The Governor's Man by Jacquie Rogers (best beach reads TXT) 📕

The Lady’s cool hand seemed to smooth itself across her feverish brow.  Julia whipped her mind back under control. She leaned against the corridor wall, listening intently.

Lucius spoke, impatient. ‘There is no other time, Aunt Claudia. Don’t you understand? Much bigger things are at stake than this family. They are all disposable if they get in my way: your precious husband, your step-daughter, your sister-in-law. I’m sorry if that shocks you, after all the effort you’ve made to become mistress here. But you must help me, or all your scheming will be for nothing. You’ll lose Bo Gwelt and your position here. I must have that money now.‘

Julia kept her ear pressed to the wall, and was rewarded by a steady scraping noise.

What was she to do? There was no point bursting in to confront the pair. It would be her word against theirs. Marcus was so delicate it might kill him to hear that his wife was aiding and abetting her nephew to steal money hidden in his own estate office. Time was pressing. She must get to the Lindinis meeting, and try to stop the rebellion. She knew very well from history lessons with Demetrios how terrible Rome’s retribution against an uprising would be.

Julia closed her eyes, one hand tugging gently at the string of little gold owls round her neck. Shadows chased across the inside of her eyelids. She saw the flutter of silent wings, swooping low, here for a moment and then gone into darkness. In their wake followed a calm realisation. There was no time left to follow Lucius, and stop the rebellion. The Lady Minerva was telling her to choose carefully. She remembered Velvinna, and the anxiety in her old friend’s eyes. Velvinna’s death must not be in vain. Only by reaching Lindinis in time to turn her people away from revolt against Rome could Julia hope to avenge her. The money would have to wait.

From that decision she now made her mind up to let Tiro come with her. She supposed he might have his uses if things went badly. That made her think again of Quintus. Her mouth tightened, and her face screwed up.

Damn you, Frumentarius, wherever you are.

It took a while to persuade Britta to remain behind as cover. Julia would have a headache — this much was still true. Would Claudia kindly excuse her mistress from dinner, as she really needed to lie down? Britta would take up a snack to her mistress later, thank you, Domina.

More time was wasted while Britta separated Tiro from the Home Farm beer, and Rufus saddled two of Julia’s horses and brought them out of the stables. Tiro was obviously taken by at the quality of her horseflesh, mounting Julia’s high-spirited bay with alacrity.

Julia had been born and brought up at Bo Gwelt. She knew the countryside intimately. They made good time to Lindinis, tethering the horses near the centre of the muddy little market town just as cheers began to ring out from the forum. Julia touched Tiro on the arm, and pointed across the torchlit square, signalling that they should make their way discreetly towards the basilica’s open-sided portico. Her face was well hidden, and Tiro could move silently when it pleased him. They positioned themselves among the shadows, where they could see the speakers without revealing themselves.

A slim lithe woman with strands of long red hair straying out of a white hood was addressing the crowd. They enthusiastically greeted her with chants of ‘White One! White One!’ Julia listened in dismay as the woman appealed to the tribesmen to throw off Imperial rule and take back control of their own country.

‘Remember the Druids! Remember your heritage, your old Gods!  Throw down the Eagles, and the falsely-divine Emperors who keep you enslaved! Join your brothers the Dobunni, and follow me to freedom and victory over our long oppression!’

Standing as they were to one side, Julia couldn’t see the speaker’s face clearly until the woman suddenly swept off her hood. She raised her fist to punch the air and turned round in a slow circle, mesmerising the audience. Julia bobbed down, holding her own hood in place. She dragged Tiro into a crouch beside her.

What? his startled look said.

‘I know her. That’s the actress Fulminata. I’ve seen her — where have I seen her? Yes, yes, outside the theatre in Aquae Sulis. And again at the Great Baths. The day I met Velvinna there, she came right past us.’

‘If she was hooded, how do you know it’s the same woman?’

‘Because I saw her face clearly at the theatre. Look! How many redheads have you seen with such black eyes?’

Tiro stared at the woman on the stage, and nodded. Then it was his turn to grab Julia. He put his mouth right next to Julia’s ear, and breathed, ’That bloke standing with her is the man who killed Catus, Tertius’s Blue Cloak, who I also saw in Londinium. What the hell is he doing here?’

Julia watched the tall blond man intently. She was rewarded by the sight of the tall man turning as a second man approached into view. Young, with long dark curls, wearing a saffron-coloured cloak. He had an arrogance of look and posture that failed to cover his fear of the fairer man. Lucius Claudius, again. Very eager to talk to Blue Cloak. The older man drew Lucius away to speak. Julia waited till they had both disappeared from view.

‘Come on,’ she hissed. ‘Now is our chance.’

Julia had always been fit and athletic. She put on a turn of speed, keeping the hood of her long white robe up. She weaved through the crowd and leapt up onto the portico. Fulminata turned in surprise, and Julia pushed her, hard. The girl lost her balance, teetered, and fell into the crowd below.

Julia pulled