Page 6 of The Tribune Temptation (Roman Heirs #1)
C rispina stepped out of the litter onto the street in front of Aelius’s house. It was in a different part of town from her family’s house. She doubted any patricians lived here, but the street seemed clean and quiet, filled with respectable homes. Humbler than what she was used to, but the distance was refreshing. Maybe she would have a chance to live her own life here.
A slave escorted her into the house. She wondered if it was awkward for a freedman to own his own slaves. She still hadn’t quite wrapped her head around the fact that Aelius was a freedman. The brand on his wrist stood out vivid in her mind. She’d thought marrying a plebeian was the worst she could do, but she’d managed to find an even lower level.
But despite his ignoble origins, Aelius was well-spoken, ambitious, and sure of himself. He’d shown a trace of hesitation when telling her about his past, but hadn’t apologized for it or exhibited any great diffidence. His confidence was compelling, and despite herself, she was looking forward to seeing him again. She’d enjoyed his stories about army life at the games. She’d just been reading a history of the Punic Wars; maybe she could lend it to him.
She glanced around the atrium. It was plainly furnished with flagstone floors—not a mosaic in sight—and whitewashed walls. She walked toward a group of three marble portrait heads mounted on waist-high plinths in the corner. Every family of lineage displayed images of their ancestors in the atrium, both to honor them and brag about their far-reaching roots.
These portraits shared a large nose and heavy jaw, bearing little resemblance to Aelius. But of course: they must be his stepfather’s family, of no relation to him. She found herself grateful that Aelius himself must have inherited more balanced features from his mother and whoever his father was. Had he known his father?
Footsteps sounded from the other side of the atrium, and Crispina straightened up, skimming a hand over her palla to make sure everything was in place.
It wasn’t Aelius who came to greet her, but a woman who must be his mother, Gaia. Crispina drew in a breath. Despite being at least fifty, Gaia was one of the most beautiful women Crispina had ever seen. Her skin shone a warm gold, a shade darker than Aelius’s, and her features were delicate and refined. She had a slim, lithe build her son had inherited. No wonder Aelius is so handsome, with a mother like this.
The thought made her blush, and she struggled to gather herself as Gaia approached.
“Crispina, my dear, how lovely to meet you.” Gaia’s smile was full of such warmth that Crispina felt as if a thick blanket had been draped around her after a day in the cold. Gaia held out an arm to beckon Crispina closer. A white-scarred brand showed on her inner wrist, a twin of the one Aelius bore.
Crispina bowed her head formally. “Thank you for inviting me to your home.”
“It may be your home soon, I gather. May I show you around? Aelius is out, but he said he would join us later.”
“That would be nice.” She felt an unwarranted pang of disappointment that Aelius wasn’t here to greet her, but reminded herself the whole point of this visit was to get to know his mother.
She followed Gaia on a tour of the house. It was certainly small, and the décor a bit old-fashioned, but it was furnished comfortably. “How long have you lived here?” Crispina asked as Gaia showed her the dining room.
“Eighteen years, if you can believe it. I first lived here with my husband when Aelius was about fourteen.”
“That must have been after…er…” Crispina broke off. She’d been about to say after you’d been freed , but realized too late that would be tactless to bring up.
Gaia led her out of the dining room and around the other side of the atrium. “After we were freed, yes.”
Crispina’s face heated. As she always did when she was uncomfortable, she reverted to sharpness. She needed to test Aelius’s assertion that his mother was the kindest woman in Rome. “The décor in the dining room is terribly outdated. I should like to update it. It would be improved with a fresco.”
She expected Gaia to become irritated—what woman wanted to be told her taste in decorating was outdated?—but the woman merely smiled. “I would like that as well. I’ve never had an eye for such things.”
Crispina tried again. “And the floors in the atrium. Mosaics would be more fashionable.” Painting a wall was one thing, but ripping out a floor to replace with a mosaic would certainly ruffle feathers.
“A mosaic sounds very lovely,” Gaia said. “You must do just as you wish with the whole house. It must feel like your home, after all. Now, come this way, dear. There is one room in particular I wanted to show you.”
Crispina followed Gaia, slightly astonished by her grace and goodwill. Crispina’s last mother-in-law had been so critical that Crispina couldn’t even rearrange a display of vases without incurring a lecture.
Gaia led Crispina to a small room that faced the atrium, furnished as a spare bedroom. “Aelius mentioned you enjoy literature, so I thought you could turn this room into a library. Aelius already has his study, so it would be all your own.”
Crispina stared at the room. A library of her very own. She let out a long, shaky breath. Her father and Memmius had both been of the opinion that education was only relevant for a woman so far as it made her an entertaining dinner companion. She learned Greek, of course, and she’d even managed to secure an Aramaic tutor for a few years during her marriage, but the detailed military histories and risqué love poetry she most enjoyed incurred nothing but disapproval.
