The Centurion's Woman

Chapter 15

IXILLIUS RETURNED LATE after his rounds because Alex needed to rest, and Verus's fate was in far more capable hands. He'd led the Training Ground and then sat with Brasus and Quintus to discuss the rumors and gossip that he needed to know. As a pleasant surprise, the day had gone well according to rumor. Ixillius tended to Max and the mare, grinning at the sounds from his own tent proving that Marcus wasn't wasting the luxury of having a tent to himself by spending the night alone.

        Mikayla held a finger to her lips and smiled at him from where she was sitting at the table when he stepped into the tent, then tilted her head to where Verus and Alex were sleeping. She gestured for him to look at them, her smile softening into something motherly as she glanced their way.

        Ixillius stepped lightly and looked down at them, hands clasped and foreheads together, sleeping like children. He realized when he shared a look with Mikayla that his smile matched the one on her face. She stayed at the table while he reviewed a map and confirmed tomorrow's march in his thoughts, and surprised him by reaching over and tapping a finger almost exactly where they were camped. The silent question of where they were going was clear on her face, so he followed the road to Verona with his finger.

        She drew a line off the road, straight between where they were and the city, then turned and pointed toward Verus and Alex. Her look was worried. He shook his head, and then redrew the route along the road with his finger. Mikayla nodded, looking relieved, then yawned. She didn't bother trying to speak to him even though she'd been learning words and phrases from Alex during the march today. She just smiled and nodded politely, then went to lie down. Before Ixillius even had his armor off, she was asleep.

        He considered sleeping on the ground, not wanting to disturb Alex, but his wife's dark eyes were staring up at him when he glanced back at her, her sleepy smile welcoming him home. He lay down with Alex without a second thought and tucked her into his arms. She sighed, content, and snuggled against him. After a moment, she started trying to untangle her fingers from Verus's. Ixillius wrapped one of his hands around both of theirs, stopping her.

        "Tend your brother, I'll take care of you," he whispered.

        "My good husband," she murmured, locking her fingers around Verus's and then snuggling closer to Ixillius, back asleep in moments.

                                                                ***

        Alex spent the entire morning in the cart, sleeping beside Verus, while Mikayla steered Max with only words from where she sat beside them. After the midday meal, Alex chose instead to ride Max for a while. She laughed out loud when, an hour before the end of the day's march, Hades swooped out of the nearby trees and cawed happily before landing on her offered arm. Mikayla had been in the middle of checking Verus's heart rate, but grinned while sighing in annoyance at the interruption of Alex holding up the bird for her friend to see.

        "You see nothing wrong that she greets a kite with the affection usually granted to a child?" Verus asked when Mikayla resumed her counting. Mikey shrugged when she was finished, understanding the question.

        "Of Alex, the animal is yes, the person is no," she shook her head and smiled at where Alex was cuddling the bird. "Only Ixillius, Verus, Brasus, Quintus are yes."

        "And Mikayla Wyss," Verus added. The surgeon first shook her head, as if uncertain, then chuckled softly and nodded in agreement. Verus adored watching Mikayla as she spoke, although he would never let her know. Her face held no shadows or deceits as she interacted with people, her thoughts and emotions showing plainly. With Alex, he'd worked for weeks to pry beneath the guarded expressions she maintained, and she still hadn't offered him her thoughts and humor plainly until after she'd told him she was married to Ixillius. Alex was a hard contrast to the gentle surgeon.