A Day of Fire by Kate Quinn

Author:Kate Quinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Part Five

The Mother

Eliza Knight

“Gross darkness came rolling over the land like a torrent . . . like a room when it is shut up and the lamp put out.”

—Pliny the Younger

JULILLA

MY birth pangs have started.

Slow, and not regular, but started all the same. The babe has yet to drop, but I suspect by tomorrow morning I’ll have a son.

How can it be that, after how long I have dreamed of becoming a mother, of meeting the little child inside my womb, I now want him to stay put?

I reach into the pouch at my side and pull out the vial I grabbed from our kitchen: a tincture to ease the pains. But it’s not the right one. I stare at the blue vial in my hand—the one that had looked clear in the dim light of the kitchen. Blue is not for pain. Blue is for something else. Blue is what our slaves used to kill the rats. I thrust the vial back into the pouch, disappointed that I have nothing to ease the pain, and no use for poison.

I lean against a smooth, marble column in the east portico gazing into our once-grand, two-story-high peristyle. The red clay tiles of the roof covering the walkway around the inner courtyard have ash slipping through their grooves, white dust sprinkling down. Where fig, cherry, and pear trees bloomed and tangy lemon trees used to scent the air. A short, five-foot ladder leans against the fig tree—figs are my favorite fruit, and in Pompeii they were the very best. One of our slaves put up the ladder just this morning in hopes of filling a basket of them for me. It’s hard to breathe here. My lungs are tight, fighting against the air I try to draw in. What was once a place of tranquility is now blanketed in darkness and ash. The sky above is a reflection of a war with the gods. Is it possible that the end of the world is upon us?

I was in my litter on my way to my friend Aemilia’s house when Vesuvius burst angrily into the sky. And, I too, was ready to burst, the cramps of my swollen belly coming on in my fright. Seeing the mountain as it spewed its fury higher into the heavens than I could fathom, I was stunned. Afraid for my life, I was lucky to have run into the two strangers and Aemilia’s betrothed, Sabinus, who saw me safely home.

Now a cough seizes my lungs, and I hug tight to the babe in my womb.

I’m still wearing all the jewelry I put on this morning in the hope of a joyous day: gold bangles, matching necklace, and earrings. Touching the golden chains draped between my breasts, I morbidly think that I have dressed up for my death. But I shove that thought aside. We will not die. The Pompeians are a strong people. They’ll rebuild and so will I.

A cough seizes my lungs, and I hug tight to the babe in my womb.

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