"It's more than just an opinion, Doctor," Julian responded in English. "It happens to be fact."
Ben took another look at Julian, but she could still tell he wasn't quite ready to believe someone who looked like Julian would have a clue about his chosen field. "And how would you know?"
Julian answered in Greek.
For the first time since she'd met the man a decade before, Grace saw the doctor look amazed. "My God," he gasped. "You speak as if you were born to it."
Julian cast an amused smile to Grace.
"I told you," Selena said. "He knows the Greek gods and goddesses better than anyone on earth."
Dr. Lewis noticed the ring on Julian's hand. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked. "Is that a general's ring?"
Julian nodded. "It is."
"Would you mind if I looked at it?"
Julian slid it from his finger and handed it to him.
Dr. Lewis sucked his breath in sharply. "Macedonian? Second century B.C., I would presume."
"Very good."
"It's an incredible reproduction," Ben said, handing it back.
Julian returned it to his hand. "It's not a reproduction."
"No!" Ben gasped in disbelief. "It can't be an original. It's far too pristine."
"It was held by a private collector," Selena inserted.
Ben looked back and forth between them. "How did you get it?" he asked Julian.
Julian paused as he remembered the day it had been awarded to him. He and Kyrian of Thrace had been promoted together after they had single-handedly saved Themopoly from the Romans.
It had been a long, brutal, and bloody fight.
Their army had broken and left the two of them alone to defend the town. Julian had expected Kyrian to abandon him as well, but the young fool had just smiled at him, grabbed a sword for each hand, and said, "It's a beautiful day to die. What say we slay as many of these bastards as we can before we pay Charon?"
A complete and utter lunatic, Kyrian had always had more guts than brains.
Afterward, they had drunk each other under the table in celebration. And in the morning, they had awakened and been promoted.
Gods, of all the people Julian had known in Macedonia, he missed Kyrian most. Kyrian was the only man who had ever stood at his back and defended it.
"It was a gift," Julian said.
Ben glanced at Julian's hand, his gaze filled with covetous awe. "Would you consider selling it? I'd be willing to pay quite a bit for it."
"Never," Julian said as he thought over the wounds he had received during the battle for Themopoly. "You've no idea what I had to go through to get this."
Ben shook his head. "I wish someone would give me a gift like that. Have you any idea how much it's worth?"
"My weight in gold, last I checked."
Ben laughed out loud, and smacked his hand against Selena's card table. "Good one. That was the ransom to get back captured generals, wasn't it?"
"For those too cowardly to die fighting, it was."
A new respect shone in Ben's eyes as he regarded Julian. "Any idea who it belonged to?"
Selena answered for Julian. "Julian of Macedon. Ever heard of him, Ben?"
Ben's jaw dropped. His eyes widened. "Are you serious? Do you know who that was?"
Selena made a strange face.
Assuming she didn't, Ben continued speaking. "Tesius wrote that Julian was going to be the next Alexander the Great. Julian was the son of Diokles of Sparta, also known as Diokles the Butcher. That man made the Marquis de Sade look like Ronald McDonald.
"Rumor had it, Julian was born of a union between Aphrodite and the general, after Diokles had saved one of her temples from desecration. The modern accepted opinion, of course, is that his mother was actually one of Aphrodite's priestesses."
"Really?" Grace asked.
Julian rolled his eyes. "No one cares who Julian was. That man died a long time ago."
Ben ignored him as he continued to flaunt his knowledge. "Known to the Romans as Augustus Julius Punitor..." He glanced to Grace and added for her benefit, "Julian the Great Punisher. He and Kyrian of Thrace cut a trail of slaughter through the Mediterranean during the Fourth Macedonian War against Rome. Julian despised Rome, and vowed he'd see the city fall to his army. He and Kyrian damn near succeeded in bringing Rome to her knees."
Julian's jaw flexed. "Do you know what happened to Kyrian of Thrace?"
Ben let out a low whistle. "His wasn't a pretty end. He was captured and crucified by the Romans in one forty-seven B.C."
Julian flinched at the words. His eyes troubled, he toyed with his ring. "That man was probably one of the best warriors who ever lived. He loved battle like no one I've ever known." He shook his head. "I remember Kyrian once drove his chariot up and over a shield wall where he broke the backbone of the Romans. It allowed his soldiers to defeat them with only a handful of losses." He frowned. "I can't believe they ever captured him."
Ben shrugged nonchalantly. "Well, once Julian disappeared, Kyrian was the only Macedonian general worthy of leading an army, so the Romans went after him with everything they had."
"What happened to Julian?" Grace asked, wondering what the historians had to say about the matter.
Julian glared at her.
"No one knows," Ben said. "It's one of the greatest mysteries of the ancient world. Here you have this general who can't be defeated in arms by anyone, and then poof, at age thirty-two, he vanishes without a trace."
Ben tapped his hand against Selena's table. "The last anyone saw of Julian was at the battle of Conjara. In a brilliant move, he tricked Livius into giving up his impregnable position. It was one of the worst defeats in Roman history."
"Who cares?" Julian groused.
Ben ignored his interruption. "After the battle, Julian was reputed to have sent word to Scipio the Younger that he was coming for him in the name of vengeance for Scipio's defeat of the Macedonians. Terrified, Scipio gave up his military service in Macedonia and volunteered to fight in Spain instead."
Ben shook his head. "But before Julian could carry out the threat, he vanished. His family was found slaughtered in their home. And that's where it gets interesting." Ben looked at Selena. "The Macedonian accounts say he was mortally wounded by Livius during the battle, and in incredible pain he rode home to kill his family to keep them from being taken as slaves by his enemies. Roman accounts claim Scipio sent several of his soldiers to attack Julian in the middle of the night. Supposedly, they killed him with his family, then cut up his body and hid the pieces."
Julian scoffed at that. "Scipio was a coward and a bully. He would never have dared to attack m-"
"So," Grace said, interrupting Julian before he could give himself away. "Nice weather, eh?"
"Scipio was not a coward," Ben said to Julian. "No one can argue his successes in Spain."
She saw hatred flash across Julian's eyes.
Ben didn't seem to notice. "Young man, that ring of yours is absolutely priceless. I would love to know how someone got a hold of it. For that matter, I'd kill to know what happened to its original owner."
Grace exchanged an uncomfortable look with Selena.
Julian smirked wryly at Ben. "Julian of Macedon incurred the wrath of the gods and was punished for his arrogance."
"That's another explanation, I suppose." His watch alarm went off. "Damn, I have to go pick up my wife."
He got up and held his hand out to Julian. "We didn't meet properly, I'm Ben Lewis."
"Julian," he said, shaking his hand.