Asterius Read online

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Gladiator II: Asterius

  An Ancient Roman Reverse Harem Romance

  Nhys Glover

  This novel is entirely a work of fiction. With the exception of historical events and people used as background for the story, or those clearly in the public domain, the names, characters and incidents portrayed in this work come wholly from the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental

  Published by Belisama Press

  © Nhys Glover 2018

  The right of Nhys Glover to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This book is copyright. All rights reserved.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please delete it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  .

  OTHER BOOKS BY NHYS GLOVER

  ANCIENT ROMAN HISTORICAL ROMANCES:

  Liquid Fire

  The Barbarian's Mistress

  Lionslayer's Woman (Sequel to Liquid Fire)

  White Raven's Lover (Sequel to Barbarian's Mistress)

  The Gladiator's Bride (Sequel to White Raven's Lover)

  WEREWOLF KEEP TRILOGY:

  Guardian of Werewolf Keep

  Imprisoned at Werewolf Keep

  Defiance at Werewolf Keep

  Insane (A novella)

  NEW ATLANTIS TIME TRAVEL SERIES:

  Nine Lives (Cara/Jac)

  The Dreamer's Prince (Jane/Julio)

  Savage (Faith/ Luke)

  Shared Soul (Maggie/Travis)

  Bitter Oath (Liv/ Rene)

  The Titan Drowns (Eilish/Max, Karl/Lizzie, Pia/Marco)

  The Key (Kat/Bart)

  Pieces (Krista/Dirk)

  Second Chance (Bree/Hakon)

  Watcher (Jin/Rafe)

  Vision of You (Ellen/Duke)

  Osiris (Takhara/Dan)

  Causality (Willow/Jarvidh)

  Gods of Time (Teagan/Jason, Lucien/Alba)

  Book of Seeds (Shay/Cy)

  SCORPIO SONS SF/SHIFTER ROMANCE SERIES:

  1: Colton 2: Connor 3: Cooper 4: Chase

  5: Cameron 6: Caleb 7: Conrad 8: Charles

  GREYWORLD SERIES:

  (Paranormal Sweet Romance)

  1: The Anomaly

  2: Mallory

  3: Earth Angel

  4: Crag Wraith

  REVERSE HAREM FANTASIES:

  THE AIRLUDS TRILOGY:

  The Sacrifice

  The Chosen One

  Goddess Unbound

  THE AIRSHAN CHRONICLES

  The Five

  Daemon

  The Devourer

  GLADIATOR

  1. Typhon 2.Asterius 3. Talos 4.Orion 5.Marcus

  OTHERS:

  The Way Home (Ghost Romance)

  Caught in a Dream (SF Sweet Romance)

  Labyrinth of Light (New Age Inspirational)

  Find out more about Nhys and her books here:

  www.nhysglover.com

  Chapter One

  Spring 63 CE Fulginiae UMBRIA

  ACCALIA

  My life changed dramatically, and not for the better, a few months before my seventeenth birthday. For more than five years I had lived a double life. I spent half the year with my Pater being the dutiful patrician’s daughter, Ennia. The other half was spent with our Persian physician and my Wolf Pack being the slave assistant physician, Accalia/Cassius.

  If I expected life to change, I would have thought it would happen when my pack left the barracks and entered the arena. I had been bracing myself for that time for too long. The boys, who were bred by my father to be gladiators, spent ten years training for that day. They left their mothers at the age of eight and entered the arena at eighteen.

  During those ten years they were trained to be not only gladiators but warriors in every sense of the word. Pater, and his father before him, had modelled their training program on the Spartans. That harsh city state of the past had raised every male citizen from an early age to become a fierce warrior. If the stories were true, they were indeed impressive fighters.

  Pater’s training program might be harsh and gruelling—I should know as I had to patch up their many injuries—but the males who undertook that training were no ordinary boys. They were special; bred for strength, resilience, intelligence and stamina. Few failed to make it through the many challenges put in their way.

  My pack was the best of the best. I had known that from the start. But the closeness I felt for those four young men had little to do with their skills. They had become my friends, and a sort of family I had long been without. I adored them all. And when I was forced by circumstance to assume my role as Ennia, I missed them so much it hurt. No more nights beside a campfire sharing stories and laughing. Gods, how we laughed!

  Their training finished in the summer of their eighteenth birthdays, this coming summer, and that time was growing nearer with every passing day. When they left to join Pater’s troupe in Rome I was not sure what I would do. It did not seem quite real to lose them out of my life so completely. I was used to being without them half the year—and that was hard enough—but never to see them again... No, that was something I could not bring myself to even contemplate.

  Yet, for all it hung over me like a dark cloud, it was not the loss of my pack that caused the change. Late last autumn when Pater returned from his journeys, he did not do it alone. He brought back a wife and two new daughters. And from the moment they entered our villa everything changed.

