‘You said it. Fancies her something rotten.’ Nessa craned her neck to look across the room at her friend who was leaning over the table and cradling Macro’s cheek in the palm of one hand. She turned back to Cato and whispered confidentially, as if Boudica might somehow hear her, ‘Between us, I’ve heard that Prasutagus has quite fallen in love with her. He’s going to escort us home to our village once spring comes. I shouldn’t be surprised if he takes the opportunity to ask Boudica’s father for permission to wed her.’

‘How does she feel about him?’

‘Oh, she’ll accept, of course.’

‘Really? Why?’

‘It’s not every day that a girl gets offered the hand of the next ruler of the Iceni.’

Cato nodded slowly. Boudica would not be the first woman he had met who placed social advancement before emotional fulfilment. Cato decided he would not tell his centurion about this. If Boudica was going to ditch Macro and marry someone else, then she could tell Macro herself. ‘A shame. She deserves better.’

‘Of course she does. That’s why she’s messing around with your centurion. Might as well have as much fun as she can, while she can. I doubt Prasutagus will give her much of a free rein once they’re married.’

A sudden crash sounded from behind them. Cato and Nessa turned and saw that the door to the alehouse had been kicked open. Squeezing through it was one of the largest men Cato had ever seen. As the man straightened up, rather awkwardly, his head met the thatch. Swearing angrily in his native tongue, he ducked and moved forward to where he could stand erect and have a good look round at the customers. He was well over six feet tall, and broad to match. The bulging muscles under the hairy skin of his forearms made Cato gulp as with a sick sense of inevitability he guessed who the new arrival was.

When The Eagle Hunts

Chapter Three

‘Oh dear!’ Nessa winced. ‘Now we’re for it.’

As Prasutagus glared round at the drinkers, they fell silent, and tried not to meet his eyes while carefully keeping him in clear view. Cato looked beyond the Iceni giant. In the nook by the door, Boudica and Macro were out of the new arrival’s line of sight, and Boudica quickly indicated to Macro that he should get under the bench. He shook his head. She jabbed her finger down insistently, but there was no swaying the centurion. He swung his leg over the bench, ready to confront the new arrival. Boudica quickly drained her mug and dived under the bench herself, pressing into the wall furthest from Prasutagus. In doing so she jolted the table and her mug tipped off the edge and shattered on the stone floor.