The Barbarian's Mistress Read Online Free PDF Page B

did you become so… so cold and empty?’
    Ninia felt fury flare into being. Cold and empty? What would the great Roman senator know about being empty? About what it was to be a slave, at the beck and call of others who could do anything they wanted to you.
    ‘Since your son raped me, sir. May I go?’ She was proud of her studied neutrality and gained a certain satisfaction from seeing the shock on her master’s face. But then fear took its place. Slaves never criticised their masters. They never accused them of crimes.
    ‘Publius? I… I didn’t know.’
    ‘It was a long time ago, sir. He was trying to hurt Anni through me.’
    ‘Anniana knows?’
    ‘She was forced to watch, sir.’ A little of her distress managed to get past her cold exterior.
    ‘Forced to… Why wasn’t I told about this?’ His fury was all for his daughter, she knew that. But it filled her with satisfaction, nonetheless. It was time he knew what was going on right under his nose. What his beloved daughter had been forced to put up with.
    ‘It was not my place, sir. And though Anniana wanted to tell you, she knew it would only get worse if she did. Publius would have made us pay…’
    ‘I… should have been told. I could have stopped…’ But he petered out before finishing, clearly aware that he would have done nothing to stop his son. Publius was his mother’s pet, they all knew that. She would have protected him with a vengeance.
    ‘May I go, sir?’
    ‘Yes, yes… But remember, my lamb must not be made aware of what is to come. She must be protected from her own tender heart. Do you understand?’
    ‘Of course, sir. I’ll do my best to protect her.’
     

 
    Chapter Three
     
     
    ‘Sit down, my lamb,’ Bibulus said, indicating the couch beside the bed in her sleeping quarters.
    Anniana did her father’s bidding, but sat on the very edge, her fingers of both hands entwined, as she studied the man she loved most in the world.
    He was worried and in a rush, moving around the room like a caged beast. A slight sheen of sweat covered his pale face. Stubble had begun to surface on his cheeks, giving him a careless look. Always so immaculately clothed and cared for, this air of neglect was frightening. His body smelled too, of day-old sweat, the city, and an acrid odour she associated with fear.
    Certainly, Rome in midsummer was not a pleasant place. In other years, they might have moved to the coast for a month. But for some reason, this year she and her parents had stayed in their residence in the city.
    For all that, Rome in August couldn’t be totally blamed for her father’s current state.
    ‘Things have become difficult, my lamb. Your mother has become more truculent of late. She is demanding you marry the new emperor, Titus, or she will divorce me, and take you from me, so she can achieve her ends. I’ve always allowed her too much freedom. I’ve allowed her to convince me that she married beneath her, and therefore I should do whatever she required , to make up for it. But this I will not do.’
    The room was comparatively large, but it seemed to shrink with each circuit of the confined space her fa ther made. It had been Annia Major’s sleeping space before her marriage three years ago. It had become hers by default after that.
    ‘Titus? But he would not consider me, and he’s … ugly and … old. He scares me.’ Her voice was scratchy, as if she hadn’t used it for a long time. Truth be told, except for singing to her lyre, she rarely spoke these days. When treated as if you didn’t exist by a powerful woman like her mother, it became easy to believe it, and act accordingly.
    ‘Yes, he is old and unpleasant. Not much younger than your mother. And that would not normally be an issue, as most patricians’ daughter’s first marriage is usually to an older, more powerful man. But Titus is a degenerate. His father knew him for what he was, and I would never give my precious child to such a man as he, even if it