Slave of Rome, The Emperor's Obsession. Book Two Read Online Free PDF Page A

pretending to still be rich and affluent.
    An elderly servant came over and as Myra looked at her as she went about collecting the empty plates, in some strange way Myra realized that she envied the woman. She might be a servant or even a slave but at least she had the consolation of knowing that she had never had any real choice in her life. She averted her eyes when the woman looked up at her. Myra had chosen to be a slave out of her own free will, no one had forced her to be where she was now.
    Dinner with the old senators had actually turned out fine. The wine, the music, and the lively conversation about horses, races and senatorial politics had served well to take Myra's mind off her immediate predicament. On the way out they came across yet another wonder that Myra never knew even existed — the emperor's caged lion.  
    "Poor thing," escaped her lips before she could think to stop herself.
    "Why?" Commodus asked.  
    "It wants to be free," Myra said quietly. Like me.  
    Commodus looked at the cage and the lion sleeping there.
    "A few years back my father, he was emperor then, took me on campaign to Africa. That was when we were fighting against Carthage. Anyway, while there, one night there was a lot of noise just outside our camp. Our scouts had reported the enemy to be far away so no one was particularly worried of an ambush. The noise was not unlike what you'd hear in the worst thunderstorm. So curious, we all went out to see what it was all about. It turned out to be a group of lions. They were in the process of slowly killing one of their own pride. It looked like an older female lion. She was badly injured, probably in a hunt, and doing her best to stand her ground but they just kept coming at her, one nip, one bite at a time. It went on for hours. We finally went to bed…" She saw one lonely tear trickle down the crevice of the scar as it cascaded down his cheek.
    "In the morning, we found her carcass being picked over by hyaenas. I’m still not sure why the other lions killed her. Maybe she was slowing them down, I will never know. Nothing like that will ever happen to this lion. I will not allow it. When the time comes, he will receive a painless honorable death."  
    Myra looked at the emperor and knew that he was speaking about himself. He wouldn't allow himself to become that pitiful old beast, slowly devoured  by his own subjects. Somehow she knew he wanted her to know that about him. It made her feel warm inside and for the first time she realized that there was more to this scary and powerful beast of a man than could ever meet the eye.
    In one abrupt movement he turned to her. His eyes like those of a boy, not unlike the stare of her brother when he was little.  
    "Perhaps, now is the best time for you to tell me. Will you stay?" he whispered. She looked at him and felt both sorry and afraid of what she saw.
    "I will, Sire," she whispered, surprised by the resolute sound of her own voice, "I will stay with you."

Chapter Five

    "Let's walk," the emperor said simply. And so, they walked on, making their way back through the gardens. The night was young and full of sounds. The moon was up and so the praetorian guards held back, holding flaming torches in their arms. When they arrived by the little orchard, where they had truly met for the first time, they lingered for a while and she noticed in his hands a box. Not too big, it looked heavy, and she guessed — made out of red cherry wood. He handed it to her without a word and she tried to open it. She had never seen something like it in her life and for a moment felt dumbfounded at her own inability to spring its latch. But after a couple of tries, that she noticed brought out a silent laugh from him, she got it open on instinct alone and gazed inside.  
    There, laid upon a soft cushion of red velvet lay a heavy gold chain that she guessed was meant to be worn around the neck. With trembling fingers she raised the heavy chain out of the box and