“That’s because you’re not,” he informed me pragmatically making me narrow my eyes at him in annoyance.
“No? Then please enlighten me, what am I exactly?” I asked this time folding my arms across my chest. He took a moment to look at my small display of attitude before issuing me my next big shocker, one more serious than all those before it.
My reason for being here…
“You’re my prisoner.”
Chapter 27
How to Own a Heart
Lucius left straight after informing me of my part in all this and not surprisingly he did so leaving me with my jaw nearly touching the floor! He said that I was his prisoner but surely not? How could he say that, we were all on the same side weren’t we? Jesus, but suddenly I wasn’t so sure of anything anymore! It was like stepping back to a time when I first met Lucius and finding out that he was none other than Draven’s mortal enemy. I had no clue as to what game he was playing, but I knew one thing, I intended to find out!
I decided to climb out of bed as sitting waiting was starting to drive me mad. Asking myself over and over what the hell was I supposed to do now? Would Draven come for me when he found out where I was? Would he start a war? I surely hoped not as I wasn’t planning on being the next Helen of Troy anytime soon.
Thankfully, I wasn’t given much time to continue asking myself torturous questions I had no answers to, as the echoing of the doors being pushed back had me almost jumping out of my skin. In walked Lucius, taking large confident strides and coming at me with purpose.
“What do you mean, I am your prisoner?” I blurted out my first question and from the looks at his mouth quirking up at the corners, then he knew I had been stewing on this a while. However, he didn’t answer me, but instead simply took my breath away when he placed a shoulder to my belly and hoisted me up, bending me over him as he stood straight.
“Ahh! What are you doing?!” I complained as my legs dangled over his chest and my torso down his back. As before, he didn’t answer me but simply held an arm across my flailing legs, pinning them to his chest. He quickly walked me over towards the other end of the room. Then he unceremoniously dumped me back on the bed, yanked the curtains around and issued my only warning,
“Stay.” The tone of his voice knocked all the fight out of me as I knew when to take his threats seriously, and now was one of those times. He waited until satisfied with my compliance and when he saw me nod in acceptance, he too gave me a curt nod. Then he moved back pulling the curtains the rest of the way, hiding me from view. What did he have, a jealous wife lurking in the shadows or something? I don’t know why that thought suddenly had me placing a hand to my heart as if it caused me pain. It was almost as if I secretly knew there was only one soul out there for him, now if I could just discover who it was because no matter how much I loved him, I knew it would never be me.
I shook these strange feelings off me, like shedding a weak skin and replacing it for one thicker, something I had a feeling I was going to need in the next few minutes.
“Nunc intraveritis!” (‘Now enter!’) Lucius’ booming voice echoed around the large room and I scooted closer to the curtains so that I could peek out between the join. I watched as servants all started piling in the room, the first two carrying a huge bucket that I was gathering was going to be used as a bath. I knew that in Rome they didn’t have single baths but communal bath houses, so I guessed this was the best Lucius could come up with on such short notice. Well if he was trying to keep me hidden for the time being, then this fact at least told me that my arrival hadn’t been planned for long.
I watched as they heaved the thing into the centre of the room and then a line of people all carrying large urns followed with the water. Lucius meanwhile, stood back with his arms folded and watched them work. I also couldn’t help noticing that he situated himself between the bed and the people, as if standing guard and ready in case trouble should arise.
Once full or at least until Lucius was satisfied, he waved the rest away, dismissing them after first motioning for a wooden box to be placed down on a small round table that also held a decanter of red wine. They each showed their respect for their leader and left as quietly as they had arrived. Only one girl had made the mistake of being too curious and looked towards the bed, something Lucius had snarled at like an angry possessive beast marking his territory. Not surprisingly, the girl fled from the room with the rest.
“Your bath awaits,” Lucius said after the sound of the doors closing had sealed my fate. The curtains were roughly yanked back and I was surprised to see them still intact and attached to the canopy above with his careless treatment.
