Read Online The Patrician by Joan Kayse - Free Book Online

am?”
    His captor said nothing, only watched him, a smirk playing on his lips.
    “I am Jared ben Gideon of Alexandria and I demand to be released.”
    He snorted. “Aye and I’m the Emperor Claudius.”
    Jared’s fury soared, but he reined it in, kept his tone reasonable. “If it is ransom you seek, it can be arranged.”
    A speculative light gleamed in the self-proclaimed Emperor’s eyes for a moment, but then quickly died out. “That’s a fanciful tale you tell, but it will little serve you.”
    “I speak the truth,” he bit the words distinctly, as if doing so would make the addled minded ass understand what a grievous mistake he was making.
    The man only chuckled and swung a water skin off his shoulder. He tossed it at Jared. “We were told to sell a malcontent Hebrew slave. We were not warned of his pre-disposition for lying.” He scratched a patch of grizzled hair on his chin. “That will bring down your market price considerably.” He tapped his lips with his finger. “Silence can be easily achieved with a gag, or perhaps by removing your tongue.”
    He seemed to consider that, raising Jared’s concern several notches.
    “As long as it’s not written on the placard around your neck, we may still get a decent price.” He shrugged. “No matter, we made a handsome profit with the silver paid to transport you to Brundisium .”
    Jared forgot all about the water skin as the seaman’s words sank in—his abduction had not been the by-product of brigands. This worthless piece of scum had been paid to sell him into slavery?
    This was madness. He was a merchant prince. Marketplaces throughout the Empire knew his name. He had worked hard to earn that reputation and the respect that came with it.
    Jared curled his hands into fists. Somebody, some nameless enemy, wanted him gone. Permanently. Worse, the culprit wanted him degraded to the lowest existence on earth. The famed Alexandrian businessman replaced by a common Hebrew slave.
    Someone who knew of his heritage.
    The seaman belched loudly, scratched beneath his arm, and then started back up the ladder. Seconds later, the hatch door shut with an echoing thud, enclosing Jared once more in oblivion.
    Groping in the straw, he managed to find the water skin. The leather was moist beneath his fingers; a seam had split and was leaking its precious contents at an alarming rate. He dislodged the cap with his teeth and tilted it up to his cracked lips, savoring the cool moisture as it slipped down his burning throat. Too soon, it was gone.
    Jared wiped his mouth and stared into the darkness. His ships made regular circuits between Alexandria and Italia . Barring any more storms, it should take no more than seven days to reach Brundisiam . He had that much time to convince them to release him, find a way to escape or die trying.
    ***
    Bit by bit, Jared was drawn out of his lethargy by disjointed voices, by turns laughing and arguing. He rolled stiffly onto his side, no longer hearing the clanking of the chain and barely noticing the raw, abraded skin of his wrists. 
    Locked in this fetid hole, he had lost all track of time. Days, weeks, a month, he could not have said how long since he had been taken. Already it seemed an eternity.
    There had been more storms. Navigating across the sea during Mare Clausum , the closed sea, was dangerous. Whoever had wanted him gone from Alexandria had little care for the potential loss of a ship and its crew—or its cargo.
    Deprived of fresh air and light he had slipped into a fevered stupor, that torturous place between waking nightmare and blessed oblivion. When he did manage to sleep, his dreams were plagued by images of a beautiful temptress with firelight hair and jade eyes, beckoning him to his doom.
    The lying bitch.
    Oh, the memories had returned, in excruciating detail—the stench of the taverna , the solicitous proprietor, the dreary back room.
    The fragile beauty with bright luminous emerald eyes, full mouth and taut