  The hardest part to cope with was the shift in my relationship with Pater. For seven years he and I had been inseparable when he was home. I knew I was his pride and joy, for all I was a girl and not the son his family name cried out for.

  He taught me all he knew about the breeding and training of perfect gladiators, although he never allowed me to go into either the breeding compound or the boys’ barracks.

  Had I not had a second life, I would have chafed at these restrictions. How could I properly learn to carry on the program if I could not see it first-hand? I think Pater had not thought it out properly when he started sharing his passion with me. It had seemed a simple thing to talk about what he did to his eager and attentive daughter. It seemed natural that he should let her learn as much as she wanted to know about it. He did not consider the implications. He did not think about how a gently raised noblewoman would carry on his legacy if she could not see it for herself. And a gently raised noblewoman could not see it for herself. She could not be subjected to the raw aspects of a gladiator’s breeding and training. She might attend the games but get no closer to the blood and gore than the stands.

  But I did not chafe because, had Pater taken me to the breeding compound and barracks, the slaves would have seen that Cassius, the slave boy, was no other than Ennia, the patrician’s daughter. The dishonour I would have brought down on my father’s head would have been too great to bear. So, I happily remained out of sight whenever I was Ennia. It was no hardship.

/>   I think many of the house slaves knew of my second life. Minerva, my handmaiden; Jabir, a retired guard; and his wife, Tallia, who worked in the kitchen; certainly knew. And Ariaratus knew, of course, as did my pack. But others had probably picked up on my absences and my abnormal intake of food. That none spread rumours about my activities was a reflection of the high regard in which they held me. And my usefulness. A patrician’s daughter was not much use to them, but a healer was like gold. And I was a good one. A natural healer, Ariaratus called me.

  When Camellia arrived, all prettiness and missish behaviour, for all she was in her late twenties or early thirties, Pater had become distant. Instead of spending his time with me, he spent it with her. I understood that he had been a man without a wife for a long time and that it was natural that he would make up for it when he gained another. But it seemed that Camellia went out of her way to keep my pater from me. And without his company and the distraction of my work, my life became dreary and unsatisfying.

  The second hardship was her two daughters, Juvena major and minor. They were one and two years younger than me. And instead of seeing me as an older sister they could look up to, they saw me as an unwanted addition to their new domain. I had never before experienced the waspish behaviour these girls displayed. Not just to me but to the beleaguered house-slaves.

  They had brought their own handmaidens with them from Gallia Aquitania. Those young women fitted no better with our slaves than their mistresses did. And I watched in horror when my new sisters stuck pins into their handmaidens’ arms for perceived misdemeanours. Had they tried that on Minerva I would have had something to say about it. But except for sharp words and threats to the original staff of the villa the new arrivals kept their worst behaviour for their own slaves and me.

  The girls took great pleasure in teasing and insulting me when Pater was not present. They quickly found out about my short hair and made fun of my ‘scalp condition’, which necessitated keeping my hair cropped close to my head. Pater still did not know I wore a wig whenever I was with him.

  They made fun of my inability to spin and weave well, a skill all good noblewomen should excel at. I was also too short, too thin, too ugly with my scattering of freckles over my small and piggishly upturned nose, and my eyes were a dull grey. How I ever expected to attract a husband looking the way I did, they did not know.

  I also lacked the womanly arts of flattery and feminine allure. I assumed Camellia had been an expert at these to attract Pater, a man of higher station to her own. She had been the widow of a minor official in Gallia Aquitania when they had met. From what I gathered from Pater, he had been convinced by her that a daughter ready for marriage needed a woman’s hand to present her at her best. He had been remiss all these years leaving me so unprepared for my future.

  Though Pater knew I would marry one day, he had thought no more about it beyond that ‘one day’, much as I had not thought more about the ‘one day’ my pack would be gone. But Camellia reminded him of his responsibilities, and how she could help his daughter and possibly bear him the son he so desperately needed.

  Over the months, I began to spend more and more time in my own apartment, only coming out for family meals. When I was certain Pater was busy elsewhere, I would sneak out to visit Ariaratus and help him make up his tinctures and unguents. On occasions, when Pater went to town or visited local families, taking his new wife and daughters with him, I would accompany him to the barracks to help with the more serious injuries. I had become an expert at dealing with internal injuries and stitching up wounds.

  During those infrequent visits my pack found a way to see me. I told them of my new situation and they comforted me as best they could. But my world was as unintelligible to them as theirs should have been to me. As it had been, up until I was twelve years old and snuck out to meet them beside their fire.

  When Camellia was not dominating Pater’s time, she was planning my marriage. This usually occupied much of the family meal time conversation. We would recline on our divans in a pentagonal design around the tables, while the slaves offered us food from a multitude of platters.

