*Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! I hope you find this well worth it, and that you had a lovely Valentine's Day. Now, without further ado, I give you Part 2 of "The Craziest Thing St. Valentine Did for Love"...
Valentine’s heart sank to the pit of his stomach as the jailer’s careless announcement of impending doom still rang in his ears. He watched helplessly as Caecilia was dragged away from the cell door and out of the dungeon, his eyes drinking in the play of emotions across her face -- dismay, longing, and compassion all seamlessly blended together with a sweet and utter openness -- as she looked back in his direction one last time. It was in that moment -- a few, quite sudden, but definitely the most intense seconds of his life -- that Valentine fell in love with her. He wasn’t sure exactly how or why, and since his Judgment Day was approaching much more quickly than he had hoped, he supposed he’d never know. But it was there all the same, clear as day. Now he’d never get the chance to tell her.
Unless, of course, he figured out a means to escape. Turning to Lucius with a renewed vigor in his bones, he declared, “We need to find a way out now.”
“No kidding,” Lucius drawled, his ever-present smirk aggravating the hell out of Valentine like never before.
“Would it kill you to be serious for once in your life? No, wait --” Valentine cut in before Lucius could open his mouth to respond, “-- that would have been too easy.”
“Well excuse me for clinging to the only coping mechanism I have in the face of terror. Geez, what’s got your loincloth in a twist?” Lucius crossed his arms.
“Hmm, let’s see... How about the fact that we’re supposed to be executed tomorrow? I don’t know about you, but I’m not going to stand here and waste my time making jokes while we still have a chance to stop that from happening!”
“I think you’ll find any attempt to escape will prove fruitless,” a silky voice drawled from outside the cell door.
Valentine whirled around. His blood ran cold as he locked eyes with Emperor Claudius II himself, flanked by an army of huge, brutish guards.
“You see, my guards are very good at what they do,” Claudius continued as he started to pace before them, like a stealthy panther relishing the seconds before he goes in for the kill. “Of course,” he paused to let out a gruesome chuckle, “they know they’d be dead otherwise.” Valentine stole a glance at the guards, and was impressed to see not one of them flinch. Claudius locked eyes with Valentine once again, two piercing blue orbs pinning him in place. An image of Caecilia’s eyes flashed in Valentine’s mind, only where there was warmth and earnestness in hers, Claudius’s held a chill that was cutting and direct.
“Nothing to say now, have you?” Claudius’s triumphant smile managed to glint menacingly in the low light of the dungeon.
Valentine swallowed back the lump of fear in his throat and clenched his jaw as a new boldness began to build in his chest. “Nothing that should be said to an emperor, Your... er... Majesty.”
Claudius chuckled. “That would be, ‘Your Imperial Majesty,’ for your information. But since I’m a reasonable fellow, I won’t impose such terms of formality on a dying man. I give you leave to call me Claudius -- unless you wish to call me your lord, which, considering your profession, may be a kind of blasphemy to you. Of course, I wouldn’t mind. In fact, I might enjoy it immensely to hear you essentially deny your god.”
Valentine gritted his teeth, biting back the fury that threatened to unleash, and let out a more composed retort. “Since I’m only accustomed to speaking on a first-name basis with friends, and since you are most certainly nothing close to Him whom I acknowledge as my Lord, perhaps I should just avoid calling you anything.”
A tense silence fell over the room before Claudius let out a booming laugh. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like you, priest. You’ve a quick wit, and I have to admire a man who sticks to his convictions -- however misguided they may be.”
He paused and squinted off into the distance, a slow grin creeping onto his face as an idea seemed to form in his head. He looked back at Valentine and pressed his fingertips together as he came closer to the door. “Tell you what. Why don’t we work out a deal? If you can prove me wrong by summoning a miracle from your god by dawn, I’ll release you.”
“Miracles aren’t magic acts that can be conjured on a vain whim,” Valentine spat.
“Does your God consider your life a vain whim? How about the life of this young man here?” Claudius motioned to Lucius. Valentine cast a fleeting look at Lucius, who for once had no droll remarks to contribute.
“Isn’t this exactly what you wanted? A chance to escape. A chance to live.” Claudius leaned in closer, his mouth poking in through the bars. “And I’m sure a chance to prove me wrong must be a pretty glorious incentive as well.” He stepped back and shrugged as he said, “But I wouldn’t know, as it’s never happened before.”
Valentine stared wordlessly at him as he considered the possibilities. He knew Claudius was goading him, but the opportunity being presented was too great to pass up. He looked once again at Lucius, and thought of Aurelia waiting anxiously at home for news of her husband’s fate, both of them heartbroken when they should still be in their honeymoon phase. Surely Valentine had to at least try if it would give them a chance to be together. And then he thought of Caecilia -- sweet, honest Caecilia, who had believed in him before she’d even met him, and implored him to confirm her faith. He couldn’t let her down. And he couldn’t let the opportunity to tell her he loved her just pass him by.
The moment Valentine made up his mind, a satisfied smile grew on Claudius’s face. Valentine longed to smack it off.
“Do you accept my challenge?” Claudius raised an eyebrow and stuck his hand through the barred door.
“I accept,” Valentine said as he took his hand, giving it two firm pumps before quickly letting go.
