“Lela!” My voice was a dangerous boom, the two servants in the corridor crying out and covering their ears.
A crack of lightning and rumble of thunder vibrated over the house as rain began to pour outside.
I inhaled a deep breath, scenting her over the stink of blood and early rot. That’s when I noticed the distinct shape of bloody footprints leading across the carpet to the changing screen. Leaping over the bodies and across the room, I knocked the screen aside.
Lela leaned back against the wall, her arms crossed, covered in blood and trembling. Her sapphire eyes shot to mine.
“I killed them all.”
“Yes, darling,” I praised her, hauling her against my chest and holding her close. “Just as you should have. Are you hurt?”
“No,” she said emphatically. “I feel wonderful.”
“You’re shaking,” I whispered, pulling back and gripping her shoulders so I could look at her.
“Aftereffects of the magic, I think. It was quite… powerful this time.”
I glanced at the blood-soaked room behind me. “Yes, I see that. I’m taking you out of here now.”
She nodded, then I scooped her up into my arms. She cradled her head against my chest, my dragon’s purr a steady thrum.
Stepping over the bodies, I stopped before the servants in the corridor.
“Take Fausta and Octavio to your courtyard. Wrap them in shrouds and give them the burial rite they deserve. But wait until two hours after sunset to burn the pyres.”
By then, we’d be gone.
“The praetorians will see the fire and come.”
“Indeed, they will.” I nodded. “Give your mistress the burial she deserves or they will take her head and desecrate her body. But wait until the time I told you.”
Stalking from the room, I hoped the servants would heed myinstructions. One of them was Bellona, the one Koska convinced to spill her mistress’s secrets. And that was simply to impress a lover. I knew that she would give my name up under threat of torture. I only needed the time to get Lela and Grandfather out of the city first.
Carrying Lela to the terrace, I looked up into the slate gray sky, torrents of rain pounding to the earth. I smiled to the heavens, knowing Jupiter was on my side. He’d sent a storm to cover us.
Lela had not said a word, shivering in my arms. I set her gently on a bench and removed my blue toga I’d worn to the senate house. Wrapping it around her like a blanket, I lifted her back into my arms, now naked.
“Hold on, Lela,” I whispered, closing my eyes and focusing to let the dragon slip his leash a bit.
Within seconds, the beast bulged and grew, wings, horns, and tail sprouting. I couldn’t help the instinct to lift my snout to the sky and open my mouth to taste the rain.
Water was a special friend to the Sapphirus dragon. Seas and oceans were our playgrounds. The gods had blessed us with the rain to hide our escape. There were only two deathriders visible in the storm, and their shadows were high above the clouds.
Lela reached her arms around my neck and laid her head to my chest. “I’m ready.”
Without hesitation, I leaped over the balcony and beat my wings, keeping us low to the rooftops. No one was outside in this kind of storm. I purred my satisfaction that my mate was safe in my arms and the fates were watching over us. I only needed them to help us a few hours more, until I could get her safely out of Rome.
Coasting with the winds, the rain beating down on my back and wings, I flew over the remaining few houses until we were right over my olive grove. I landed there, my wings breaking a few branches on the way down.
Remaining in the cover of the trees, I sniffed the air, breathing deep to discover if there were any men inside my home waiting for me. Quintus seemed to think I was oblivious to the fact that I’d hired Lela, thinking her merely a prostitute, not knowing her true identity.
I could pretend my innocence, but if they caught her here, it would be over. We’d have to fight our way out of the city, and my chances were slim in fighting Caesar’s men by myself.
I smelled nothing but baking bread on the far side of the house. Still in half-skin, I crept up the stone steps, still using all of my senses to detect any danger.
I heard and smelled nothing but what I should. Once inside my bedchamber, I remained perfectly still, holding Lela, ready to leap off my terrace balcony if there was an ambush waiting for me.
Still nothing.
