The Perfect Concubine Read Online Free

three days?’
    Valeria shook her head. ‘Fortunata has truly deserted us, Mother. Piso seeks the final humiliation. Only if I please him as a concubine in those days, make him want me more than the allotted time, will he help us. Either my body pays my way or I do not go and Marcus is lost for ever.’
    â€˜Crudeness is unattractive and unnecessary.’ Her mother clapped her hands together. ‘You must do as you think best, Valeria. You always do.’
    Valeria hated her mother’s tone of voice—the implication that selling her body was the correct action to take—but refused to quarrel and snipe.
    â€˜Piso is doing this to test me. He expects me to run away and never come back. Then his conscience will be clear. But I will return. I’ll shame him into going before the winds change.’ She pressed her hands against her eyes. Her mother was right on one thing. Piso must never discover her father’s current state, as she had no idea if he’d be like Ofellius and seek revenge on someone who was helpless. ‘I need to return before…before he sends someone. I won’t give Piso an opportunity to gloat at our misfortune.’
    â€˜You were the one who lost the Diana statue, Diana who guarded this family for centuries, Valeria. It is only fitting that you be the one to reverse our fortunes. All our troubles started then. It is why Marcus never returned.’
    Valeria gritted her teeth. She had placed the little lead figure in Piso’s hand so he would not die and he would know that she waited for him, but clearly fortune had chosen not to favour her. ‘All our troubles started when Father made a pact with Ofellius. When he fought with Marcus about it and Marcus stormed off.’
    â€˜You were always an ungrateful person.’
    Valeria went over to the cabinet and took down a selection of paints and creams. ‘Arguing with you, Mother, solves nothing.’
    â€˜Try not to disappoint us this time. It will mean so much to your father to have Marcus return, to bury their argument after so many years apart.’
    Fighting back her anger, and the nerves at what she was about to do, Valeria kissed her mother’s cheek and took one last look around the flat. She didn’t bother to make the customary prayer in front of the household gods. They had forsaken her long ago. ‘I’ll do my best.’

Chapter Three
    â€˜You returned quickly,’ Piso remarked, putting down the scroll. His body leapt at the sight of Valeria. In her hand she carried a small bag. She had shed her stola and was dressed only in an ordinary tunic with a light woollen shawl thrown over her shoulders. Her dark eyes glinted with defiance as if she expected a fight.
    He hadn’t expected her to return. He thought she’d have trembled in her sandals and fled at the thought of publically becoming his concubine. But she’d confounded his prediction. And he’d enjoy playing with her and uncovering her secrets until the desire faded. He was no longer some callow youth to be used and discarded. He would be the one to do the discarding after he had drunk his fill of her. The next few days were going to prove very satisfying.
    â€˜You failed to take one of the slaves to carry your belongings. I have plenty of litters.’
    â€˜I prefer to walk.’ Her red lips curved upwards in a mysterious smile. ‘Like your steward, I suspect you thought I’d vanish in the sea of humanity that is Rome. But I pay my debts. In full.’
    â€˜I’ll remember for the next time we wager,’ Piso replied coolly, mentally planning several wagers that she would lose and he would collect.
    â€˜I only went to return my mother’s stola . She might have need of it. I won’t.’ She gave a short laugh and seemed to be infused with a nervous energy. ‘My protector will have to provide the clothes. The finest linen and silk. Perhaps I’ll even start