“Fetch it from thepopinawe passed,” I ordered.“Bring me bread if there is any.”
Cassia remained frozen in place, her very dark hair falling in curls about her face.She was pretty, in a way, in spite of her crooked nose and thin lips.
That was the last thought I had before oblivion took me.
I dreamed.Regulus fought me, rage in his eyes.My sword and arm guard were gone, and his blade jabbed and jabbed at me until I bled from a hundred holes.
His sword rose, ready to dive straight into my eye.
I roared up to meet him, grabbing the descending arm in a merciless grip …
And found myself looking into the terrified brown eyes of Cassia.
Chapter 3
Ireleased Cassia in an instant.In another second, I’d have broken her wrist.
“Dreaming,” I said as I sat up, catching my breath.“Never reach for me when I’m asleep.Floriana uses a stick.”
“Floriana?”
“Woman of the house where I slept last night.”I gestured vaguely, reminding Cassia of where she’d met me this morning.
If it was stillthismorning.The sun slanted into the room, partially blocked by buildings around us.I had no idea of the time or if this was even the same day.
“It is the tenth hour.”Cassia remained very still, out of my reach.“You’ve slept a long time.I brought food for you.”
I rolled up from the pallet, my tunic musty.I needed to bathe.I was also hungry.“Bread?”I recalled asking her to fetch that.
Cassia had backed away when I’d risen, and now she moved to the table.I stumbled after her in bare feet, too hungry to bother with sandals.
The table was now lengthwise near the open door to the makeshift balcony.One stool rested on the side of the table, and the other had been tucked into the corner.
Covered bowls and several baskets had been neatly placed on the table, along with an eating bowl and a spoon.I lifted the cloth from one basket and found a loaf of the round Roman bread we consumed daily.The other basket held olives, plump and shining.
The covered bowls contained lentil stew and another stew with meat in it.The smallest pot held a smelly, fishy concoction called garum.
I immediately dished out the lentils and tore off a hunk of bread, sitting down to enjoy my feast.A handful of olives went into my mouth.I didn’t touch the meat dish or the garum.
“Are you not eating?”I asked once I’d swallowed a few spoonfuls.
Cassia had perched on the stool in the corner, hands in her lap.“You will allow me to eat?”
“Why would I not allow you to eat?”I said around my next mouthful.“If you eat, you stay alive.Besides, you carried all this back.You must be hungry.”
Cassia rose and slid her stool inch by inch closer to the table.She removed a smaller eating bowl and spoon from a sack that had been behind the table and carefully set the bowl in the exact center of her side.
As I continued to inhale the lentil soup, which was decent if not the best I’d ever had, she delicately ladled out a portion of the meat stew.
“Eat all of that if you like,” I said.
The ladle hesitated.“There is enough for both of us.”
I shook my head.“I don’t eat much meat.I’ll have this.”I lifted my bowl to my mouth, drained the liquid, and spooned in more of the lentils.
Neither of us touched the garum.
“Eat that too,” I said, pointing to it.“I won’t.”
