If Bronwen had thought about it, I did notknow, but I certainly had, and I had been trying to think of a wayto broach that subject with her in a way that would not hurt herfeelings, or more likely, arouse her temper, and I decided at thatmoment to make an offering of thanks to the gods for my aunt.
“I…I had not thought about it likethat,” Bronwen admitted, and she looked up at me guiltily. Andwhile it was not her intent, or I do not believe so, sheeffectively knocked my legs out from under me when she continued,“but I just do not want to be so far away from Gnaeus now that wehave just found each other.”
Despite myself, I could not stop fromrisking a glance at Gisela, who looked absolutely miserable, but itwas to Miriam that I said flatly, “She’s going with me,Miriam.”
She would not have been a Pullus if sheaccepted this, but while she did open her mouth to respond, and Icould tell by her expression she was far from ready to submit,Septimus returned with the tablets.
“There is some good news,” heannounced as he returned to his seat and opened the first of twotablets. “Lucius Aviola the Younger loathes his father, and he wasonly too happy to provide as much information as he could thinkof.”
Judging by the lack of reaction from Miriamand Birgit, Septimus had already informed them, but as usual, itwas Alex who caught the presence of a turd in the honey.
“That’s good to hear,” he began. “Butgenerally, when someone phrases it the way you did about good news,it implies that there’s bad news right behind it.”
This elicited a rueful laugh from myuncle.
“That’s why I could never beat you attables, Alex. You were always one move ahead of me. But,” heacknowledged, “you’re correct. The problem is that, while Aviola isbased in Alexandria and has his home there, along with otherproperties, he moves around quite a bit forhis…business.”
This was certainly bad news, but in mymind, it did not change anything; Alexandria was the only solidinformation we had as to his whereabouts, and if it was his basefor what appeared to be doing nothing but circulating Our Sea tofind gullible men with money like Gaius Pullus, we had no choicebut to go there. It certainly did not dissuade me, although theidea that it might not be a matter of a straightforward trip but inessence following a trail of breadcrumbs trying to catch up tothe cunnus, was daunting.Septimus was not through, thank the gods.
“However,” he continued, “Aviola theYounger said that it was his father’s habit to spend November andDecember in Alexandria, at least the last time they had anycommunication.”
“When was that?” I asked, not reallyexpecting Septimus to know, but he had been verythorough.
“I asked him that,” he answered. “Andthe last time he had any contact was right after he came toArelate, but just to let the Elder know he’d arrived safely. He gota reply, from Alexandria, but that was the last time.”
“And that was three years ago?” Itried to remember.
“Four now,” Septimusreplied.
Suddenly, Bronwen spoke up, soundingsomewhat timid, but when I thought about it later, I realized whyshe asked, “How do you know that you can trust this informationfrom him? This is his father, yes?” When Septimus nodded, shepointed out, “While this Aviola may not care for what his fatherdoes to other people, that does not mean that he would be willingto betray him. Especially,” she pointed to me, “if he knew someonelike this was looking for him. Is this not true?”
“It istrue,” Septimus agreed, and there was admiration in hisvoice, but he had thought of this as well because he continued,“which is why I essentially asked him that, in so many words.”Bronwen’s cheeks turned red, and I did not even glance over atGisela this time, certain she would look happier than she had sinceshe met my woman. Septimus either saw Bronwen’s crestfallen lookand tried to soothe her, or he was being sincere as he added, “Butthat was a very good question, Bronwen. And that’s why I tried toget a sense of how truthful he was being with me.”
“And?” Alex spoke up. “What’s yourassessment?”
For the first time, Septimus lookedhesitant, easy to understand given the circumstances. “Ithink he’s being honest. But,” heshrugged, “he’s also a lawyer, so only he and the gods know withany certainty.” A glum silence settled on us, but then Septimusbroke it by saying thoughtfully, “If I had to gamble on whether hewas being honest with me, I would wager that he was, just by howagitated he got as we talked.” He opened the second tablet, movinghis finger down it. “Ah, here it is. I wrote this down. He saidthat his father has been doing this his entire life, but he’s verygood at hiding it from others. The other Roman merchants inAlexandria in the quarter he lives in interact with him a greatdeal, because he does just enough legitimate business to quellsuspicions. And,” he looked directly at me first, then Alex, “he’sthe reason Aviola came to Arelate, because the son didn’t learn thetruth about his father until he was almost thirty yearsold.”
“He could just be trying to keephimself out of the cac,” Alexmused. “Especially once everything that happened here happened.” Heleaned forward so that he could look directly at me down the table,“We can’t dismiss the possibility that, after hearing about whatyou did at Bacchus’ Delight, he doesn’t want any part of thequarrel we have with his father.”
“What did you do at this place?”Bronwen asked, but before I could say anything, Septimus answeredher cheerfully, “Essentially the same thing he did to this Berdic,Bronwen. But with a gladius.”This seemed to amuse my family a great deal, because they all burstout laughing, and I felt my face burning. I never asked, but Ibelieve Septimus took pity on me by calling out over
