The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 4

        Ixillius hung his head from the anger of his friend. The same feeling as last night, of being ridiculous in his rage, washed over him, compounded tenfold by the heavy stare that Verus cast on him.

        "You make me sound the fool," Ixillius quietly stated.

        "You do that yourself, don't put blame on me," Verus replied, his voice clipped. Ixillius scrubbed his hands over his face. Verus was right, of course. "Sharing her is unpleasant – I understand that very well – but don't let your pride and jealousy become anger," Verus cautioned.

        "How?" Ixillius asked, spiteful and grateful that he was so easy for his commander to understand.

        "Don't elevate her in your heart to a place you can't reach her," Verus said simply. "She is extraordinary, but only because we let her be so."

        "You think we could stop her from being so?" Ixillius snorted a laugh.

        "I think she's a woman, and could be ridiculed and beaten down to mundane if a common man were to force her obedience," Verus answered.

        "I would kill him," Ixillius countered darkly.

        "And that is why you must hold her close, my friend."

        "She's already too far above for me to touch, let alone hold close," Ixillius muttered.

        "The stink of your cloak tells me otherwise," Verus grinned. "As does the stink of hers."

        Ixillius felt the heat of the blush creep onto his cheeks. He'd grown used to the smell of their sex clinging to the wool of his cloak, and forgotten to purchase a new one once returned to the Legion. He cursed his own stupidity under his breath.

        "Hold your tongue for more pleasant pursuits, First File," Verus chided. "All men will know by midnight that she's your lover again, you only need to prepare your pride to let her make you a liar."

        Ixillius scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to decide if he could tax Verus with helping him strategize the unfamiliar politics of the situation he'd caused for himself, but strategies would be little use until he knew the bent of the rumors. Verus was shaking with fever again and, besides, Brasus would be better for this task as he knew the full facts already.

        "You've now saved her life twice, my friend," Verus said with a sly grin, looking up through his eyelashes. "That she repays you kindly in her only available currency is a small thing to be so very ashamed of, especially when the promise to leave her untouched was so very one-sided."

        "The payment far exceeds the efforts," Ixillius admitted. "And I swore the broken promise to the Legion, and to her father."

        "And what promises did she make?" Verus asked, forcing the blush to return to Ixillius's face. "I see remaining untouched wasn't something she vowed."

        "That wasn't her vow to make, she wasn't –"

        "In love?" Verus interrupted. Ixillius looked away again. "You're already the fool you worry about becoming if you believe she doesn't love you."

        "I know she does," Ixillius murmured. "She's told me so."

        "Then take the satchel," Verus said gently, running his fingers over the leather bag. "I gave her charcoal for drawing after you sent her to me. I thought that, perhaps with how well she draws, she would enjoy the hobby as some women do. She surprised me again with the depth of her education, though I cannot read her notes. I had been looking forward to better conversations with her, once her language improved enough."

        "She will enjoy those conversations, Verus, when you are well enough to have them," Ixillius caught his friend's hand and squeezed. Verus smiled, but the shadows in his features remained.

        "She learns very quickly, my friend. You won't have to wait long to speak with her as you want to, as long as you help teach her."

        "I appear to be the one who needs to be taught." Ixillius tried to soften the insult against himself with a smile but, from the look Verus gave him, he failed.

        "Let's speak of problems that are easier to solve than your jealous pride," Verus stated. "Has the whole of the Legion ripped apart over the use of the spring?"

        "A few of the men who are angriest tried to incite aggressions as fortifications were finishing," Ixillius reported. "But they were each disciplined by their wives for attempting to disrupt access to the water."

        "That's good news," Verus said, shivering hard.

        "The better news is that Brasus's woman, Rishima, is still with Brasus's father, and far from Minerva's 1st. Had this been a year ago, the men being chastised tonight would have been physically scalded from the heat of her words, and the little medicine we have is being wasted on you until we reach Verona."

        "Save the medicine for the men who can be helped, First File," Verus ordered weakly, and then passed out.