Love's Blazing Ecstasy by Kathryn Kramer

sort of discipline you can wreck on Ibu.”
    Valerian sensed danger in the tribune’s words. He was being tested. It would be difficult to be merciful to the boy and yet appear to be masterful, but somehow he would manage it.
    “My father has always taught me that hard work and responsibility are the keys to discipline. Give him to me for a few months to act as my stable boy, and I promise you that his arrogance will turn to worthiness.”
    “Agreed, after he receives at least ten lashes.”
    Valerian was disappointed, but he let the matter rest. “Now…about the slave girl, Meghan. Is there nothing I can do to convince you that I must have her?”
    Severus laughed. “She must be a lusty one in bed. I will have to try her charms myself.”
    Valerian nearly choked on his wine, biting his tongue to keep from saying the wrong thing to the tribune. It would take cunning to get the girl out of the old goat’s clutches now. He cursed himself for ten kinds of fool. Seeing several soldiers involved in a game of dice, he had an idea.
    “Would you give me a chance to gamble for the girl?” he asked with a wry smile.
    Severus chuckled in reply. “Only if your stake in the game is your stallion.”
    Wynne, forgive me, Valerian thought, and answered, “All right.” He said a prayer to the goddess Venus to be with him, knowing that Meghan’s destiny was in his hands now.
    Together he and the tribune sauntered over to where the soldiers played their game. Severus walked with the unsteady gait of the intoxicated, which Valerian did his best to imitate. The tribune held out his hands for the ivory cubes and Valerian held his breath. So much rested on his winning. With a confident grin Severus took his turn, swearing beneath his breath at the ill turn of fate. With hands atremble, Valerian took his turn, closing his eyes tightly as if afraid of the outcome.
    “Damn your heathen heart, centurion. You have won!” he heard Severus scream in his ear, and only then did he open his eyes to see the truth of those words. “I will have her sent to your tent tonight.”
    “The evening progressed with the drunken brawls which always occurred when the soldiers imbibed too much of the grape. Valerian’s stomach started to rebel at all the rich food and wine. As he looked around him at the unconscious bodies of the soldiers, the thought ran through his mind that were they now to be attacked, they would be as helpless as children. Naked bodies of lovers, male and female, sprawled over the floor, and he could not help feeling disgust with his countrymen. At his side Severus kept silent, no doubt still upset over losing to Valerian. But finally the tribune spoke.
    “You are a brave and a good soldier, Valerian. You have proved that many times already. I wonder if perhaps you are also ambitious.” In his drunkenness his speech was garbled and slurred.
    “I don’t think of myself as ambitious,” Valerian answered cautiously, wondering what Severus had in his devious mind.  Certainly he was not ruthless in his quest for power.  Not like the tribune, he thought. “Why?”
    Severus laughed. “Come now, Valerian, every man is ambitious. We all want power. It is the only thing that is really important on this earth.”
    Valerian did not argue, but he could not help but feel loathing for this man he had once respected, this man who was his father’s close friend. If power was at the cost of a man’s honor and soul it held little meaning, at least to his way of thinking.
    Looking at him, Severus gestured for him to move closer, as if to tell him something for his ears alone. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. I have the answer to Rome’s success with these heathens here in Britain. It is all so simple, really. Now that you have seen with your own eyes the Celts in the North, perhaps you will understand. They are not at all like our docile tribesmen in the South, who mimic our ways.”
    “Perhaps they can learn from us,” Valerian