“How unprecedented. Abigail, alone.”
Abigail spun around to see Caius standing only a few feet away. She had forgotten this room was connected to another; it had not concerned her, because she was only interested in Titus, who would arrive from outside. She had not considered that Caius was already home and could find her here. She was more irritated than afraid, however. Titus had to be approaching even now.
She squared her shoulders. “I am waiting for Titus. And I need to speak with him in private, so please leave.”
Caius smirked and took a few steps closer. “Have you not caught on? Titus does not want you. He wants nothing to do with you. He keeps you here now only for the babe’s sake, so what could you possibly have to say that would interest him?” He reached out and ran a hand down her arm.
She slapped his hand away. “Do not touch me!”
He grabbed both of her arms and dragged her against him. “I will do as I wish with you. You are nothing but a slave and a harlot.” He gave her a hard shake. “Why should I not just kill you now? The boy would be better off without you. Why should I leave my son in your talons? Why?”
He shook her again, and the fear surged up when she saw the violence in his eyes. “Please!” She tried to break free of his hands, tried to push him away. All in vain.
“What new trick do you have in mind now, whore? Why must you speak with him, what do you have planned?”
“Nothing, I–”
One of his hands around her throat cut her off. She gagged, trying to gasp for breath, clawed at his hand.
“Tell me.” He relaxed his grip enough for her to gulp in the air so quickly it made her cough.
Wheezing, she saw little choice but to reply. “I carry his child.”
She knew a momentary breath of relief when he released her. It was followed by blinding pain as he backhanded her in the face, sending her reeling. “Conniving witch!” He caught her by the shoulder only to hit her again. Dizziness flooded her head, blood flowed from her nose, and the ground rushed toward her. She heard a cry of pain that must have been hers, but she was not aware of actually opening her throat to make the noise. The hard stone of the floor struck her and sent a bolt of agony all up her right side. She barely heard the shouts that filled the room over the rush of blood in her head, but she felt clearly the foot that kicked her in the stomach with all its force, once, then again.
She doubled up at the pain.
*
Titus had hit the room a few seconds before Phillip, so he was the one to drag his father away from Abigail, leaving Phillip to rush to his mistress to see if she was all right. He threw Caius into the wall. “How dare you lay a hand on her?”
“You would thank me if you had any sense.” Caius knocked his arm away. “She will manipulate you with this child just as she did Jason, she will talk you into marrying her just because she carries your whelp. I will not have it! Better to kill her myself than to have the Asinius name lost to a Jewish slave.”
“Touch her again, and it is you who will die.” His jaw muscle clenching, he turned back to find Phillip lifting an almost-unconscious Abigail in his arms. “Take her to her room and clean her up.” He turned to the door, where Miriam had just rushed up in. “Go tend her. I will make sure Antonia takes the children inside.”
Mainly he needed to have a few moments to let that last explosive minute sink into his consciousness. While he waited for reality to catch up, he headed toward the garden. Samuel was standing just outside staring at the door, from which he had no doubt heard the cries of his mother.
“Titus!” The boy launched himself at Titus’s legs. “What is happening to Mother?”
Titus picked him up and help him close. “My father hit her, but she will be fine.” He wanted to believe that, though from what he had seen, the blows had looked hard enough to knock down a grown man, to say nothing about a slight woman.
“I must go to her.”
“No, not right now.” Titus held him still when he would have squirmed to his feet. “Let Miriam and Phillip tend her first. I will take you to her soon, but for now you must go with Antonia and help her with Benjamin. Will you do that for me?”
Samuel looked torn, but at length he nodded somberly.
“You are a good boy.” Titus put him back on his feet. To the concerned nurse, he said, “Take them both and go to Panther. My father is in a rage, and I would put nothing past him.”
Antonia moved to obey. Titus headed for the bedrooms. A few steps from her door, he stopped.