The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 27

BRASUS WOKE IN the early morning, the rumbling in his belly leading him away from his bunk and toward the smells of the morning meal. The locals he encountered were cool towards him, but nobody acted outright rude so he maintained absolute politeness on the short walk to the largest building. Lothar waved him over to an open seat beside the boy and a plate full of hot food landed on the table in front of him as soon as he was seated. Chlodochar appeared to have had little rest, but his wife looked content.

        With very little prodding, Lothar picked up the story he'd started when they'd been walking to the horses. Brasus left the boy's parents to ask him the needed questions when the tale seemed not to resemble reality – such as the horses speaking back to Alex – choosing instead to eat rather than talk. Chlodochar seemed to have made the same choice, letting Theudelinda demand clarifications and explanations as needed while Lothar laid out the entire afternoon that he'd had alone with Alex, complete with eye roll whenever his mother tried to correct him to using 'Lady Avilia' instead of 'Alex'.

        The story had reached the point where the wolves had arrived while Lothar and Alex were sneaking up on Dario when Ixillius and Alex arrived. Brasus grinned at his plate that the two of them carried the same look as Chlodochar, receiving a playful bat of his Centurion's elbow to his ear as they passed behind him to the empty seats beside Chlodochar. Alex paused to give Lothar a quick, one-armed hug from behind, earning a kiss on the cheek that made her smile warmly at the boy and miss completely the look of pure hate that crossed Theudelinda's face.

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        Alex forcibly ignored the disapproving stares from nearly everyone in the room because Ixillius hovered protectively at her shoulder as she settled into the chair beside Lothar's parents. She knew her presence was awkward at best, due to her shared parent with Lothar and, the way people were acting, she could see that nobody knew Ixillius was the husband she had mentioned when messing with Hludwolf, and that Lothar's dad had mentioned the previous day.

        She was saved from having to think about all of this by the arrival of breakfast. Roasted meat, wedges of cheese, slabs of fresh flat bread... All that was missing was strong coffee and orange juice. Too bad that would take fifteen hundred years or so to show up on the menu, Alex lamented inside her head. After a moment she realized that someone had asked her a question, but Brasus answered so she kept eating.

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        Ixillius was mindful of the wordplay occurring around him as he ate, and grateful that Brasus was here to respond. Chlodochar attempted to turn his wife's venom away from Alex, with little success, and was fast being forced to participate in the conversation he was obviously trying to avoid joining. Alex ate at a ravenous pace, and Ixillius envied her complete disregard for the words that constantly turned in her direction as he attempted to calculate the span of time since she had most likely last eaten. His own pride was taking a beating, but the comments were sly and – even after his years as Optio to Verus – he was not capable of maintaining the air of false pleasantries that Brasus smoothly created, so he simply ate and remained silent. The conversation turned to the topic of children being taken from the territories and raised by Roman families when Alex pushed her empty plate away and stood.

        "The topic displeases you into leaving?" Theudelinda interrupted Alex's hasty respects for the meal.

        "Concern of my horse makes me leave," Alex replied, bowing.

        "May I join you?" Lothar asked, jumping to his feet.

        "No," Theudelinda stated, coldly. "You have spent enough time with that... family."