The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 13

MARCUS HAD BEEN beyond livid: with himself for leaving her supposedly alone, with Ixillius for going behind the First File's back and attending on the secret appointment Verus had made, and with Alex and Ixillius for getting laid when the point of the visit was to make sure she wasn't pregnant. Ixillius had been helping her get her armor back on when Marcus had asked to enter the tent. Alex checked by a glance for Ixillius to grant permission, her husband had nodded, and Alex quietly replied for Marcus to come in. Marcus's polite smile had faded to shocked, contained fury when his look fell on the two of them, the smell of sex hanging close in the small tent.

        In reply to the Optio's sputtered curses, Ixillius had pulled loose the thin leather strap Alex had worn around her neck since Brasus had returned the message that Ixillius told her to keep the wedding ring as long as she wanted to be his wife. She'd kept the purse tucked in her breast wrap, held tightly out of sight, and close to her heart. Not even Verus had wrested from her what hid in the coin purse, though he asked at least daily and tried to find an excuse to spy it out whenever she washed. Marcus had held his tongue once Ixillius had slipped the ring on her finger, remembering well that in Bonna she'd been named by Quintus as wife to the Centurion in spite of no other men confirming themselves as witnesses.

        "The marriage is real?" the Optio asked through his teeth, his jaw clenched tight in his anger.

        "The marriage is real," Alex replied quietly as Ixillius wrapped her belt at her waist and fastened the buckle, setting her sword exactly as he'd seen when she'd walked in. Confusion battled for dominance on Marcus's face.

        "But... Verus maintains her?" Marcus finally asked, stepping closer. His voice was low in regard to the thin cloth of the tent and the density of people outside. Ixillius sighed and wrapped her in his arms, tucking her against his chest.

        "Right now, she's a slave and I'm no better," Ixillius murmured, "the marriage is what we both want, and we are of equal enough class to maintain the arrangement," he paused, collecting the right words. "When her father claims her, and she is Avilia, then the marriage will end."

        "No," Alex whispered, arguing, looking up at her husband. "I says to you that—"

        He silenced her with a touch of a finger to her lips, a sad grimace attempting to be a smile at his mouth.

        "No lies," he murmured, the pain of what he thought would be the end of their time together plain in his eyes. "You promised Brasus you would only tell me the truth, remember?"

        "I do not lie," she stated, her whisper a final statement.

        If she could just tell him, she thought, without him thinking her completely insane. Or worse, actually thinking her to be whatever Underworld witch the rumors of the day said she was...

        He kissed her gently, releasing her completely when he broke away and stepped back from her. His glance fell to her belly before he turned to face Marcus.

        "Take her back to the First File," he muttered. Marcus looked between the two of them.

        "With respect, sir, a man's wife shouldn't live with his friend," he stated quietly.

       "And her father's name, her name, demands a husband that isn't a disowned, dishonored and now dishonest Legionnaire. Take her back to the First File, Marcus." Ixillius scrubbed a hand over his face as he turned away and walked the few steps to the other end of the tent, ending the discussion.

        When Marcus seemed about to continue the argument with her, Alex slipped the ring off her finger and dropped it into the coin purse hanging loose from her neck – the ring clinking quietly against her momma's medallion – then tucked the purse back inside her tunic. Marcus's shoulders slumped beneath the weight of understanding as Alex took on the poise she would need for walking back to the tent her husband told her to live in, touching the Optio's arm to encourage him to do the same.