Vulcan's Fury: The Dark Lands (24 page)

“Do you like it?” she blurted. An image of Paulus flashed into her mind, and she instantly regretted the words. Rather, she regretted saying them for only an instant.
 

“Yes,” he said simply as he sheathed his sword. “But you do not need perfume. It masks your true scent, which is pleasant enough on its own.”

Stepping closer, she removed her helmet and dropped it to the ground. “Karan…do you have anyone across the sea waiting for you?”

His expression darkened. “Only my Master.”

“No, no, that’s not what I meant. Was there not a girl who meant something to you?”

He shook his head. “Swords are not permitted to mate. We are wed to our blades for as long as we might live.” He held up the sword. “You speak of love. The only thing I have ever truly loved is this. It is all the love I have ever been permitted.”

“So…you’ve never even kissed anyone?”

Again, he shook his head.

Cursing herself, knowing she would regret it, but unable to help herself, she leaned forward and rose on her tiptoes until her lips met his. He tasted of salt and sweat, but his lips were warm and soft.
 

She had kissed boys, including Paulus, before, but she had gone to great pains to ensure such scandalous behavior had not been obvious to her parents, although she suspected that her mother had known.

But this was somehow different. For one thing, Karan’s body went completely rigid and he unconsciously sucked in his breath in surprise, which only served to deepen the kiss. She put her arms around his neck and drew him closer, and felt his hands touch her sides with a sense of shocked reluctance, as if her skin were burning hot. His touch sent electric jolts through her body.

Finally drawing away to catch her breath, she couldn’t help but smile at his stunned expression. “Your eyes are as big around as serving plates,” she whispered.
 

“As are mine, I’m sure,” said a familiar voice from the darkness behind her.

With a gasp, she pushed herself away from Karan and whirled around to find Paulus standing at the edge of the clearing, a guilty looking Hercules beside him. Pelonius had long ago taught Hercules a command that could be used to have the great beast track her, and so he had led Paulus here. It was hard to see the expression on Paulus’s face in the light of the moon at this distance, but he certainly wasn’t smiling. His eyes were indeed wide with what could only be shock and hurt.

Behind him stood Septimus, who put his hand over his eyes and slowly shook his head.

“Paulus,” she pleaded, “I can explain—”

“You need explain nothing to a mere soldier, Princess Valeria,” Paulus cut her off in a tightly controlled voice. “But Caesar demands your presence. At once.”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

“
By the gods
, what did you think you were doing?”

Valeria stood before her father in the praetorium, red-faced with embarrassment. She knew she should feel ashamed, as well, but that particular emotion had thus far eluded her. She looked up at him and gulped. She had never seen him so angry before. Even worse, her mother, who stood beside Tiberius, wouldn’t meet Valeria’s eyes.
 

Pelonius, Marcus, Septimus, and Paulus stood at attention off to one side, witnesses to her shame. Karan, fortunately, was nowhere to be seen.

Tiberius began to pace back and forth, holding his hands at his sides, tightly clenched, while shaking his head in disbelief. “You know very well that Hercules could have accidentally injured or killed someone or — worse in your own mind, I’m sure — he could have been hurt or killed himself. As it was he totally destroyed everything in the peristylium and put the entire castrum into chaos. The soldiers on duty thought we were under attack, and the entire legion was at arms and heading for The Wall by the time Pelonius was able to spread the word that it was a false alarm. That speaks well for their reaction time, but made me, Caesar, look like a weak fool who can’t even control my own daughter!”

“I’m so sorry, Father,” she said meekly. “I didn’t meant to—”

“You never mean to, Valeria!” Tiberius was all but shouting now. He clamped his mouth shut for a moment, then went on in a slightly calmer voice. “But that is the problem, isn’t it? You never mean to, but you never take even a moment to contemplate the consequences of your actions. Your pranks in the palace, your willfulness to go where you please and do what you please…these things we overlooked as youthful folly while we were in Rome.” He held his arms up, gesturing around them. “Are we in Rome now? Are we? Answer me!”

“No, Father,” she whispered.
 

