Aurelia had been gone for hours now and Gaius' thoughts kept straying to her. Again and again, he had to force himself to listen to the senators. Apparently, his senate had nothing better to do than to debate about the deification of his predecessors and to butter Gaius up. How these sycophants disgusted him. Was there nothing more important to discuss in this state? At such times, he was most grateful for his acting skills, acquired through hard training with his mother and with Tiberius in Capri. No fibre of his body betrayed his restlessness within.
Suddenly the attitude of a senator changed - as far as Gaius knew his name was Marcus Fabius and he had somehow made it to the Adil so far - but Gaius strongly doubted that Fabius had what it took to rise even further within the senators. His voice was so high-pitched that his speeches gave one a headache in the long run. Fabius' gaze flitted nervously so indiscreetly to Macro, who was at his post diagonally next to Gaius. Gaius bit back an amused smile as the senator swallowed hard and discreetly cleared his throat.
Let's see what Macro has cooked up this time, Gaius thought with interest, eyeing the youngest of the senators, who was over ten years older than himself. Fabius cleared his throat again, louder this time.
"Would you like a drink, Fabius?" inquired Gaius innocently, raising his hand to signal one of his slaves waiting at the edge. But Senator Fabius immediately replied in the negative.
"I would like to say something," he admitted, and Gaius leaned back in his chair. Immediately there was a polite smile on his lips as he wanted to know if the young senator had felt excluded from their conversation so far. Fabius swallowed hard again and at the last moment was able to refrain from looking at Macro helpfully. Suddenly a jolt went through the senator's body and his whole appearance became as dignified as it was possible for him to be.
"Today I stand before you, princeps, as the representative of the Senate and the Roman people," Fabius chirped, instantly losing all dignity. "I would be chosen to present to you the wish of all Rome: at the feast of the Bona Dea, none other than your wife, according to the customs of our ancestors, shall take her place as high priestess and lead the other women through the sacred rites of the Bona Dea, which no man has ever seen."
While Fabius began to emphasize about Aurelia's great popularity and her prominent position among the other wives, Gaius tapped his finger against his lip thoughtfully. The feast of the Bona Dea would take place in a little over a month and because he did not preside over this cult in his capacity as pontifex maximus, he had not considered it important until just now.
Unlike Vesta, the Bona Dea belonged to all Roman women, who had always faithfully guarded her secrets. This goddess, her temple and her worship had always been a mystery to him, but unlike Clodius Pulcher, he had never felt the urge to find out more. The mysterious festival of Bona Dea always took place on the night of the third and fourth of December. In the days of the Republic, it had been customary for the wife of the first consul to invite the other female disciples (the wives of the most influential men) to her home for the feast of the Bona Dea, where she would preside over the secret rituals. On this night no man was allowed to be in the house - no matter how young he was. Since Augustus it was only important that the husband of the high priestess (or whatever she was called in this cult) had the imperium. Thus, in addition to the houses of the consuls and praetors, the palace of the princeps was always an option for hosting the feast.
Basically, he was intrigued by the possibility of Aurelia leading the Bona Dea cult even now, but he had no clue how much she had to learn in the limited time. He knew how much the people were guided by their faith. If not only he but also Aurelia was at the forefront of the religious cults, they could use this orchestrated pietas to their advantage. But if Aurelia made a mistake during the secret rituals, she would lose her popularity in one fell swoop. Who would also worship a woman who had invoked the wrath of the gods on the Roman people? Even if she prayed flawlessly (or whatever was required of her) and some misfortune occurred in the coming year, Aurelia could be denounced as cursed by the gods because of her time in Germania.
Either way, they were once again in a position to win or lose everything. Gaius nodded slightly to Fabius and assured him that he would think about the proposal. Then he quickly asked when the next grain shipment would arrive and immediately everyone turned to the more relevant topic for the people.

No sooner had the meeting ended than Gaius went in search of his sisters. Each of them had participated in the feast of the Bona Dea a few times, and even if they had never led the ceremony, they would at least be able to tell him if a month would be enough to learn everything. In the peristyle, he finally found them all sitting together. The fact that Aurelia wasn't with them yet put a small stab in his heart. Macro followed him like a shadow. Why had he let Clemens go with Aurelia, too? The next moment, he scolded himself for his annoyance at Macro's presence. Clemens had to go with Aurelia so Macro wouldn't suspect anything. Besides, there was no other Praetorian officer they could trust like Clemens. Gaius just had to watch what he said to his sisters. Again.
With a bright smile, he sat down between Julia and Agrippina. Drusilla bit back one of her taunts and they began to chat casually. After a while, Agrippina declared she was tired and asked Gaius to escort her to her chambers. With a fluid movement he rose and, smiling, offered her his arm. A few times he inquired, quite the anxious big brother, how she was. But Agrippina only waved her off contemptuously. They walked so close to each other that they could lower their voices without it seeming suspicious to Macro.
Halfway there Agrippina asked worriedly, "What's wrong with you Gaius? Something is bothering you, let me help you."
For a moment, he dropped his mask and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. Sympathetically, Agrippina briefly increased the pressure of her hand on his arm, then he succinctly explained Senator Fabius' "request of the Senate and the Roman people" to her.
A dark shadow flitted across Agrippina's face.
"You cannot possibly refuse this request, brother," she said forcefully, and Gaius nodded slightly. He was already that far gone. "Avia was very surprised at how quickly Aurelia had learned to settle into her role as your wife. Her mind is sharper than any sword. But most of all, she loves you with all her heart. Her love for you drives her forward and for that reason she will not fail even at this small hurdle."
By now they had reached the door to Agrippina's chambers. Smiling, Agrippina detached herself from him.
"Thank you for walking with me, brother," she said, pressing a fleeting kiss to his cheek. Then she disappeared into her own little world that Gaius had lost access to years ago.
Without detour, Gaius marched to his chambers. Completely calm, he turned to Macro at the door and instructed him that he did not want to be disturbed under any circumstances.
"What of your wife, princeps?" interjected Macro, and Gaius raised an eyebrow questioningly. "You share chambers. Should I deny her access as well?"
"Let no one in apart from her," Gaius fleshed out his previous order, then slipped through the door, snatched Cicero's De officiis from the shelf, and buried himself in the elegance and eloquence of the man.

