She arched a brow. “How did she come to you in the first place? No one knows how she escaped Valerius’s home undetected.”
I thought a moment and decided the truth was a risk worth taking. She’d trust me more.
“I found her standing over his dead body.”
“Oh, really? And why were you in Valerius’s bedchamber?”
“I believe you know the answer to that as well.”
She stared, a slight smile tugging at her lips. “Trajan Tiberius. An enemy of the state.”
“I had the same reaction when I realized you’ve been leading a smuggling ring for runaway slaves. When did you grow a heart for them to risk so much?” I asked boldly.
She paused, her expression turning somber. “When my first husband Titus taught me to.”
It was my turn to be baffled. She went on before I could come up with a reply.
“He made me understand the cruelty of it all, particularly the bastard children being born and murdered for the audacity of being conceived when a Roman took advantage of a human woman.”
The laws for many years of dragon-born bastards was to sell them to the gladiator pits abroad or kill them at birth, for there was no place for a dragon outside the nobility, according to the senate and the emperor. In recent years, the laws demanded death. Igniculus wanted not one of them left alive, which was why what Fausta was doing wasn’t simply risky, it was treason that would be punished by death if ever discovered.
“So he smuggled out the bastard children the mothers refused to murder at birth,” I said somberly.
“Yes. He did that for many years. And I saw his compassion. I loved him for it.”
“I never would’ve guessed.”
“No. No one would. Especially since they believe I murdered my husbands.”
“So that’s all a ruse then? You didn’t kill them?”
“Not Titus. He was the love of my life. As for the second…” She shrugged, letting me fill in the blank.
So she did murder her second husband. I didn’t bother to ask why. I honestly didn’t want to know what he’d done to garner her hatred enough to murder him.
“When can we get Lela out?” I asked, just as the litter stopped. I glanced out the curtains to see we were standing outside of my house.
“I’ll need a week’s time to get the plans together,” she said. “I use the outgoing shipments of grain heading to Egypt. I’ll need to know what port you want her dropped at along the way.”
I nodded. “When should I bring her to your house? It will need to be at night.”
“As soon as possible. Especially since you’re trying to avoid your servants discovering her. Mine can be trusted.”
I arched a brow, knowing Koska had gotten information rather easily from one of her girls. But I didn’t remark on it. I’d bring Lela to her house the night before she was to be smuggled out, at the last possible moment.
“Thank you,” I told her sincerely as I exited the litter.
Fausta grabbed my wrist to stop me. “Be careful, Trajan.”
It was the first time I saw the sincere woman behind the regal facade she wore so often.
“And you, Fausta. I’ll send Koska around for information.”
She nodded and let me go. I entered the house through the garden gate as always, glancing at the olive grove. For a moment, I hoped to find her there, to join her in the shadows as I had the other night. But she wasn’t there.
Hurrying up the steps, I crossed into the bedchamber quietly, wanting a glimpse of her safely in my bed before I adjourned to the study. The bedclothes were wrinkled but she wasn’t there either.
My heart skipped faster. Where was she? Had someone found her?