“Excellent! Shall we commemorate the accord with a glass of wine?” Claudius lifted his hand in the air and snapped his fingers before Valentine could attempt to answer. One of the guards came forth and bowed. Not bothering to spare a glance at him, Claudius droned, “The red, 268, Pompeii. The special label.” The guard nodded once and instantly presented the requested bottle along with three crystal goblets. Valentine looked all around the guard’s person for some sort of satchel, but, after finding none, could only wonder where the supplies had come from. Claudius poured the wine into two goblets and handed them to Valentine and Lucius through the barred door. After Claudius poured himself a glass, he lifted it into the air and said, “Let’s make a toast. To the victor, his spoils! And by spoils, I mean the deglorified death of false martyrs.”
Refusing to raise his goblet alongside Claudius’s, Valentine drained his in one gulp. Suddenly, he heard the sound of glass shattering on his left and watched in horror as Lucius slumped to the floor. He whipped his head back to Claudius, who smiled at him above the untouched rim of his glass. “What did you d--”
But all of a sudden, the world tilted as Valentine staggered and fell to the floor next to Lucius. The last thing he heard was the awful sound of Claudius’s laughter before slipping into unconsciousness.
~
Valentine groaned as he stirred to life, his head too heavy with grogginess to lift more than an inch off the ground. With great effort, he looked up to find Lucius standing by the barred window, gazing at the pink and purple sky before turning to Valentine.
“Rise and shine,” Lucius said, offering him a grim smile.
Valentine sat up slowly, reality starting to sink in. “It’s almost dawn,” he whispered. He looked to his right and almost jumped with shock when he saw Caecilia sleeping next to him. “What is Caecilia doing here?” he asked incredulously.
Lucius came over from the window and sat next to him. “The guards found her going around the village and mouthing off about the injustice of your sentence, so they dosed her with that ‘special label’ sleeping draught and threw her in here. Then they had to throw her father in, too.” Lucius nodded back to the jailer, who Valentine belatedly realized had been lying beneath the window.
She sat up and looked all around the cell before focusing back on Valentine’s face. “Yes... yes, I can see you. I can see everything!”
“It’s a miracle!” Valentine and Caecilia looked up to see the jailer bounding over to them. He picked Caecilia up and twirled her around, both of them laughing with sheer, incredulous joy.
“Impossible,” a quiet, but infuriated Claudius whispered from the cell door. “Open this door at once!” he bellowed at a guard who held the keys. Once the door swung open, Claudius strode in and stopped in front of Valentine. Claudius’s body, which had been taut with anger, quickly eased back into its usual deadly calm, his temper scrupulously held in check once again.
He paused before allowing himself to speak, “You know I cannot let you live after this. And perhaps you knew it had never been my intention to do so. But since I’m a sensible, merciful ruler, I will grant you a few bequests -- the lives of this young man, this maiden, and her father, along with a choice. You may die with honor, or you may live... if you gouge out the maiden’s eyes.”
The jailer swiftly dropped down to his knees in front of Valentine. He cried, “Don’t do it! Please don’t harm my daughter, I beg of you!” He grabbed Valentine’s ankles, but two guards pulled him back to his feet.
Claudius nonchalantly resumed his speech. “Personally, I don’t find the decision too difficult at all, especially considering she’s already used to not seeing anyway. But I have a feeling it might not be so easy for you... since you fancy the girl, don’t you?”
Caecilia clutched at Valentine’s arms and pleaded with him. “Please, Valentine, don’t listen to him! I don’t care about my sight. I don’t need it -- I need you! Please!” She threw her arms around his neck and held tight before one of the guards pulled her off and out of the cell. Valentine watched as she struggled, and etched into his memory the last desperate look she gave him before being taken out of the dungeon. He straightened and calmly turned to Claudius, who asked him the question for which they both already knew the answer.
“What’s it going to be, Valentine -- your life or her sight?”
~
Caecilia awoke to the dawn of a new and glorious day, only to plunge into the depths of despair as she realized she was able to see the rays of sunlight beaming through her window. As her body wracked with loud, violent sobs, her father rushed in and embraced her, whispering words of comfort in her ear. When she calmed down some, he silently handed her a scroll. However, after reading the first line, tears began to stream down her cheeks once more.
To my sweet Caecilia,
By the time you read these words, I will have perished. Please do not despair, for I have faith, as I’m sure you do as well, that I will be in God’s kingdom, summoned by Him to do his bidding in heaven. The only regret I have from my life on Earth is that we didn’t have more time together. But I thank God for the moments I was able to share with you. I would not trade them for anything.
Thank you for believing in me, and renewing my faith in the sacrifices we make for love -- for God, for mankind, and for the ones we hold dearest to our hearts. Please keep that faith alive. I wish you all the best that life can offer you, and while I look forward to the time we meet again, I fervently hope your life is a long and very happy one, filled with love, laughter, and lots of children, for you deserve no less.
I love you, Caecilia. And I will love you always.
Your Valentine
Filled with deep gratitude, love, and a firm determination to live her life to the fullest, Caecilia took that letter and spread copies of it all over Rome, which eventually led to the rebellion that ended Claudius’s reign. She treasured Valentine’s letter for the rest of her life, read it to all seven of her children, and, on her deathbed, bestowed it upon her eldest daughter to be passed down from generation to generation. But in her lifetime, on February 14th of every year, Caecilia would take that letter out and remember the day she was saved -- and loved -- by St. Valentine.
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