It was not until dusk slowly fell over his city that the door to his chambers was opened and Gaius emerged from Cicero's mind. He raised his head expectantly and his gaze met the beautiful eyes of his wife. She looked exhausted. Heedlessly, Gaius put the scroll aside and rose.
"Well?" he asked with control, and Aurelia's lips twisted into a bright smile.
"We have him," she replied calmly, throwing herself into his arms. "With your grandmother, we've worked out a plan. We're going to make it work. Soon the trap will be sprung. We just haven't been able to agree on what day our plan can be implemented"
Relieved, he pulled her close and buried his face in her soft hair. Tiredly, he confessed that this was the first really good news he had heard today. Gently, Aurelia pushed him a little away from her and eyed him anxiously. Quietly, she inquired what was on his mind. Gaius pressed a light kiss to her forehead.
"Nothing we won't find a solution for together," he replied, and Aurelia changed the subject. Apparently, she missed something from her time called a shower. A mischievous grin appeared on Gaius' face as he took her hand and led her to one of the rooms, he hadn't been able to show her yet due to time constraints.
The room was tiny compared to the rest of the chambers and had been furnished extremely discreetly at Augustus' request. Basically, it consisted only of one of those then new-fangled (and highly frowned upon) shower baths that Aurelia had just raved about to him. Apparently, this trend would catch on in the long run after all. Tiberius had detested shower baths, and so it was a small miracle that this room still existed at all.
Excitedly, Gaius pulled the lever and warm water fell from the ceiling like raindrops. Aurelia's eyes took on a dreamy expression. Carefully, she reached out and water drummed melodically on her skin. With a conspiratorial smile, she half turned to face him.
"There's a saying in my day," she opined, "Save water - shower together."
Before Gaius could ask for a translation, Aurelia pulled him with her under the splashing water of the shower bath.

Fascinated, Gaius watched as Aurelia's hair slowly changed. When wet, it appeared darker, but as time passed, individual golden strands broke out. To him, this woman was no mystery as she had been last winter. There was no other person in the entire world who knew him as well as she did, and yet every day he discovered something new about her, which was why he loved her a tiny bit more than the day before.
Lost in thought, he twirled a dry strand of hair between his fingers. Suddenly Aurelia opened her eyes and returned his gaze inquiringly.
"What happened today?" she asked softly, and Gaius ran his free hand through his own hair.
"The Senate has requested that you preside over this year's Bona Dea Festival," he confessed, letting go of her hair. Her eyes widened in surprise, then her face took on a serious expression.
"Isn't that that exclusive cult of women?" she wanted to know, and Gaius nodded mutely.
"Wasn't there this huge scandal about Clodius Pulcher, because he had gained access to the festival dressed in women's clothes?" she remembered, and Gaius nodded. Perhaps she knew more about it from her own time than he did. But when he asked her about it, she sadly denied it. It would have been too good to be true. Aurelia lapsed into deep silence and began absentmindedly drawing patterns on his bare chest. Gaius closed his eyes in pleasure and tried not to disturb her thinking.
"If I refuse, they will never forgive us," she whispered, and Gaius opened his eyes in agony.
"I can't help you with that," he interjected, and Aurelia rolled her eyes. Sometimes he forgot that he didn't always have to protect her from everything. Suddenly her eyes sparkled open.
"That's it!" she exclaimed, sitting up with a jerk. Confused, Gaius blinked up at her.
"There has always been a distraction missing from our plans," she continued excitedly. "But when the feast is here, and I preside, all the men and boys must vacate this palace. Probably your grandmother will offer you her house, which is not at all designed for so many people. It will be child's play for Gemellus and Macro to sneak away. They won't dare pull out any more Praetorians because it would be too conspicuous. All you have to do is make sure Clemens stays with you and I..."
"All you have to do is perform rituals flawlessly in front of the most important women of our time that we have no idea about," Gaius finished her train of thought more horrified than thrilled. He did not at all like the idea of Aurelia taking such a risk with herself and their future together to protect him. A fierce determination sparkled in her eyes. No one would be able to stop her.