He sat cross-legged by the fire with his gladius across his knees. The firelight touched his hair from russet to gold, and the muscles leaped under the skin of his bare arms as he worked the whetstone back and forth. There was a trick to getting a sword sharp, Sabina knew by now. A small knife first, to scrape off any patches of rust, then a good hard session with a whetstone—long strokes for the cutting edge, small strokes to hone the point. Then oil to smooth the blade, tenderly rubbed in with a soft cloth. Anyone who thought men couldn’t tend babies, Sabina reflected as she settled beside Vix, hadn’t seen a legionary tend a sword.

“I brought wine,” Titus announced, holding up a skin. “Would I bring wine if I were running off with your girl?”

“Give me the wine, and you can have her.”

“Can I?” Titus asked. But Vix just put an arm around Sabina and snugged her in close beside him, kissing her temple.

“Where’s Simon and the others?” Sabina looked around the campfire.

“Boil and Philip have sentry duty tonight, poor buggers.” Vix picked up his whetstone again. “And Simon got picked out by the optio for some additional scouting. We have the fire to ourselves.” And later the tent, his eyes gleamed at Sabina. For once we can be as loud as we like. Countless times sharing a bed, Sabina thought, and he could still clench her stomach up like a knot with one glance like that.

Titus gave a cough and poured out the wine into tin cups, and the three of them sat lazy in the fire’s leaping shadows. Or rather, Sabina and Titus sat lazy. Vix tapped one foot restlessly against a stone and griped about the siege.

“—more catapults,” he was arguing. “Build enough, and the gates’ll come down.”

“Build any more siege engines, and we’ll be out of trees.” Even in argument, Titus was mild. “For myself, I’d just pay to get those gates open. According to Cato, ‘No fort is so strong that it cannot be taken with money.’”

“Cicero,” Sabina said lazily. “Cicero said that.” Titus’s literary references tended to elicit blank stares from Vix and his friends, but she could usually top him quote for quote.