Aelius frowned. “Told me what?”
Crispina bestowed her iciest glare on Catullus. Trust the chatty poet to immediately reveal what she wanted to keep hidden. “I wasn’t going to.”
Catullus rolled his eyes. “Exactly as I suspected. For such an erudite woman, you can be remarkably stupid, Crispina.” He addressed Aelius. “Your wife—with my help, of course—is the reason you won yesterday. I had a feeling she was going to affect some misguided humility and not tell you of her efforts, so I knew I had to come set things right. What the two of you would do without me, I haven’t a clue.”
Aelius looked as befuddled as if Catullus had made an obscure literary reference. “What are you talking about?”
Catullus gestured to Crispina. “I will let your wife tell it.”
Crispina bit her lip. “I don’t seek your forgiveness. I only wanted to right the wrong I did you.” She swallowed hard. “Epidius Verus withdrew from the election because of me.”
The confusion did not lift from his face. “I don’t understand.”
“And because of Taurus.” She glanced around the atrium to find Cassandra and Taurus, but the two had slipped out, perhaps not wanting to intrude on this conversation.
“Taurus?” Aelius squinted at her as if she’d started speaking Aramaic.
“Taurus used to work for Verus. He found out that Verus was involved in embezzling and construction fraud. That’s why Verus was so eager to get rid of him.” She gave a brief description of how Verus had been stealing money from the state, not to mention dishonoring the gods. “I threatened to reveal what Verus was up to if he didn’t withdraw from the election.”
“Great gods, Crispina, you blackmailed Verus? Haven’t we had enough of that sort of thing?”
“Well, it worked,” Crispina said.
“Infernal Dis,” Aelius breathed.
Max wrinkled his nose. “You said I can’t say ‘Dis’ because it’s rude.”
“It’s very rude,” Gaia said, casting a disapproving glance at her son.
Aelius stared at Crispina. “So you are the reason I won.”
Crispina shook her head. “You would have won if I had not interfered. I had to do something to fix the mess I’d made.”
Aelius stepped closer to her, putting their bodies a handspan apart. His gaze traced her face as if he’d never seen her before. His proximity made warmth rush through her, heating her cheeks and spreading over her skin. After several weeks apart, his effect on her had only strengthened.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Catullus offer his arm to Gaia. “Perhaps we should remove ourselves to give these idiots privacy.”
“Excellent idea.” Gaia took his arm, and the two left the atrium. Max had scampered off to the back of the room, and was occupied in wrapping himself in the unused garlands Cassandra and Taurus had left behind.
The movement didn’t break Aelius’s focus on her. “I think we have much to discuss.”
Crispina couldn’t decipher his tone. Was it hopeful, or resigned? “We do.” She closed her eyes briefly, gathering the strength to utter the words she knew she needed to. “My father suggested that, in light of your victory, you might see the benefit in the continued connection between our families. If you do seek a reconciliation on those grounds alone, then I’m afraid I must refuse.”
He blinked, confusion returning to his face. “Refuse?”
She nodded. “I know we began as something simple. Something with boundaries and limits, something to do with mutual benefit, not love. But somewhere in the midst of all that, I fell in love with you, Aelius. And if you can’t love me or trust me because of what I’ve done, I don’t blame you. But I refuse to live as your wife merely for the sake of who my father knows or the dinner parties I can host. I refuse to live half a life with you. I want all of you, Aelius, or none of you.”
There, it was said: the words that could seal her future as a woman twice-divorced, twice-rejected, doomed to a lifetime of regret and loneliness.
Aelius lifted a hand to brush her cheek. “Have all of me, then.” He dipped his head and pressed his mouth to hers.
Disbelief seized her for a moment, then joy blossomed in her chest like a flower bud stretching toward the sun. She reached for his shoulders, anchoring their bodies together as she opened herself to their kiss.
Max made a vomiting noise from where he was entangling himself in garlands. “Blech!”
Crispina pulled away and laughed. Aelius chuckled too. She gazed up at him, still unable to fully comprehend. “Do you mean it? Can you truly forgive me?”
His arms encircled her waist. “I’ve been looking for a reason to forgive you ever since the moment you left. You gave it to me today.” He kissed her again, which sparked another round of disgusted noises from Max.
