Marta brought them boiled mussels as an appetizer, then lingered so long that Valeria had to pointedly dismiss her. Galba, typically reserved, gradually let his hostess prompt him to talk about the nature of horses and the skills required to govern five hundred men. Valeria was politely asked in turn about her plans for the household, the reported ease with which she was mastering the Celtic tongue, and changes she had brought. The tribune noticed that a flowered tapestry now covered the bloody mural.
"You're interested in my domestic campaign, tribune?"
"This house was mine, briefly."
She looked at him sympathetically. "Of course! How strange it must be to go back to your quarters in the barracks."
His look was enigmatic. "I'm at home out there."
"This house will be the garrison's home, not just mine, tribune. We will have many dinners. I want to make my husband's officers feel comfortable here."
He looked at her evenly. "That's very generous."
"It's the least I can do."
Supper was served. Galba seemed entertained simply by watching Valeria eat, the nibble of her lips, the pearl of her small teeth, the liquid of her eyes. She enjoyed his attention. The wine relaxed her, the company excited her. "Tell me your impressions of Britannia," he finally invited.
She approved of the subject. It wasn't time yet to discuss relationships in the fort. "It's a beautiful province, of course."
"So are most in the empire." He wanted something more interesting.
"It's a curious combination of the rustic and refined. At Lucinda's villa you can find products no different than Rome's. A mile away, a Celtic farmstead hasn't changed for a thousand years. Britons are grumpy one moment and lively the next. Even the weather shifts mood. It's fascinating."
"Not dull, after the glories of the capital?" He took another bite of venison.
"I've seen those glories and feel more alive here. Clodius said it's the possibility of death that defines life."
"Did he?"
"The ambush made me appreciate life more, I think. Isn't that curious?"
"And now you're being avenged."
"Yes. By my husband and Clodius."
"By two hundred men. To make you feel safe."
She shrugged. "I feel safe already. Safe with you."
He laughed. "A suitor would not think that a compliment. Nor a warrior."
"Which are you, Galba?"
"A guardian. A wall."
"The Wall is everything to you, isn't it?"
"It's my life. Not as grand as a senator's, but the Petriana is my core."
"I don't think you're quite the rogue you pretend to be. Not the dangerous man you pretend to be. Not the provincial you pretend to be. Do you ever pretend, Galba?"
"Everyone pretends a little. But I am what I am."
"That's what I like about you. You pretend less than the boys of Rome."
"Part of being a man is to stop pretending, lady. Pretense is useless on the battlefield. Weak men who pretend to be strong get killed."
Did he mean Marcus? "You're not a weak man."
"I'm an able one who needs only the right connections to go far."
"Of course you are!"
"Who needs only the right partner to achieve great things. Emperors have started from beginnings as humble as my own."
"You mean a patron?"
"I mean an alliance. Between the two brightest people on this post."
Was this the opening she was seeking? Marta brought the cakes, and they were quiet while she served them. Galba was watching Valeria carefully, impatient at this interruption.
"Is it lonely for you, Valeria?" he began again after the slave left. "Being so far from home?"
"I have Savia, of course."
He snorted.
"But she nags. She can't see that I've grown up. She treats me like a child."
"And you're a woman."
"Of course."
"With a woman's needs."
"Yes. Though I know I live in a masculine world now. Society here is so different than in Rome! I have to make new friends. Have new experiences."
"And you're adventurous."
"I want to know what life is all about. I've been too sheltered."
"Experiences like our ride today."
"And this supper! I'm enjoying our conversation."
"My poor company?"
"I'm enjoying your company, too."
"And I yours. I can give you more experience, Valeria."
She looked at him with amusement. "Can you, tribune?"
"I can teach you what the world really is, not what poets imagine it to be. How to impose your will on it. Just like you can teach me about Rome."
She laughed, nervous now, but a little thrilled. "What an instructor you must be!"
"I can teach you what it is to be a woman."
"You, a man?"
"I can teach you what it is to be a man."
Valeria looked at him uncertainly, confused as to what they were talking about. He was looking at her with an expression of frank equality, and it disturbed her.
"I can teach you about men and women." Suddenly Galba reached with his powerful arm around her neck to grip her shoulder, and pulled to kiss her. The action was as quick and practiced as a sword stroke, and before she could resist or exclaim, his mouth was on hers, his beard against her skin, his breath and tongue insistent.
It frightened her, and she jerked her head back, pulled free her arm, and slapped him awkwardly. It was hardly more than a tap because of her fear and confusion, and it produced only a sardonic grin.
"Please stop," she whispered.
He bent to kiss her again.
So then she reared away from him in earnest, spilling her wine cup and knocking over her chair as she pulled upright. "How dare you!"
He stood too. "Indeed, I'm a man of daring. You've never known one, Valeria. Let me show you what real men are like."
"I've just been married!"
"To a man who is never around, or half absent when he is here. He's at least a day's ride away, and your maidservant is off with Lucinda. Stop dreaming about life and experience it. Seize opportunity, or your life will be filled with regret."
"What opportunity?"
"To be with a real man and soldier who could win you a real empire, not just this rude fort."
She stepped back until she pressed against the tapestry on the wall, still sensing the dreadful mural behind it. Her indignation grew with her embarrassment. How could she have miscalculated so disastrously? "You've misunderstood my invitation. By the gods, you're just a common soldier! You dare make an advance on the newlywed wife of your commander, a praefectus of Rome?" She drew herself up, trying to be haughty but her voice breaking. "A senator's daughter, a woman chaste and loyal? You've mistaken an offer of friendship for an offer of another kind!"
"Don't pretend you didn't expect that. Or welcome it."
"Certainly not! Do you think I'd ever be physically attracted to the likes of you? That I would be intimate with someone of your station?"
"You impish flirt!"
"I'm sorry that you misinterpreted my invitation."
"I misinterpreted nothing."
"Now I must ask you to leave, and not return unless my husband is present."
She thought herself too good for him, this preening bauble? Galba's fury was growing. "You asked if I pretend, and the answer is no, Roman girl. I'm an honest man and thus incomprehensible to someone as false as you. You play at outrage? I know your kind. By the gods, you can be sure I won't come back to this house, with your husband or without him. Everyone knows that your favored birth is the only cause of Marcus's appointment, and that the two of you combined couldn't survive a day on the Wall without the protection of men like me."
"What arrogance! Get out of here!"
He stepped back, the distance between them suddenly yawning. "I'm going, to leave you to your loneliness. But someday, when you really grow up, you may indeed want a real man-and when that day comes, you'll have to come to me, not me to you, and then we'll meet in the stables, not here."