Those words sent a flood of unsettling images through Lucretia’s mind. Papers fluttering to the floor, the splash and clatter of an overturned inkwell, a lean body pressing her into the hard surface of the desk…“I would never—withhim!”
“Of course not,” Dihya said. “But if you ever did decide that you desired apleasurable dalliance…I think you’d find a willing participant without much effort.”
Lucretia shot her friend a glare. “Enough of this. I must return home. I want to meet Marcus when he gets home from school. See you tomorrow.”
She bid Dihya a hasty goodbye, gathered up her things, and left the office, trying not to feel like she was fleeing an uncomfortable conversation.
She had timed her departure well, for she arrived home just before Marcus.
“Hello, sweetheart,” she greeted him in the atrium. “How was school today?” At least today, he didn’t look as if he’d beenin a fight. And no further money had gone missing from her accounts.
He grunted something unintelligible and turned toward his room.
Lucretia took a hasty step forward, desperate to recapture his attention. “Would you like to attend the games tomorrow? I hear there should be an interesting fight.” Lucretia herself had little interest in gladiatorial combat, but for some reason it was the sort of thing young men enjoyed. Cornelius used to take Marcus regularly, but it had been a long time since Lucretia did anything with her son, just the two of them.
Marcus sidled away from her. “I was going to go with my friends.”
”Oh.” Disappointment welled up, but she smiled. “Well, have fun. You’ll have to tell me how it goes.”
Marcus retreated to his bedroom, and this time, Lucretia didn’t try to stop him.
Felix pushed a cup of wine and a plate of figs and cheese toward Siro, recently returned from his travels to Spoletium. “What have you learned?”
Siro, still dusty from the road, took a long sip of wine. “I spent several days asking around at all of the estates surrounding Spoletium, seeing if anyone could direct me to Manilius Cotta. A few people recognized the name but weren’t sure where to find him. Finally, I found someone who directed me to an estate, but it was empty apart from a few slaves. They told me the master was traveling and they weren’t sure when he would return. I thought of staying, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take, and I knew you would be eager for news. Your family was most hospitable but I didn’t wish to overstay my welcome.”
Felix nodded. “Thank you. Perhaps another trip is in order. And perhaps I should go myself. This matter may require some delicacy, and besides, I owe my parents a visit.”
“Your parents did mention when I saw them that they were quite eager to see you, sir,” Siro said. “Would you like me to identify some suitable dates?”
The matter was important, but not critical, and Felix was expecting some shipments in the coming weeks that he wanted to be in Ostia to oversee—especially to make sure that Lucretia didn’t try to meddle with his cargo again. “Leave it with me. I’ll arrange it when the time is right.”
A touch of guilt itched at him; forcing Lucretia to surrender her business by convincing her guardian to withdraw his consent still didn’t quite feel fair. But the law was the law, he reasoned, and pushed the guilt aside.
Chapter 11
“Ipunched someone!” Marcus crowed as he met Felix on the steps of the gymnasium. “Look.” He held out his knuckles, reddened and bruised.
Felix inspected his hand, then looked over the rest of him. There didn’t seem to be any significant damage—no other bruises or bloody wounds. “What happened?”
For the last several weeks, Felix had been meeting Marcus at the gymnasium to train. The boy had been steadily improving in his boxing technique, and Felix had been making him run laps and lift weights as well. It was early days, but Felix could see the beginnings of muscle filling out Marcus’s lanky frame.
In the back of his mind, he knew it was wrong to meet with Marcus like this, without Lucretia’s knowledge, but he told himself he was going to be at the gymnasium anyways. If Marcus happened to show up at the same time, well, that was merely a coincidence.
“Two boys tried to steal my coin purse after school. I pretended to give it to them”—Marcus mimed handing over a purse with his left hand—“and then punched one of them in thenose!” He dealt a quick jab with his right hand. “They were so surprised they didn’t even run after me.”
”Well done. Perhaps it’s time we try some sparring.” There was a peculiar satisfaction in watching Marcus improve, and Felix realized the last time he’d felt this way was while building his shipping business years ago. He had used an initial loan from his mother to purchase a stake in a merchant ship. When the ship completed its journey and sold its cargo, he’d been paid back with significant interest, which he’d used to acquire a ship. Sail to Greece, stock it with cargo, return to Rome, sell for a profit, invest in more expensive cargo, repeat until he could buy another ship. And then another, and another…He might not wear the imperial purple, but he was building an empire of his own.
He had never expected that teaching Marcus how to box would elicit similar feelings, but Marcus’s progression from a hapless, scrawny adolescent to someone who could land a solid punch lit a fire of pride inside him. Like the day he’d looked out over Ostia harbor and noticed that four out of the five ships docked there were his own.
The fifth, of course, had been Lucretia’s.
“I get to punch you?” Marcus asked, distracting Felix from his thoughts. “What if I hurt you?”
Felix snorted. “I think I’m more in danger of stubbing my toe on the gymnasium steps.”
Marcus scowled, but followed him into the gymnasium.
They trained for about an hour, until Felix could tell Marcus was growing frustrated by his inability to land a punch on Felix. Then, they washed off and headed home. Marcus’s house was in the same direction as Felix’s, so they walked together, cutting through a slanting alley for a shortcut.
