The Winter Sword: A Novel of Germania and Rome (Hraban Chronicles Book 3) by Longward Alaric

Author:Longward, Alaric [Longward, Alaric]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Hardhill Productions
Published: 2015-07-09T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

She was not happy.

She was hissing like a cat while daubing something tangy on my wound, plastering a bandage on it. Eventually, I began to pick up words in the strange, unnerving, but definitely disapproving noise that drifted from between her lips. She was speaking half in Gaulish, partly in Latin and probably added some Germani words into the mix. I said nothing, for I was strangely happy. I waited until she slowed down, and I now made out the words “goat” and “a bastard snake of Bel” and also “a filthy womanizer,” but I figured it was best to wait until she could breathe fully. I half wished Brimwulf and Mathildis had stayed in the room, but they had decided to give me privacy with Cassia. Finally, she slapped my other bottom with her hand, and I was sure it left a red mark and the slap could be heard all the way to the gates.

‘Why?’ she said, looking steadily at my eyes.

‘Why did I lie about marrying her?’ I asked, and her eyes went into thin slits of suspicion. She tugged at her dark braid and shook her head empathetically.

‘Did you lie?’ she asked me, poking a long nail at my chest.

‘It’s a long story, love,’ I said and tried to coax her closer. ‘But I am not married. Nor, in truth, have I slept with another woman.’ She looked just as beautiful as she had the day I had rescued her from Varnis though her hair was longer and under her eyes there were rings of dark. She was a healer in the castra, and she wore a stained grey tunic that covered her shapely body all the way to her knees, and there was a thick, practical cloak hung over her shoulders, which had stains of blood. She had been waiting for me for well over a year, probably sure I was dead. ‘I’m happy you did not marry, either,’ I said and as she arched her eyebrow. I frowned. ‘You did not?’

‘Chariovalda kept flirting at me,’ she stated maliciously.

‘He is married! And old!’

‘He is a all that, but also wonderful goat who would have refused if I had surprised him by saying yes,’ she said with a smile. ‘It is his way. But yes, many men have wanted me. Married and single men. I have been living amongst them for this past year. And why? Because you left me in fucking Castra Vetera to go and warn your Drusus, and you promised to come right back!’ That was not strictly true, I thought, but nodded meekly. And then you rode off after Armin. With Thusnelda on your lap!’

‘Cassia,’ I sighed, cursing Fulcher for sharing the lap riding detail with her. ‘I have missed you.’ She raised her hand to silence me, and I wanted to touch her half-relieved, half-enraged face. She probably had no doubts about my fidelity, but she needed to whip me for something, and I was ready to let her do it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.