I licked my parched lips. I might be dead before Rome. A girl could be optimistic.
“Little witch,” the voice called again, and I glared up into the general’s face. We’d become acquainted once my guardianship was transferred to him. The Mage was still around, flitting in and out, but I couldn’t always sense her presence. Where she went or what she did, I didn’t know.
“Augustus.” I spat his name which made his lips crimp into a firm line. His sandaled toe pointed for my ribs again and I winced as he ground the leather sole into my skin.
“You try my patience, slave.” His bright-blue eyes darted over my face, his lips curling. What must he see? I must be filthy, bedraggled. I probably did look nothing more than a scrawny slave right now.
How pleased would the Emperor be? I couldn’t wait to see his face when I was dragged into his presence.
“And you try mine, General, but it seems we are stuck with one another.”
His fingers itched, but the slap I expected never arrived. “Today I shall walk with you.” He reached his hand for my arm and hauled me from the ground. My arms stung from where they’d been tied in the same position for so long. Every time they untied them, I expected them to hang useless, but they always seemed to remember how to work. I was beginning to realise the human body was a phenomenal machine.
“How wonderful.”
He bared his teeth. “The other soldiers grow tired of your crying and mourning. I have offered to beat it out of you through the next stage of our journey. I don’t know why you grieve so. I heard Druid priestesses had a more than one man to keep them satisfied. Yet you mourn for that largish brute as though he were your only lover.” His eyes lightened on my face, and for all his goading and all the viciousness of his words I saw a light of sincerity deep within his gaze. It was like he was testing me, but I didn’t know what exam I was expected to pass. He had an expectation of me, but, how could he? I didn’t know him. And he was brutish and vile, so I didn’t want to, either.
My cheeks flamed a wild burning fire when I thought of the ways of our tribe. How I could have stated on my eighteenth birthday that Tristram was my choice, and he would have been mine. I could have chosen another, too, but that would never have happened.
“You know nothing.”
“Yet.” He smirked, his eyes skimming over my exposed skin. “We have weeks ahead of us. I could plan to get to know you very well and there would be little you could do to stop me.” Again, his tone held that slight edge. He wanted me to respond in a certain way. Why didn’t he just damn say?
I scowled, desperately wishing something could just take him out. The thought of having him march at my side for weeks was enough to make me want to impale myself on his spear.
He tripped over a tree root poking through the smooth flat of the new road, glaring at it and then at me.
“I did not do that.” I wished I hadn’t spoken, but it was automatic to retort a response.
He dipped his head slightly, his own cheeks tinging a faint pink. “So you say.”
“Whatever.”
He narrowed his eyes, unfamiliar with my turn of phrase. “I’ve conquered the whole of the Isles, but none of the girls we’ve taken as slaves have been quite like you.”
My heart squeezed at the thought of the other girls and what fate they may have received.
Noticing my hesitation, he added, “We’ve looked through all the girls in a bid to find you, little witch. Some of them were more enjoyable than others.” Again with that look.
I couldn’t repress my shudder and he grinned widely, the sun catching on his remarkable white teeth.
“Come, I can assure you it wasn’t all bad for them. I can show you if you wish?”
“Touch me and you will die,” I gritted out through clenched teeth.
His laugh bounced off the surrounding hills. “I like your fire. I only hope I get to see you more when we are in Rome.”
“I can only hope you will choke on your own tongue before we get there.”
The soldiers were preparing to march, and I turned to face the direction they were heading. Augustus sighed and stepped into position at my side. “Try to keep up.”
I didn’t answer. I concentrated on trying to get the earth to connect with the power I knew lay at my feet. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get through. It was as though my abilities had been blocked.
The Mage.
It was her. I was sure of it.
We stepped off, our feet in time, and as we marched, I ran through all my limited options trying to find a way this disastrous situation could work for me.
Try as I might, I couldn’t.
His lips on mine were firm and sure. His fingers slid into my hair as his dark gaze sought mine. “Mae,” he whispered my name as though it were a prayer, as though I was the very single thing he needed to find his solace. The bed was small, comfortable, the room dim with shadows.
Room thirteen. His room thirteen.
The dream of our snatched night teased me though the dark hours. How I wish I’d done more: more than a kiss, a sigh, a touch. How I wish I’d shown him how deeply I was connected to him.
Given him everything
When Augustus’ sandal connected with my ribs—another cruel wake up—I desperately clung onto my dream.
My arms ached, my fingers tingled.
The bright-blue eyes that watched as I blinked and yawned were not the dark ones I wanted to find.
“Dream well, little witch?” His lips quirked. His face was
