“At least it’s quiet family suppers again,” Tullia said that night as they ate. “Not all those dreadful hundred-course affairs at the Domus Aurea.”

“When were you last invited to the Domus Aurea, Tullia?” Marcella said sweetly. “A month? Vitellius hates scolds.”

Tullia sniffed. “He’s welcome to keep his invitations. If I never see another pike liver or elephant ear or peacock brain on my plate again, it won’t be too soon—”

“Yes.” Cornelia took a sip of wine, fighting to keep her lashes from drooping. She hadn’t returned from Drusus’s bed until dawn. At her side, Marcella picked restlessly through a dish of grapes.

“Lovely fish,” Gaius offered. “Delicious, my dear.”

“Yes, from our pond at the villa in Tarracina.” Tullia ate in critical little bites. “I had them salted and sent here, since we never managed to get to Tarracina this year. Paulinus, don’t play with your food! Fortuna only knows what condition the house is in. The steward sent me word that the hypocaust in the bathhouse is broken, but I suppose repairs will have to wait until next spring. You can’t trust builders to work without supervision, but I don’t dare leave the city now to oversee everything—”

“Why don’t I go?” Cornelia looked up from her own plate, carefully idle. “I have so little to do these days, I can certainly travel down to Tarracina to put the house right.”

“Travel alone—”

“The steward will see to my needs there.” Cornelia kept her voice nonchalant, but felt her palms begin to sweat. “And I certainly shan’t be entertaining in Tarracina. I’ll just put the hypocaust to rights and return in ten days. Best not let a bathhouse go during the winter—pipes freeze, and that’s a much costlier fix.”

Tullia looked suspicious. Cornelia glanced down, fiddling with the fringe on the couch cushion.

“Fortuna’s sake, Tullia, let her go,” Marcella snapped. “You’re always complaining about having the two of us underfoot.”

“Of course I won’t go if Tullia thinks it’s improper,” Cornelia said quickly. “A widow in my position, after all . . . you could ask Lollia to tend to the hypocaust. Her grandfather has a house in Tarracina, so she could easily send the steward to look in on the repairs. I’m sure she’d be happy to do you a favor.”

“I’d never ask her,” Tullia bristled. “You’ll go at once, Cornelia. Paulinus, if you can’t stop playing legions with your food—”

Cornelia ran into Drusus’s airless little chamber that night and covered his face with kisses. “Can you get away for ten days?”

“What?” He caught her up with a laugh.

“We’re taking a holiday.”

Find some excuse to get out of the city, Lollia had advised, and have yourselves a proper idyll. Cornelia thought it might be the first time in her life she’d ever taken Lollia’s advice.