Page 99 of Taming the Eagle

A faint cry issued from the sling Kahina carried across her front then. Leo had woken Dahlia. Murmuring soothing words, Kahina reached down and stroked her infant daughter’s face. Dahlia was barely ten days old. It was the babe’s first time outside the walls of the fort since the birth. She was Kahina and Marcus’s second daughter. The infant’s elder sister, Ines, stood at her mother’s side, clutching hard to Kahina’s hand.

Fenella turned to where Ava stood patiently behind them, heavy shopping bags in hand. “What else do we need to buy?” she asked the cook. These trips to market weren’t so enjoyable when Leo threw tantrums.

“Just some cheese,” Ava assured her, “although, Leo has just reminded me now that we are getting low on eggs.”

“Very well,” Fenella replied through gritted teeth. “Let’s—”

She’d been about to tell them that she’d head back inside the fort and leave them to the rest of their shopping, when a horn’s blast echoed off the surrounding walls. The deep, haunting sound carried to all corners of the fort and the settlement beyond.

“They’re back!” Kahina gasped, a grin splitting her face.

Leo abruptly halted his wailing. “Pater?”

“Aye,” Fenella replied with a smile. The boy was quick, and already associated the goings-on inside the fort with his father. “Shall we go and see him?”

The boy’s face lit up, the eggs he’d so badly wanted to crush forgotten.

“We’ll see you back home later,” Fenella told Ava. She then followed Kahina and her daughters through the jostling crowd, back to Vindolanda’s west gate. Entering the fort, they hurried down the Via Praetoria, skirting around the hospital and the garrison headquarters, to emerge at the east gate.

The horn blasted once more, the sound rippling through the warm early summer air.

And there in the distance, Fenella spied dust rising against the horizon.

Justin had led his men out on a patrol eight days earlier, and had been away longer than usual. She’d begun to worry, just a little, while Kahina had openly fretted. Marcus had only spent two days with her and their newborn daughter before riding out, and she’d missed him terribly.

Gaze trained on the eastern horizon, Fenella waited. The earth started to vibrate then, and her skin prickled. A moment later, pilums and standards appeared through the dust, piercing the pale sky. And then red plumed helmets, polished silver and bronze gleaming in the sun, hove into view.

“Pater!” Leo wriggled in Fenella’s arms, pointing at the soldiers.

“Aye, he’s there, love,” Fenella assured her son. “Behind the standard-bearer … look.”

Commander Aquila was impossible to miss as he led his men back to the fort. He rode a spirited black horse, with Marcus close behind him. The rest of his men marched on foot, the thud of their feet, the rattle of shields and armor, forming a dull rumble.

Fenella didn’t take her gaze off her husband.

The man appeared invincible in his gleaming lorica and helmet, sitting upright in the saddle, his gaze trained upon the fort. He hadn’t yet seen her.

Watching him, Fenella was transported back to that day, many years earlier, in which she’d set eyes on him for the first time—in that pinewood near Ardoch, when she’d been racing to see her lover. Justin and his men had emerged from the trees, their cloaks billowing in the wind. Even then, she hadn’t been able to look away from him.

The Eagle.

Kahina had once teased her that she’d tamed him, but he’d also gentled her. Loving Justin Aquila had changed everything about how she saw the world and her place in it.

Her husband spied her then, a wide smile stretching across his tanned face. Urging his horse forward, he passed the standard-bearer and cantered up to where Fenella and Kahina stood before a gathering crowd lining the way into the fort.

Drawing up, he grinned down at his wife and son. “Well, this is a homecoming.”

Fenella smiled back. “Leo has missed his father.”

“And what about you, wife?”

“I was getting worried,” she replied, her gaze never leaving his. “You were gone longer than we expected.”

“We had to oversee some repairs to the Wall at Haltonchesters … they suffered a raid a month ago.” He paused then, his gaze fusing with hers. “I saw Aedan while we were there.”

“Really?” Kahina drew closer. “How is he?”

“The man’s wedded now and lives in the vicus outside Haltonchesters.” Justin’s mouth quirked then. “He’s taken a Roman woman as his wife.”