Page 86 of Of Love and Treason
“Do you have a cloak?” He shook his head. “Of course not, you didn’t have one earlier.”
He removed the brown one he’d already put on and settled it around her shoulders instead, ignoring her protests. No one would be out in this weather to recognize him anyway.
With one ex-soldier in front carrying a shielded lamp and the other acting as rear guard, the four hurried up the street. The mist fused into larger and larger drops that began falling hard and fast, rendering the low spots in the streets into small streams that rushed by, carrying trash and leaves. The rain hit the paving stones in splashes and sharp slaps. Valens caught Iris’s arm as she slipped. He glanced at the blackened sky. They’d been at the wedding much longer than he’d thought. Iris must have sensed the same and her pace quickened to match his.
Taking refuge under the dripping awning of a lamp shop, they paused to catch their breath. The soldiers took their duty seriously, standing on either side of them, facing out. Iris wiped back strands of wet hair clinging to her face and the corners of her mouth.
Valens forced his gaze into the street. “I know I don’t have to ask, because I’m sure you realize already the importance of keeping what you’ve just witnessed sub rosa.”
She gave a nod and hesitated before speaking. “Does my father know what you’ve been doing?”
Valens shrugged and avoided her gaze. “Titus knows.”
He let out a long breath, steadying his nerves. He’d wanted her to come with him this evening because for some inexplicable reason, he needed her to know. To lay bare the extent of his crimes. Perhaps he hoped to see some glimmer of disappointment in her face that would cut the threads he felt binding him to her.
“Titus told me to leave the city immediately upon my release, and if I didn’t, he would be unable to do anything but follow orders and arrest me.”
“I know.” Iris drew in a breath. “I thought it was because you were a Christian, not... This isn’t something you can pay off with a bribe or a fine, Valentine.” She touched his arm, her eyes going wide. “Thisis, truly, a crime worthy of crucifixion. I’m not teasing about being a romantic now. This is treason.” Her chest rose and fell sharply, her words emerging in fierce whispers.
“I know.” He struggled to stay on topic when it seemed every nerve in his body centered on that slight pressure left by her fingers on his arm.
“How can you stay?”
“When the leaders of Rome’s churches chose me to lead the church at the Calogarus villa, I took an oath not to abandon them. Even if it means imprisonment.”
“Or death?”
“Even then.”
She dropped both her gaze and her hand, his every sense already heightened. He smelled the lavender soap she’d used on her hair, heard her breath coming steady and soft amid the rain.
What thoughts ran through her head? Was that sadness in her eyes? Relief? Disappointment?
“We should keep going.” The rear guard spoke in a gruff tone. “The rain isn’t going to let up.”
Valens had forgotten they were here. “Of course.”
They set off again, walking in silence and skirting the Forum. At the end of Cedar Street, Iris stopped.
“This is fine.” She held out his waterlogged cloak, her dress soaked through and sticking to her skin. “I’ll be fine from here. The insula is just there. You shouldn’t have even come this far.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded and gripped her elbows, shivering. “Thank you for taking me with you. It was beautiful.” She started up the street before turning back to him, rain pelting dark hair to her face and neck. “I will not break your confidence. Your secret, and theirs, is safe with me.”
“I didn’t doubt it for a moment.”
He stayed at the top of the street with the guards, waiting until she was safely inside. As he watched Iris disappear, something inside him shifted—something he’d resisted for a long time and now would have to fight harder than ever.
XXXVII
DAWN BROKE LIKE A BARBARIAN HORDEspreading across the sky, leaving red in its wake. Quintus hurried home as fast as his aching leg would allow. He’d spent the last week wallowing in dread of this day. This last day of freedom before Tribune Braccus would strip them to nothing. Guilt prickled his conscience at the way he’d responded by drinking himself to oblivion just as he used to before Valentine’s messages of hope had removed his need for it. It had not occurred to him that God might care as much about his problems as He had about his daughter’s. How easily he’d given in to the despair again. It had not been difficult to do when the augur refused to pay him for his false arrest of Valentine. Or last evening, when thelanistafrom the Theatre of Marcellus had come to retrieve the Christian prisoners for execution. Quintus could do nothing but hold back the screaming children as their parents were ripped from their little hands and led away.
Their cries tore the air and his heart to shreds. He’d comforted them the best he could, then left them in the cell to wait for someone from the slave market to fetch them. He’d drained the hidden amphora and had gone to numb himself completely at the Centaur’s Cup.
Then Hector had approached him with a note.
“This was left here for you.” He’d shrugged when Quintus asked who’d left it.
