A Day of Fire: A Novel of Pompeii Read Online Free PDF Page A

close my eyes for a moment so instant was my lust. “What are you up to?”
    “I have a way for us to be together—a way for you to never have to be with men like that horrible aedile ,” I whispered.
    She started back as if I’d burned her. “What?”
    “I am planning to purchase you,” I said, still whispering. I didn’t want her owner to overhear and start working out how much he would charge for her. If I caught him by surprise, I could probably get her cheaper. “This very day, if possible.”
    She blinked under a furrowed brow. “I don’t understand.”
    “I am going to buy you from him,” I said. “And then we can be together all the time.”
    Her eyes grew wide, but not with pleasure. A pang of worry stirred in my belly. “Listen,” I said quickly. “Don’t say anything to your master yet. I don’t want him to know until I can present him with the money.”
    She shook her head. “I’m not for sale.”
    I smiled reassuringly. “You will be when he sees what I am prepared to pay.”
    “No, you don’t understand,” she said, leaning into me. Her face was flushed. “I can’t … you can’t just buy me.”
    “Why not?” I asked. “I could give you more than you have here and you would never have to deal with drunken idiots again.”
    “And this sudden plan is because you do not want to share me,” she said, crossing her arms.
    “No. I mean, yes. But it’s not just that.” Why was she being difficult about this? I thought she would throw her arms around my neck at the news. “Look, once you are mine I can free you if that is what is worrying you—as … as long as you agree to be my concubine.”
    “I am registered as a prostitute ,” she hissed. “I’ll always be an infamis.”
    Gods was that true? But that wouldn’t matter, right? Unless Uncle found out. But he rarely came to Pompeii. The chances were few that he’d find out about a former prostitute I kept. “We can get around that,” I said, swallowing hard. “And if I buy you, you will have an easier life. It will be just you and me!”
    The silence grew between us. Again, not what I expected. Maybe I had sounded too business-like? “I love you, Prima. And you’re right. I don’t want to share you. Is that so awful?”
    She shook her head again, looking down at her hands.
    “You … you do care for me, yes?” I stammered. “You just said you like your nights with me! Even if you don’t love me, I know you care for me. And you will learn to love me when you see the kind of life I can give you.”
    “As your personal slut.”
    Gods that sounded awful. “No, but … well, isn’t that better than being a … a—”
    “Tavern whore.”
    I looked away. “I just don’t want to see you used and abused by men like that man the other morning.”
    “Pansa,” she said, making a disgusted face.
    “Yes.”
    She sighed irritably. “Let me ask you something, Caecilius. How old are you?”
    “Seventeen.”
    “And how many times have you been in love ?”
    I frowned, not liking the way she said the last two words. “Just once. With you.”
    “And you think that will last longer than say, oh, I don’t know, until the Ides?”
    “Yes!” I said loudly. Too loudly. Her owner looked over at us, frowning.
    “Let me tell you something, little boy.”
    Little boy?
    “You will fall in love a million times over before the year is out—“
    “That’s not true.” I’d never seen her look so angry and bitter. Where had my Prima gone?
    “It is true. And what will I do in six months when you tire of me and you have fallen in love with another whore?”
    “That will never—“
    “Or when you fall in love with a sweet little virgin you want to marry? I’ll tell you what’ll happen. You’ll toss me out the back door like old fish.”
    “No,” I said, shaking my head.
    “Yes,” she said, leaning forward. She looked angry. “And what about my sister?”
    “What about her?”
    “I am Capella’s protector,” she