A Legate's Pledge by Tanya Bird

Author:Tanya Bird [Bird, Tanya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tanya Bird

Chapter 23

Brei remained in the doorway, watching Nerva until he was out of sight. A small part of her wanted to see if he would look back.

He did not.

The moment he was gone from sight, she felt a pang of something resembling loneliness. When she went inside, she found she could not sit still. After pacing the length of the small room for some time, she gave up on the idea of rest and went to find Gallus to tell him she would not be fighting. He was already at the arena, looking the happiest she had seen him in months. Apparently, he was not as affected by the death of the emperor as the rest of the city. She almost felt bad ruining his good mood, but Nerva was right, it was not the time to put on war paint and fight in front of a crowd.

‘You are early,’ he said, walking over to meet her.

‘And you’re happy.’ The sight of his beaming face was a little unnerving at a time when everyone else was grieving.

He rocked on his feet, the way he always did when he had good news. ‘Two hundred denarii is what I paid for you. Iunius wanted four hundred, but I paid two.’

Brei’s eyebrows pulled together. ‘Yes, I was there, remember?’

‘Nerva Papias, so adored by the people of Rome that I would not be surprised if he became emperor himself one day, just paid me six thousand denarii in exchange for your freedom.’

Brei blinked, staring at him in shock. But as the shock wore off, it was replaced with irritation. She had specifically told him not to go ahead, and he had looked her straight in the eye and told her he would back off. Then he had done it anyway.

‘Did you already accept the money?’

Gallus looked at her as if she were crazy. ‘Did I… six thousand was my starting point, and he agreed without even attempting to negotiate. Of course I accepted. What sane man would say no to that amount of money?’ He rocked on his feet again. ‘That sum is far more than I would have made from you in a few years, and I am no longer responsible for your upkeep.’

‘My upkeep?’

He waved a hand. ‘Your housing and such.’

Brei’s face hardened. ‘You mean the small room I share with two other women in the slums?’

‘Better than sleeping on the street. I must say, you are sounding rather ungrateful.’

‘I’m just pointing out that my living arrangements cannot be that expensive.’

‘Well, you are now free to leave if you find it so beneath you.’ He reached into a pocket and pulled out a coin pouch. ‘Here,’ he said, tossing it to her. ‘While I am in no way obligated to share any of my profits with you, take that as a gesture of my goodwill.’

She had been getting a lot of those lately. Brei stared at the pouch in her hand. ‘Coin?’

‘One hundred sestertii.’ He said it slowly, as though she would have trouble comprehending such an amount.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.