The Warrior's Bride Prize

‘Ah.’

She turned her head, averting her eyes from the intensity in his. ‘What’s happening with the rebellion?’

‘It hasn’t been easy, but we’re winning, slowly. Now that the rest of the garrison has arrived, we should push the rebels back over the wall before winter. We’ll recapture Cilurnum. We’ll get our villa back, too.’

‘Oh.’ She didn’t know what to say about that either. ‘So you were right about the rebels all along.’

He made a face. ‘That doesn’t make it any better.’

‘No, I suppose not.’

‘There was one consolation, though. Nerva offered me a promotion.’

‘You don’t mean...?’

‘Not quite. Second Centurion of the Second Cohort. It’s still a great honour, more than I could have expected.’

‘Then I’m happy for you.’ She forced a smile. ‘You’re getting closer.’

‘I turned it down.’

‘What?’ She blinked. ‘Is that allowed?’

‘Not really, but under the circumstances... In any case, Nerva’s more understanding than most Legates. I asked him for something else, a transfer to the auxiliaries. It doesn’t usually happen—in fact, I’m not sure I’ve heard of it ever happening before—but I asked him to make an exception.’

‘And?’

‘He said I had some nerve. Then he asked me why I wanted it. I said it was because my wife was happy at Cilurnum and I thought it might make her happy again to go back once the rebellion was over.’ Dark eyes flickered with a look of uncertainty. ‘Was I wrong?’

‘No, but...’ Her voice trailed away as he took a step towards her.

‘He said that the fort still needs a commanding officer and that the position was mine if I wanted it... I said I had to speak with you first. Being married to Hermenia, he understood that some marriages are based on equality.’

She stared at him breathlessly. Equality? He sounded as if he meant it. He was talking as if he wanted to take her back to the wall and give their marriage a second chance, too, but how could they go back? After everything he’d said, how could he think that she’d even consider such a thing? And how dare he change his mind again, as if she ought to just forget all his insults!

‘You called me a barbarian.’ She lifted her chin angrily. ‘You said you couldn’t trust me.’

‘I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean any of those things I said. I trusted you, even before you saved my life, but I knew you wouldn’t leave unless I made you and I was afraid of you getting hurt again.’

‘You mean you were trying to protect me?’

‘Yes.’

A welling of hope turned into a fresh burst of anger. ‘So you lied to me? And you expect me to forgive you for saying that I was untrustworthy? You tricked me!’

‘Only because I had to get you away from Cilurnum. I was afraid that none of us would survive. I thought that I wouldn’t. That’s why I lied.’

She stared at him incredulously, replaying the scene when he’d ordered her to leave in her head, only now from a new perspective. She’d replayed it so often over the past two months that she knew every word and look by heart. Was it really possible that he’d just been pretending?

‘How can I believe you?’ She shook her head in bewilderment. ‘How do I know you’re not just being honourable again? Because you don’t need to be. I have plans of my own. I’m going to start a kitchen here in Eboracum.’

‘Then I’ll ask Nerva to give me a job in headquarters here, too.’

‘What? No!’

‘The food would be worth it.’

‘No, Marius, you don’t have to feel responsible for me. I won’t let you take a demotion to the auxiliaries. If you do that, then you’ll never become Senior Centurion.’