Chapter 26

"I knew you would show yourself."

Vulpes stepped through the door, dressed in his Mr. Fox attire. "Yes, I suspect my presence isn't surprising." He adjusted the hem of his gambling coat. "Though, I must admit, I hadn't anticipated that you would be waiting for me."

"No," she agreed. "I'd imagined that you would be worried about me."

Vulpes quirked an eyebrow but did nothing else to verbalize his confusion.

And since she had no patience for his inscrutable demeanor, she quickly dispelled that confusion. "My last words to you? I felt that they would raise some red flags. You don't think I'm dispensable. What is the Courier Reborn getting herself into now? What trouble will she find? What dangers will she seek? What is she trying to prove and how far will she go to prove it?"

Vulpes allowed himself an impressed smirk. "And you plotted all of this from one mysterious remark? Why?"

"You should know why. Taking you out of the Legion is the first step of taking the Legion out of you."

"If you wanted me to accompany you outside of the Fort, you need only to ask—"

"No," she snapped quickly. "It's not just that. Of course you would have come if I asked. That's not what this is about. I want you to tell me the truth. The fact that you are even here suggests you have something to hide."

"I'm afraid I do not follow—"

But she cut him off again. She would not allow him a moment to conjure lies, she would not give him some semblance of advantage. They were here, in her territory. No Legion. No Caesar. No Frumentarii for Vulpes to shroud himself with. "Tell me something Vulpes," she said, a deep pain threatening to crack her voice. She kept her words, her tone low and hoped it sounded threatening. "What is this?" She unwound the scarf from her neck and tossed it to him.

He caught it easily, but his eyes did not leave her face. They did not inspect the garment he held in his hands. "It's a scarf. The very same, I believe, you gave to that woman and her infant at the Fort, before they escaped with it."

"A man of the Legion, one of Caesar's top Councilors, sees a slave girl brought before Caesar, accused of stealing, with nothing but a baby wrapped in a scarf. And what does that scarf mean? You parade another slave before your precious Caesar. You follow that slave when trouble seems to find her. You stave off the rapists, thieves, and murderers that lurk in the shadows. The slave tries to escape, only she is not fast enough. She is punished, tortured without end. And what do you do? You save this slave. You decide to marry her."

"It was the only way—" he began softly, uncharacteristically.

She did not allow him gentleness. "Other slaves have suffered worse than I. What did I do to deserve such goodwill from you? Siri and Carla called you the Most Evil Man of the Mojave. I have seen the testimony of that name in the ashes of Nipton, in the radioactive waves of Searchlight. Yet when it comes to the nameless, godforsaken Courier Reborn, you act as some sort of Savior."

She finished her rant for the moment, breathing heavily. Fatigue overcame her perception, and her head felt immensely heavy. She did not lower it, though, did not dare to break her gaze with Vulpes.

And for once in an uncharacteristically vulnerable moment, Vulpes could not calculate the appropriate words to say, the words that would grant him the ability to defuse her temper. "What do you want me to say?" His voice was thick.

She gave herself a moment of pause. She looked about the dark room in a dramatic fashion. Then, she very carefully placed her words. "This room reminds of the cave."

She noticed his reaction in the way he held still. Vulpes was a master of extreme self-control, and he seemed to not even allow himself a breath of air. "What are you talking about?"

"I waited a night and a day for you just now. I waited a night and day for you before. I watched the sun rise and fall through the window, just like the cave mouth. Except, this time you came back."

Vulpes continued to hold very still, as if treading dangerous waters. "You remember the cave?" he asked carefully.

"I remember waiting for hours in the heat. I remember the way my calves felt crouching in the darkness, tense and on fire. I remember the crushing disappointment when I realized I had been abandoned."

"I didn't abandon you," he said quietly, but his tone wasn't convincing.

She leaned back and said nothing, allowing him his singular moment for explanation.

He sighed, moving away from the door and choosing a seat on the other end of the room, still a distance from her. The scarf remained in his hands, and he methodically worked the fabric between his fingers as he refused to look at her. After a moment of this distraction, he found his voice. "I wish things had turned out differently. Truly. But the fact remains; things between us have been much changed. You're not the same girl I left back in that cave. What use would have it been if I told you the truth? Would you have believed me for a second if I told you we were lovers? That you were a timid girl that abhorred bloodshed and was obsessed with children? Oh God, the fucking children." He sighed, pressing he bridge of his nose with two fingers. "You took care of every orphan we came across. You wanted children so badly, sometimes I thought you merely kept me around as a means to an end, not that we ever met that end."

Something inside of her cringed at this alien description of her. She had a special fondness for Baby Craig, but outside of that bond, she felt no such pull to be a mother. If anything, the idea made her cringe all the more. But she kept her silence, waiting for Vulpes to finish his thoughts and memories.

"Can you even imagine being a mother now? I don't think so. But it's not just you. I'm not the same boy that left you in that cave. Would you believe that I had no interest in military matters? That there had been a time when Vulpes Inculta was not called Vulpes Inculta and he kept his hair long like his hopes and his dreams? How futile. How vapid." The reminiscing of himself turned deprecating.

"So what happened in the cave? What were you called before Vulpes? Who am I?"

His smile was thin and cold. He might have been attempting softness or warmth, but neither suited Vulpes Inculta, and she wondered if he had ever been soft or warm. It seemed unlikely to her. "Your name was Mary, or that's what you called yourself. I was never sure if that was your real name. But you came from the east, as if you were fleeing something. You never told me what. Eventually, I had gotten the impression you came from as far as the east coast. We met in a small tribal town in Utah, and to this day, I've still no idea how you managed to bypass the growing Legion in Colorado."

When he paused too long for her liking, she prompted him. "What happened in Utah?"

His eyes finally left the scarf, meeting hers unwaveringly. "We fell in love."