For years, her reading had been confined to whatever scrolls she could pilfer from her father or husband’s library and hide under her bed or among her clothes. To have a room of books, all her own…
“Aelius would not mind?” Though Memmius hadn’t expressly forbidden her from reading, he sniped at her whenever he found her with her nose in a book, feeling she should spend her time weaving and sewing like other wives. To avoid his displeasure, she’d taken to hiding the habit.
“Of course not,” Gaia said. “He will want you to be happy. He’s quite taken with you, you know.”
He is? “He’s made it very clear his interest in me extends only as far as the influence that my father can provide.”
“Yes, I’m sure that’s what he thinks. But I know my son, and if you marry him, he will do what he can to make you happy. And if he doesn’t, he’ll have me to answer to.”
“Do you support this scheme of his, then?”
They moved away from the potential library and around the other side of the atrium. Gaia was in front, so Crispina couldn’t see her face. “He believes he needs political success to be happy, and he believes you are the key to that. Of course I want my son to achieve everything he wants.”
“With respect, I don’t think you answered my question.”
Gaia paused and turned to face Crispina. She lifted her gaze to meet Crispina’s. “I will be honest with you, as that is what you deserve if we’re to be family. I think marrying for political gain is foolish and short-sighted, and I worry this arrangement will make both of you miserable. Even if it’s temporary.”
“Oh.” Crispina couldn’t think of anything to reply. She was used to being the one who threw people off-kilter with her forthrightness, and it was disconcerting to be on the other side of that.
“That doesn’t mean I won’t embrace you as my daughter-in-law if you marry Aelius,” Gaia said. “My son is everything to me, and if you become his wife, I will love you as if you were my own daughter.”
“Oh,” Crispina said again, rendered wordless once more. She had never heard anything close to a promise of love from her former mother-in-law. Hardly even from her own mother, in fact.
“Now, there is just one more room you should see.” Gaia beckoned Crispina to follow, and led her into a large bedroom. “This is Aelius’s room. I expect you’ll want to redecorate in here as well?” Her voice held a joking lilt.
Crispina glanced around the room. It was neat and tidy, with few personal effects visible. Her gaze landed on the big bed, and her cheeks heated. That was the bed she’d share with her husband…if she agreed to this.
But there was no reason for blushing. Aelius already knew she was barren, so they could have no reason for any sort of activities that would make her blush.
A moment later, the cause of her blushes poked his head around the half-open door. Crispina tensed, feeling as if she’d been caught somewhere she shouldn’t be.
He nodded to her and kissed his mother on the cheek. “I see a tour is in progress. Are you finding the house to your satisfaction?”
“It’s smaller than what I’m used to, but I imagine the reduced size makes the household easier to manage.” The comment came out sounding more cutting than she intended. She winced, glancing at Gaia to see if she’d offended.
“Crispina has already suggested many improvements,” Gaia said smoothly. “Our house shall be the most fashionable on the block by the time she’s done.” Then she moved toward the door. “Let me ask the kitchen to prepare some refreshments for us.” She disappeared, leaving Crispina and Aelius alone.
Alone in a bedroom with a man she barely knew. Her mother would choke if she ever found out about this. The thought made her feel strangely brave.
“Your mother is quite lovely,” she admitted.
Aelius smiled with only a trace of smugness. “I told you.”
“I do have a question. I’m sure it’s inappropriate.”
His eyebrow quirked. “I relish inappropriate questions.”
The heat returned to her cheeks. “Not like that. No, it was about the household.” She hesitated. “Isn’t it odd for you to own slaves?”
He leaned against the wall next to the door. “Sometimes. But it’s better for them to work for me than someone else, and I’ve committed to freeing them after ten years of service. We keep their number to a minimum. There’s Ajax, who minds the door, Malchio, Hector the cook, Cassandra who helps in the kitchen…” He rattled off a few more names.
Crispina doubted her father or Memmius knew the names of more than two or three of their slaves. “You’re missing a Paris.”
He looked at her blankly. “Excuse me?”
“The Trojan brother of Hector and Cassandra?”
“Ah, right. Forgive me, I don’t read Greek. Well, I learned the alphabet, but I never mastered the tongue.”
“You mean you’ve never read Homer? Or Sappho? Or…” She had never met an adult man of even the meanest social standing who didn’t know Greek. Before meeting Aelius, she would have assumed anyone illiterate in Greek was ignorant and backward, but there was no way she could assign that judgment to Aelius. Maybe he wasn’t the most learned man in the city, but she couldn’t deny her respect for his ambition, especially considering the near insurmountable obstacle of his birth.
“None of it.” He did not look as embarrassed as she thought he should. “So, now that you have been assured that my mother is not a bloodthirsty harpy, may I speak to your father?”
