yours. One may use the stars in the heavens upon the sea as easily as upon the desert.'

He grinned down at her. 'Had I wanted to marry a sailor…' He waggled his eyebrows wickedly at her so that she giggled. 'I wanted a woman, beloved, and I married woman incarnate.' His hand drew her robe open to bare her beautiful breasts to him, and he leaned forward to brush them with his rough cheek. Her scent arose from the warmth of her lovely body to taunt and assail him. 'Oh, Zenobia,' he said softly, and she reached out to draw him against her breasts.

They lay together in tender embrace, enjoying the simple pleasure of being together without fear of discovery. She threaded her fingers through his thick chestnut-colored hair, noticing a silver strand here and there. Suddenly she realized that he had fallen asleep upon her breasts, and again she chuckled as she shifted to cradle him more comfortably. There had never before been a time when he hadn't made love to her. Their separation had taken its toll on him, for he was obviously exhausted.

When morning came and he awoke, Marcus was much chagrined. 'You were so tired, my darling,' an amused Zenobia comforted him.

'But I wanted you!' he protested.

Zenobia laughed. 'And I wanted you,' she said, 'but you were tired and you fell asleep.' Then she roused him up, for it was necessary that he return to the city that morning. 'When are we to leave?' she asked as she helped him to dress in his freshened clothes.

'We will sail from Ostia in three days' time,' he answered.

'Are we to sail the entire way, my darling?' She looked a little nervous.

'I would like to, Zenobia, as there is less chance of our being caught; but the sea is so dangerous. We will follow the coast closely as far as Massilia. From Massilia we will take the tin route up across Gaul to the coast