The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 31

THE FOOD HAD been good, and Alex had finished it. After the initial tensions Verus and Ixillius had expressed, and she'd imitated, over the waiter ignoring her, Verus and Ixillius had settled back into the patterns of regular conversation while they ate. She listened to them as she chewed, trying to piece out words and phrases. The wine had reinforced the buzz from the home brew, giving her a continued reprieve in the form of a dullness to the hurts she was forced to ignore today. It also let her relax a bit and tap into those old memories where some of the words and phrases Ixillius and Verus were saying caused echoes inside her head. Nothing that she could grab on to yet, but echoes at least.

        As they passed the half way mark on their plates, the conversation began to quiet so that it could only be heard by each other. Mark's name came up a couple times, as did Alex's, and she understood them to be discussing a plan for interviewing Mark once they found him. She'd been thinking about that as well, and knew she was going to need some time alone with the horse trainer if she was going to get any information from him. Hell, she might even be able to get some information that Verus wanted, if she could figure out what he wanted to know.

        She tapped Ixillius on the arm and drew with just her finger on the table, holding up the wine and shaking her head for 'no'. He finished his sentence to Verus and called over the hovering waiter, asking for a cup of water. She quickly drew her thought, using the few words she had to fill in the gaps.

                                                                ***

        "That's ridiculously clever," Verus replied, smiling at Alex once he grasped the full scope of her idea, which aligned beautifully with what he had been wanting.

        "Risky, though," Ixillius added. "If he saw her last night, as she thinks, he may not believe it."

        "The dens are caged. No harm can come to her if he isn't deceived." Verus shrugged as he spoke. "The most he could do is hurl insults, and your pride is more likely by far to fall prey to those. I wish to speak with him also, so can verify for myself if the stories line up. What he tells her in confidence may be very different from what he would tell me, and I will know if he is lying."

        Ixillius scrubbed his hand over his face. Verus smiled at his friend's distress over the decision to allow his woman to speak privately with her casual man. At Ixillius's nod, Verus turned his attention back to Alex to see if he could get her to understand what he wanted of her in gaining information from this 'Mark'. Once Verus was certain that she grasped the full plan, he dropped some coins on the table to pay for all of their lunches and stood.

        "Come," he said. "We'll attend to the locksmith and then the leathersmith. Your Lady Traversi must look the part if this deception is to work at all."

                                                                ***

        The tradesmen that they visited to buy a lock and have the collar punched to fit it were amused that Alex took as much part in the selection and fit of the lock and collar as the men with her. The final product was exactly what she'd been hoping for with the lock hanging obvious at her throat beside the buckle, and the plate wrapping the back of her neck, the name on it unreadable when facing her front. Ixillius dropped the key in his coin purse, frowning as they stepped into the street, pausing to confer with Verus over some final details.

        Alex could tell from the start that Ixillius hated this idea. She was glad that he'd gone along with it, though. It was a lot better than if she'd had to sneak off and try to find Mark on her own. She was a lot happier to have him here, as well. When it seemed they were done talking, she reached up and smoothed her fingers down his jaw, tracing her thumb over his lips. He smiled tightly and leaned down to kiss her soundly. She added a promise to the kiss, feeling his hands slide around her hips and press her close.