“Thanks, now answer the question,” I snapped now we were alone. He didn’t look at me as he walked back over to the bath, but merely ran his fingertips through the water as if testing the temperature.
“It is a simple concept. No doubt you want to leave and I forbid it, therefore making you my prisoner. Now get undressed.” He finally decided to answer me and I nearly choked on it. Was he serious?!
“I do want to leave!” I shouted and he glanced over his shoulder at me as if he knew I would say this. He shrugged his shoulders and told me,
“And as I said, I forbid it, now get undressed, for I won’t ask again,” he warned, one I stupidly didn’t take his threat serious enough.
“But you’re…you’re loyal to Draven, to the King…how could you just keep me from him?” I stuttered out the question and this time, I got more than feigned indifference.
“I was loyal to the King and he rewards such with lies and deceit. Therefore, my loyalty shifted to another,” he told me with a hard, unforgiving tone, one that had me gasping. How…? How had he found out about the spear so soon? This shouldn’t have happened for almost two thousand years and I couldn’t think of what could have changed to make it now known to him. What had I done in this time to make it so? But then something he said has me questioning him once again,
“You say your loyalty has shifted to another…?” he didn’t answer me this time and it looked as though he didn’t think I was ready for the truth. Instead he gave me a pointed look and raked his gaze down my revealing outfit.
I couldn’t help but hate the way he looked at me as though he was displeased by what he saw. I suddenly hugged myself, trying to hide what I could from him and unable to stop him from sneaking a glimpse at my insecurities. He dragged a frustrated hand through his hair, as if he knew and I hated that he did.
“Bath. Now!” he ordered and I felt my shoulders slump in defeat.
“Fine. You can leave now,” I told him but he scoffed at this.
“I am going nowhere,” he told me, crossing his arms over his chest and by doing so, he looked indestructible.
“But…but I am not getting naked in front of you!” I hissed making him smirk back at me.
“I am well accustomed with the female form Keira, for I have seen many. You have nothing I have not seen before,” he told me and I all but growled, not really knowing why. Well that was a lie, I knew why as I wasn’t exactly about to do jumping jacks to hear Lucius bragging about all the naked conquests he had enjoyed over the years.
Just looking at him and I knew that his body was made for sin and lust. So, just feeling like another meat sack and a soul in any unimportant form, I decided to give him what he asked for. It wasn’t like he gave a shit, as I clearly disgusted him anyway. He, no doubt, just wanted me clean before I slept in his bed and this was his way of making sure. That or he thought I might drown myself just to get away from him! Right now, I was so angry it was a thought, but to be honest I would rather it be his head I was holding under the water!
He seemed to be watching all these different emotions play out over my face and I wished I could have slapped the satisfied smirk off his face when he knew he had got his way. I stormed towards the bath, turned my back to him and unhooked the small raspberry coloured top, peeling it from my body. Then I dropped it next to me and took a deep br
eath before pushing down my pants. Thankfully he couldn’t see that my eyes were closed and I was half destroying my lip with nerves. By the Gods, but I hated the way my heartbeat hammered in my chest just knowing I was in the same room with Lucius whilst naked.
I didn’t dare look back for fear of the disappointment I would see in his eyes and my thoughts nearly crushed me. I didn’t know why this was important to me for admittedly, I may have cared deeply for Lucius but it was Draven who owned my heart and always would. So why then did I continue to feel the way I did around him? It was almost as if this had been part of the Fates’ doing and if that was so, then I felt sick because of the cruelty of it all. Seriously, did they know no bounds in playing with my life?
“Oh…” I whispered on a breathy gasp that escaped me when I felt Lucius coming up behind me. The feel of his naked chest against my naked back, the skin on skin contact, was nearly enough to undo me. I sucked in a sharp breath when he lowered his head to my neck.
