Page 87 of Taming the Eagle

It was clear the tribune wouldn’t permit him to return to the ditch, so Justin turned and set off back toward the fort. Ahead, the grey stone walls caught the morning sun. The day was young, yet it wasn’t too early to take his men through drills. Hopefully, Lucius would remain to admire the Vallum.

No such luck. To his ire, the tribune fell into step with him.

“This wall will be the greatest feat of engineering the empire has ever seen,” the man continued, gesturing to where men were heaving heavy stones onto pulleys. “A fine legacy for Hadrian.”

“Indeed.”

All Rome’s emperors liked to leave something behind, for history to remember them by, but Hadrian had outdone himself.

Justin’s mouth thinned. These days, he could barely bring himself to care about the things that had once mattered to him.

The east gate to the fort loomed before him, and Justin lengthened his stride.

Ever since Fenella had left, there seemed little point in anything.

“Your move.”

Justin glanced up from where he’d been staring at the Latrunculi board. “What?”

Aedan frowned. “The pieces won’t move themselves, Commander.”

Justin blinked, coming out of his reverie. He then shifted his gaze back to the game. He’d had a strategy earlier, yet he couldn’t recall it now. His thoughts had been miles away.

Picking up a piece, he moved it diagonally. He then reached for his calix of wine and took a deep draft. “Your turn.”

When he looked Aedan’s way once more, the Brigante was still frowning. “You didn’t think that one over, did you?”

Justin snorted. “What?”

Leaning forward, Aedan shifted one of his counters, boxing Justin’s second-last one in. He then turned that counter over. “Can you get out of ‘alligatus’?”

Justin’s gaze narrowed as he surveyed the board. Mithras, he was half asleep. How had Aedan managed to beat him so quickly?

Muttering a curse, he leaned back in his chair. “You win.”

Aedan nodded, although he hardly looked victorious. Instead, his expression was enigmatic as he plucked Justin’s last counter from the board. “You never give me such an easy win.”

Justin pulled a face. “I’m just tired,” he muttered.

That wasn’t a lie. With the tribune popping up at inopportune moments, he’d been unable to rejoin the men working on the Vallum. Instead, he’d exhausted himself by taking his men through drills for the rest of the day. It was now late afternoon, and he regretted attempting a game of Latrunculi with his sharp-witted slave.

Aedan picked up his own calix and took a sip. They sat at a table in the tablinum of the praetorium—Justin’s new residence inside Vindolanda. It was a huge room, twice the size of the one he’d had at Ardoch, with colorful murals on the walls, but Justin preferred his old tablinum and the memories it held.

“I didn’t realize you were in love with her,” the Brigante said after a pause.

Justin’s fingers clenched around the stem of his calix. He was surprised that his slave had the balls to bring up Fenella. This was his fault; he’d treated Aedan like an equal too often over the years. The relationship between slave and master had merged into a friendship of sorts.

But no one, not even Marcus, would have dared talk about Fenella so plainly with him.

Sensing Justin’s anger, Aedan’s jaw tightened. “A woman like that can never be happy caged. You did the right thing letting her go.”

Justin scowled, wishing his slave would shut his mouth. He wasn’t sure how much longer his fraying patience would endure. He now wished he hadn’t told his household that he’d freed Fenella and then proposed to her. However, he’d informed them just after she’d ridden out, while things were still raw. “I didn’t want to cage her,” he replied tightly. “I wanted her to be my wife.”

“You took a risk,” Aedan agreed. He leaned back in his chair and scratched his jaw. “Although, I think you underestimated how much freedom is worth to a slave.”

Anger spiked through Justin’s gut. “I knew how much it mattered to her.”

Aedan met his eye, his own sea-blue gaze hardening. “How could you?” There was an edge of bitterness to his voice then. “You have spent your life ruling over others. You have no idea what it’s like to have your liberty stripped from you … to become someone’s property.”