salary for the chance to buy her one day. Every time they made love, the episode was re-run in his mind for months until he returned to her again. When he was not on duty, his mind was with her. She was like a lifeline for him. A lifeline of tender beauty in a brutal world of death and war. Victoria’s lips twisted and hot tears ran down her face.
Jasper handed her a tissue. She blew her nose. The monkey demon said to Mr. Magnus, “She’s doing it again.”
“Victoria. You see how these thoughts affect your emotions? You flail yourself with them. Stop. Let’s pretend something different. Remember Marcus. Remember him. Now change the event so you save him instead of condemn him. Do it now.”
That was intriguing, and the thought that she might step in and save him made her take a deep breath and blow out the sad thoughts. “I can do that?” she asked.
Mr. Magnus nodded to Jasper, who took the tissue form her hand and she found herself in Rome. She looked down to see the beautiful collar of coral and lapis. She was perfumed and oiled and dressed in her veils and jangling ankle bracelets and a beaded belt.
She bent her head to see her long black hair fall over her little breasts. Footsteps in the corridor. She backed against the wall. The door opened and Marcus was there, backlit against the oil lamps in the hallway. He closed the door behind him and whispered, “Alana?”
She stepped into his arms. His kiss was gentle and he held her like she was a great treasure, like a songbird. He breathed a long sigh into her neck and caressed the curve of her back and over her buttocks. Alana responded with her own sigh. Victoria knew Marcus would lay Alana carefully on the cushions. He would stroke her with wispy feathery touches and whisper his love for her. When his cock could no longer be ignored he would slide it gently into her and nuzzle her neck as he carefully stroked inside. He was her most attentive lover. He worshipped her body with his own. And that would be how they were caught. Too much foreplay. Victoria knew this though Alana did not. She took Marcus’ hand and made Alana say, “We should go to a different room. This one is too dangerous.” She knew that they would be caught if they stayed. Alana would be dragged to the bathhouse and bent over a massage platform and raped by all of Cestius’ men until she died. Marcus would be in chains for thirty days and then sent to Gaul. He must obey her. She must make him stop.
He did not want to stop. His voice was honey persuasion. “We cannot. There are guards at each intersection. You remember Publius comes tonight to visit Cestius. That is how I was able to get away from the barracks.” He tried to press her to kneel on the cushions. “I volunteered to cover the evening watch. I go on at midnight. It has to be now.”
Victoria made Alana resist. “But they will search this room, looking for me. We cannot be here together when they do,” she said. It was true.
“You have to work tonight?” he sounded so disappointed.
Good idea. “Yes, he wants me to serve the wine.”
Marcus’ face darkened. “Serve the wine. That is euphemism for…”
“No,” she quickly amended. “Really. Just serve the wine. Antonia is for Publius tonight.”
“That pig,” Marcus spat. He did not like the senator. He grumbled as he ran his hands up and down her smooth arms and finally took her hands. “I go on at midnight. Remember.” He drew her in and kissed her so softly. His eyes were big and dark in the dimly lit room. She saw his love there. Changing this moment in time brought out a variety of possibilities now. She could close her eyes as he nibbled the edge of her jaw near her ear and see herself on his farm. He had bought her from Cestius when he retired. He had saved every piece of silver for seven years to be able to afford her. By then she was almost twenty five and Cestius has chosen a new favorite from the younger girls. Her price was high, but not so high that a determined soldier could not buy her. She saw herself milking a goat, picking olives. She felt him press himself inside her every night and telling