The Carpathian Interlude
Alternate Ending
It felt like an age since the darkness of that cavern, an age since the blood and pain of battle, since the cries of the dead in his ears.
But Gaius Justus Vitalis felt strong again, grateful for the warmth that ran through him, as swift and free as when he had run on the roads outside of Rome.
He looked down at where Fulvia, at last reunited with him, rested her head, her beautiful black hair in his lap, her eyes gazing lovingly up at him.
“I never thought we would be together again. In the darkest depths of my nightmare, I never thought to have this.” He looked about him, happy and admiring.
“Me neither,” Fulvia said, stretching and sitting to curl in the crook of his arm, as they leaned against a blossoming apple tree.
Birds sang more hea
