Passions of New Pompeii Read Online Free Page B

to what
goes on here.”
    “You never answered my question. Why are you
so resistant to the things that happen in this city?”
    She thought for a moment before she answered.
Did stating an opinion violate the noninterference clause? She was
simply telling him how she felt. Surely there was no harm in that.
“I think slavery is wrong.”
    “There have always been slaves and there will
always be slaves. Why are you focused on New Pompeii?”
    Her heart thudded and she rubbed her upper
arms. Did Mikko honestly think the threat of prosecution would keep
her from speaking her mind? He had to have suspected she would say
something controversial to his champion, and yet he’d allowed this
meeting. Was he using some bizarre backward logic to manipulate
her?
    No, Laetif had been the one who talked Mikko
into allowing this meeting. Was Laetif an abolitionist? She knew
Mikko and Laetif lived separate lives, but was it possible their
lives were that different?
    It didn’t matter how the opportunity had come
about, Elaina would not waste it. If she sowed the seeds of
discontent, it might well spread like a virus. She’d tried
destroying this abomination from the outside and failed. Would she
accomplish more working from within?
    “What is the purpose of the energy
barrier?”
    Theos stared at her for a long, silent moment
then he said, “I know you don’t believe in the gods. Your brother
told me. So if the barrier is not meant to conceal us from Vulcan,
why is it there?”
    It was all so clever and so calculative.
According to the founders, Venus and her husband Vulcan fought over
the people in Pompeii. Vulcan felt that she was giving them too
much attention, so he stoked the fire within the volcano and
destroyed the city. Venus, in all her benevolent beauty, sent her
agents to snatch her people out of the path of death and bring them
safely to this new world. She knew her husband would be furious
that she had thwarted his plan, so she constructed a mystical
barrier around the entire city, hiding her followers from her
vengeful mate. Of course the barrier also trapped them inside the
city like zoological specimens inside a complex habitat.
    “The barrier is there to keep you trapped in
the past, to insulate you from the wonders of Fedoros.”
    He glanced into the distance then searched
her gaze. “If Venus has kept us from these wonders, we must not be
ready to experience them.”
    “There are no slaves beyond the barrier.”
She’d done it now. There was no turning back. She’d abandoned the
noninterference clause. “Its true purpose is to keep you from
dreaming of freedom.”

    Freedom? Theos stared at the strange,
beautiful woman his master had instructed him to seduce. Her taste
had been sweet, her response hesitant, like a smoldering fire
waiting to consume him. Why would she say these things if they
weren’t true? What did she gain by lying?
    “Every slave dreams of freedom,” he told her.
“No barrier could smother my dreams.”
    “But you’ve never seriously considered doing
more than dreaming because this life is Venus’ will.”
    “Do not mock the gods,” he cautioned. “You
might not believe in their power, but I have seen them at
work.”
    Her golden brows arched and challenge lit her
emerald gaze. “Really? You’ve seen one of the gods?”
    “I’ve seen happenings that could be explained
no other way.” He spread his arms in a sweeping motion. “How do you
explain my existence if Venus did not send your brother to rescue
me?”
    She nibbled on her lower lip, clearly
considering something outrageous. “How were you brought to
Fedoros?”
    “Why are you asking me? Surely you know the
answer already.”
    Pausing, she soothed her lower lip with the
tip of her tongue. Gods, he wanted to feel that tongue sliding
across his chest and licking a warm trail down along his belly. “I
want to hear what you know, or what you believe you know.”
    He dragged his gaze away from her mouth and
took a deep