Defy the Eagle (65 page)

"You are welcome to stay the night, General," Marcus offered politely.

"Much as 1 am tempted, I fear I must refuse your generosity," Paulinus declined. "There is business in Londinium that requires my attention tomorrow morning, but I thank you for the offer." He gave his hand to Marcus and then to Lucius. "In his last report, Petilius Cerealis told me your time with the Ninth Legion had expired and that you were planning to return to Rome."

"That is correct, General," Lucius replied.

"You plan to work with your father, the senator, I take it?" When Lucius nodded, Paulinus clapped him on the shoulder. "When you inherit his seat, young man, remember the legion. The legion protects the Empire, but it cannot do so without funds."

"I will certainly remember, General."

"And Cerealis also informed me that you are to be wed before leaving Britannia." Paulinus graced Jilana with a cold smile. "Your choice in wives is puzzling, but mayhap you can turn her into a proper Roman wife."

Lucius sent a dark glance at Jilana. "I shall certainly try, sir."

The general bade farewell to the women, who remained in the triclinium while the men saw Paulinus to his escort. When Marcus and Lucius returned, the younger man's temper showed in his flushed face and he went directly to Jilana's couch.

"You do realize, do you not," Lucius said, "that you have just been privately reprimanded by the governor-general, the Emperor's representative here?" When she nodded, he added, "Now will you give up this mad scheme of yours involving the Iceni slaves?"

Jilana carefully sat her cup on the low table. "Nay."

Lucius caught his breath at her answer. "Jilana, this is not Venta Icenorum; you are no longer living in a small town close to the frontier. Your actions here are noticed and remarked upon, that is why Paulinus came here tonight. You are buying and freeing his slaves as fast as he runs them down."

"That is not humanly possible," Jilana said bitterly. The next moment she gasped as Lucius' hands bit into her shoulders.

"Listen to me," Lucius ordered fiercely, his dark eyes fairly glowing with anger. "Paulinus hates the Iceni, and all those who allied themselves with Boadicea. He means to destroy them, Jilana. Do you understand? He will destroy them utterly, and if you stand between him and his heart's desire he will destroy you as well! I want to protect you, but I cannot if you persist in freeing those accursed Britons!"

"You may not want to protect me in any event," Jilana said after a long silence.

Lucius sighed. "Of course I want to protect you, Jilana, you are to be my wife."

Jilana cleared her throat nervously. "Perhaps not."

Lucius took her hands in his and sent a pleading look to her parents. "Marcus, Augusta, how can I convince her of my intentions?"

Augusta looked from her daughter, to Lucius and back again. With a feeling of dread, she answered, "I do not think Jilana doubts your intentions, Lucius. Do you, Jilana?" Her hand grasped Marcus' when Jilana shook her head.

"What are you talking about?" Claudia asked impatiently. "Of course Jilana is going to marry Lucius."

Summoning up her courage, Jilana pulled her hands away from Lucius and announced, "I am with child."

The silence that fell in the triclinium was deafening. Claudia's mouth fell open in astonishment; Augusta closed her eyes and leaned against her husband. Lucius tilted his head to one side and frowned at Jilana, certain he had not heard correctly. "What did you say?"

"I am with child." Jilana carefully folded her hands in her lap and waited for the storm to engulf her. She did not have long to wait.

"With child,!" Lucius sprang to his feet, staring at her in disbelief. "Whose—Jupiter! Tis an Iceni bastard you carry in your womb!"

Jilana bit back the denial that rose to her lips. No one— not even her parents—would recognize the validity of her marriage to Caddaric, and now she had to consider the welfare of her child.

"Juno, the scandal," Claudia breathed, her eyes glittering. "Jilana, how could you? What will my friends say?"

"Be silent, Claudia," Augusta snapped. Shakily, she rose and went to sit beside Jilana. "How long have you known?"

"I have been certain for about a month," Jilana replied softly. "Until then I thought—" she gestured helplessly "—I did not know what to think."

