Free One With the Darkness by Susan Squires

of the people we were born to conquer.”
    She drew herself up and was about to warn him that she would not tolerate such insolence when she realized that turnabout was in some sense fair play. Victors and the vanquished changed places time and again over centuries. She sipped her wine in a semblance of nonchalance while she regrouped. “Then I expect you know how slaves are to comport themselves, and will act accordingly, since the situation is now reversed.”
    Anger flashed in his eyes before he got control. Perhapshe, too, realized that turnabout was fair play. “As you say, my lady.”
    They ate in silence. He went through his second bowl of food at a more reasonable pace. As he was finishing, Lucius appeared in the open doorway and bowed.
    “My lady?” He held out a Roman short sword and a leather scabbard on a wide leather belt. Lucius could procure anything at a moment’s notice. The sword was perhaps thirty inches in length, squat and lethal looking, not elegant but serviceable. This one had a pommel bound with leather strips to improve the grip. Livia rose and took it from Lucius. Would she really give this barbarian a weapon? Decapitation was the one way a vampire could be killed. He wouldn’t know that. But other wounds could cause her pain, and her swift healing would have to be concealed. And she’d have to have the slave killed for attacking her. She didn’t want that.
    She took a breath. A sense of inevitability washed over her. She would give him the weapon. It felt as though she had already done so. That strange feeling of having done all this before washed over her again, along with a sense of urgency that there was something she must do. Remember your purpose , she admonished herself. She needed a bodyguard to at least look as though he could vanquish her enemies. And she knew with a certainty that had no reasonable explanation that he would not use it against her. She took another deep breath.
    “Thank you, Lucius. You may go.”
    Her majordomo glowered in the direction of the slave. “My lady …”
    “That will be all, Lucius.”
    Lucius bowed, a shade reluctantly. “Shall I send Catia to you?”
    “Not necessary tonight.”
    Lucius backed from the room. Livia turned with the sword and the scabbard and saw the barbarian staring at it, eyes almost glowing. That was not reassuring.
    “If you are to be a bodyguard, you must have a weapon.” She had to make him understand the consequences of her trust. “If you misuse it, you will be crucified. That is a painful death.”
    “I saw the men on crosses that line the road into the city. A barbaric practice, my lady.”
    She blinked. Rome, barbarous? It was the city of light, casting the beams of civilization into the dark corners of the known world. Well, this barbarian couldn’t be expected to understand Rome. “Then we are clear.” She swallowed and held out the sword.
    He put down his bowl and reached for the weapon reverently. He grabbed the hilt, hefted the weight of it, and then slashed the air, once, twice. He held it up, thumbed the edge of the blade, and smiled.
    It was the first time she had seen him smile. Not a pleasant smile on the whole.
    “A fine weapon, my lady,” he almost whispered, his eyes still caressing the blade.
    “I’m glad you like it.”
    “Short, fit for close work only, of course.”
    “But effective. Such a weapon wounded your shoulder, did it not?” she asked with raised brows.
    He did not acknowledge her point but held a hand out for the scabbard. “You wish me to wear this at all times.”
    “Yes.” At least she thought so.
    He strapped the belt low across his hips and thrust the sword into the scabbard. His back straightened, his shoulders squared. He felt like a warrior again, though a slave.She understood that. She counted on it. It would remind him of his honor.
    “I wish to retire. You will sleep at the side of my bed, on that small carpet there.” Could she bear to have all that male animal