Rome: The Emperor's Spy: Rome 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

without bloodshed.
    Math realized he was staring and looked away. Pantera leaned back on the nearest wall and folded his arms. ‘You don’t like warriors?’ he asked mildly.
    Math shrugged. ‘My mother was a warrior,’ he said. ‘And my father.’
    ‘I see.’ He rubbed the bridge of his nose, where the break was. ‘Did your mother die in battle?’
    ‘No. But she would have liked to have done. Like my father. He was wounded in battle and survived when he would rather have died.’
    He didn’t know what shadows the moon put on his face, or what Pantera might have heard in his voice, but the silence was longer this time, and thicker, and ghosts whispered within it.
    ‘Why do you sleep in the horse barns?’ Pantera asked. ‘Your father isn’t there, surely?’
    There were too many answers to that. There was the past, which was his mother, and Math didn’t want to speak of her yet, perhaps ever. There was the future, which was Ajax the charioteer and so might never happen; Ajax was a dreamer of wild dreams and had not been around long enough for Math to know if he was the kind of man to make them happen. So he gave the answer that grew from the present, which had the benefit of truth, and didn’t hurt.
    ‘I work for Ajax, the charioteer who drives Coriallum’s horses. I help to look after the lead colts in the reserve team. My mother bred them, so they know me, which makes them easier to handle. They like it best if their groom sleeps nearby. And it’s warm in winter,’ he said, which was truest of all.
    ‘Of course. Your father must be proud of you.’ A bright thread of pain ran through Pantera’s voice, then.
    Math looked up, searching for its reason, but Pantera glanced away down the alley, avoiding his eyes.
    He said, ‘You could try washing your hair in citrus juice. It gets rid of the smell and makes the gold shine better. The clerks will see you all the sooner at the docks, and they’ll like you better without the smell.’
    ‘They like me well enough as I am.’
    ‘I’m sure they do.’ Abruptly, the warmth left Pantera’s voice. His whole attention was directed at the shadows at the end of the alley. ‘You should go now,’ he said, and took a step back.
    Math felt himself released as suddenly as if a key had been turned in a lock. He stole a glance over his shoulder, to where the light of the tavern’s torches lit the alley’s mouth to amber. The way out was clear. The night had barely started. A world of drunken purses waited to be cut for a boy who knew how to run back down the hill to the richer taverns at the dockside.
    Math did not want to run down the hill.
    He wanted very badly to do whatever he could to heal the raw hurt he had just heard in Pantera’s voice and he knew how he might do it, if only temporarily. He reached forward, confident in his own skill.
    ‘ No! ’
    Math’s wrist was snatched away and held. Danger surrounded him again and he did not understand why. He struggled briefly, then fell still. With a visible effort, Pantera loosed his grip.
    ‘Who told you to do that?’
    Math felt himself flush. ‘No one. I just …’
    ‘Whoever paid you should have known better than to send—’
    ‘A whore?’ Math spat the word. He had never been ashamed of it before.
    He heard Pantera hiss in a breath. The man crouched. His dangerous, fascinating gaze came level with Math’s.
    ‘I was going to say a boy as naturally good at following as you. Anyone else would have lost me, and so been safe. You have a gift that grown men would give their last coin in the world to buy. And somebody bought you, obviously.’
    It was not a question, but Math nodded anyway.
    ‘Who was it?’ Pantera said. ‘Who paid you to follow me?’
    ‘I don’t know his name,’ Math said truthfully. ‘I would tell you if I did.’
    ‘You would, wouldn’t you?’ He saw Pantera soften, saw the planes of his face change, saw him close his eyes, and close off the volcano of his rage until he could