"Why did you not tell us that you had been raped," Lucius demanded. When Jilana did not answer, his face grew grim. "It was rape, was it not?"

"I hardly think it matters, Lucius," Augusta answered tartly. "We must deal with the babe now." She stroked Jilana's hair. "What are you planning to do, daughter?"

"She will get rid of it, of course," Lucius announced before Jilana had a chance to reply. "There are physicians who will rid her of the brat and keep their mouths closed."

Jilana's head snapped up and she glared at her betrothed. "Do not presume to tell me what I will do!"

"You cannot intend to have the child," Lucius cried, outraged.

"Of course she does not," Claudia screeched. "My sister may cosset those filthy beasts because she has a soft heart, but she would not give life to one of them!"

Jilana looked at her mother and then her father. Lucius and Claudia she ignored for the present. "I want the babe," she said simply.

Augusta nodded. "Aye, I thought you might. Marcus, I am taking Jilana to her chamber.'' The sounds of Lucius' outrage followed them up the stairs to the second floor. Jilana's maid was waiting when they reached her chamber. "Ede," Augusta said, "Lady Jilana has had a trying evening. Help me undress her and put her to bed."

Ede took one look at Jilana's pale face and her green eyes darkened in sympathy. Without a word she took one of Jilana's bed gowns from her chest and helped Augusta strip off the younger woman's toga. The shadows cast by the lamps helped to conceal the livid red scar which ran down the side of Ede's neck and disappeared into the neckline of her wooL stola. When Jilana was abed, Ede retreated to a shadowed corner of the room and waited.

Augusta had not missed the look the maid had bestowed upon her daughter. "Shall I send Ede away, Jilana?"

"Nay." Jilana turned her head on the pillow so that she could see her friend. "Ede knows." In fact, it had been Ede who had told Jilana why her woman's time had stopped.

"That does not surprise me." Augusta patted Jilana's hand. "Much as I hate to say this, I must. Coming as it does on top of everything else, your bearing a child now will surely bring about a monumental scandal." Word of

Jilana's ordeal had spread through the Roman city, though Augusta had doubted that "ordeal" was the correct term. The sorrow she sensed in her daughter had not been caused by the death of a hated enemy.

"And a scandal would ruin you and Father, as well as Claudia's hopes of making a good marriage," Jilana added listlessly. "I know. But I cannot seek out a physician and rid myself of this new life, Mother. I cannot. If only you knew..." Her voice trailed off and she looked beseechingly at Augusta.

"I understand," Augusta told her daughter, her own eyes clouding with tears and remembrance. "Tis just that, by your actions, you have focused so much attention upon yourself."

"I could go away," Jilana suggested. "Ships leave every day from Londinium for different parts of the Empire. Ede would come with me."

"I will not allow you to run away to have this babe," Augusta decreed. "Since you mean to have this child, you will have it here, where I can keep an eye on you." She kissed Jilana warmly on the forehead. "We will work it out, do not fear. Sleep now, and we will discuss the situation in the morning, when everyone's temper has had a chance to cool."

When Augusta was gone, Ede came to the bed and settled into the chair at its side. "Your news was not well received, I take it?"

The wry note in her voice brought a hint of a smile to Jilana's mouth. "Claudia screamed and Lucius looked like he was going to strike me."

Ede made a face at the mention of Lucius. "He is eaten lip by the fact that you do not love him. All this fuss over the birth of a child! What difference does it make who the child's father is?"

Ede was so truly bewildered that, in spite of herself, Jilana laughed softly. "'Tis hard for you to understand, I know, but my people frown upon children being born without the benefit of marriage. And then, my family has guessed that the father of my child was not Roman. That makes all the difference—as it would with you, Ede."

Ede shrugged. "It would not matter to me if the father of my child was not Roman.'' She gave Jilana a wink and the two of them chuckled briefly and then Ede sobered. "You are right, however. Not even my people would easily accept a child fathered by their hated enemy."

