The Emperor Series Books 1-5. Conn Iggulden

and doesn’t discolour as badly, just grows dull. Take it, and return it to me when you have made something of it. I’ll attach a pin and sell it on as a cloak fastener for a legionary. If it’s as good as the bronze one, I could get a silver coin for it. I’ll take back the price of the pewter and the pin and you will be left with six, maybe seven quadrantes. A business transaction, understand?’

      ‘Where is your profit in this?’ Alexandria asked, her eyes wide at the change in fortune.

      ‘None for this first one. I am making a small investment in a talent I think you have. Give Bant my regards when you see him next.’

      Alexandria pocketed the pewter circle and once again had to fight against tears. She wasn’t used to kindness.

      ‘Thank you. I will give the bronze to Marius.’

      ‘Make sure you do, Alexandria.’

      ‘How … how do you know my name?’

      Tabbic picked up the ring he had been working on as she came in.

      ‘Bant talks of little else when I see him.’

      Alexandria had to run to be back before the two hours were up, but her feet were light and she felt like singing. She would make the pewter disc into a beautiful thing and Tabbic would sell it for more than a silver coin and clamour for more until her work brought in gold pieces, and one day she would gather her profits together and buy herself free. Free. It was a giddy dream.

      As she was let into Marius’ house, the scent of the gardens filled her lungs and she stood for a moment, just breathing in the evening air. Carla appeared and took her bags and the coins, nodding at the savings as always. If the woman noticed anything different about Alexandria, she didn’t say, but she smiled as she took the supplies down to the cool basement stores, where they wouldn’t spoil too quickly.

      Alone with her thoughts, Alexandria didn’t see Gaius at first and wasn’t expecting him. He spent most of his days matching his uncle’s punishing schedule, returning to the house at odd hours only to eat and sleep. The guards at the gate let him in without comment, well used to his comings and goings. He started as he saw Alexandria in the gardens and stood for a moment, simply enjoying the sight of her. Evening was coming on with late-summer slowness, where the air is soft and the light has a touch of grey for hours before it fades.

      She turned as he approached and smiled at him.

      ‘You look happy,’ he said, smiling in return.

      ‘Oh, I am,’ she replied.

      He had not kissed her since the moment in the stables back on the estate, but he sensed the time was right at last. Marcus was gone and the town house seemed deserted.

      He bent his neck and his heart thumped painfully with something almost like fear.

      He felt her warm breath before their lips touched and then he could taste her and he gathered her up in a natural embrace, as they seemed to fit together without effort or design.

      ‘I can’t tell you how often I have thought of this,’ he murmured.

      She looked into his eyes and knew there was a gift she could give him and found she wanted to.

      ‘Come along to my room,’ she whispered, taking his hand.

      As if in a dream, he followed her through the gardens to her quarters.

      Carla watched them go.

      ‘And about bloody time,’ she muttered.

      At first, Gaius was worried that he would be clumsy, or worse, quick, but Alexandria guided his movements and her hands felt cool on his skin. She took a little bottle of scented oil from a shelf and he watched as she spilled a few sluggish drops onto her palms. It had a rich scent that filled his lungs as she sat astride him, rubbing it gently into his chest and lower, making him gasp. He took some of it from his own skin and reached upwards to her breasts, remembering the first time he had seen their soft swell in the courtyard of the estate so long ago. He pressed his mouth gently against one then the other, tasting her skin and moving his lips over the oily nipples. She opened her mouth slightly, her eyes closing at his touch. Then she bent to kiss him and her unbound hair covered them both.

      As the evening darkened, they joined with urgency and then again with playfulness and a kind of delight. There was little light in her room without the candles, but her eyes shone and her limbs were darkened gold as she moved under him.

      He woke before dawn to find her gaze on his face.

      ‘This was my first time,’ he said quietly. Something in him told him not to ask the question, but he had to know. ‘Was it the first for you?’

      She smiled, but it was a sad smile.

      ‘I wish it had been,’ she said. ‘I really do.’

      ‘Did you … with Marcus?’

      Her eyes widened slightly. Was he truly so innocent that he didn’t see the insult?

      ‘Oh, I would have, of course,’ she replied tartly, ‘but he didn’t ask.’

      ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, blushing, ‘I didn’t mean …’

      ‘Did he say we did?’ Alexandria demanded.

      Gaius kept his face straight as he replied: ‘Yes, I’m afraid he boasted about it.’

      ‘I’ll put a dagger in his eye the next time I see him, gods!’ Alexandria raged, gathering her clothes to dress.

      Gaius nodded seriously, trying not to smile at the thought of Marcus returning innocently.

      They dressed hurriedly, as neither wanted the gossips to see him coming out of her room before the sun was up. She left the slave quarters with him and they sat together in the gardens, brushed by a warm night wind that moved in silence.

      ‘When can I see you again?’ he said quietly.

      She looked away and he thought she wouldn’t answer. Fear rose in him.

      ‘Gaius … I loved every moment of last night: the touch and feel and taste of you. But you will marry a daughter of Rome. Did you know I wasn’t Roman? My mother was from Carthage, taken as a child and enslaved, then made into a prostitute. I was born late. I should never have been born so late to her. She was never strong after me.’

      ‘I love you,’ Gaius said, knowing it was true for at least that moment and hoping that was enough. He wanted to give her something that showed she was more than just a night of pleasure for him.

      She shook her head lightly at his words.

      ‘If you love me, let me stay here in Marius’ home. I can fashion jewellery and one day I will make enough to buy myself free. I can be happy here as I could never be if I let myself love you. I could, but you would be a soldier and leave for distant parts of the world and I would see your wife and your children and have to nod to them in the street. Don’t make me your whore, Gaius. I have seen that life and I don’t want it. Don’t make me sorry for last night. I don’t want to be sorry for something so good.’

      ‘I could free you,’ he whispered, in pain. Nothing seemed to make sense.

      Her eyes flashed in anger, quickly controlled. ‘No, you couldn’t. Oh, you could take my pride and sign me free by Roman law, but I would have earned it in your bed. I am free where it matters, Gaius. I realise that now. To be a free citizen in law, I must work honestly to buy myself back. Then I am my own. I met a man today who said he had honesty and pride. I have both, Gaius, and I don’t want to lose either. I will not forget you. Come and see me in twenty years and I will give you a pendant of gold, fashioned with love.’

      ‘I will,’ he said. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, then rose and left the scented gardens.

      He let himself out onto the streets of the city and walked until he was lost and too tired to feel anything except numbness.