Chronicles of Logos Quest For the Kingdom Parts IV, V, VI, and VII Revised With Index (Quest For the Kingdom Set) (25 page)

Felicia
entered the gates of her grandmother’s villa with a reluctant sigh. How she
hated having to return to Lycenium and the life that awaited her there! But she
had promised Bimo that she would honor her promise to her mother and so to
Lycenium she returned.

Around her the
flowers were in full bloom, and the birds sang their songs of joy. On this
glorious May morning, it seemed doubly cruel that her independence must end as
she resumed her old life as a daughter of the house. All about her was rebirth
and renewal: within her a dread of desire destroyed made all seem like bleak
winter when the world waits for the return of life.

With a weary
shrug of her shoulders she strolled down the drive and took one long look at
the villa before proceeding, as though to prolong her freedom for a few minutes
longer. And to steel herself before facing the wrath of her parents. Marcus as
well as Tullia would be furious with her, she knew. Although perhaps her father
would be more understanding of her flight than her mother would.

She walked up
the marble steps and opened the great double doors, surprised at how heavy they
were. But so accustomed had she become to Kyrene’s humble dwelling that she had
forgotten the grandeur of Drusilla’s estate. And her father’s estate in Valerium
had been even statelier still.

With a sudden
pang she remembered the exquisite rose garden that delighted her father so.
Mixed with his pleasure in the garden was the pain of remembering his arrest by
the Palace Guard of the Empress Aurora so long ago, right there in its very
environs, and all of the tragedies that followed his arrest and slavery.

Would he ever
see it again, she wondered? It was her heritage as well, she realized, as well
as her identity as a child of Dominio. Did she not have some responsibility to
carry on her legacy as a Maximus as well? Bimo was right: she had been
thoughtless and selfish. She was shamed to realize now how deeply she had
wounded her parents at her rejection of the patrician status they treasured so
much…

She burst
through the great doors and called a greeting to whoever might be nearby. Otho
was just then passing through the atrium, and the butler’s face first paled
with astonishment, then lit up with joy. Felicia laughed and rushed to greet
him with outstretched hands.

“Lady
Felicia!” Otho exclaimed. “Your parents have been so worried about you! Oh, it
is a blessing to have you back.”

She laughed
and swung her hands back and forth between his. Tullia would no doubt
disapprove of her familiarity with a servant, but she was delighted to see his
face once more, one she had known all of her life. When the family had been
exiled from Valerium, Marcus had brought the faithful old butler with them.
Drusilla made a place for him, fortuitously as it turned out, for her own
butler of many years had fallen ill and died, and Otho took his position in the
household. Otho, however, quickly recovered himself and his awareness of his
station and gently extricated his fingers from hers.

Felicia looked
around the hall of the atrium and wondered where everyone was. Surely the sound
of her voice should have brought the others running to greet her? She frowned
in bewilderment and turned a puzzled gaze to Otho.

“Where is
everyone?” she inquired. “My Father and Mother? And Lucius? Is there no one at
home?”

Otho sighed
and turned a look of mild reproach upon her. She recalled that look that she
had incurred as a child for any breach of decorum that the butler felt was
beneath her dignity as a daughter of the House of Maximus. She had a sudden
feeling that she was about to receive a lecture from the faithful old servant.

His next words
proved her intuition to be correct.

“Your father
has gone in search of you, Lady Felicia,” Otho said in a mildly scolding tone.
“Very worried your family has been, and he left several days ago.”

He frowned at
her in earnest now, and Felicia bore it well, knowing that she deserved the
rebuke.

“And my
mother? Lucius? What of them?”

She did not
ask of Drusilla, for indeed, her social climbing grandmother was the last
member of the family she wished to see, as the sight of Felicia would no doubt
set her on the course of planning parties and dinners to introduce her to the
society she so heartily wished to evade.

Otho’s face
changed as a cloud of perplexity crossed it.

“I can not say
where Lady Tullia and Master Lucius have gone,” he replied in a hesitant tone.
“They left the day before yesterday in some haste, on an errand of some
urgency. They did not inform anyone, not even your grandmother, where they were
going, or why. In truth, I thought perhaps they had obtained some information
on your whereabouts and hurried off to find you. But I do not know where they
have gone.”

Felicia stared
at Otho in bewilderment. What could have been so urgent that required their speedy
departure so soon after her father had left to search for her? And how soon
would they return? It was suddenly borne home to her that she missed her
mother, and wanted to be caught up in her warm embrace, to smell the sweet
fragrance that she wore, and to feel her lips kissing her cheek tenderly.

