The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 22

        She stepped forward and tentatively touched the letter, drawing his attention back.

        "Verus?" she asked, then pointed at the door.

        "Tomorrow," he smiled, continuing to loosen the fastenings on his armor.

        He chuckled at her confusion, stopping his undress to quickly draw three sets of sun and moon with the cup of water they now just left on the table. Under the first set, he drew a sword, under the second he drew a collar with a leash attached, under the third he sketched a horse.

        "Yesterday, Hiltraud. Yesterday. Today, Valerius. Today. Tomorrow, Verus and Max. Tomorrow," he emphasized the naming of the days by tapping a knuckle on the table. "Yesterday, today, tomorrow."

                                                                ***

        Alex caught the meaning as soon as he repeated the naming.

        "Heri, hodie, cras. Verus et Max cras," she repeated back, looking up to him to see if she'd said it right.

        He nodded and smiled down at her.

        "Iterum," he said, motioning her to repeat after him. "Heri, hodie, cras," he spoke clearly, enunciating each syllable.

        "Heri, hodie, cras," she replied.

        Her accent was better this time, but nothing close to a level of fluency, and he grinned at her, his eyes laughing.

        "Bonum, iterum. 'Verus cras', et 'heri, hodie, cras'. " He stepped closer, his hands resting around her hips for a moment, then starting to massage. "Iterum," he repeated, looking amused that she'd lost the lesson and focused on his hands.

        "Verus cras," she said, gasping slightly as his lips brushed lightly against the skin just below her ear.

        "Et," he encouraged, grinning, massaging and kissing.

        At some point her belt slipped off. Alex pressed closer, her concerns about Ixillius's anger at her involvement with Max and Verus, and her worry that Ixillius was already gone due to whatever bad news had come in, was dropping away. Her desire from this afternoon, however, flared hotter than before. He didn't let her kiss him, shaking his head out of her hands and chuckling.

        "Et?" he repeated, drawing out the single syllable.

        She racked her brain for the right answer, her wits split as his hands unfastened her tunic and it fell around her feet.

        "Heri, hodie, cras," she finally answered.

        "Bonum. Iterum," he said, teasing at her ears and neck with his mouth, his fingers inching down from her waist to slide inside her underwear.

        The memory came out of the deeper part of her mind. Her gigno teaching her those initial sword drills, their first week alone after her momma had died. His voice echoing what Ixillius was saying now. Bonum: good. Iterum: again. Volare coeperit gladius hoc, bonum: swing the sword like this, good. Iterum, Alexandria. Bonum. Bona puella...

        She came back to the now suddenly, shaking off the echoes. Her gigno had always made her speak English or Russian, hadn't he? Depending on which continent they were living on at the time. Had she spoken Latin as a child?

        Ixillius noticed the change and pulled back to look down at her, questioning, his fingers still massaging gently at her hips. She smiled as a few more words she needed slid back into her mind from whatever long ago memories she was carrying.