Slave to the Empire (Historical Erotic Romance Novella Book 1) by Lilly Fey Page B

me?!”
    “The re isn’t anything that I want from you, dearie…well, I suppose I could use you for a little something, but it’s not me you need to be asking these questions to. So shut it and move!”
    A slight whimper escaped her mouth, but then she grabbed hold of the man and allowed him to drag her out of the cell.
    Once they were out of the cell, Lucilla was instantly blinded. She had to shield her eyes for a good while.  She could only hear men talking and vaguely make out cell doors as they were walking.  They were in a dungeon. Why was she in a dungeon? She broke no laws.  She was a law-abiding citizen of Rome and paid all taxes and dues without question to avoid being in situations like these.
    After several minutes, her eyes start ed to adjust. She looked at her surroundings and her fears were confirmed.  She saw the Roman guard stalking the hall and heard cries beyond the doors that she walked past.  She also noticed that she was surrounded by guards, it wasn’t just the one man who pulled her out of the cell.  
    She looked to the guard who was now standing next to her. He wasn’t the one who dragged her out of the cell, so she was hoping he would be a little more forthcoming with answers.
    “Why have I been brought here?” she quietly asked the guard.
    He didn’t respond.
    “Please…tell me…” she pleaded.
    The desperation in her voice must have done something.  Maybe he just wanted her to shut up, but he quickly replied, “I can’t tell you why, but I can tell you that you got the attention of someone very important.  Now be quiet, girl.”
    And with that she allowed them to lead her down the corridors in silence. Oddly, they were not taking her deeper into the dungeons.  They were actuall y walking her through a series tunnels. Initially, she was trying to keep track of the turns just in case, but she abandoned that notion pretty quickly.
    It felt like almost 30 minutes of walking went by before they came to a set of stairs.  The guard next to her led her up the stairs and unlocked the door as the rest of the men waited in the tunnel. Now the lone guard was her only escort.
    The two of them entered an open corridor with marble pillars lining a garden. Lucilla couldn’t help but look at her surroundings a bit open-mouthed, taken aback by its simple beauty.
    “Where are we?”
    The guard smirked almost bitterly, “You’ll see soon enough.”
    Lucilla looked over at the guard to get a better look of him and was surprised by what she saw.  He was tall and clean-shaven and didn’t look rough like guards usually did.  The two things that stood out the most were his piercing blue eyes and his strong jaw line.  And his jaw was clenched very tight at that moment, as if he was uncomfortable or angry about something.
    He must have felt her eyes on him. He paused for only a moment and then jerked her arm forward to bring her attention back to walking and looking ahead.  She complied and decided to look around at her surroundings instead.  They were walking along an open corridor with a garden on one side of it and a very large building on the other side.  It was beautiful and adorned with arched doorways every 10 feet or so.
    Before she could make any furthe r observations, the guard led her through one of the archways.  Lucilla tripped but the guard had a firm hand on her and kept her upright and walking forward.  Wherever they were going, he was very eager to get her there.  Lucilla kept trying to absorb her surroundings, trying to find a clue as to where she was, but this kept causing her to lose her footing. And trip.
    The guard squeezed her tightly. “Stop walking like a drunkard. I will drag you across the floor if I must, but it would be a lot simpler if you just walked.”
    “It would be a lot simple r if I knew where I was going!” she snapped back.
    At this the guard stopped quickly and looked at her.  He looked at her face, like he was assessing her, his piercing gaze