The Warrior's Bride Prize

‘There’s no need. I don’t suppose Tarquinius is here on a family visit.’ She lifted an eyebrow. ‘Are you, Brother?’

‘I see that your manners haven’t improved in the north.’ Pale eyes flashed, displaying not the faintest hint of pleasure at seeing her again. ‘Although you’re right. I’ve come to collect my debt.’

‘Porcia?’ She looked over her shoulder towards her trembling maid. The poor girl had always been terrified of Tarquinius. ‘Perhaps you could take Julia to her room?’

‘Yes, lady.’

‘Thank you.’ She smiled, waiting until they’d both left the room before adopting a look of exaggerated innocence. ‘Now what debt would that be?’

‘You know fine well what debt,’ Tarquinius snapped. ‘I received a message from Lucius Scaevola a few weeks ago.’

‘A few weeks? Then it’s taken you a while to get here.’

‘I was hardly going to make the journey b

efore military reinforcements arrived to impose order.’

‘Of course. How very brave of you, Brother.’

His expression sharpened malevolently. ‘Scaevola says that you refused to marry him.’

‘He’s lying.’

‘Do you deny that you refused to carry out my wishes?’

‘No, I simply deny whatever version of events he’s told you. I came here with every intention of marrying him.’

‘Then might I ask how it is that you came to marry someone else? A mere centurion, so Scaevola tells me.’

‘Because he gambled me away in a game, although I don’t suppose he mentioned that part. But it was all fair and legal. I simply followed the rules and married the man who won me.’

‘Scaevola says he was tricked!’

‘He would. He’s a gambler. You ought to know that their losses are never their fault. To be honest, Tarquinius, I’m surprised that you trusted him in the first place.’

‘Enough! You will divorce this man, this lowly soldier, whoever he is, and marry Scaevola as planned.’

‘No.’ She bristled at his imperative tone. ‘I will not. I have a husband. One worth ten hundred of you or Lucius Scaevola and I have no intention of divorcing him ever.’

He lifted a hand as if to strike her, his expression of restrained enmity slipping into one of pure poison before he seemed to control himself again.

‘Perhaps we ought to speak alone after all.’

‘I’m not going anywhere!’ Hermenia’s tone was now openly belligerent.

‘It’s all right.’ Livia put a hand on her arm. ‘He won’t hurt me. He knows that I’m not under his protection any more. If he hurts me, then he’ll have my husband to answer to and who knows what a mere soldier might do.’

‘You were under my protection until you married Scaevola. Since you weren’t married when he gambled he had no right to stake you in the first place! Therefore the game was invalid and your marriage to this Centurion is, too.’

‘The thought did occur to me. I chose to ignore it.’

‘Then we’ll let a court decide, shall we? Then we’ll see what your Centurion can do about it.’

‘We could.’ She tapped her chin thoughtfully. ‘That is, if you really want to explain to the Emperor why you think one of his Tribunes ought to be relieved of duty in the midst of a rebellion.’

‘Scaevola owes me a debt!’

‘Exactly. He does. I don’t. Now I think our business here is concluded, don’t you?’ She squared up to him, unflinching. ‘Since that’s all I ever was to you, wasn’t I, part of your business? Our father would have been ashamed. He asked you to take care of me, not to use me.’