With a look toward the men who stood stiffly at the side of the room, Tiberius went on. “We also overlooked those follies because I knew that you were protected by the best men Rome has to offer. As long as your mother and I knew you were safe, and as long as you didn’t engage in anything scandalous, we were content to let you have your way. But running around alone in the forest, anything could have happened to you. Anything!”

Risking further verbal wrath, she said, “But I wasn’t alone. I was with Karan.”

Tiberius stopped his pacing and turned to stare at her, and her mother raised her eyes, a look of terrible disappointment on her face. “What do you mean,” Tiberius said slowly, “
you were with Karan?
”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a dark shadow cloud over Paulus’s otherwise expressionless face, and Septimus sucked in his lower lip and began to chew on it. Pelonius and Marcus continued to stand like statues.

Paulus and Septimus must not have spoken of what they saw in the clearing
. In one way, she was relieved. In another, it deepened the sense of guilt that was building in her. “I…I was so bored, I wanted to get away for a while, and—”

Tiberius cut her off. “I repeat: what were you doing with Karan?”

“I was just watching him train,” she replied, trying to muster some righteous indignation. “I was just standing at the edge of this clearing where he goes every night. I was only curious what he does there. All he does is train with his sword by himself. That’s all.”

Shifting his gaze to Paulus and Septimus, Tiberius said, “Is this true? That you found her watching Karan training?”

Valeria felt the world drop away. She knew both of them would lie to protect her (even Paulus, upset as he was), but if Tiberius ever found out they had done so, his trust and faith in them would be forever shattered.
 

Both men stood stock still as an uncomfortable silence fell upon the room.

“No,” Valeria whispered just as Paulus made to answer. She would never be able to live with herself if she let either of them take such a terrible burden upon themselves. “It’s not true, Father.”

“Valeria,” Paulus begged, shaking his head, “let me—”

“Silence,” Tiberius whispered, and Paulus clamped his mouth shut. Septimus closed his eyes, while Octavia stared openmouthed at her daughter. Turning back to Valeria, Tiberius said, “Go on.”

“They caught me kissing him,” Valeria managed through a throat that felt as if someone were strangling her. “But that’s all. We didn’t do anything else, I swear before all the gods, and it wasn’t his fault, either, I was just curious and he’d never been kissed by anyone, and after such a terrible life, I thought…” She paused as her breath caught.

“No, daughter, you didn’t think at all,” her mother said quietly.
 

Tiberius closed his eyes, lowered his head and shook it slowly. “Oh, gods.” With a heavy sigh, he opened his eyes and turned to Pelonius. “The legion is to form ranks for punishment the first hour after sunrise.”

Valeria’s eyes flew wide, thinking she was going to be flogged before the entire legion. “What? What do you mean?”

Ignoring her, Tiberius went on, “Karan is to receive ten lashes. Give the whip to Haakon.”

“No, Father,” Valeria cried, “you can’t! Karan did nothing! He didn’t even know I was going to kiss him! It was all my fault!”

“That much is true,” Tiberius agreed in a tired voice. “But you leave me no choice. Someone has to take the blame for the fiasco last night, not to mention your indiscretion. I know those in this room will never speak a word of what truly happened. But the fact that you snuck outside on your own at night after creating a diversion that threw the castrum into chaos, and that Karan was really the only one out there, other than soldiers at the followers camp, what conclusion do you think the men will draw?”

“What business is it of theirs?” Valeria said angrily.

“It has nothing to do with whether it’s their business,” Tiberius grated. “It has to do with their respect for their leader. What would the men think if Caesar’s daughter, besotted with a foreigner, was caught in a forbidden midnight tryst in the jungle, and I let such a transgression go unpunished? How would that reflect upon me, not only as your father, but as the head of our family and as the Emperor?” He stepped closer, the veins on his temple throbbing. “I cannot lead these men, nor the Empire, if I don’t have their respect. And someone must take the consequences of what’s happened tonight. Unfortunately, it has to be Karan. While no one need say as much, if he is punished the unspoken understanding will be that he was responsible for seducing an innocent girl and causing tonight’s uproar to cover it up.”

