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T he next day, Lucretia took a detour on her way to the office. She had two missions this morning, each important in their own way. Firstly, she had to see if she could mend things between Dihya and Caeso.

Secondly, she was going to disrupt Felix’s operations. After learning of his attempt to sway Lentulus against her, she had decided on a tactic to indicate that such efforts would not be tolerated.

Caeso’s bakery stall was on the way to the harbor, so she stopped there first. The breakfast rush had already passed, but even so, there were two people in line when she arrived. She waited patiently as they completed their purchases, then stepped up to the counter.

Caeso nodded politely to her. “Good morning, Lucretia.” His brown eyes flicked anxiously behind her, no doubt expecting to see Dihya. The corners of his mouth pulled down slightly when he noticed she was alone. “What can I get for you?”

“A honey cake and a few moments of your time, if you please.” No one else was in line behind her, so hopefully she had enough time to get through this conversation before Caeso’s attention was called elsewhere. “I heard you had dinner with Dihya the other night.”

He glanced away from her as he retrieved her requested delicacy. “Has she sent you to berate me? Believe me, I’ve done enough of that to myself.”

Lucretia rested her hands on the wooden counter between them. “I think there may have been some confusion about the dinner.”

His gaze snapped to hers. “Confusion?” He wrapped the honey cake in a clean white cloth and laid it on the counter before her.

“You see, Dihya intended you as a suitor for her daughter. She arranged the dinner for you two to meet.”

Caeso’s mouth dropped open. “Her daughter? Tadla is a child!”

“She’s of age to marry. The same age I was when my parents were thinking of a match.”

Caeso clenched his fists as if on the verge of punching himself. “Oh, how could I have been such an idiot? What must she think of me?”

Lucretia pressed her lips together against a smile. “Dihya had much the same reaction.”

“Following her and kissing her like that—and what must her daughter have thought?” Caeso grimaced. “I must have offended the poor girl terribly.”

Caeso’s immediate concern for Tadla bolstered her good opinion of him. “I don’t think Tadla has much desire to marry yet, so I wouldn’t worry too greatly about her. I imagine she’s somewhat relieved, in all honesty.”

“I thought—I thought Dihya was flirting with me,” Caeso stammered. “And she did keep going on about her daughter, but I assumed that’s just how mothers are. I swear by Vesta, she never said anything about marrying her daughter!”

“I know,” Lucretia said. “Dihya made some unfortunate assumptions. Though,” she allowed her voice to take on a gently chiding tone, “I would caution you against kissing women with no explicit indication that they would welcome it. If you had been more circumspect, this whole situation may have been avoided.” Though, to be fair, if Caeso hadn’t acted so impulsively, how long might this whole miscommunication have lasted?

Caeso ran an agonized hand through his short dark hair.

“You’re right. I was so foolish. She gave me this odd look when she left the table.

I thought she wanted me to follow her! I couldn’t think what else she meant by it.

Please, Lucretia, will you apologize to both of them on my behalf?

I’m sure they don’t wish to see me, but I must beg their forgiveness for how I acted. ”

“My hope is that you may be able to deliver such a message in person,” Lucretia said.

“Dihya asked me to come speak to you, to see if there really was a misunderstanding. I’ll tell her of our conversation, and I believe she’ll want to apologize to you as well.

She should have been clearer about her intentions. ”

“Oh, if you could make that happen, I’d be eternally grateful,” Caeso said.

“I couldn’t live with myself if she thought poorly of me.

I really do like her—I mean, more than like her.

I think about her all the time. She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

No offense,” he added hastily, flushing.

Lucretia grinned. His infatuation was endearing. “None taken.”

“I was sure there was no way she’d think of me like that,” he continued. “Then she invited me to dinner and I thought, maybe she liked me too. Maybe this was my chance. But then everything went so wrong. Oh, Lucretia, if you could help me fix things with her, I’d owe you, well, everything .”

“I’ll do my best.” Lucretia took out her purse to pay for the honey cake, but Caeso waved away her coins. She accepted the gesture with a grateful nod. Another patron had appeared in line behind her, so she bid Caeso farewell and continued on her way.

Time for her second mission.

Lucretia made her way from Caeso’s stall to the harbor, shading her eyes as she gazed out at the water.

A ship was slowly making its way in, sails furled as a neat row of oars dipped in and out of the water.

Usually, she only came to the harbor when she was expecting one of her ships to return.

But today, she had come to surveil Felix’s ship.

She watched the ship until she was sure she recognized it as the Proserpina , one of Felix’s vessels.

Then, she headed to the nearby building which housed the office that dealt with import and taxation.

She bypassed the man watching the entrance with a smile and a silver coin, then entered the first room she came to, a large space filled with clerks scribbling onto wax tablets. The clicking of abaci filled the air.

Lucretia glanced around, chin raised as she waited for someone to notice her. She carried herself as if she were expected, as if she had every right to walk into this room and survey their operations.

After several moments, a portly man in a rust-red tunic hastened up to her. “Are you lost, lady?” Thankfully, he wasn’t one of the bureaucrats whom she’d met before. Today, it was better for her not to be recognized.

“No.” She smiled sweetly, noting how his gaze softened as she did so. “I’d like to pass along some intelligence that the Proserpina —Lucius Avitus Felix’s ship—is carrying unreported cargo. I heard some gossip at a dinner party and I felt it was only my duty to report it.”

The man frowned. “Lucius Avitus Felix always pays his taxes.”

“But can you be sure that he pays in full ? I’ve been told it’s very easy to conceal items of value among humbler cargo. I would hate to think he was depriving your office of its due.”

“Well—I would never accuse a man like Lucius Avitus Felix—” the man stammered.

“I’m not accusing anyone,” Lucretia replied. “Merely suggesting that you look into it.” She dropped a small coin purse in front of the man, which he only barely caught, then turned and left the building.

She couldn’t resist a smile of satisfaction. If Felix was going to go after Lentulus, then she would go after Felix’s cargo.

This tip to the tax officials wouldn’t actually harm him—provided he wasn’t engaging in any illegal activity. Felix seemed scrupulous, so she doubted he had anything to fear from an audit of his cargo.

But it would be a nuisance, and Felix deserved a nuisance after his efforts to steal her investors out from under her. He needed to know that he couldn’t get away with such schemes without retaliation.

However, she couldn’t help wondering what Felix would try next. Perhaps he would try to go after her suppliers. She would have to write some letters, try to get ahead of him.

There was only one way he could truly destroy her, one great risk she’d taken to guarantee herself full autonomy over her business. As long as that secret remained hidden, she could face whatever Felix threw at her.