Page 75 of Of Love and Treason
“Extra bread from Paulina for the tenants.”
“She’s a dear, isn’t she?”
Iris struggled to keep up with Beatrix’s seemingly endless supply of energy. The woman kept up a brisk walk, climbing the sloping curve of the Via Biberatica to exit the market complex at the north end.
“Tell your father thank you.” Beatrix spoke softly, looking straight ahead.
Iris’s neck snapped to look at her. “Valentine’s free?” She breathed the words, hope rising.
Beatrix nodded, but her lips pressed together in a way that made the news seem not altogether good.
“What’s wrong?”
“When I went home for the midday meal, Val was there—only long enough to say goodbye.” Beatrix’s chin trembled. “He’s gone.”
The words cut the air from her lungs as effectively as the hilly streets. Valentine gone? Just like that? Regret swirled in her belly. “Where?”
“He wouldn’t tell me, said it was best if I didn’t know.” Beatrixchuckled and sniffed. “Funny. I used to dream of nothing else but marrying him off and getting him out of the house.”
Iris cracked a half-hearted smile. “Paulina warned me you liked to sprinkle people with perfume and find them spouses.”
Beatrix threw her head back with a sudden burst of laughter. “She knows me too well!” She patted Iris’s arm. “But there’s no fear of that. I promised Valens I’d stop.” She sighed and shook her head. “Val never appreciated my efforts. He’s stubborn. Holding out for just the right girl. He’s like his father in that way. Val’s father had eyes for my sister and no one else would do. The woman who catches Val’s eye will be a lucky one.”
Iris skirted a pile of dung in the road. There had been several young women at the meeting the other night who were beautiful, slender, and unscarred. Iris had noticed her own body in comparison. Much wider in the hips, arms sculpted and muscular from kneading for hours every day. What kind of girl would capture Valentine’s attention? If those willowy, unscarred girls didn’t, she certainly would not. She lifted her chin and forced her thoughts elsewhere. It didn’t matter anymore. Valentine was gone.
Marius and Martha’s home bustled with activity. Caught in the excitement of helping, Iris nearly forgot Valentine and spent the rest of the afternoon carrying donations of clothing and household goods to the dusty heap of rubble that had once been an insula. When the sun began to set, she and Bea left, dusty and sweat-streaked. After a quick trip to the public baths, they parted at the Via Biberatica and Iris plodded toward home, weary and content.
Distracted by the blazing pinks and blues of the sunset, which cast its own gleam on the red, white, and gold temples and basilicas of the Forum, she was unaware of being followed until a man moved beside her.
She jumped, pressing a hand to her chest. “Titus.I ought to smack you for sneaking up on me like that.”
“Sneaking?” He gave a stomp of his hobnailed boots. “You should have heard me coming from a block away. You’re lucky it’s me and not a pickpocket or worse.”
She’d have to be more careful not to get so distracted. “What are you doing here?”
“Working. You?” He tilted his chin, taking in the vibrant colors streaking the sky beyond the temple of Saturn.
“At the baths.” She took a breath and spoke in a lower, more serious tone. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
She nearly mouthed the words. “Letting Valentine go.”
Titus’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know about that?”
“I saw his aunt today; she said you’d given him time to depart.” She touched his arm. “She was so happy.”
“She’d seen him?” Titus’s voice held a strange tightness, but the way he studied the temple kept his face averted from her.
“Yes. She went home for lunch and he was there.”
“Mars and Jupiter!”
The venom in his voice stopped her in her tracks. Titus took two more steps before he pivoted and faced her.
“What’s wrong, Titus?” Her words came out soft and strangled.
He growled and took her elbow, turning away from the Forum and toward Cedar Street. She trotted to keep pace with his long-legged stride.
