“I thought I was coming to kill him myself,” Sabellia said, looking at her hand and the agent’s. “But he was lying there, so young, and I … If you left him alive, Aulus, I would.”
The agent paused and turned the woman gently to face him. A spray of dogwood overhung the trail edge. It brushed Sabellia’s hair with white flowers. “I’ve been making an assumption,” Perennius said. “I’ve been assuming that you’d want to come with me. As my wife.”
“Oh, thank God,” Sabellia said. She stepped closer, hugging Perennius with a fierce joy.
Perennius nuzzled her red hair. When he closed his eyes, he thought he could feel Calvus watching them with a smile.