The crying woman had quieted in my head while Crispus had been talking, but even as her pleas for help filled my thoughts again, one thought still emerged, one which I hope she could hear.
Tomorrow, I would answer her call.
I would open the temple and get the Malice. And claim my freedom at last.
We spent much of that afternoon and evening with Crispus. My reasons were more selfish than I wanted to admit. Certainly, I had forgiven him and Valerius for what they'd done in the amphitheater -- Valerius had more than paid the price for any harm that had come to me as a result of his actions, and Crispus had probably never known of his plans until it was too late. Besides that, the better I understood Crispus, the more I liked him.
He felt bound by duty to his father and remained loyal to Rome, despite all the harm it had done to him. The same could be said of me. At least when Crispus did his duty, whole streets weren't torn to shreds or flooded beneath several feet of water.
And I liked knowing that Crispus had his own dreams, just as I did too. Maybe he and I weren't so different after all.
But that wasn't why I accepted his invitation to stay. The selfish truth was that I had hoped Aurelia would come back. I still wanted to speak with her, more than ever, in fact. Yet suppertime passed and into the evening, she still hadn't returned.
"Your fight was about whether you should become a judge or a builder?" I asked Crispus. "That's all?" Aurelia's temper wasn't this unreasonable.
He hesitated before mumbling, "No, that wasn't all."
"Then what?" Livia asked. Though Livia rarely involved herself in any conversation, she had shown an unusual interest in Aurelia.
Crispus looked at me, then quickly turned away, as if he hadn't intended to look at me in the first place. "We fought about a lot of different things."
No, I doubted that. From Crispus's reaction, I was certain they had only fought over one thing, and that it involved me, though he clearly wasn't going to give any more details.
Once it became too late to hold out any further hope for Aurelia coming, Livia and I stood and thanked Crispus for allowing us to stay.
"I'm glad you did," he replied. "Really, I am. This place feels too big right now."
"Where's your mother?" I asked.
"She's spending her mourning period in bed," Crispus said. "I understand that, but I can't sit beside her hour after hour. It's depressing. That's not what my father would've wanted."
"I hope she feels better soon," Livia said.
So did I. Mostly because I was still holding on to the guilt for his death, and it didn't help to hear things like that.
We nodded to one another and started out the door, then Crispus put a hand on my shoulder and I turned.
"The fight Aurelia and I had isn't what you think." Crispus spoke quickly, as if the words were forcing themselves out. "It wasn't really even a fight."
"Oh?"
"I explained why you can't offer her marriage. Not now, when things are so dangerous."
I licked my lips, hardly daring to ask. "What did she say?"
"That she isn't afraid of the danger. And she doesn't want you to be afraid either."
Hope leapt inside me, one of the few times in weeks I'd allowed myself to feel this way. "If she waited until this is over --"
"Well, that's the problem. She can't wait. Your old master, Sal, has gone to the courts. His argument is that as the head of the household when Horatio died, he should have the inheritance. Aurelia cannot change her father's will. The courts must rule in Sal's favor. Even if they wanted to help her, the law is clear, and they won't have any choice. Sal will take everything from her, and she'll be back out on the streets."
My fists clenched, and beside me, Livia huffed with anger. This time she hadn't even pretended not to be listening.
"I t
old her I would marry her, just as a favor, and she said no." Crispus pressed his brows together. "Do you care about Aurelia, Nic?"
"Of course I do!"