  “Ennia is well past the time to be married,” Camellia started in at one such meal, about two months after her arrival. “I myself was married at sixteen and had Juvena Major a year later.”

  Pater nodded sagely, but gently disagreed. “I do not believe it is healthy for women to bear children too young. My breeding program has shown that to be the case. More healthy, full-term babes are born to women who are aged eighteen to twenty-eight. More than five children in that period also weakens the mother, which in turn, weakens the offspring.”

  “For slaves that may be true,” Camellia countered prettily. “But patricians are not slaves. We are not like plebs, either. And it is our duty to continue our superior lines as quickly as possible.”

  Pater nodded reluctantly. “I do understand. And Ennia will certainly marry. My hope is that she will attract the attention of a local young man who will want to take over my breeding program after I am gone. Ennia will be able to assist him in that.”

  For a moment, I saw calculation in Camellia’s heavily kohled eyes. “You may have a son who can do that. I am still capable of giving you what your heart desires.”

  Pater’s gaze grew heated, and the look they exchanged had me squirming with embarrassment. I knew about sexual activity. How could I not, given my work? But to imagine my pater and this woman making a child together... No, I did not want to think about that.

  “I have been making inquiries,” Camellia went on, her cheeks still flushed. “I have begun compiling a list of eligible men who might consider Ennia. None close by, I am afraid, but all from good families.”

  Pater looked up in shock and met my gaze. I saw fear and regret in his grey eyes. He did not want me to marry and leave him. I did not want to marry and leave him.

  “Corvus, this is one of the reasons you married me. To do right by your daughter. I know you do not want her to marry, but that is a selfish desire. You cannot deny her the joy of the marriage bed and the children she will bear. Children are a woman’s greatest achievement and joy.”

  He looked away from me and met his wife’s gaze. With a heavy sigh he acquiesced. “I know. Let me look at your list. Is it your plan to invite suitable candidates here to meet us?”

  “Yes, I think that would be the best way. Travel is far too taxing for a gentlewoman. It took me weeks to recover from the journey here. Far better for these men to come to us so they can see you at your finest.”

  “Of course, of course. I will look at your list.”

  And so Pater had looked at the list and been horrified by how many noblemen Camellia had included that came from across the empire. One even came from Gallia Aquitania. He whittled down the list to those in Latium or nearby. He even included Publius Valerius Natalinus’ son Marcus on the revised list.

  Camellia argued against Marcus, for all he came from the best family in the area. She said that his blatantly feminine ways were an embarrassment to his family and his name and that it was unlikely he would be able to father a child. Men like him were known to have difficulty with such matters.

  I knew Camellia’s decision to leave Marcus off the list had more to do with his proximity than his ‘feminine ways’, as she called them. She wanted me gone from her domain, so she could have Pater all to herself.

  If I had to choose a husband, I would choose Marcus. Not because I loved him in that way, but because I did care a great deal for him. Being married to him would never be dull. Sharing his bed? That idea made me squirm in embarrassment, in much the way I did when thinking of Pater and Camellia together.

  So, as the months rolled by, a steady stream of suitors came to call. Some were old enough to be my father, others were fat and lazy, others still were narrow in their thinking. Few seemed interested in furthering Pater’s training program, although they all enjoyed the games.

  Problems arose when Pater began making plans to l
eave and Camellia wanted to continue bringing prospective husbands to see me. Her argument was that those from farther afield could not travel to us in the colder months, just as Pater could not travel far in those same months.

  I had no say in any of these discussions. I was expected to sit and listen, if I was present at all. I would sometimes get the opportunity to draw Pater aside and give him my input, but I never did it when Camellia was there. She would sweetly tear me down as effectively as any of my gladiators could take down an opponent.

  And I was not a fighter. I would rather avoid an argument than take part in one. Yes, I never let anything get in the way of what I wanted, but I usually achieved my ends by working around what I saw as immovable objects.

  Therefore, when Pater headed off on his travels, I was left in Camellia’s less-than-kind hands, with no firm decision made about whether the visits from prospective husbands would continue or not. Pater had said he would meet with some of these men on his journey. If he felt any might suit, he would personally direct them my way. It was as close to a refusal as he was willing to give Camellia.

  Chapter Two

  ASTERIUS

  I needed a woman in the worst way. We had brought in a whore to share a few days ago but it had done nothing to dull the need. As the time came closer for Accalia—or Ennia as she was really called—to return to us, the need grew worse. As it did for all of us, I think. Especially Typhon, my foster brother.

  When we moved across into the senior barracks we were assigned smaller cells rather than sharing the one long dormitory. Four of us packed into the tiny, airless room that was barely big enough to lay four pallets—with small trunks at one end—against each wall. But for the four lads we’d been back then it had been the Elysian Plain. We got to be alone for the first time in five years. If, that is, you excluded the weekly fireside gatherings we stole for ourselves during the warmer months.