Page 35 of Enslaved
She knew she would do almost anything to gain power over him, to have him at her mercy. She wanted to enslave him as he had enslaved her. She decided she would pay any price to reverse their roles so that she was the master, he the slave.
She needed some measure of control, but a Briton had none under Roman rule. Diana began to understand Kell’s situation. His position gave him power and control, even if it were only over his own kind. Without a small measure of power over your own destiny, life was not worth living.
When she thought about it, she was surprised at the similarity between this time in history and the eighteenth century. Men had ruled the world since time began. Men controlled the government, the army, the wealth, the land, the property, the economy, the arts, the family, and they also controlled women. She thought of all the wives, all the daughters, all the female servants who had cowered under man’s total authority down through the centuries.
The only women who had power and manipulated men were mistresses, courtesans, and favorites. A woman could only achieve power through a man. If a woman was clever, she would choose the most powerful man of her acquaintance and make him fall in love with her. Then she would possess all his power.
Diana’s resolve hardened. She was beautiful, intelligent, and sophisticated compared with the women she had seen here. If she could not seduce the Roman, she deserved her miserable fate!
Her fertile imagination began to concoct a plan. Her mercurial mind added details. As she scrubbed, she even formed carefully worded speeches and worked out actions as if she were rehearsing a part in a play. The first thing she must do was regain his attention in some spectacular fashion. Her plan was so audacious, it had to work. If she played her role well, she would gain power over the Roman, and once she had him on a leash, she would never let him off it. She would control him completely!
Diana decided this was the last floor she would ever scrub in her life. She got up off her knees, picked up the bucket, and made her way toward the outer kitchen. Before she got there, she saw Kell directing the household slaves in the inner kitchen. The moment she spied him, she staggered with the weight of the bucket. Her hand fluttered to her head as if she were dizzy and managed to drag the ugly brown head cloth from her pretty hair. She knew her pale golden tresses were unique in Aquae Sulis; she had not encountered another fair-haired person since she arrived.
Diana straightened her shoulders as if she were making a valiant effort, took a few more steps, then sank down upon her knees, knowing that Kell’s eyes were upon her.
She felt a hand on the back of her neck. “Keep your head down until the dizziness passes,” Kell ordered.
After a couple of minutes, Diana raised her head, gave a tremulous sigh, and allowed her eyes to flutter open. Kell helped her to her feet. “Have you had enough?” he asked quietly.
“Perhaps,” she temporized softly.
“Perhaps! That is no answer; either you capitulate or you do not!”
Diana smiled a secret smile. “Kell, you think the world black and white, but I have discovered the world encompasses a multitude of gray. ‘Yes’ and ‘no’ are good words, simple words; uncomplicated and unexciting. But the word ‘perhaps’ is mysterious, tempting, and exciting with a hundred nuances implying that the possibilities are endless. Let us say that I am ready to negotiate.” Diana held out the bucket.
Kell ordered Sim to take it away. The smell of freshly baking bread from the ovens filled the kitchen. Diana perched on a stool and said, “The bread smells heavenly. Could I have a little honey with mine?”
Kell took a stool also. A female kitchen slave brought them oat cakes, freshly baked bread and honey, a stone jug of milk, and a basket of fruit. They ate in silence. Kell’s hooded eyes watched the graceful movements of her hands and the delicate way she chewed her food. Here was a most enchanting female. He could understand exactly why Marcus Magnus wanted her to grace his table and share his bed.
Diana sighed with repletion, then bit into a ripe black plum. “Kell, may I put a few things on the table for our consideration?” She was careful to seek his permission for everything. When Kell nodded, she proceeded. “You said that the general lusted for me. You said that if I gave him what he asked, he would be more than generous to me.”
Kell waited for her to go on.
“If Ibecome his concubine and if he is well pleased with me, it will give me a great deal of power.”
So, she does know she possesses power,Kell thought.
“There would then be two of us with power in this household. I believe it would be folly for us to be rivals. A power struggle between the two of us would mean one winner and one loser. If we become allies, not friends of course, but allies, we could both win.”
She knew Kell was shrewd enough to recognize the truth in her words.“If Ido this thing, I will do it on my own terms. I know that you do not need me, Kell. But oh, I am aware that I shall need you.” Diana was purposely touching on his vanity, but nevertheless her words spoke the truth.
“Your advice to me has been both wise and sound. In the days ahead, I will need your advice, your guidance, your help, and possibly your protection. My relationship with you will be as close as the one I hope to have with the general.”
Kell digested her words. If this woman did gain power, he wanted her on his side. Nola could so easily become her confidante, and the only thing worse than a woman with power was two women with power! Finally Kell spoke. His gray eyes looked deeply into hers. “We have already declared a silent truce. Let us build upon it.”
Diana smiled. “Good. I have an idea. Rather than wait until day’s end when he returns to the villa, then summons me to ask if I am ready to submit to him, I think that I should seize the initiative!”
As Kell listened to her audacious plan, he wanted to tell her it was impossible. But as he watched her animated face light up with feminine mischief and her voice come alive with passion, her boldness caught his imagination. She was a most daring female; one who could ensnare a man and hold him captive in the palm of her hand. She was as shrewd and clever in her way as he himself. She was also a Briton. How could they be aught but allies?
Chapter 11
“The first thing I shall need is a scented bath. Then, if you will be generous enough to open up your treasure trove of feminine garments, we will choose something that the Primus Pilus will not be able to resist.”
Diana soaked in the delicious hot water for the better part of an hour. When the ache in her back from scrubbing tiles melted away, the bath slaves wrapped her in a large towel, then set to work on dressing her hair.
Kell brought a carved cypress box with a selection of hair ornaments and pieces of jewelry.
“To whom do these belong?” she asked with curiosity.
