Page 34 of Of Love and Treason
Valens removed his leather satchel from beneath his cloak and laid it on the round sundial that had no doubt been placed in the grove long before the trees had grown around it, rendering it useless in shadow and green moss. The couples shuffled closer.
“We didn’t know if you’d really come.” Hector’s voice was low.
“I said I would.” Valens pulled out two scrolls, a bottle of ink, and a box of reed pens from the bag. “But if you wish to proceed, we will do things my way.”
Hector glanced at the two grooms, who nodded but looked wary. Valens lit a small lamp he’d brought and set it on the sundial, although they had no need of light.
“Corbulus and Galatia, yes?” Valens turned to the couple on his right. The one-eyed soldier gave a single nod while the pale-haired woman beside him smiled shyly and leaned into his side.
“And Felix and Vinia?”
“Yes.” The barrel-chested soldier put an arm around the woman with graying hair and a young face.
Valens gestured. “Stand here, Felix and Corbulus, and face your intended.”
The two men did as they were told and stood shoulder to shoulder, facing the two women, who stood across from them. Lillith and Hector clutched each other’s hands and watched from the side. A chill breeze shifted through the grove, causing the cedar branches to lift and droop and the yellowy-orange veils to billow.
“Take each other’s hands.”
They did as Valens directed. He bowed his head. “Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, You have made man and woman for each other and for relationship with You. I ask Your blessing on these couples who are here despite a man-made law and have pledgedthemselves to each other.” He opened his eyes and ignored the wide-eyed looks the eight turned on him as he invoked the blessing of a god Rome did not sanction. As long as he was breaking one law, he might as well keep going.
“The path you have chosen is difficult,” Valens continued. “What we’re doing here is dangerous and illegal.Treason—and yet, here you stand, gazing at each other as if death is of little consequence if the alternative is remaining apart.” He paused, feeling an uncomfortable flicker of envy as he watched the couples glowing at each other as if unaware he was even speaking.
The sky began to spit.
“Will you, Galatia and Vinia, pledge to remain faithful wives, loving and respecting your husbands until death parts you?”
The women nodded. “I will,” they said.
The wind fluttered the contracts on the sundial. Valens reached behind him and held them down with one hand. “And will you, Corbulus and Felix, pledge to remain faithful to your wives, protecting and providing for them, loving them better than yourselves as Christ so loved the world and gave Himself for it?”
Their eyebrows puckered in confusion, but they nodded. “I will,” they answered in unison and produced simple iron rings they slipped onto the third fingers of Vinia’s and Galatia’s left hands.
Valens unrolled the scrolls and heated a stick of imperial red wax above the guttering lamp flame before smearing a glob next to his signature and pressing a fisted hand into it, setting the notarius seal into the wax. The men gathered and mirrored his actions with their own seals.
Valens snuffed the lamp and rolled up the contracts. His lips lifted in a smile as he placed the sundial to his back and faced the couples.
“It is my honor, then, to pronounce you man—menand wives.”
Hector and Lillith beamed. Galatia smiled without showing her teeth as she leaned against Corbulus. Felix, however, swung Vinia off her feet and lifted her high enough to press an enthusiastic kiss on her mouth.
“All right, you two.” Hector laughed and slapped Felix’s shoulder. “There’ll be time enough for that later.”
Valens grinned and handed each couple their rolled contract before packing his things. He tucked the bag over his shoulder beneath his cloak.
“Come with us.” Hector gripped Valens’s shoulder. “I and some men from my legion have bought a tavern across from the Forum of Augustus. Have a drink with us to celebrate.”
Valens smiled but shook his head. “I’d better get home.”
Hector’s grip tightened, as did his smile. “Please.” The other four men watched expectantly. “There is something we must discuss.”
A latticework of climbing roses partially covered the open front of the Centaur’s Cup. The others had abandoned them at the entrance, and Hector seated Valens at a table near the back with the explanation that women were strictly prohibited.
“Lillith’s orders.” He shrugged and fetched two cups of wine from the barrels behind the counter. There were few patrons. Outside, the rain began falling in earnest, slapping the paving stones.
“Quintus!” Hector slapped the blue-clad back of a middle-aged man slouched over the counter. “Good to see you. How’ve you been?” The man, Quintus, mumbled something in response and Hector shook his head. “This one’s on me.” He refilled the man’s cup. Before returning to Valens, Hector caught the server behind the counter and spoke into his ear, flicking glances between Quintus and Valens. When he returned, his grin looked forced.
“We’ll have to speak carefully,” Hector muttered beneath his breath as he passed Valens a cup and sat across from him. “That’s the carcer jailor.” He tilted his head toward the man who looked about to fall asleep in his cups.
