Barbarian's Soul Read Online Free PDF Page B

feed.
    “Mili’s grandmother is now enjoying her oranges,” she replied lightly, pausing in the doorway to give her a quick kiss on the cheek. “The old woman was as happy as if Jupiter himself had served it to her in a goblet of gold.”
    Miriam did not reply but followed her into the single cramped room of the apartment. Something was not right, Adria thought, as she stepped over two rolled up pallets to fill a cracked clay bowl with the remaining oranges. Her friend was so quiet. Miriam was usually talkative, filling her in on the latest gossip of the insulae, which wife was sleeping with which husband—not necessarily their own—news from the market or an adventure of one of the children.
    She studied Miriam surreptitiously. She did seem a bit pale, her face drawn and tired. And thin—and she hadn’t been a robust woman to begin with. A bolt of dread shot through Adria. Her parent’s illness had started in the same manner. A bone deep fatigue, sallow color, loss of appetite. “Here,” she said, a little too brightly even to her own ears, “I’ve saved you the choicest one.”
    Miriam waved it away and sank down on the lone stool in the apartment with a heavy sigh. “I am not hungry.”
    Tears stung the back of Adria’s eyes. She walked over and knelt beside the stool, taking Miriam’s cold hands in her own. “You are not well?”
    Miriam smiled down at her, brushed a wisp of hair from Adria’s forehead and cupped her cheek tenderly. “You are such a precious girl. Always thinking of others. Always doing for others. I don’t know how we would have survived these past years without your help.”
    Adria’s stomach clutched at the despair in Miriam’s eyes. “You know I do so with a glad heart. If not for you, I do not know where I would be now.” Dead or worse. The streets of Rome were rife with danger. A young girl without family was easy prey for the gangs that fought for power and influence among the mob. She thought about her cousin’s brothel. She thought about Tiege and shivered. Forcing a smile to her lips she said. “And I will continue to help. Food, coin when I can.” Except I have to leave to evade a deranged criminal.
    Miriam held her gaze for one long moment then looked away. “No, Adria. You will not have to put yourself in danger for us any longer.”
    The room suddenly seemed smaller, the very air thick with a crushing sense that her world was about to change and there was nothing she could do to stop it. “What do you mean?” she managed to ask past the lump in her throat.
    “Lycus has raised the rent again.”
    Adria’s jaw tightened. Lycus. The freedman, now slimy landlord, who squeezed the very life out of his tenants with restrictive leases riddled with ridiculous fees. A charge to fill your water jars at the fountain in the courtyard, another for the privilege of cooking meals within the confines of the building. She knew of no other owner of an insulae who made such outrageous demands. “How much?”
    “Nearly double,” answered Miriam wearily, “plus an additional cost of five quadrans for each person residing in the apartment.”
    That was nearly twenty-five sestarces . “He should be gutted like the pig he is.” Adria muttered.
    Miriam’s lips quirked. “So bloodthirsty?”
    Adria pushed to her feet and started pacing the floor, her injured ankle forgotten. “There has to be something we can do.” There had to be. Miriam and her children were her family. She had no one else. She sent a sideways glance at Miriam who had absently begun to fold a tattered blanket from her son’s pallet and emotion tightened her throat. They did not need her nearly as much as she needed them. “We’ll petition the magistrate for justice.”
    Miriam shook her head. “You know full well that the magistrate is as corrupt as any in the government. Our plea would fall on deaf ears.”
    That small spark of hope sank with her heart. Miriam was right. There was not one representative