Slave To Rome

CHAPTER THIRTEEN - TRUTH REVEALED

Eve and I were thrown at Marga’s feet as she sat on her throne. Our hands were bound behind our back, and there was ten Amazons surrounding us with spears aimed at us, ready to kill us if we tried anything. The commotion alerted the whole village, and everyone gathered around to see what was going on.

I sat up and saw Xena push through the crowd to me and her daughter. Me and Eve instinctively drew closer to each other, and Xena screamed, “What is going on, set them free!”

Queen Gabrielle followed Xena, but they were both stopped by more Amazons. Xena turned to Marga and demanded, “What is the meaning of this?!”

I couldn’t bring myself to look at Marga, because I knew how much I had shamed her. I hid my face in Eves shoulder, and could hear Marga say, “I’d like to know myself. Who is responsible for this?”

Genia stepped forward and bowed, “My Queen, I witnessed the consummation of these two, and some interesting things were said during it.”

“They had better be real interesting to have warranted this,” Marga said dangerously. “Go on.”

“The woman calling herself Eve, her name isn’t Eve at all. That’s Livia, the Bitch of Rome.”

An uproar went through the crowd, and I could hear cries of “I knew it!” and “How could Varia do that?!”

“SILENCE!” Marga commanded, while Xena yelled, “Her birth name IS Eve!”

I hid farther in Eve’s shoulder because I knew what was coming next. Eve whispered in my ear, “It’ll be okay, I promise you everything is going to be okay.” I didn’t say anything, though I knew she didn’t know that. How could she? We were both about to die.

“And Varia knew this before consummating with her?” Marga asked Genia, but I could feel her eyes on me. Tears spilled from my eyes, and I refused to look at her.

“Not only did she know it was Livia, but while she was away being ‘horribly mistreated’ as a slave, they were lying together!” Genia said in an angry outburst.

“Varia,” Marga said. I still couldn’t look at her. “Varia, as your Queen I demand you look at me when I address you!”

I rose my head from Eve’s shoulder and looked at my Queen, my former friend. “Is what Genia says true?”

I choked back a sob, and Marga demanded, “Answer me!” And I nodded, before burying my head in Eve’s shoulder again.

“Very well, take the prisoners to a cell, we’ll hold a trial to decide their fate,” Marga said, and before I knew it I was being grabbed and dragged to a cell on the far side of the village.

******

The only thing good about this situation was that since all the other cells held prisoners from the last battle, they only had one cell available, so me and Eve were locked in it together. It was a long time before either of us spoke, all I did for hours was just cry, and she held me and stared at the wall seemingly expressionless.

Once people were allowed to see us, the first to come was Xena. She stood outside the bars, and looked at Eve, who had reverted back to a woman that showed no emotion nor weakness.

“Eve...”

Eve looked at her, but didn’t say anything.

“Eve, sweetie, why did you two do that? You should have consummated in one of your huts, you would have been less likely to have been overheard.”

Eve scoffed, and shook her head in disbelief. “We shouldn’t have to schedule our consummation around when we can get privacy. Things... things just happen sometimes. Sometimes feelings are just so great that you just...” She stopped herself, because she was starting to feel emotion, and I knew she didn’t want to so she could protect herself.

“You couldn’t have waited?”

“NO MOTHER!” Eve screamed, suddenly blowing up. “You wouldn’t understand, no one would! No one was there years ago! I desired Varia for two years before she ever let me have her, and even then she wouldn’t let me have her womanhood, and even though I was a murderous commander of Roman troops I loved her more than anything in the world, and I would have given anything to have been able to have her like that! And then things just... happened today, and she let me have it, Mother! She gave me the one thing I wanted more than anything in the world... her! So excuse me if I didn’t wait to take it!”

There was silence for a long time, Xena wasn’t sure how to react to that. I looked up at her and said, “It’s my fault, I decided a long time ago that Eve was going to be the one to have me, and in that moment I knew she had to do it now, that I needed to be hers now. I told her to do it. It doesn’t matter where we did it, if it was the most romantic place in the world or on top of that freaking icebox, all that mattered to me was that it was her.”

Xena nodded, then looked back at her daughter, then to me again. “If this trial goes badly, I’m getting you both out the old fashioned way.”

Neither of us argued, we both knew if the trial went badly then there was nothing left for us here, and we both weren’t going to die if we could help it.

Xena left, and Marga entered directly after. My eyes dropped to the floor automatically, and I instinctively stepped behind Eve.

“Varia.”

Marga’s voice was softer than I expected, and I looked up. “Come here, Varia.”

I looked at Eve, and she squeezed my hand to tell me to go. My feet carried me over to the bars, where my Queen, my friend, and the only motherly figure I’ve ever had stood in front of me.

Marga sighed and looked from me to Eve. “Varia... please explain this to me, because I want to be able to understand, I really do.”

I was quiet for a moment, and then tried my best to explain. “I was Livia’s slave for two years before anything happened. I watched her be cold blooded and ruthless to all those around her, except me. When we were alone, she was different. She was empty, she was sad, she was living a life and not living in it. I knew it wasn’t her, that it was what somebody made her that made her do those things.” I paused, and looked over at Eve, who was staring at the wall, trying to block out what I’m telling Marga.

“Livia used to ask me all the time if I hated her. And for a long time, I could answer yes without a moments hesitation. Then it changed, I would tell her I hated who she pretended to be. I knew she wanted me for a very long time, but she never ordered me to lay with her, or do anything like that. She ordered all the others, but not me. She would make requests to me, and accept when I turned them down. And then one night...”

My eyes flashed to Eve again and I said, remembering, “She asked me to sleep with her that night. She did not have her sleeping garments on, and seeing her like that... did things to me, and I hated myself for it. She knew it too, and understood the way I felt and why. But she told me she needed me, and I knew she did. I could feel the truth. And I looked in her eyes, and I finally saw who she really was. So yes, I did lie with her that night, and I’m be lying if I said it wasn’t the most amazing experience of my life outside of earlier today.”

Marga looked between the two of us and then back at me, “So if you had everything you wanted in her, why did you leave? Why did you come back to us?”

“I didn’t escape, I could never do that in that palace, I’d be killed before I even saw the light of day. But I was about to be killed because a jealous slave made up a rumor that I was trying to assassinate Livia, and right before it happened... she saved me. She was the one that told me to go back, to go live my life, to be something more than just a slave.”

Marga nodded, trying to understand, “And then she showed up here years later.”

I leaned against the bars and said, “I never realized how in love with her I was until I left. And it killed me everyday to be without her. And it killed me every day because I felt guilty feeling that way when she committed all these horrible crimes against our sisters. But I can’t help how I feel.” I paused, “I didn’t know she was going to come here, I didn’t know she had changed her ways and found her mother and became a messenger of peace, but it’d be a lie if I told you that I never thought she was capable of it. Eve didn’t know this was my tribe, because we had moved our lands since the raid. Neither of us expected this. But I’m so in love with her, Marga. I gave her my womanhood today, something I’ve been wanting to do for years. And I’m sorry because that means I betrayed you and all of my sisters. But I can’t just hide my feelings away in a little box, when I know I’m meant to be with her for the rest of my life, no matter how short it ends up being.”

Marga nodded, understanding what I was saying. There was a moments silence before she finally said, “Your trial will be in the morning, we’ll see how this ends then.”

I watched her go, my heart hurting in my chest. Eve came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist and asked quietly, “Do you regret loving me yet?”

I turned my head to look at her and replied, “I know I should, but I don’t, and don’t think I ever will.”

TBC....