“Here, let me help you,” he whispered against my neck and I felt his satisfied grin spread over my skin after I shuddered against him. Then I felt his hand reach up and pull my hair free from the braids and pins used to secure it back and out of the way. I hated that Draven too had done this for me, feeling ashamed that I didn’t have the power to just turn, knee Lucius in the balls and run back to him. Okay, so I knew that I wouldn’t have got very far but at least I would have tried.
Of course, these thoughts quickly fled my mind when Lucius went a step too far and started running his long thick fingers through my hair, massaging my aching scalp with his strong hands. I couldn’t help my head from falling back as if my neck had turned to jelly and the blissful moan slipped out before I had chance to bite it back. I felt the rumbling in his chest as he must have liked hearing the sound.
“Here,”he forced out, his voice a thick and heavy timbre. I looked down at his offered hand and I tried to get my own to stop shaking as I placed it in his. He released a sigh the second I touched him and his fingers curled around my hand as though he was claiming me and never wanted to let me go. I bit my lip as I lifted a leg and stepped into the bath, just so I could get him to let me go before he took things too far.
I didn’t understand any of it, why would he behave this way, unless this was his idea of fun? To play with me this way, making me think of nothing but disdain for my body and then contradicting it with soft, gentle touches and kind gestures. I was so damn confused and I hated myself for even caring!
“It’s perfect,” he told me after I had both feet in the water and as I lowered myself all the way, I agreed with him, saying,
“Yes, the water is just right, thank you.” I sat, cradling my legs now thankful I had the water to help cover my modesty. But Lucius had other ideas as I felt his hands envelope my shoulders so that he could pull me backwards. Then still standing behind me, he bent at the waist so he could speak directly in my ear again. But this time, his spoken thoughts stunned me to silence and if I thought I was confused before then now I was dumbfounded.
“I wasn’t speaking of the water.” My breath hitched and caught in my chest and I found myself gripping onto the edge of the tub just so that I wouldn’t sink.
“I care little for the water that keeps your beautiful body from my view…now relax, whilst I tend to you.” Then he raised himself up and finally gave me a minute to breathe as I felt him walk away from me. I looked back over my shoulder to see him retrieve the wooden box and a small stool for him to sit on. He swung the stool around in a swift motion and positioned himself directly behind me, sitting so that he was at the right height to reach me with ease.
“Wh…what are you doing?” I asked, having to clear the golf ball sized lump from my throat first. He had opened the box and took out a strange tool that had me shifting from him and quickly looking fearful.
“What is that!?” I shouted at the sight of the long, hooked tool that was concaved and looked like a blade, only one that thankfully was void of a sharp end. Lucius took in my look of horror and couldn’t help himself when he started to laugh.
“Don’t be afraid, it is only a strigel, do you not have these in your time?” he asked, clearly amused by my reaction and adding such a beautiful light to his usually serious grey blue eyes. I moved further away from him and held myself in a protective ball, hugging my knees to my chest once again, a position he looked on with curiosity.
“Gods no!” I shouted making him laugh again.
“Then what do you use to clean yourself?” he asked sounding very interested.
“That’s to help clean you!? Jeez which part, because that looks painful,” I complained and the second I saw the mischief in his eyes I knew what part of my sentence he had focused on.
“Come and I will show you,” he challenged, one I didn’t accept.
“Uh no thanks, I think I am good.” Hearing this he threw his head back and laughed heartily. I can’t say I hated the sight of his corded neck straining against his amusement and I felt my mouth get dry as I tried to swallow down the urge to touch him.
“I can assure you it doesn’t hurt…or get inserted into any bodily orifice,” he told me, whispering this last part and making my cheeks flame with a burning blush because of it. Seriously, did he have to purr the words with a sexual intent?
“Then how does it work?” I asked, quickly moving on from the ‘bodily orifice’ comment. He grinned at me before he turned it back on himself so that he could then scrape it up his arm, as if removing imaginary dirt. I couldn’t help but look fascinated as the historian in me was amazed.
