The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 2

VERUS WONDERED ALOUD if he would ever be able to ride the horse that Alex had given him ownership of, and Brasus only shrugged, both of them watching her calm the brute. They paced beside the cart, outside of hearing range from the officers surrounding the Legate ahead, and from the fighting men behind.

        "She's very good at bringing studs to hand, isn't she?" Verus asked, innocently.

        "Well-bred animals do take to her," Brasus had responded, eyeing the First File long enough that Verus laughed.

        "From her conversation, she most likely has the best military mind under my command right now," he said, then added with a shrug, "if I could command her. Speaking of people who disrespect me, tell me you bring news of my new Optio?" he asked, alluding to the altercation between himself and Brasus prior to leaving Bonna.

        "The recommendation was signed this morning by Centurion Traversi, First File, and sent by messenger to the Tribunes," Brasus replied, making a show of being ever the respectful subordinate through his formally polite use of ranks.

        Verus noted with approval that the Optio beside him didn't glance at the men or officers around him as he spoke. Taking a man from another cohort to promote wasn't the best practice, especially from a century so far removed, but Verus was sick of the whelps under his direct command. The man recommended by Ixillius was the Guard Commander to the Optio beside him, and Verus was in need of this level of competence now that Minerva's 1st marched to war. As Brasus would not leave Ixillius, and Verus wasn't fool enough to believe he could force the issue, the First File made do with what he could get, and was confident what he could get was now decidedly better than what he currently had.

        "I do not leave your Centurion shorthanded?" Verus asked seriously.

        "Quintus Abelardus put forth a recommendation," Brasus replied, at ease. "That man will be promoted within moments of the transfer. He trains now under Marcus Lucilius so there will be no disturbance once Lucilius comes to you."

        "Speaking of my uncle, there is also still the matter of the letter to Avilius, which Quintus verified last night, and I will send tomorrow with or without any words from Ixillius."

        Verus had drafted the letter to Alex's father that same night he had taken custody of her. The next morning he had burned the page. What had occurred was not easy to explain, and rewriting the letter had taken the full time since he'd burned the first. He envied Alex, her note had barely filled a third of a standard size page, the rest filled with a sketch of her father and a younger version of herself, some memory the two of them alone must have shared.

        "I will remind him, sir," Brasus continued walking in companionable silence.

        "Speak plainly. How is your Centurion?" Verus asked quietly, noticing that Alex was listening closer after he'd used Ixillius's name; reminding him of the pleasant curse that the woman was so quickly witted.

        "He is unmade," Brasus finally replied.

        Verus cast his voice lower, hoping to avoid catching Alex's attention any further.

        "Tell me, how does he fare under the investigation?"

                                                                ***

        Centurion Ixillius Traversi was nearly ready to commit a crime if that meant he could admit to something and the Inquisitor would leave. The man hadn't cared a whit on his first days. He'd brought the letter himself that had proclaimed Ixillius disowned on the basis of an unknown crime, worked his way through the senior officers when they made time for him, and finally gotten to Ixillius yesterday. The questions the Inquisitor asked seemed to be only what he was required to until he'd been passing through the camp and heard Alex and Verus arguing, asked a few questions, and gotten the full run of the rumors. Today Ixillius was starting to feel like a rabbit cornered by dogs.