“No!” Valeria was in tears now. Throwing herself at her father, she gripped his tunic in her hands. “Please, Father, you can’t! He did nothing wrong and doesn’t deserve to be punished!”

“No,” Tiberius agreed, prying her hands free, “he doesn’t. But you don’t understand: what you’ll witness tomorrow morning isn’t his punishment.” He looked at her with eyes that had lost all their anger, and were now pools of sadness. “It’s yours.”

***

An hour after sunrise the following morning, the entire legion was assembled and standing at attention on the training field, facing the platform from which Valeria had so often watched the men train. One detail of the training ground that she had never really noticed before was a large post, well over the height of a man, that had been set in the ground not far from the platform. She had never really taken notice of it before, because Pelonius and Marcus had gone to significant pains to make sure she was never present to watch punishment given to the men.

But this time was different. Valeria stood between her father and mother, with Pelonius, Marcus, Septimus, and Paulus standing at attention before the platform. Haakon, an unhappy look on his face, stood near the whipping post, a flagrum
,
or short whip, held loosely in one hand. The flagrum consisted of a handle, to which were fastened several thongs of leather. It was a brutal weapon that could flay most of the skin from a man’s back in all but a few lashes.

Karan stood near the platform, a puzzled look on his face. It was then that Valeria realized that no one had told him what was to happen, only that the legion was to assemble this morning. As sort of an honorary legionary, he of course had come.
 

Run, Karan!
The thought echoed in Valeria’s mind with such force that she thought her head might explode, but her silent warning did not reach him.
 

At last, Tiberius turned to the boy. “Karan, it is with the greatest of regret that I must ask you this: were you alone with my daughter last night?”

“Yes, Caesar.”

“And did you…touch her?”

“Yes, Caesar.”

“Did you know this was forbidden?”

Karan looked at Valeria, and her heart twisted with grief at the look of surprised innocence on his face. “No, Caesar.”

“I know you are not from our lands, but ignorance of the law cannot be used as an excuse. I have no choice but to render punishment upon you, as much as it pains me to do so.”

“Seize him,” Marcus ordered.

Two legionaries stepped forward and took Karan by the arms. Or, rather, tried to. The first one went down to his knees, choking, after Karan jabbed a fist at his throat. The second soldier screamed as Karan snatched the man’s wrist, twisting and bending it back before forcing the man face-first into the sand.

More soldiers sprang forward, intent on capturing him, when Valeria cried, “
Stop!
”

Uncertain, the men did as she asked, turning with questioning gazes to Tiberius.
 

“I need no escort to the whipping post…master,” Karan said in a dead voice. “I know it all too well.”

Pushing through the soldiers who had surrounded him, he made his way to Haakon.
 

“I am sorry, Ghost,” the barbarian said quietly. “They picked me for this miserable duty. It wasn’t my choice.”

“Hold nothing back,” Karan said through gritted teeth as he removed his cloak and tunic to bare the patchwork of scars on his back. Folding his clothes, he set them down in the sand at what he judged was a safe distance from any spattering blood, then carefully placed his sword and dagger upon the pile. Then he went to the post and wrapped his arms around it, embracing it like some long lost love.

Valeria’s cheeks were wet with tears as Haakon backed up, swinging the short whip in his hand, getting a feel for the weapon. “Please, Father,” she whispered. “Please don’t do this. I’ll do anything. I’ll be good. I’ll never do anything bad again. I swear to you.”

“Do you know how many times I’ve heard you say that?” His own whisper of the bitter truth cut her just as deep as might Karan’s sword. “And how many times you’ve broken those same vows?”

Haakon turned to Tiberius and nodded that he was ready, and Valeria squeezed her eyes shut.

“Open your eyes,” her mother, who stood on her other side, hissed. “You will watch this. Every moment of it. You owe the poor boy that much.”

With a muffled gasp, Valeria did as she was told.
A Roman woman must do her duty
, a small, bitter voice in the back of her mind whispered.

Tiberius nodded to Pelonius, who barked, “Ten lashes. Begin.”

With a smooth movement, Haakon lunged toward Karan as his arm snapped the whip forward, the thongs whistling through the air before they struck.