“That doesn’t look like it would be very effective,” I told him on a laugh, moving closer to him of my own free will. He held the object out for me to take so that I could examine it myself.
“We first rub oil into our skin and then use this to scrape it off.” My eyes widened and I didn’t even realise I was edging even closer to him, quickly getting lost in learning about his ancient ways. By the look of things he seemed to latch on to this fact about me, now knowing my weakness.
“What do you use?” he asked, trying to keep me in this easy manner and continue the conversation.
“Soap, which is like a bar we rub on our skin, we even have a liquid form that we rub on with a sponge or flannel. Oh, and then there is soap for our hair called shampoo and conditioner for making it softer.” I told him and he seemed to enjoy hearing me talking about it, as his eyes widened but then he reached back in his box and pulled out something that made me squeal with delight.
“Soap!” I shouted making him laugh.
“I see it doesn’t take much to please you,” he teased making me laugh.
“Where did you get that?!”
“It comes from Egypt,” he informed me and I couldn’t believe that here we were having a friendly chat about soap. Not after he had informed me that I was his captive and demanded I have a bath. Talk about the strange situations I found myself in.
“Well knowing how clumsy I can be I think I will take the soap, as it’s no doubt safer that way,” I told him making his lips twitch as if fighting another grin. He nodded for me to come closer still as he held it out for me to take. I don’t know why I felt like it was a trap, maybe because of how predatory he always looked.
It was certainly easy to see him as the great assassin everyone painted him to be. I could just picture it now, that stealth body lurking in the shadows, just watching with his steely gaze, waiting for the right moment to strike. Even now, as I reached out, trying to stop my hand from shaking as I did, with fingertips barely grazing the square bar of soap in his hand and then…
He moved.
It was so fast, I never would have seen it and I squealed as his fingers took my hand in an unforgiving grip before he yanked me towards him. I shot through the water and just before I hit the edge, he spun me so that now I found myself with his arm banded across my naked chest with my back to him, just as I had been on the bed.
“Tell me Keira g
irl, do you still think it safer?” he asked me, humming the dangerous question with his lips again at my ear, finishing it off by nipping at my lobe.
“With you in the room, nothing I do is safe,” I confessed on a whisper, closing my eyes against how wrong those words felt being voiced aloud. This time it was he that sucked in a sharp breath and I knew by the tightened grip on my hand that it had meant something to him. For long moments neither of us spoke and the only sound was our combined heavy breathing as if the weight of how we felt for each other had the power to suspend time.
“I won’t hurt you,” he said, his voice gruff and thick with emotion as if it had been dragged from somewhere deep. So, I told him the only thing I could, something that I knew had the power to stop this. And something that had me soon hanging my head in shame after I did.
“You already do by keeping me here.” As soon as I said it, I knew I had hit the intended nerve, but I couldn’t rejoice in my mission accomplished when he let me go. I had wounded him and I had to bite back the guilt that would have made me say something to get him to stay. But in the end, all I was left with was the pain I gave myself as way of punishment. Because I heard the stool he had been sat on grind against the stone floor as he moved back.
I heard his heavy deep breaths from behind me, but I didn’t dare look for he would have seen the tears in my eyes. Tears that were his and his alone. But I couldn’t do that. Because then he would have stayed and I would have wanted him to. No, Lucius was too much of a temptation for my fragile will to endure. So, I needed to put as much space between us as possible and being naked in the bath with his hands on my body was like delicious torture. Like a last meal to a starving man before he dies. It was bitter sweet cruelty and all I needed to do was resist a taste.
“Then it is unfortunate, as I intend to continue… for I am not letting you go,” he said firmly and I finally let my bottom lip free on a gasp. So, I tried one last time and thinking back to our final goodbye back in the library, surrounded by the broken remains of written mortal words. I had to wonder and ask myself how many of those torn books and flyaway pages had held broken stories of love?