Barbarian's Soul Read Online Free PDF

alley. Behind her she heard the master thief roar his outrage. She reached the wall, tossed the bag of oranges over, climbed on the stack of tiles and vaulted over the top. She landed on her ankle, twisting it on the hard ground. The shouting and cursing from behind the wall caused her to ignore the pain and run as if the hounds of Hades snapped at her heels.
    She took a circuitous path through abandoned alleys, pushed against people crowding the larger streets, slowed her steps only to ease the pain in her ankle. Bent over, hand to her side, Adria tried not to let the knowledge that Tiege had been watching her overwhelm her ability to think.
    She’d never spoken to the man before, steered clear of him as anyone with half a mind would do. Did he consider her competition? She discarded that thought almost before she completed it. She stole for herself, for survival—not wealth, prestige or power like the master thief. A cold knot formed in her stomach as another fear took root. He’d known about her parents. What else might he know?
    Gods, what had she done? Tiege would never forget nor forgive such an affront. No matter how good her survival skills, the master thief would not rest until she had paid for her insult.
    She should leave Rome, leave until Tiege had forgotten her, taken his greedy interests and laid them at another’s doorstep. Her steps faltered again. But where would she go? She had no family, had lived most of her life in the heart of the city. How would she survive anyplace else?
    There was only one immediate solution. She would stay hidden, bide her time while she figured out the best approach. She clutched the bag of oranges close to her body. But first, she had ambrosia to deliver.
    Adria had never been so glad to see the stark, brick tenement she’d called home. Dodging one of the neighbor’s goats, she waved to another woman as she stopped at the communal well for a drink. She was hot and dusty, had spent three times as long traveling back, determined to lose any of Tiege’s men who might have been set to follow.
    I’ve been watching you.
    Not here, he could not be watching her here. This building was far from the marketplaces she frequented, a random situation, but one she relished. It was a respite to a certain degree to leave the grit of her daily activities with the crowds and not bring it home.
    Not a home exactly, she thought with a pang of longing as she climbed the crumbling stone steps to the top story, but at least a dry place to sleep, a refuge from the squalor, the insidious dangers that lurked around every corner in the city’s dilapidated districts. A safe distance from Tiege’s district.
    I’ve been watching you.
    She closed her eyes. Please gods let it be far enough.
    Six years. Had it really been that long since her life had taken such a drastic turn? Then, she had been a happy twelve-year old, living with her parents in a small house near the Palatine. She’d had no worries, no concerns about where her next meal might come from or if she’d be able to find a safe place to lay her head at night. Nor had she known about the devastating effects of swamp fever, the dreadful disease that had taken both her parents within days of each other.
    “Did you deliver your gift ?”
    Adria jumped, cursing when she nearly fell off the steps. Gods, she had to hold onto her senses. Tiege would not risk exposing himself by accosting her in public. No, he’d send one of his henchmen to slip out of the shadows to slit her throat.
    Gods.
    “Adria?”
    Adria glanced up at the woman watching her from the narrow door at the top of the stairs. Miriam was not old, but years of worry and want had etched deep lines around her eyes and robbed her of the beauty she’d once possessed. A friend to her mother, the Hebrew laundress had taken her in after her escape from her disreputable relation and given her a place to stay. A generous thing, considering she already had five children of her own to