Lucretia opened her mouth to protest—she didn’t want to sleep in a strange inn with only Felix for company—but her stomach emitted a loud whine. She flushed. Her body seemed to be forcing her to admit that she was hungry, thirsty, and exhausted both physically and emotionally. A meal and a bed would do her good. “Very well.”
“Marcus will be all right without you?” Felix asked, untying his horse’s reins from the tree they’d been secured to.
“Marcus is not your concern,” she replied, “but he will be well looked after by the household. I doubt he’ll even notice I’m gone.” She intended the words as a joke, but they took on a bitter edge.
Felix checked the fastening of the horse’s tack. “Boys that age are often swine. I know I was. Don’t take it personally.”
“Your mother must have the tranquility of Vesta. I shudder to imagine what you were like as a boy.” He must have been insufferable. “Please pass on my admiration to her.”
Felix gave a short chuckle. “I will. Now, let’s ride ahead and find a place for the others. Hopefully there’s a tavern with a stable big enough to house our goods, along with the men.”
He lifted Lucretia into the saddle. After climbing up in front of her, he guided the horse back onto the road, and they headed for the nearest town.
The towns along the coastal road saw their fair share of travelers, so they had no issue finding a bustling tavern happy to take their coin. Felix’s men would have to sleep in the stables, guarding the cargo, but Felix managed to secure a room for himself and Lucretia.
Lucretia wished Felix would offer to bed down with his men, but he showed no indication of such nobility.
She put the issue from her mind while they saw the cargo safely transferred into the stable. Then, they ate—her first real meal all day, as she’d been too anxious that morning to eat breakfast. The bread was fresh, though the grain was coarser than what her kitchen used at home. No meat or fish was offered, but she enjoyed the warm, thick lentil stew. The wine, too, was good, though heavily diluted with water.
With the aid of a full belly and several cups of wine, it became easier to view today’s events through a more moderate lens. She could accept that the storm was a coincidence, and that the men whose lives were lost knew what they risked. She still planned to revoke her curse when she returned to Ostia, but she no longer felt those men’s deaths weighing heavy on her conscience.
Felix, somehow, had been instrumental in relieving her guilt. It would have been so easy for him to play on her fears, to twist them into something even greater, something that would truly crush her. Instead, he had reassured her, helped her break free from her anxiety.
She thought back to Marcus’s words about Felix:he’s not so bad, you know. Maybe her son was wiser than she realized.
After the meal, she and Felix climbed the rickety staircase to the second floor of the tavern, where their room awaited.
Lucretia surveyed the small, lumpy bed pushed against one wall, then gave Felix a pointed look.
He met her gaze. “I’m not going to offer to sleep on the floor, if that’s what you’re waiting for.”
“That would be the polite thing to do in this circumstance, I believe.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Neither of us are married. We have no honor to protect. Two unmarried people may share a bed without cause for concern.”
She glared at him. His nonchalance irritated her. She would never admit it, but the thought of sharing a bed with Felix sent a tingle of nervous agitation through her. “Then maybeIwill sleep on the floor.”
“I’m sure the mice would love your company.”
He was infuriating. Any man of quality—anygoodman—would balk at the thought of a woman sleeping on the floor if there was an alternative. But Felix only cared for his own comfort.
She let out a tight breath and sat on the bed. It groaned under her weight. Perhaps the issue of who slept where would become inconsequential, if it collapsed beneath them.
She decided to change the subject, so it didn’t seem like she was admitting defeat. “Do days like today make you question if it’s all worth it?”
Felix crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “Of course it’s worth it.”
“Men died today, Felix. For your profit.” Lucretia noticed that despite his insistence that there was nothing wrong with sharing a bed, he wasn’t exactly rushing to sit on the bed with her.
“Men die every day. My work doesn’t just fill my own coffers. Rome relies on the goods we import.”
She smoothed her hand over the scratchy wool blanket. “What would it take to make you give up this campaign against me?”
“There is nothing you could offer me.”
“You know there is room for both of us to be profitable in Ostia.”
He nodded. “But I don’t just want to make a profit in Ostia. I want to control trade in all of Italy. Genua, Neapolis, Sicily…maybe further.”