Crispina allowed her gaze to wander over him. Was she ready for this man to become her husband? Even marriage to an unpleasant husband could not be worse than her life now, trapped in limbo between being a maiden and a wife, an empty, lonely future stretching before her.
She drew in a steadying breath. “I have a few conditions.”
“As do I.”
She doubted his conditions would be the same as hers. “You go first.”
“As we have discussed, you will have complete freedom to go where you wish, see whom you wish, do what you wish. I will make no demands on your time except for accompanying me to the occasional dinner party.”
“No more than once a week,” Crispina stipulated.
The corners of his mouth lifted. He liked this bargaining, she realized. “Thrice a week during the height of my campaign.”
“Which shall be defined as the three week period between when the magistrate officially announces the election and the day the voting takes place.”
Aelius nodded. “Agreed. And there is a customary banquet thrown by election winners the day after the election.”
Crispina dipped her head. “Yes.”
“So, as I was saying, complete freedom, with the exception that I require fidelity. I cannot be made a cuckold.”
A reasonable request. She acceded with another nod. “And it will go both ways, I trust?”
His eyes skimmed over her in a way that made her wish she’d worn a few more layers of clothing. She could feel the thin linen of her dress clinging to her curves, and heat bloomed in the wake of his gaze.
“I could be satisfied with that.” His voice dropped lower.
The heat moved to her face. She realized she had miscalculated with her question. She had only intended to show him that she wouldn’t be held to a double standard of fidelity, but now she’d given him reason to believe they would fully enjoy the marital bed. Which Crispina had no intention of doing.
She hurried to clarify. “My condition is that there will be no need for any sort of…carnal activities.” She glanced toward the bed meaningfully.
He followed her gaze, brow furrowing. “No need? But you just said we were to be faithful to each other.”
She shrugged. “You know I cannot bear children, so what’s the point?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I can think of several.” His voice took on a huskiness that made her stomach flutter, but she stood firm.
“That is my condition.” She was no innocent maiden. She knew the marriage bed held only obligation, discomfort, and disappointment. This marriage would be on her own terms as much as possible.
“You realize you’re condemning us both to celibacy?” he said. “If we are to be faithful to each other, and yet also never lie with each other?”
“If matters of the flesh are so important to you, we can end this negotiation and never see each other again.” She took a step toward the door, but he was blocking it, so she only succeeded in putting herself within an arm’s length of him.
He crossed his arms, jaw tensing as he considered. “Is this because you think you’re too good to share your body with a freedman? Because if you think so poorly of me, I will find another bride. I know what I lack, but I won’t marry someone who thinks I’m scum.”
“No!” The immediate denial came without thought. “That’s not what I think.” It pained her that he could entertain that idea even for a moment. What slights and insults he must have endured. He deserves better . “It’s because I’ve been married before. I know as much as I ever want to about the marriage bed.”
He met her gaze for a long moment. The defensiveness that had flared in his eyes receded, replaced with something softer. “Very well. I accept your condition on the premise that we leave room to renegotiate.”
“Under what circumstances?” Perhaps he should have been a lawyer instead of a politician.
He bent down to her and put his mouth next to her ear. “When I eventually seduce you.”
A hot flush spread from the place on her neck where she could feel his breath all the way down to her toes—mostly anger at his arrogance, but with an undeniable undercurrent of something deeper.
She grasped onto the anger, willed the other thing to wash away, and lifted her gaze to meet his, his face as close to hers as it had been that one long moment at the games. “You’re very lucky there’s no pool of water beside you this time.”
A grin lit his face, and he pulled away, putting a respectable distance between them once more. “Now that that’s settled, let’s discuss the term of our arrangement. We must stay married at least until the election is over. Even if we make each other miserable, I can’t have the scandal of a divorce when I’m trying to campaign.”
Reasonable enough. The election was less than a year away. How miserable could they make each other in that amount of time? “I agree.”
“And if I win, we should remain married for at least a few months after. It would draw too much attention to divorce right after winning. I propose that the maximum duration of our marriage be six months into my term as tribune.”
That seemed fair to her, so she nodded. There seemed to be only one thing left. “You may speak to my father at your convenience. He’s usually at home in the mornings on days when the Senate is not in session.”
His face remained neutral, but she detected a light of triumph in his eyes. “I’ll call on him at the earliest opportunity. Now, some refreshment?” He stood back from the door and held it open for her. She swept past him and left the bedroom.
She knew she should have been nervous upon entering into an agreement like this, but instead, a sense of calm certainty filled her. Finally, she had a future to look forward to that didn’t spell endless days sitting at home, trapped in her parents’ house. She could return to what truly mattered: her lessons on the Aventine. And when her marriage to Aelius inevitably ended, she’d walk away with a property all her own. Freedom was finally within her reach.