Man of God by Diaz Debra

Author:Diaz, Debra
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: biblical, historical, christian, jerusalem, gladiator, ancient rome, temple, jesus of nazareth, caligula, man of god
Publisher: Debra Diaz

* * *

“Can you help me? I am looking for someone.” Livias spoke in a warm, candid manner to the young woman, who was demurely dressed in a forest green gown, her palla draped over her head and shoulders. She held a basket of fruit and a wriggling white puppy in her arms, and stopped walking to glance at him warily. His forehead, almost bare of eyebrows, lifted in surprise.

“Daphne! I’d forgotten—you live near here, don’t you?”

They were on a street at the eastern end of the forum, not far from the Circus Maximus. Steam rose from the pavement after the recent thunderstorm, and with it strong and unpleasant odors.

“I don’t think I know you,” she said, and began walking again.

He strode alongside her. “Oh, you know me very well. But it’s been a year or so, since we…saw each other.”

She ignored him. Livias stared and wondered how he had recognized her, because she looked quite different. There were no cosmetics on her face, and it was softer somehow…

“If you will only answer a few questions I will stop following you,” he said, when it became obvious she wanted nothing to do with him. “Have you seen a man who looks like this?”

He withdrew the sketch of Paulus from the breast of his tunic and held it out for her to see. Her gaze flitted toward it curiously, and then fixed on the sheet of parchment. Livias knew at once that she had seen the man before. She seemed to realize she had made a mistake in her reaction, and her eyes moved and focused on the street before them.

“What is his name?” she asked indifferently.

“Paulus Valerius.”

“I don’t know anyone by that name.”

“You know a lot of men—whose names you don’t know.”

She stopped and looked at him earnestly. “I am no longer in that profession. Will you please leave me in peace?”

“Oh! What brought this about? You are one of the most sought—”

“What has the man done? Why do you seek him?”

Livias eyed her shrewdly. She might not willingly betray the man, but what about the woman?

“I seek him mainly because of his wife, a runaway slave who killed a man.”

This time Daphne’s shock was obvious. Livias grabbed her arm none too gently and said, “Where are they?”

“How should I know? I admit I’ve seen the man before, but I didn’t know his name or…or any of what you just said. I don’t believe it!”

“Where have you seen him? Is he a client of yours?”

“No!”

“Where then?”

“I’ve only seen him a few times, and I don’t know where they are now. They could be anywhere.”

He tightened his hold on her arm and she shrank away from him. “Where does he live?”

“How would I know that? I have nothing to tell you.”

Livias felt a surge of both frustration and triumph. She did have something to tell him, and he would see to it that she did. But he didn’t want to frighten her away…let her go home and think herself well rid of him.

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