The Mark of Rome

xxiii / the great sleep

One week earlier...

"Decima and Daria? Where are they?" I questioned Alba who was much too quiet as she followed me through the maze of pitched tents.

The crowds parted for me and I walked through the lounging soldiers surrounded by the awe of being their praetor's wife. Most were sitting, mouths agape as I strode about preoccupied with the task at hand. We were all in varying states of grimy and worn, but Alba was more than dutiful in bringing me fresh water from the nearby stream to bathe. These men didn't quite have the luxury of having their own personal mother hen to look after them. Adrian and I were lucky to have her.

"They're sick, Domina," she replied cryptically.

"Sick? Is it the illness you mentioned?"

"Yes, Domina. I've had them stay in their quarters and away from Adrian."

"How bad will this get, Alba?" I leveled with her. I needed to be prepared and I knew she wouldn't lie to me.

"It'll get much worse before it gets better. Men have begun to die off."

I stopped in my tracks. "Why wasn't I told? The praetor is away for a fortnight yet. I can't let this place fall apart while he's gone."

"The council was told, Domina. In the Dominus' absence, they are next in command...It's unfair, but you are the praetor's wife, a woman. They won't turn to you, no matter how much we know the praetor would wish them to. Octavian and Alexander return today. They'll be notified as soon as they ride in...You may just catch them first if you hurry out to the outskirts." Her eyes were downturned. The guilt was apparent in the set of her shoulders and the wrinkles at the corners of her lips.

I might have been upset if I knew she hadn't tried all that she could within her jurisdiction. She ensured every precaution was taken with my son.

I knew there was a chance she might have been too late to spare her and I, but Adrian was all that mattered now.

I nodded gravely as I took in the world around me. Nothing was the same as it was prior to this conversation. I noticed the subtle quiet and the lesser volume of men walking about. If it weren't for her, I might not have known at all until it was too late. The council wouldn't have told me, that was for damn sure. "Is there anything more I should know?"

"The Parthian princess," Alba divulged. "Rinnu's taken it the worst. She might not make it."

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I walked through the camp with some urgency, flanked by my full guard. I was at least lucky that their perimeter gave me some distance between myself and the soldiers.

I couldn't act alarmed or afraid. I held my head high and my posture straight. I prayed to the gods that they would spare us all the worst.

I prayed my boy would live and my husband would get my dispatch in time.

I held an absentminded hand to my belly where another child grew, a miracle I'd discovered not more than a month ago right after Marius had departed on his travels.

I prayed for the both of us, that my body would be strong enough to sustain us both through this. It was my duty to bear children for Rome, but I could only do so if I was well and breathing to grow them in my belly.