Crispina leaped toward it, but too late. With a deafening crash, the vase shattered on the stone floor.
Max leaped back. “Juno’s cunt!”
“Max!” Crispina’s voice rose to a shriek. Such language was appalling, even more so coming from a child. “That language will not be tolerated!”
“Now look what he’s done!” Aelius exploded.
Max hid behind Gaia, who had blanched at his exclamation but allowed him to use her as a shield.
“It’s just a vase, Aelius,” Crispina said.
“It was an antique,” Aelius snapped. “An expensive antique, inherited from my stepfather.”
Crispina pressed her lips together. Aelius had never shown any particular interest in art objects before. He was seizing on this to stoke the flames of his displeasure.
“Clearly, we need to talk. In private.” Aelius strode toward his study.
Crispina cast a helpless glance at Gaia before hurrying to follow him.
Once in his study, he pulled the door shut hard behind her. Crispina took a deep breath. “I know this is all rather a surprise. Believe me, I did not expect to be returning with a child today, but—"
“Then why did you?” Aelius demanded.
“I told you, I couldn’t leave him. He needed help. I tried to find his family, but I couldn’t, and even if I did, he said they forced him to leave. And I don’t think it was a happy home.” She stared at him. Here was the face, the body she’d gotten to know so well by now. She knew the freckles on his chest, the spot on his neck that made him shudder when she kissed it. She knew what his face looked like when he was lost in ecstasy.
Now, that face was stern, frowning, displeased. He folded his arms in front of him. Lamplight glinted off his silver armband. “I did not realize you were desperate enough for a child that you would snatch one off the streets.”
Crispina’s teeth ground together. His words stabbed at the tender part of her heart that was starting to belong to him, but she summoned a façade of coldness to dull the pain. “I did not realize you were selfish enough to deny shelter to a helpless child.”
“I haven’t denied anything. I suppose the boy can help in the kitchens or run errands. As I did at his age.”
“If he stays, he will be treated as a guest.” Crispina took a step closer, fists clenching at her sides. “I know you suffered greatly as a child, but you never had to worry about going hungry or sleeping outside.”
Aelius’s face looked like it had been iced over. “Don’t compare that child to me. I lived every day fearing I’d be separated from my mother.”
“At least you have a mother who loves you. Max has no one. I thought you cared about those who are vulnerable and powerless. You seek to represent the people as tribune. Now is your chance to care for one of them.”
“That child is a freeborn Roman citizen,” Aelius hissed. “No matter his disadvantages, he has something I will never have, no matter how high I rise.” His hand went to his silver armband, fingers wrapping around it. “If word gets out that I’ve taken a foul-mouthed, unkempt brat into my house, it will draw attention. And that kind of attention is the last thing I need. The patricians I’ll need to court don’t want to support a candidate who fills his house with grubby children. It’s just not done, Crispina.”
“Is the welfare of a child not worth risking your political success?”
“Nothing is worth that.”
Crispina folded her arms across her chest and fixed him with her steeliest glare. “Are you going to throw him out, then?”
Aelius glowered at the floor, a muscle in his jaw pulsing.
“Think very carefully,” Crispina murmured. “If he goes, I go.”
Aelius’s head snapped up. They shared a long gaze. Then, he pushed past her, flung open the door, and thrust himself through it. He called for his cloak. A moment later, the front door opened and closed.
Crispina let out a long breath. At least he hadn’t insisted Max leave.
She left the study and returned to where Gaia and Max waited in the atrium. She cast Gaia a rueful look. “Aelius left.” A humiliating thing to admit to her mother-in-law.
Gaia nodded calmly. “We heard. He will return.”
Max looked up at her, his brow creased and his jaw set. A hint of apprehension darkened his gaze. He must have heard enough to understand Aelius didn’t want him here.
