Free As Sure as the Dawn by Francine Rivers Page A

with a baby, walking in the sunshine of the barren courtyard before the villa. At first, he thought it was Julia Valerian and was surprised. His spies had reported the relationship ended some months ago. They’d also informed him that Julia Valerian had been carrying a child rumored to be fathered by Atretes. He had ordered his spies to watch the house until the birth. They reported the child had been cast upon the rocks to die. A pity. Had the child been Atretes’ and lived, it might have proven very useful.
    Pausing, Sertes stroked his chin and watched the young woman with open interest. She was small and very nicely curved. She glanced their way. His smile broadened. She turned away again and disappeared around the corner of the building. “You always did have an eye for beauty.” He cast Atretes an amused glance. “Who is she?”
    “A household servant.”
    Sertes sensed Atretes’ annoyed withdrawal and wondered about it. He glanced in the direction the woman had gone, curious. “And the child? Is it yours?”
    “The child is hers.”
    Sertes said no more, but a seed of speculation had been planted in his fertile mind.

    Rizpah turned and saw Atretes striding toward her. She knew he was angry. Everything about him exuded his foul mood. Shifting Caleb in her arms, she sighed, wondering what she had done to displease him now.
    “You’re not to leave the villa unless I order you to do so!”
    “You wish to make your son a prisoner, my lord?” she said, striving for calm.
    “I wish to protect him!”
    “As do I, Atretes. I’m within the walls.”
    “You will stay in the villa!”
    “What possible harm can come to Caleb out here? You have guards—”
    “Woman, you will do as I say!”
    Her hackles rose at his imperious tone. The man was impossible! She had never taken well to being commanded to obedience. Shimei had always dealt with her in a more gentle fashion than this thick-headed German. “If you are reasonable, I will obey. In this case, you aren’t.”
    His eyes narrowed dangerously. “Press me, and I’ll throw you right out that gate.”
    She looked straight back at him. “No, you will not.”
    Hot color flooded his face. “What makes you so sure?”
    “Because you’re as concerned for Caleb’s good health as I. I don’t know why you’re so incensed, Atretes. You watched me walk Caleb around the yard yesterday and the day before and had no objections. Today you look like a melon ready to burst.”
    Atretes struggled to hold his temper. She was right, which only maddened him further. He had watched her yesterday and the day before, and he’d found pleasure in doing so, possibly for the same reasons Sertes had just enjoyed watching her. She was beautiful and full of feminine grace. He seethed now. She knew, for the sake of his son, he couldn’t throw her out the gate. His hands sorely itched to throttle her. He had seen the look of speculation in Sertes’ eyes before he left.
    Rizpah saw the conflicting emotions in his face, anger overriding everything else. She should have handled things differently. She should have sealed her lips and gone into the villa and chosen a better time to state her opinions. She sat Caleb on her hip. “What’s happened that you think it necessary to keep Caleb in the confines of the villa?”
    Atretes watched his son grasp the front of her tunic, pulling it slightly. “It’s enough that I command you.”
    “Must we go through this again?” she said with strained patience. “Has it something to do with the friend that was visiting with you?”
    “He is no friend! His name is Sertes, and he’s editor of the Ephesian games.”
    “Oh,” she said. “He came to talk you into fighting again, didn’t he?”
    “Yes.”
    She frowned. “Did he succeed?”
    “No.”
    She sensed there was something very serious behind his anger and not just the pique of a man’s pride. “You must tell me where the danger lies. I seem to have blundered and don’t know