She sighed
wistfully and slumped slightly where she stood. What manner of homecoming was
this, to have no family to exclaim over your return?

Otho, however,
as if reading her thoughts, permitted himself the luxury of teasing her.

“You do not
ask of your grandmother, Lady Drusilla,” he said slyly as a twinkle escaped his
bright blue eyes.

Felicia shed a
withering glance on him, and to her amazement the old butler laughed out loud.
He hastily recovered himself and straightened his posture and his behavior,
becoming once again the discreet servant she had always known.

Just then the
sound of footsteps scurrying down the stairs was heard, and a shrill and
piercing voice shattered the stillness of the atrium. Felicia groaned inwardly
and glanced at Otho with a look so sour that it could have withered grapes on
the vine.

“I have no
need to ask, Otho: for behold, my grandmother cometh.”

Felicia
promptly plastered a forced smile on her face and straightened her shoulders as
she reluctantly turned to face her grandmother. Drusilla espied her and hurried
to embrace her.

“Child! Where
have you
been
? Your mother and father are
frantic
with worry.
They thought you ran away; your letter to Kyrene informed her that you had. If
you intended to come home why did you cause everyone
so
much distress?”

Drusilla
scolded her as she put a hand to her heart and fluffed her curls with the other
hand. Felicia had forgotten her grandmother’s penchant for nervousness, coupled
with a love of drama that frequently precipitated an attack of nerves. She bit
her lip to prevent impatient words from spilling out. Really, her grandmother
did not have any concept of life outside of her sheltered circle of pampered
matrons like herself!

“Come; let me
look at you,” Drusilla shrieked as she turned her round for an inspection. “
My
,
how you have slimmed down! Your mother will be
quite
pleased about that!
Soon you will have the young men clamoring for your attention at all of the
events of the season!”

Felicia
abruptly broke off this torrent of words with what she felt to be a reasonable
excuse for doing so.

“Where
is
my mother? And Father? And Lucius? Surely some of them should be here at this
hour of the day.”

Drusilla looked
at her with a frown that did not bode well for Felicia.

“Your father
went to search for
you
,
miss; in some godforsaken place from his
travels years ago. He said it was the most likely place you would go once you
left Solone. And see how you have led him a merry dance by coming
here
instead! He will be
most
put out and I can’t say that I blame him,”
Drusilla tut tutted as she shook her head in exasperation at her granddaughter.

Felicia
suddenly felt a pang of guilt at the unnecessary journey her father had
undertaken on her behalf. That her father
would
be put out was only too
true. But she would face that fact on his return. There were more pressing
matters to be addressed at the moment.

“Where is my
mother?” was the question she chose to ask Drusilla instead of humoring her by
permitting her to dwell on her own shortcomings.

Drusilla
wrinkled her forehead and pursed her withered lips as she paused before
answering her granddaughter’s question. For a moment a shadow flitted across
her face as a look of anxiety and bewilderment crept over it.

“That, I can
not tell you. For she and your brother left in a
great
hurry only the
day before yesterday. I do not know what happened, but something happened that
disturbed them deeply. Tullia ran into my room and blurted out that she and
Lucius must leave on a journey at once, and she did not know when they would
return. She flung the words over her shoulder as she ran out the door. She was
most
unlike herself, scurrying about and raising her voice instead of behaving with
her usual poise and dignity; that fact alone told me that the matter must be
grave indeed.”

And Drusilla
shook her head as she recalled the peculiar behavior of her daughter.

Felicia’s own
brow furrowed as she pondered her grandmother’s words. What could possibly have
been so urgent that caused her mother, always so cool and dignified, to forsake
her customary composure? And why had she not left a message for anyone to
enlighten them on the reason for her sudden departure?

Felicia ate
luncheon with her grandmother, a meal that only further served to remind her
that she was back home indeed. So accustomed had she become to the simple fare
offered at Kyrene’s school and on shipboard that she openly stared at the
choice of dishes offered her by Otho. There was rich salmon, as well as roasted
duck, accompanied by melons, grapes, buttered beans, a salad of fresh greens,
and her choice of two kinds of hot rolls. It was a far cry from the repast of
cheese, olives, figs, and crusty dark bread that was the typical noonday meal
at the school. Surprisingly, the sight of so much food did not rouse her
appetite, and Felicia realized how much she had changed since last she was
home.

