“It has given us the ability to have many hideaways in the world, I agree. A means to escape when others cannot.”
There was a hint of remorse in his voice as he walked at my side.
“But wealth means nothing,” he continued, his gaze straight ahead, “when you cannot love who you want, marry who you want, protect your family from that fucking tyrant.”
My stomach plummeted at what he was telling me. “The emperor forbade you from marrying someone you love?” I asked.
He didn’t answer as we crossed the gray stone of the back courtyard. He paused at the double wooden doors on the back side of the home then turned his head to look at me.
“It is forbidden to marry the one I love. Until we kill the emperor and change his laws.”
I froze, swallowing hard at the sincerity in his gaze. He must be talking about the laws that forbid a patrician from marrying outside of their class. Mustn’t he?
He didn’t explain or clarify, but simply opened the door and held it for me to enter first. I walked in, finding an open room with little furniture but beautifully decorated with blue tiles and murals painted on the walls. It smelled of dust and neglect.
“You do not come here often.”
“Not in a long while. My sisters love it here, but I don’t want them traveling this far without me.”
“You don’t lock the doors? I’m surprised the locals haven’t scavenged it clean of the furniture.”
“They know it’s owned by a dragon. A military tribune in one of Rome’s legions. At least I was then, when I bought it.”
“So they don’t bother stealing knowing you can track them down and kill them.”
“I suppose.”
I walked farther into the room, admiring the painted mural in blues, greens, and golds. It was a depiction of a sea siren with a mermaid’s tail, her mouth open in song, her green hair blowing in the wind as she sunbathed on a rock. In the distance, a Roman ship sailed into the harbor.
Trajan opened the large arched doorway leading to the terrace and the shuttered windows, the sea air blowing in a fresh breeze.
“I’ll return in a moment,” he said before disappearing down a corridor.
The walls of this main room bore inlaid blue tiles with the Greek key design that extended into the next parlor and down a corridor leading to other rooms. There was a second mural on the opposing wall of the sea siren. This one wasn’t of gods or magical creatures, but a simple scene of a fisherman removing his haul of fish onto shore, awoman and child waiting for him on the beach. The child with dark curls waved and smiled at his father returning home. The scene was so tender, it made my heart ache.
Frustrated, I stormed out onto the terrace, looking down on the white-sand beach very similar to the scene painted on the massive wall inside. I heard Trajan walk up behind me.
“No one needs more than one house,” I stated with annoyance. “Especially a second or third or fourth one this large.”
“Why are you so angry?” he asked.
I huffed a breath in frustration and faced him. He’d dressed in a short blue tunic. “Because you were born with so many advantages, while others like me had nothing. It isn’t fair.”
He crossed his arms, but remained unflustered while I obviously was. “You were born with great beauty and powerful magic. How is that fair to others who don’t have what you have?”
Crossing my arms, mirroring his defiant stance, I grew angrier, not knowing what to say.
When I refused to acknowledge he had a point, he added, “You’re right. I have much wealth. My family has great power among the people. Even if Caesar is trying to take that all away. Even if he’s dissolved the senate, he cannot take away our family’s history. And when we kill the fucking bastard, I’ll use my wealth and my family’s station to help create a new, just Rome.”
“AjustRome? What does that look like to you?”
“One where plebs and patricians aren’t killed indiscriminately. One where we aren’t waging war against foreign lands and taking everything from them. One where all Romans can live a life unfettered and free.”
“Only Romans? What of the slaves of Rome? Will your new Rome include freedom for all, including the slaves you’ve taken from their homelands?”
My blood raced through my veins as I watched his expression, waiting to hear his response, what I expected any pureblood patrician, any dragon who has dominated the world and subjugated people into slavery for centuries, to say.
What I did not expect was for him to uncross his arms and step so close I could smell the masculine scent of him, a scent I’d begun to crave.
