Taurus Read Online Free Page A

according to plan, and her difficulties had increased. As she strove to find sleep, she sighed. At least she was far away from her brother Caius and his manipulating ways.
    ****
    “Well?” Taurus asked.
    Virga repeated the girl’s questions and informed him of the girl’s lack of concern at the accommodations. “I would die if I had to sleep on a bed of wet straw. Has she truly been running in the woods, commanding an army of Roman giants?”
    Taurus stared into the brazier at the bright red coals. It never failed to astound him how fast word travelled through the fortress. Always a mix of truth and fantasy, blended by tongue-waggers, became twisted into a bizarre version of events. He waved Virga away in a sudden fit of gloom, tired and itchy from a long cart ride through the city and the events of this evening.
    Damn her! Taurus cursed. His mind spun. If she was the emperor’s sister, it made her too valuable to execute for the crimes against him. But, without a doubt, it would bring trouble to his door to keep her. About to avail himself of a skilled masseuse for the evening, he halted as the door to his office opened and Lidia Paulinus entered to throw one of her venomous looks in his direction. “Grandmother, what brings you here at this hour?”
    As if he didn’t know she had heard the news about the prisoner. Spies were all over the empire, all over Panua, and all over his fortress. Taurus anticipated the agony it would bring the old woman to speak the name of a Roman noble.
    “The evil spawn of Primus Gregorian, what else!” Lidia hissed like an old cat.
    Taurus gestured for her to sit, poured her a drink of strong wine, and added one for his own sake.
    “Primus Gregorian is long dead, Lidia,” he reminded her, though she knew it well. Lidia’s mind remained sharper than a centurion’s blade, but sadly her body had shriveled, ravaged by time and her insatiable obsession with the Gregorian family. Both had taken toll over the years.
    “His granddaughter is in my house.” Lidia’s anger simmered below the surface, and Taurus couldn’t trust her to obey his command concerning the girl.
    “She is mine, and only mine, to deal with. Understood?”
    Lidia shot him a look of disgust. “She has you in her power so soon? Her wretch of a mother held your father in her thrall for years.” The old lady was on the edge of her seat. “Do not allow her into your mind or your heart. It killed Paulus! Rid yourself of this pestilence, without delay.”
    Taurus watched as her mouth spat foam over the girl’s arrival. “She is a valuable hostage, and your interference is unwarranted.” Taurus paused before he chose to remind her of his power. “I will not have my authority as Supreme Commander usurped, not even by you, Lidia.”
    The old woman snarled, showing her long yellow teeth, a few missing here and there. “I must know if she compares to her mother’s beauty. The Phillipus girl once held the reputation of being the most beautiful woman in the empire.”
    Taurus waved his hand in the air. “I think you’ll find this one somewhat disappointing. She acts more like a boy than a woman.”
    A sudden memory of her lips pressing against his and the recollection of her hands roving across his chest assailed him. Her reaction had been completely feminine, and his completely masculine in reply. But Taurus was not inclined to soften his disposition. His ego was bruised, and Barca, his best friend and boyhood companion, waited for freedom. Lidia left in a resigned mood, and Taurus swigged the rest of his wine, contemplating the consequences of this unusual day.

Chapter Three
    In the dim silence of the fortress, Taurus strolled to his rooms. He paused at the room appointed for the imprisoned girl. He dismissed the guards at the door, waiting until they disappeared from view, the sound of their boots dying away. The tang of wet straw stung his nostrils and vividly returned the memory of his capture. She had held him