She talked
idly of her travels with her grandmother, who wished to be informed of every
incident that had taken place. Felicia inwardly chuckled over the old woman’s
horror as she regaled her with the tale of her encounter with the pirates,
shuddering at the fate that might have befallen her granddaughter. When they
had finished, Drusilla retired to her room to rest. She had not slept well the
night before, she explained, and she would welcome a nap before dinner.

Felicia was
only too glad to escape her grandmother’s scolding tongue and decided to stroll
in the gardens. Her ship had just docked in Lycenium that morning, and she had
hastened home at once. The long days on shipboard had turned wearying as she
missed the scent of flowers and the songs of birds that she knew would be
exploding in Lycenium with the advent of May.

She ambled around
the walks paved with large white boulders and sniffed appreciatively the roses
and carnations that dotted the garden. She had always loved the color scheme of
red, pink, and white that prevailed. Her mother had told her once that her
father had proposed to her in this very garden, and given her a red rose as a
symbol of his devotion.

Red for
passion, Felicia thought to herself. She knew that her parents loved each other
greatly, and innocent though she was, she sensed that for Marcus and Tullia,
their children would always take second place in their hearts, because their
love for one another was so deep and ardent. She did not mind this, as she had
always given first place in her heart to Dominio, and all other relationships
paled in comparison to the devotion she gave to Him.

A cluster of
white carnations climbing a trellis captured her attention, and she pulled the
branch upon which they bloomed to her face, that she might better inhale their
subtle fragrance. How delicate and fragile, both the flowers and their scent,
she thought. White for purity, for innocence. She decided the white carnation
was more to her liking than the red rose…

Just then a
sound startled her from her reverie. A stranger stood looking at her; so lost
had she been in her musings that she had not heard the approach of steps. Now
her attention was caught by both the appearance of the stranger, and the
expression on his face.

He was a young
man of about the age of her brother, Lucius. He was of medium height, with dark
hair that waved in a sleek cap about his head, a straight nose that bespoke his
patrician background, and soft brown eyes that at the moment seemed dazzled.
And he looked straight at Felicia with his well-shaped lips slightly open as he
stood in an attitude of absolute stillness.

For a moment
she was flustered by the sight of the stranger and his open staring; she looked
from right to left in a vain attempt to rescue her own composure. When he
continued to stare she grew annoyed: didn’t he realize that staring was rude?

Finally, she
addressed the stranger.

“Sir, I did
not hear anyone announce your presence: how came you into the garden?”

A reasonable
question to ask, she thought.

The question
appeared to finally jerk the young man out of his bemusement. He flushed and
blinked his eyes rapidly.

“Please
forgive me,” he said in a voice as soft as his eyes. “I was admitted by Otho,
your butler. I am a friend of your brother Lucius and came to see him. I was
informed that he is gone, but that I could find his sister in the garden.”

He paused for
a moment and stared at Felicia once again.

“But I was
startled by the sight of you. You looked like a portrait as you smelled the
flowers; and I did not expect to see such a vision of loveliness,” he sighed
and smiled dreamily at her. “So fresh, so pure.”

Felicia
blushed to the roots of her black hair. Was he mocking her? If so she would
show him at once that his raillery was not appreciated!

“Sir, you are
teasing me, and that is not polite,” she said between teeth clenched in a
sudden burst of anger. “I do not find your humor amusing. My brother is not at
home, and I do not think you will find my company an enjoyable substitute for
his.”

She prepared
to wish him a good day, but the young man was shaken out of his dream-like
state.

“Oh, I am
sorry!” he said as he blushed in turn. “I did not intend to be rude. Believe
me, I only spoke the truth. But I lack poise regarding young ladies and do not
have the gift for flattery that Lucius possesses. I spoke just now from my
heart, but perhaps it is not proper to say such things to a lady one has just
met.”

He bowed with
one hand placed over his heart and eyes that pleaded for forgiveness. Felicia
found herself even more embarrassed as she ascertained his sincerity: was it
possible that he actually found her attractive? She did not think that any
young man would find her such, having been admonished for so long by her mother
to pay more attention to her appearance.

She recovered
her composure and dropped a little bow to the stranger with an inclination of
her head. He breathed more freely and smiled at her, a dazzling smile that lit
up his countenance and took her own breath away. She had not noticed until now
that he was rather attractive, having been outraged at his behavior…

Now she
remembered her manners and hastened to introduce herself.

“I am Felicia
Maximus: I bid you welcome,” she smiled.

“And I am
Antonius Hadrianus.”