Woman of Sin by Debra Diaz

Author:Debra Diaz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: adventure, god, inspirational, ancient, historical romance, slavery, palestine, emperor, jerusalem, greece, ancient rome, roman soldier, jesus of nazareth, debra diaz, woman of sin
Publisher: Debra Diaz

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Megara reclined on her silk-covered couch and gazed steadily up at her servant. “Take this note to the woman you found for me—the one who lives in Bethany. Do not tarry, do not let anyone see you. No one, especially my husband, must ever know that you delivered this message.”

The short, Macedonian slave was mute, which was one reason Megara had chosen him for this particular task. That, and because he was blindly loyal to her. She often rewarded him with money for errands she set him upon that might reflect badly on her, if discovered. Most often this involved keeping track of Paulus’ whereabouts.

She knew her husband had made a trip to Bethany in the summer, and that he had spoken with a beautiful young woman dressed in the style of the Jews. From her description, Megara knew it was Alysia. It had been easy to send her small, silent slave to spy out the land; discovering where Alysia lived opened a world of possibilities for her removal, except that Megara didn’t know just how to accomplish that particular end without someone ultimately uncovering her role in it. And then a plan had presented itself to her.

After a few more crisply-issued instructions, the slave nodded and walked away. Megara let out her breath slowly, concentrating on letting her heart regain its normal rhythm. She was nervous, yet strangely elated. Seeing Alysia captured would be worth all the misery that she, Megara, had endured since coming to Jerusalem. And Paulus would never know how it had happened.

She found herself unexpectedly good at forgery; the handwriting on the note was identical to her husband’s. It bore his seal, too. That had been a bit harder and involved bribing a guard to “borrow” the seal, and then return it without Paulus’ knowledge. The note implored Alysia to meet him (Paulus) at a certain time and place regarding a most urgent matter.

The place happened to be the very room of the inn at which Lucius was staying. It would look like an accidental meeting. If she knew Lucius, and she did, he would arrest Alysia immediately and take her straight to Rome without Paulus’ knowledge, lest Paulus try to stop him. Of course, there were risks, but she had considered each and resolved them in her own mind. Alysia could tell someone about the forged note before she left Bethany, but Megara doubted she would; she certainly wouldn’t want anyone to know she was off to meet clandestinely with a Roman legate in Jerusalem. And she would probably be long dead before Paulus contrived to get back to Rome and save her.

Alysia could miss Lucius altogether, even though the time had been carefully calculated; Lucius would almost certainly be in his room when she arrived. Alysia would not mention the note to Lucius…she would want to protect Paulus. But if they should fail to meet…well, Megara would have to get rid of Alysia somehow before she had a chance to go to Paulus and ask him why he had sent her the note.

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