"Oh, Ede, what am I going to do?" Jilana asked fearfully. "My parents will allow me to have the child, but once it is born—" She swallowed the painful lump in her throat. "I am certain they will make me give it away, and I cannot bear to do that."

Ede chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. "Have you spoken to Clywd?"

Jilana shook her head. "He is still so frail that I am afraid to burden him."

"Burden him!" Ede hissed. "Jilana, you carry the flesh of his flesh. How could knowing that be a burden to him?"

"You have seen him, Ede, you know how weak he is."

"He is weak because he refuses food; instead he feeds on his grief for Caddaric and Heall." Ede shook her head. "I believe all Druids are mad."

Jilana looked away from her friend. She had expected the manner of Lhwyd's death to turn Ede against her, but Ede had accepted it with more equanimity than Jilana could have managed under similar circumstances. "He was mad," Ede had told Jilana. "Had you not defended yourself, he would have killed you." Then Ede had wept for the brother of her youth and, when she had calmed, asked to remain with Jilana. Jilana had readily accepted, for Ede was a tie to Caddaric. They soon became closer than most sisters. And then they had found Clywd in the slave market.

"Your mother was right, you need to rest," Ede said upon seeing the pinched look to Jilana's features. "I will see you tomorrow." She blew out the lamps and silently made her way from the chamber. Tomorrow, she promised herself as she walked past Clywd's hut in the slave quarters, she would convince Jilana to speak with the Druid.

Augusta and Marcus were up half the night, discussing Jilana's situation. The next morning, they summoned their eldest daughter and Lucius and told them of the decision they had reached. They agreed that Jilana would be allowed to bear the child.

"You cannot be serious," Lucius burst out when Marcus had finished speaking. "I demand that Jilana abort this thing!"

''You demand," Marcus repeated quellingly. "You are not in a position to demand such a thing, Lucius. She is not yet your wife."

"I will not raise a bastard as my own," Lucius said in a voice shaking with rage.

"We have not asked you to," Marcus said calmly, and Jilana knew that they had not yet heard the entire decision. "When the child is strong enough, it will be given away."

"Nay," Jilana cried. "Father, you cannot do this!"

Marcus frowned at his daughter. "What has happened is tragic, but we—your mother and I—will not allow it to ruin the rest of your life. The babe will be placed with a native couple, to be raised as their own."

"Nay, Father, I beg you—"

"Be silent," Marcus roared, his fist slamming against the table in front of him. His composure was destroyed and the look he gave Jilana was filled with anger and pity. "Do you know what your life would be like were you to keep this child? Decent society would be closed to you forever; you would both be outcasts! And do not think that you could remain here, in my house. The stigma would stain the rest of the family as well. Is that what you want for your mother and sister? Do you want them to be gossiped about when they enter the city?"

"Nay, of course not," Jilana whispered, appalled,

"And what of the child?" Marcus persisted. "What kind of a life would he or she have? How would you support the two of you? What kind of work could you find?

Even if you could find a way to live—and I am certain you can well imagine the kind of positions that would be open to you—what of the child himself? You know how cruel people can be, Jilana. Do you want your child to be taunted and bullied whenever he steps foot outside the door? Is that what you want for your child?"

Jilana shook her head and felt tears sting her eyelids.

Marcus sank back in his chair and when he spoke again his voice had gentled. "There are many Britons working for me. I will find a good home for the babe. The people he is given to will never know of his mixed heritage; he will be totally accepted by the natives."

"Aye, Father," Jilana said brokenly.

"It is for the best, Jilana," Augusta put in, her eyes swelling with tears. "Surely you can see that."

"Aye." She understood, but it was a knife in her heart to think of her child being raised by strangers, never knowing his true father and mother.

Next Marcus, turned his attention to Lucius. "If you wish to break your betrothal to Jilana, we will, of course, understand."

Lucius turned to Jilana, considering. She was beautiful, intelligent, and wealthy—everything he could have wanted in a wife. She stirred the fires in his heart as well as his loins. "If we marry, this must forever remain a secret. I cannot allow scandal to touch my family."