thought he could steal her away from him, he was crazed! He surged from his chair just asVelus stepped back to reveal the senator standing in the doorway.
Draped in a dark gray cloak and tunic, Tacitus had obviously dressed with a clandestine mission in mind. His hawklike features too weathered for a man in his mid-thirties, the senator possessed the sort of inbred arrogance that always set Alexius’s teeth on edge.
“Lanista.”
“Senator.” Alexius waved the newcomer into the room.
A man who’d enjoyed wealth, position and the care of an army of slaves since birth, Tacitus dropped his cloak in Velus’s general direction, expecting the steward to catch the wool garment before it hit the floor tiles. Velus glared at the senator’s back and let it fall, kicking the heavy pile of cloth for good measure before he deigned to pick it up and leave.
Once Tacitus chose a chair across the desk from him, Alexius offered a refreshment, which the senator declined.
“I seem to be popular with your family today.” Alexius returned to his seat, careful not to betray his vexation with the senator’s overconfident manner or his keen interest in the man’s unexpected arrival. “Your wife was here earlier looking for her cousin. Unfortunately, Caros and Pelonia aren’t able to return to Rome until next week.”
“I’ll inform Tiberia of their change of plans. However, you and I both know that’s not why I’m here.”
A gust of wind rattled the shutters tied back on either side of the open window. Alexius shook his head and adopted a perplexed expression. “I have no idea why you’re here, Senator. Please. Enlighten me.”
“We all know Tibi came to see you last night.
There’s no use denying it. She thought Pelonia might be here. She had nowhere else to go.”
“I don’t deny it.” He leaned back and propped his elbows on the arms of his chair. “I can’t confirm her visit, either.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Does it matter?”
The senator glared at him. “Where is this misplaced loyalty coming from,
lanista?
Has Tibi offered her body in exchange for your protection? If so, let me warn you. She’s a…unique and beautiful girl to be sure, but I defy you to find a more troublesome wench within a radius of a thousand miles.”
“If I see her, I’ll keep that in mind,” Alexius growled, imagining how easy it would be to break the man’s arm as payment for his insult to Tibi’s honor.
“Good.
If
you see her, will you also convey another message for my wife and me?”
Alexius nodded, losing more of his patience with each word Tacitus uttered.
“Tell her not to go home. Her sister and I are concerned for her safety. Rumors are running rampant about her. In defense of his reasons for breaking the marriage contract, Catulus Lepidus has made claims that are—how shall I put it?—
less
than complimentary concerning Tibi’s purity. Gossip is already raking up the old rumors that she’s wild and that Tiberius is too weak to control his willful daughter.”
Alexius swore under his breath. “I know Catulus Lepidus. He and his father are both rodents. The rat shouldn’t have been allowed within a mile of Tibi.”
“That may be,” Tacitus said, sheepishly rearranging the edges of his cloak. “But Tiberius was fed up with his daughter long before last night’s fiasco. For all theyears I’ve known them, she and he have mixed as well as oil and water. The renewed gossip and her defiant disappearance have sent him over the edge, I fear. I believe the possibility that he’ll kill her the next time he sees her is very real.”
The fury Alexius had been struggling to suppress boiled up like a geyser. The chair scraped back along the floor. He jumped to his feet and rounded the desk. “You tell that swine,
I’ll
kill
him
if he so much as
blinks
unkindly in her direction.”
Tacitus stood and put half the room between them. “It needn’t come to that,
lanista
. If she comes here, do us all a
Draped in a dark gray cloak and tunic, Tacitus had obviously dressed with a clandestine mission in mind. His hawklike features too weathered for a man in his mid-thirties, the senator possessed the sort of inbred arrogance that always set Alexius’s teeth on edge.
“Lanista.”
“Senator.” Alexius waved the newcomer into the room.
A man who’d enjoyed wealth, position and the care of an army of slaves since birth, Tacitus dropped his cloak in Velus’s general direction, expecting the steward to catch the wool garment before it hit the floor tiles. Velus glared at the senator’s back and let it fall, kicking the heavy pile of cloth for good measure before he deigned to pick it up and leave.
Once Tacitus chose a chair across the desk from him, Alexius offered a refreshment, which the senator declined.
“I seem to be popular with your family today.” Alexius returned to his seat, careful not to betray his vexation with the senator’s overconfident manner or his keen interest in the man’s unexpected arrival. “Your wife was here earlier looking for her cousin. Unfortunately, Caros and Pelonia aren’t able to return to Rome until next week.”
“I’ll inform Tiberia of their change of plans. However, you and I both know that’s not why I’m here.”
A gust of wind rattled the shutters tied back on either side of the open window. Alexius shook his head and adopted a perplexed expression. “I have no idea why you’re here, Senator. Please. Enlighten me.”
“We all know Tibi came to see you last night.
There’s no use denying it. She thought Pelonia might be here. She had nowhere else to go.”
“I don’t deny it.” He leaned back and propped his elbows on the arms of his chair. “I can’t confirm her visit, either.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Does it matter?”
The senator glared at him. “Where is this misplaced loyalty coming from,
lanista?
Has Tibi offered her body in exchange for your protection? If so, let me warn you. She’s a…unique and beautiful girl to be sure, but I defy you to find a more troublesome wench within a radius of a thousand miles.”
“If I see her, I’ll keep that in mind,” Alexius growled, imagining how easy it would be to break the man’s arm as payment for his insult to Tibi’s honor.
“Good.
If
you see her, will you also convey another message for my wife and me?”
Alexius nodded, losing more of his patience with each word Tacitus uttered.
“Tell her not to go home. Her sister and I are concerned for her safety. Rumors are running rampant about her. In defense of his reasons for breaking the marriage contract, Catulus Lepidus has made claims that are—how shall I put it?—
less
than complimentary concerning Tibi’s purity. Gossip is already raking up the old rumors that she’s wild and that Tiberius is too weak to control his willful daughter.”
Alexius swore under his breath. “I know Catulus Lepidus. He and his father are both rodents. The rat shouldn’t have been allowed within a mile of Tibi.”
“That may be,” Tacitus said, sheepishly rearranging the edges of his cloak. “But Tiberius was fed up with his daughter long before last night’s fiasco. For all theyears I’ve known them, she and he have mixed as well as oil and water. The renewed gossip and her defiant disappearance have sent him over the edge, I fear. I believe the possibility that he’ll kill her the next time he sees her is very real.”
The fury Alexius had been struggling to suppress boiled up like a geyser. The chair scraped back along the floor. He jumped to his feet and rounded the desk. “You tell that swine,
I’ll
kill
him
if he so much as
blinks
unkindly in her direction.”
Tacitus stood and put half the room between them. “It needn’t come to that,
lanista
. If she comes here, do us all a
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