Page 22 of The Tribune Temptation (Roman Heirs #1)

C rispina smiled to herself as she knelt in the dirt to gather the writing materials from today’s lesson. Max was off in another corner of the courtyard tossing a ball with the rest of her students.

Her smiles came easier nowadays. Five months of blissful coupling with Aelius had that effect, apparently. Their marriage was now eight months old in total, and now only five weeks remained until the election.

A chilly winter had passed, during which Cassandra gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Taurus was a doting father, and the couple named their daughter Aelia Crispina.

Little Aelia was the only baby who would grace their home for now. A familiar ache brewed low in Crispina’s stomach as she reached for the last wax tablet. She sighed. Her courses would arrive in the next day or two, no doubt. Right on schedule. Over the past five months since she’d been lying with Aelius, she had slowly abandoned her hope of conceiving a child. The disappointment lessened each month. Now, she barely spared it a thought.

The only true dark spot in her happiness was her falling out with Horatia, but even that couldn’t dull her joy. Horatia had sent her a letter about a week after their fight with a detailed apology. Upon reading it, Crispina felt a momentary tug toward forgiveness, but cast the letter aside without replying. She had Aelius, Max, and Gaia now. She didn’t need her old snobbish friend, apology or no.

Crispina stacked the wax tablets in her basket, then counted the styluses. One was missing. She glanced up to scan the ground for it—and her gaze lit on a pair of feet wearing sandals of tooled leather. Her head jerked up to see the hem of a blue-dyed tunic, embroidered with silver thread. Much too fine for this neighborhood.

She looked up even further to find a man’s narrow face staring down at her. Sunlight turned his blond hair to flashes of gold.

Crispina scrambled to her feet. “Rufus,” she gasped. What was Publius Veturius Rufus doing here, of all places?

Her husband’s opponent lowered his head in a stiff nod. “Crispina.”

Two hulking men flanked Rufus, each twice his size and wearing matching gray tunics. The courtyard had gone silent. Crispina glanced around. The children had vanished. Except Max, who was staring at the four of them with his small fists clenched.

Crispina’s mouth went dry. Danger hummed in the air, but she couldn’t think what this all was about. She thought back to the last time she’d seen Rufus, when accepting his insincere apology in the Forum, and summoned the cool demeanor she’d affected then. “Are you lost, Rufus? I’d be happy to escort you home. Oh, forgive me, perhaps you’re visiting family here.”

His pale cheeks flushed. It was too easy to antagonize him by reminding him of his humble roots as the son of a baker. “Alas, lady, neither of your conjectures are correct. I came to see you.”

“How…” She swallowed hard. How did you find me here?

“I’ve been having you followed for the last month. Your husband too, but I’m afraid he never goes anywhere interesting. Not like you.”

Crispina’s breath stopped for a moment, but she raised her chin. “What do you want, Rufus?”

“Merely to warn you.” His voice warmed with sickly concern. “This is a dangerous neighborhood. I’m sure your husband would not want to hear that you put yourself at risk.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Crispina noticed Max had inched closer, until he hovered about six feet from them. She willed him to stay quiet. Whatever this was, she didn’t want him to get in the middle of it.

The threat was clear behind Rufus’s words. Whatever he wanted, if she didn’t give it to him, he would tell Aelius, and perhaps others, of her activities. Which meant she had to bluff.

She coated her words in ice. “I have no secrets from my husband. He knows of my little project here, and I have his full support.”

Rufus raised a golden eyebrow but said nothing.

“I appreciate your concern, Rufus, but I must return home before twilight.” She took a step toward her basket, lying on the ground to her side.

Rufus’s hand flashed out and closed around her wrist. As soon as he touched her, Max let out a yell and barreled toward him, aiming a vicious kick into Rufus’s shin. Rufus stumbled back with a grunt of pain and a curse.

Before Crispina could react, one of Rufus’s burly minions stepped forward and swatted Max upside the head. The boy tumbled to the dirt.

