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But, then again, he couldn’t imagine Cam or Brody up, either.

It was all a strange mystery.

He could have gone back inside to help Esme, but he didn’t feel comfortable doing that. He could feel the same tension this morning that he felt last night, wondering if Ambrose and Conan had left the Ludus Caledonia for good. Until he received confirmation that they had left, he was on his guard. That meant that he was going to patrol around the cottage to protect the precious cargo inside.

His wife.

A smile spread across his lips as he realized that, as of a couple of hours ago, he had a wife. That was never anything he ever imagined for himself. It was a strange realization, but it was also a wonderful one. It was surprising how he felt complete this morning, as if an unknown missing piece inside of him had been found.

Esme was that piece he had been missing all along and never knew it.

Titus thought back on all of the women he had toyed with over the years, of all of the females he had admitted to his bed. There had been times when he’d had more than one woman a night. On some nights, if he was feeling particularly randy, there had been a constant stream of women in and out of his bed, two or three at a time to satisfy his voracious appetite.

But it occurred to Titus that even with all of those women, he had always felt empty the next day. He had always felt just as lonely as he ever had, and he realized in hindsight that all of those women represented something he could never satisfy – the missing piece that only one woman, the right woman, had filled so easily.

He wasn’t alone any longer.

That was perhaps the most joyous realization of all.

With a sword in hand, one he kept in his cottage for self-protection, he wandered circles around his cabin, hearing Esme speaking sweetly to her little bee, who had died while they had been sleeping. The bee, which had meant so much to her, had died on the day of her marriage and there was something poignant about that. It had filled a need in Esme, too, as she’d mentioned, but with the event of Titus, the need had been filled. The little bee had done his duty and now his time was over.

But they’d always remember that little bee.

There was a line of trees a few feet away from his cottage and then a clearing after that which was sometimes used as a traveling path from the village up to the community garden and the kitchens. Titus was over in the clearing, watching the warrior’s village come alive as the morning deepened, when he heard something behind him.

Whirling around, sword leveled, he came face to face with a man he’d never seen before.

It was an older man, about his height, whose wet, dark hair had a good deal of gray in it. He was well-built and healthy, and from what Titus could see, he didn’t have any weapons on him.

Titus frowned.

“Who are ye?” he demanded. “I’ve not seen ye here before.”

The man’s behavior seemed timid, uncertain. “I’ve not been here before,” he said. “My first visit tae the Ludus Caledonia was last night.”

Titus didn’t think the man was much of a threat, so he lowered his sword. “What are ye doing near the village?” he asked. “’Tis forbidden tae visitors.”

The man nodded with resignation. “I thought so,” he said. “But I had tae come. I am looking for my son.”

Titus frowned. “If yer son ran off, then ye should tell the sentries. I canna help ye.”

The man didn’t say anything for a moment. He kept his gaze fixed on Titus. “Ye’re the man they call The Eagle?” he asked.

Titus scratched his head, growing bored with the conversation and a patron who had evidently not left when he was supposed to.

“If ye saw me fight last night, then ye know I am.”

The man nodded. “I did,” he said. “Ye were magnificent.”

“I know.”

The man grinned, amused with the reply. No thanks, no gratitude. Simply I know. “I heard that yer name is Titus Stewart,” he said.

“It is.”

“My name is Hugh Stewart. Ye’re the son I am looking for.”

It took Titus a moment to realize what the man said. He was so busy being bored with the conversation and thinking on Esme in the cottage a few feet away that several seconds ticked by before the statement registered. Then he looked at the man, sharply, his entire face contorted with shock and disbelief.