“Yes.”
He moved her head back into the proper position, then turned her toward another corner of the room, where a stack of cheeses stood. “When you finish the vegetables, slice the cheeses. This thick.” He held up fingers in front of her face to illustrate. “All of them.”
“Yes, sir.”
He removed his hand and turned to glare at Sophia. “You would do well to learn a few things from this one.”
He sauntered away, and Abigail sighed, closing her eyes briefly. There went her hopes of not making enemies among the slaves. Without even glancing up again, she set to work with a fury.
Chapter Forty-Four
Ester looked from one man to the other. “What do you mean, she is gone?”
“I am sorry.” Caius Asinius offered a smile that fell short of sincere. “It shocked us all to find that she had left, but it was unmistakable. Her things were gone, clothes and jewels and everything, when we awoke this morning.”
Ester did not narrow her eyes in suspicion. She did not have to. She just regarded him unflinchingly and recalled everything her son had told her about this man. She straightened her shoulders and held Caius’s gaze. “Where is my grandson?”
“I do not know. She must have taken him with her.”
“I see.” Ester let her eyes move over the room. It was beautiful, far lovelier than the place she had called home for so many years, but she wanted nothing more than to escape its oppressive walls. She looked back to the owner, whose eyes refelcted his home’s ice.
Her family had been tampered with enough. She did not need this arrogant Roman interfering with what happiness she still had available. “You are obviously not as smart as you would have me think, Caius Asinius, or you would know that Abigail would never run away on the morn of our reunion. You would know that I am her mother and that she would not react to me as your slaves do to you, because she is not my slave, she never was by your definition. So whatever you have done, you will not convince me you were not the one behind it. And though I may not be able to make you pay for it, I will certainly not let you get away with it.”
She turned and strode from the room, Andrew, Simon and two of Drusus’s men surrounding her. She headed for the door that would take her outside.
“Wait!”
It was not Caius’s voice, but a woman’s, so Ester obeyed. She turned to see who was obviously the lady of the house rushing up. There was a younger woman behind her, clutching a bundle to her chest as they hurried, slaves protecting them as well.
The woman came to a harried halt in front of Ester.“I am Aquilia, Titus’s mother. Titus is out of town, Phillip, Abigail’s bodyguard, has not yet returned with news of her, but I swear to you we shall get her back.” She motioned the girl behind her forward. “This is Miriam, Abigail’s handmaiden. And this is Benjamin.”
Ester looked with awe at the small boy who gazed back at her with infant interest out of Jason’s eyes. She reached out to take him, holding him close to her chest. “You are beautiful, my child.” She closed her eyes against sudden tears.
“I recommend taking him and Samuel and Miriam to the villa at once,” Aquilia went on. “My people know the way. In fact, I would ask to be allowed to come with you. I will not spend another day under the same roof as that monster.”
Ester looked up at the woman. She saw a rich and bejeweled Roman noble, one who had probably never known a day of want in her life. She saw a sad and empty woman who had never had a day of happiness in her life. She smiled. “I can think of nothing better. How soon can you be ready?”
“I am ready now.” Aquilia returned the smile.
“Ready for what?” Caius appeared in the doorway. He looked from Ester to the babe in her arms to his wife to the handmaiden.
Aquilia made no reply. She simply turned and began issuing orders for her things to be brought out, then moved to Ester’s side and ushered her out the door.
He grabbed his wife’s elbow. “You will go nowhere! Would you make a laughingstock of this family?”
Aquilia pulled her arm free and glowered at him. “You have already succeeded in that, Caius, by forcing your son to choose between his father and his heart. Because there was never any question, and all of Rome knows it. If this family suffers, it is no one’s fault but yours.”
Moments later, a woman brought out Samuel, and a processions of slaves followed with the rest of the belongings to be moved. Caius sputtered, though he calmed somewhat when a provocatively dressed slave slid up behind him and put a hand on his arm.