The voice that followed was new to Hadrian, but he at least recognized the face. Alerio, the young man always in the shadow of Vulpes Inculta. While his superior was charged with watching the strip and the wasteland, no one really knew what young Alerio's job description was. Obviously, the Frumentarii preferred it that way.
"Are you a sodomite?"
"What?"
"Are you a sodomite? Tell me now and your death will come free of torture."
"By Mars, I swear I'm not!" Hadrian's protestations were genuine, and genuinely baffled. Even if he'd found men appealing, no one these days was foolish enough to try and get away with such a thing- not if even a Centurion could be crucified for it. Did Hadrian have an unknown enemy trying to get him executed, spreading rumors and lies?
"Then why haven't you performed your duty with your wife?"
Of course. How Alerio knew, Hadrian had no idea, but he'd known somehow he couldn't get away with it forever.
"She is my slave, to do with as I see fit. How I use her does not concern you."
The words had barely escaped Hadrian's lips when Alerio struck him with the butt of his gun. Hadrian fell, his head throbbing, landing on the ground beside the ever-placid Laura. He knew better than to try and fight back, but oh how his soldier's soul had to be restrained!
"Your slave, soldier? You owe Caesar as much of a duty as she does to you, to be done with as he sees fit. You have not so much as made a single attempt to produce a child for the Legion! I ask again, are you a sodomite or simply impotent?"
"I don't fuck corpses!" Hadrian was surprised by his own outburst, but could hardly stop himself. "Look at her! She's been dead since Nipton. A child of hers would suckle blood from her breasts, if she didn't kill it upon arrival! She has no heart left to be a wife or a mother! I haven't consummated our marriage because the touch of such a creature repulses me."
Hadrian half-expected to be killed for insubordination, but Alerio seemed to have barely noticed.
"Your wife seems pliant enough now."
"She has no choice!"
"I know that, soldier." Alerio's cold face now bore a smile more horrible than his rage. "What I don't know is why you think you do."
Worthy of Mars 5/?
"Are you a sodomite?"
"What?"
"Are you a sodomite? Tell me now and your death will come free of torture."
"By Mars, I swear I'm not!" Hadrian's protestations were genuine, and genuinely baffled. Even if he'd found men appealing, no one these days was foolish enough to try and get away with such a thing- not if even a Centurion could be crucified for it. Did Hadrian have an unknown enemy trying to get him executed, spreading rumors and lies?
"Then why haven't you performed your duty with your wife?"
Of course. How Alerio knew, Hadrian had no idea, but he'd known somehow he couldn't get away with it forever.
"She is my slave, to do with as I see fit. How I use her does not concern you."
The words had barely escaped Hadrian's lips when Alerio struck him with the butt of his gun. Hadrian fell, his head throbbing, landing on the ground beside the ever-placid Laura. He knew better than to try and fight back, but oh how his soldier's soul had to be restrained!
"Your slave, soldier? You owe Caesar as much of a duty as she does to you, to be done with as he sees fit. You have not so much as made a single attempt to produce a child for the Legion! I ask again, are you a sodomite or simply impotent?"
"I don't fuck corpses!" Hadrian was surprised by his own outburst, but could hardly stop himself. "Look at her! She's been dead since Nipton. A child of hers would suckle blood from her breasts, if she didn't kill it upon arrival! She has no heart left to be a wife or a mother! I haven't consummated our marriage because the touch of such a creature repulses me."
Hadrian half-expected to be killed for insubordination, but Alerio seemed to have barely noticed.
"Your wife seems pliant enough now."
"She has no choice!"
"I know that, soldier." Alerio's cold face now bore a smile more horrible than his rage. "What I don't know is why you think you do."