Rage engulfed Crispina’s mind like a flame to oil. She launched herself forward, ready to bludgeon the thug to death with her fists, but he caught her easily and pinned her against the wooden beam which held up the second story balcony. His forearm pressed into her throat.

“How dare you,” she wheezed. She scratched at his arm, but he seemed to be made of stone.

“Enough.” Rufus’s cool voice cut through the air.

The lackey released her. She bent over, hands on her knees, trying to steady her breathing. Max had disappeared. She hoped he’d stay hidden this time.

“Your little pet needs better training,” Rufus said.

“He’s not a pet,” Crispina snarled. “He’s…” She stopped herself. She’d been about to say He’s my son . “Tell me what you want from me so I can tell you to shove it up your blond ass.” The time for icy composure was past. Now, fire brewed in her veins, and she wanted to incinerate Rufus where he stood.

He ignored the insult. “The election is but five weeks away. Every vote is critical. I would like to know whom your husband is meeting with and what he is up to, from now through the morning of the election.”

“You should know that for yourself if you’re having him followed.”

“Ah, but I want to know in advance .”

Her jaw clenched as she realized his aim. If Rufus figured out who Aelius was planning to meet with, he could get to them first and secure their votes for himself. Her mind whirled. Knowledge of this nature could make or break the election.

“I see,” she murmured. “You must really be afraid that Aelius will beat you, if you’ve resorted to stalking and blackmailing his wife.”

Rufus’s eyes darkened. “I take no chances.”

She tried for another bluff. “My husband does not discuss his affairs with me. I know nothing of whom he meets with.”

“Even if that were true, which I doubt, I trust your wifely wiles will serve you well. Unless you’re frigid as well as barren?”

Crispina drew in a sharp breath. “Watch your tongue, sir.” She struggled to gather herself, to think logically. “If I go along with your scheme, Aelius will lose. If I refuse, you will no doubt spread rumors of my unusual activities here on the Aventine, which will likely cost him the election as well. My answer is clear. I will not betray my husband.”

Aelius would be furious with her in either case. It would shatter the fledgling trust they had built and put their future together at risk. But that was a problem for another moment.

Rufus smiled thinly. “But what about your little stray? You seem very fond of him.” The look in his eyes was knowing, dangerous…and it sent a chill down her spine.

“If you or your cronies lay another finger on Max—”

Rufus shook his head. “Nothing so crude. But I have contacts in this neighborhood, and ones like it. We can sniff out his family. I expect they’d be overjoyed to have their son back.”

“They abandoned him,” Crispina said. “They couldn’t take care of him.”

“Well, that is easily solved. If I located his parents, or someone willing to swear he belonged to them, I would of course offer a hefty stipend to provide for his welfare.”

His words tightened an iron strap around her chest, stealing her breath. He was talking about taking Max away from her. She had no legal claim on him. There was nothing she could do about it if his real parents, or someone willing to swear to be his real parents, came forward. She recalled the marks on Max’s back the first time she had bathed him. She couldn’t risk him being given back to people who would mistreat him.

She drew a shaky breath. “Are you really so desperate to win you would take a child from a safe, loving home?”

“Yes,” Rufus said without pause. “I will expect a note from you in two days, Crispina. Containing the names of people Aelius intends to meet with over the coming week. If I receive nothing from you, I will start making inquiries about your boy’s family.”

He didn’t wait for a reply, but turned and left the courtyard, his henchmen following.

Crispina leaned against the wooden beam, shaking all over. What was she going to do?

Movement flickered in the corner of her vision, and she turned to see Max extricating himself from behind a barrel. He ran toward her. She dropped to her knees and caught him in a swift hug. “Are you all right?”

His skinny body shook against her. “I’m s-s-sorry.” He was crying, she realized, which made her eyes burn with tears of her own.

She choked back a sob and stroked his hair. “It’s all right.”

“I t-t-tried to help you b-but—”

“Max.” The sternness in her voice made his tearstained face jerk up to look at her. “You did nothing wrong, do you understand me?” Except trying to attack Rufus, but it was too late to chide him for that.

He gave a slow nod.

