“Eilan,” he said in a low voice, “let me see your face. It has been too long.”
She gave a little laugh. “I was a fool. I thought it would be safe to see you again.” She shrugged then and pulled back the veil, and he saw that her eyes were wet with tears.
Gaius blinked, for Eilan looked not older so much as more like herself, as if the girl he had known had been only a blurred sketch of the woman she was to become. Despite the tears and the neck that seemed too slender for the weight of the golden torque, she looked strong. And why not? he thought then. In her own sphere she has wielded as much power as any legionary commander, these past years. This woman could not be the Fury who had so frightened him. His vision blurred with old memories. He wanted to throw himself at her feet and declare his love for her, but that lout with the spear would be on him in a minute if he moved.
“Listen, for I do not know how long I can stay here,” he said quickly. “War is coming—not because of your grandfather’s death, but because of events in Rome. I can tell you no more, except that there will be a rising against the Emperor. Macellius hopes the British will support us, but there is no telling which way things will go. I must get you to a place of safety, Eilan, you and the boy.”
Eilan looked at him, and her changeable eyes went flat and hard. “Let me be sure I understand you. Now, when the Imperium is about to tear itself apart, you want to offer me Roman protection. After all these years! Isn’t it rather more likely that if there should be trouble during the coming weeks I will be safer here”—she indicated the walls and the hulking figure of Huw with a graceful wave of her hand—“than you and yours are likely to be?”
Gaius flushed. “Are you so sure your own people will never turn on you? Your Oracles have been a force for peace with Rome—and now that your grandfather is not here, whom do you think people like Cynric will blame if things go wrong? Can’t you see that you must come with me?”
“I must…？” Her eyes flashed. “And what does your Roman wife say to this fine plan? Has she tired of you after twelve years?”
“Julia has become a Christian and sworn an oath of chastity. That is grounds enough for divorce in Roman law. I could marry you, Eilan, and we could be together. If you will not, I can formally adopt our son!”
“So kind of you!” Eilan’s face was now as red as it had been pale. She rose to her feet suddenly and started down the path, her skirts sweeping the gravel behind her. Gaius and Huw jumped up, both of them, it seemed to him, equally taken aback, and followed.
At the end of the garden was a hedge, just low enough for Gaius to see over it to a flat space between the buildings and the outer walls where several children were playing with a sewn leather ball. After a few moments it became clear to Gaius that one boy was the leader, a lad as leggy as a young colt who was just beginning to grow into his bones. His curls were tawny on top from a summer in the sun, but underneath they were dark, and as he turned to shout to one of his team-mates, there was something so like Macellius in his expression that it stopped Gaius’s breath.
Eilan had begun to speak again, but Gaius’s gaze was on the boy. His heart was hammering so hard he thought they must hear it in Deva, but the child, intent on his game, never looked around.
“When I bore him in that hut in the forest, where were you?” Her voice, low and furious, was pitched for his ears. “And when I fought to keep him with me, and all these years when I watched over him in secret, never daring to admit he was my own? He does not know I am his mother, but I have kept him safely. Now, when he is almost come to manhood, you would step in and take him away? I think not Gaius Macellius Severus Siluricus!” she hissed. “Gawen knows nothing of Rome!”
“Eilan!” he whispered. Gaius had thought what he felt for this child the one time he had held him had been some fancy; but he could feel it again, a longing that shook his bones. “Please!”
She turned her back and began to move back down the path. “My thanks to you, Roman, for your sympathy,” she said loudly and clearly. “It was kind of you to come. As you say, the death of Ardanos has been a great loss. Do take our respectful greetings back to the Legate and to your father.”