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‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, is that all you’re doing to him, leaving him on his own? Or will you do more? Will you hurt him?’
He stiffened at the accusation. ‘Hopefully that won’t be necessary.’
‘But if it is...will you?’
‘No.’ He spoke in a clipped voice. Torturing prisoners wasn’t a practice he approved of, though he knew of several Roman officers who had no such scruples. ‘I won’t, but it might not be up to me.’
‘You mean if you take him to Coria?’
‘Yes.’
‘What about afterwards? What will you—they—do to him after he’s told them what they want to know? Will they let him go?’
‘No.’ He wasn’t going to lie.
Her head jerked as if an invisible hand had just slapped her across the cheek. ‘You mean they’ll sell him as a slave?’
‘Possibly. I doubt the decision will be up to me.’
‘It’s your responsibility! You took him prisoner!’
‘Because he attacked us. He’s a barbarian!’
‘He’s a boy!’
She leapt to her feet, her tone anguished, and the shadow of suspicion grew longer. He’d never kept slaves himself, but the practice was widespread throughout the Empire. Most Romans accepted it. But then her mixed feelings about Rome had been obvious almost from the start. Perhaps there was more behind it than he’d thought...
‘You don’t approve of slavery?’ He arched an eyebrow. ‘Didn’t y
our family have slaves?’
Blue-green eyes sparked with some fierce emotion before she twisted her face to one side.
‘Yes. That is, my brother and Julius both did, but my father freed all of his slaves before I was born. He thought it was wrong to enslave another person, Roman or not.’
‘Then I applaud him.’
‘You do?’ She whipped her head back round again.
‘Yes. Denying any man his freedom without just cause is wrong.’
‘How can you say so when you’ve just taken a prisoner?’
‘I said without just cause, but he was part of a war party that attacked us. Now he has to face the consequences. Under the circumstances, he’s lucky to be alive.’
‘You were in his territory.’
‘What?’ The words were so faint he wasn’t sure he’d heard them correctly.
She lifted her chin, a look of defiance crossing her features. ‘You were north of the wall, outside Roman territory. He might have thought you were the one asking for consequences.’
‘Is that so?’ He advanced a step towards her, speaking slowly and meticulously. ‘And is that what you think?’
‘No.’ He noticed it took her a few moments to answer. ‘I just don’t think he deserves to be condemned to a life of slavery for defending his own territory.’
‘He hasn’t been condemned to anything yet.’