“Good.” She gently took his chin and moved his face from side to side. A red mark glowed on his cheek where Rufus’s minion had struck him, and she hoped it wouldn’t bruise. “Did you hear anything of what I was discussing with those men?” She prayed he hadn’t heard Rufus’s threats.

He shook his head and wiped his nose on his arm.

Crispina grimaced, wishing she had a handkerchief. “We merely had a small misunderstanding, but it’s sorted now. Everything will be all right.”

He gave her a narrow-eyed look, and she could tell he didn’t quite believe her, but he didn’t argue.

“But it will worry Aelius greatly if he hears what happened, so we mustn’t mention it.” She needed time to figure out what to do before Aelius found out about any of this.

“You have a lot of secrets,” Max muttered.

“Yes.” The weight of her secrets pressed down on her, but she straightened her shoulders and rose to her feet. “After the election, we’ll tell him everything. About these lessons, and what happened today. I promise.” Once this was over, even if Rufus won, she could face the consequences of her deceptions.

He raised his chin. “All right. But I want to stop and get savillum on the way home.”

The honey-sweetened cheesecake was Max’s favorite thing to get from the food stalls that lined the streets. He seemed to know she would refuse him nothing after what had just happened. “Today, you can have as much savillum as you want.”

A toothy grin lit his face. “Quick, let’s go before they run out!”

Crispina hefted her basket and followed him from the courtyard.

That evening, Crispina sat at her dressing table and buried her face in her hands, finally letting herself feel the stress and exhaustion of the day. She had put on a brave face at dinner. The savillum had put Max in an excellent mood, and he was his normal rambunctious, jovial self at dinner.

The bedroom door opened, and Crispina straightened up quickly as Aelius entered. He glanced over her, brow furrowing. “Are you well, Crispina? You didn’t eat much at dinner.”

“My courses are upon me, I fear.” At least that much was true.

“Ah.” He nodded knowingly, by now familiar with the fatigue that plagued her at this time of the month. “May I help you with your hair?”

“I’d rather do it myself.” She needed a few minutes alone with her thoughts.

Aelius kicked off his sandals and stretched out in bed. Crispina took down her hair and slowly dragged a comb through it. Every instinct screamed at her to tell Aelius what had happened, to share her burden with him. But every time she tried to summon the words, Rufus’s threat returned to her. If he didn’t receive anything from her in two days, he would start trying to take Max away from them.

If she told Aelius about Rufus’s threats, she would also have to tell him about her lessons and about how she had really found Max. She’d have to confess that she’d been lying to him for months. The trust between them would shatter.

Besides, Aelius and Rufus had already gotten into one brawl. If she told Aelius that Rufus and his cronies had laid hands on her and Max, she didn’t want to imagine what his reaction would be. She wouldn’t put it past him to get himself arrested and sued for assault.

She gave the comb a vicious yank as if the pain could punish her for what she was about to do. She glanced over at Aelius and took a deep breath. “Do you anticipate a busy week ahead?”

He folded his arms behind his head, his body lean and relaxed. “I plan to pay a visit to Flavius Libo on Thursday. If that goes well, I hope he can introduce me to Appius Salonius. Oh, and there’s a dinner party at the Caepio house on Wednesday. I had hoped you would join me but I realize now you may be indisposed.”

“Yes, likely.” She committed the names to memory. “If the election were tomorrow, do you think you’d win?”

He shrugged. “Hard to say. The next five weeks will be critical. I need all the votes I can scrape together.”

The knife inside her twisted. She was going to doom him, and if he found out, he would never want anything to do with her again. If she was lucky, he would settle for a quiet separation, not wanting the scandal of a divorce to tarnish his reputation. But his anger might be so great that he would want no further connection with her. She’d be twice divorced. Twice abandoned, twice humiliated.

She laid down the comb, braided her hair, then joined Aelius in bed. He reached for her, but she pulled away. “I’m very tired.”

He kissed her on the forehead, murmured a good night, and blew out the lamp. Crispina laid next to him and stared up at the ceiling in darkness.