“Hyrum?” Livia’s voice shook even though Corvin had his arm around her shoulders.

“Are you okay, Liv?” he asked.

“No.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Gaius is refusing to allow a match between Corvin and me,” she explained.

“We’re working on that,” Hyrum said.

“How?” Livia asked.

“Trying to get him to be suspicious of Salina and doubt her motives but…I think her ambitions have sold him.”

“Ambitions?” Livia asked.

“She wants you to marry a wealthy Rattus House relative who owes her favors. She’ll cash in on those favors after you marry—” Hyrum explained.

This made Livia pause. Was Salina trying to set Livia up with Ancus? Livia wanted to be horrified by this, but all she could muster up was a grim realization that, from a logical standpoint, it wasn’t an offensive match. This meant Salina and Gaius would justify their actions by claiming they were generous and supportive. They would paint Livia as a defiant and disobedient child that wouldn’t listen to reason. If she allowed that dynamic to play out, she’d likely lose. She’d lose Corvin and the life she wanted. The realization gave her the courage to tell Hyrum what Gaius had threatened her with.

“Gaius threatened that if I didn’t break up with Corvin, he wouldn’t vote for the welfare bill. I believe he meant it, Hyrum. He said he had to do it to save Taurus House.”

“Did he?” Hyrum asked, voice cold and angry. “He shouldn’t treat you that way, Livia. He’s talking about the fact that he’s maxed out the amount he can personally spend as Paterfamilias. He’s never lived below a certain lifestyle. He’ll have to come down and live like a normal person. If he stopped flying to Turkey every month, he’d be fine. But he’s looking at the cost of twins now, and Salina isn’t making cheap requests.”

Livia didn’t need Gaius to get more desperate. “I think I should follow your advice to elope.”

Hyrum’s voice softened. “Do you want to marry Corvin, Livia?”

Livia rested her head on Corvin’s shoulder. “I love him, and he’s good to me.”

“Livia,” Hyrum said. “I said to you some relationships are worth taking risks on. I meant that specifically about Corvin. He’s a man worth taking a risk on.”

“We should still be smart about things. We should still have a plan—”

“Caecilia said that since Gaius signed that paper for your direct deposits, he can’t stop you from being paid. Since you never had an account with the Caesarean Bank, they can’t freeze your accounts. You’d have to live outside Caesarea for a year—”

“But what about Corvin?” Livia asked.

“He’d have his account frozen—” Hyrum said.

“How would Justin pay him?”

“He couldn’t,” Hyrum said.

“We can’t do this then….”

“Caecilia is saying that you could have Corvin set up a direct deposit to your account once you marry. Since Gaius already signed off on that particular loophole, he couldn’t stop you. The fact that Justin is your patron shields you from Gaius too. Makes it a lot harder for Gaius to stop Justin from helping Corvin after you’re married. Especially if Lars looks the other way.”

Livia looked at Corvin. “Okay, Hyrum, I’ll keep you updated.”

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“Livia,” Hyrum said. “I’d like to come—”

“Come?”

“To the wedding,” Hyrum said.

“Okay, we’ll let you know?” Livia looked at Corvin for confirmation.

Corvin nodded.

“We’ll let you know,” she said. “We have a lot of things to figure out first.”

Corvin smiled when Livia hung up. “Liv, between the paycheck loophole you’ve created and my secret account. I think we’ll be able to manage our finances alright.”

“Are you sure?” Livia asked.

“Let’s go over the details,” Corvin said.

Corvin and Livia talked until both their voices were hoarse. Aurelia had pulled out a notebook from somewhere. Now it was full of Livia’s and Corvin’s handwriting—math problems and theoretical budgets sprawled over the pages.

Livia knew she had anxiety issues over money, leading her to be freakishly meticulous with numbers. She usually kept this to herself because she didn’t think it was normal to walk around doing math calculations in your head for a half hour before you bought things. Trying to figure out how she’d survive the year brought that side of her out with a vengeance. Putting her obsessive thoughts down on paper in front of an audience was a new experience.

She was embarrassed, but Corvin never told her to stop. He was writing math problems alongside her. Showing her that the math worked out. When she wanted to review different scenarios, he turned to another page, and they reviewed it again. He picked up on how she preferred to count things and adapted to her logic until he spoke the secret language she had carried inside her head for years with ease.

Their math formed into a solid plan. When Livia was finally satisfied, her mouth was dry, and her head hurt from thinking so hard. She leaned her forehead against the curve of his shoulder, exhausted.

Corvin laughed. “Alright, there, Liv?”

“My brain hurts,” she moaned.

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I never knew you were so good at math. Let’s take a break, huh? Eat something.”

Livia followed him out of his parents’ room and into the kitchen. She was exhausted, but she felt good too. Numbers didn’t lie. They could meet all their obligations with enough left over for unexpected expenses. Corvin was both financially secure and savvy.

After they ate, Corvin leaned forward over his forearms. “Any other concerns, Liv?”

“I’m sad Lucas and Tad and…even Mom won’t be with me. Hyrum will be here through—”

“We’ll get him out here even if we need to use snowmobiles,” Corvin said.

“Should we invite Justin and Flavia?”

“I’ll call after we have a few more things settled.”

“Who will marry us?”

“My dad is authorized to marry people, but we’ll need to get a marriage license—”

“I don’t have a dress,” Livia said.

“We’ll need to purchase one and rings. We can do a bouquet and cake, and that’s probably all we can expect to arrange on short notice,” Corvin said.

“How will we do all that? We can’t get to Caesarea—”

“The roads that way are all closed, true, but the roads that lead into the cities get cleared faster. I checked while you spoke with Hyrum, and they’ll be open tomorrow morning at 5 a.m.”

“So, we’ll drive there and get everything?”

“Then the next day, we’ll prepare the house and be married in the evening after the guests arrive.”

“Is there some kind of Caesarean tradition—”

Corvin shook his head. “No. We’re eloping. We’ll do what feels familiar to you. Our vows will be traditional, though. No messing that up. That’s how we exchange one another’s Houses. That and the fact my father is Paterfamilias.

“Really?” Livia asked.

Corvin nodded.

“And…honeymoon?” Livia asked, eyes darting to the side as she avoided being blunt.

Corvin studied her. “What did you imagine your honeymoon would be like, Livia? Did you want to travel? To Rome, perhaps?”

“No.” That sounded exhausting after throwing together a wedding at the last minute.

“New York?” Corvin asked, his tone betraying surprise that she’d turned him down.

“No. I don’t want to go anywhere. I just want to be home. But wait. I don’t have a home.” Livia lifted confused eyes to Corvin’s face.

“Your home is with me,” he said gently.

Livia huffed. “Do you really want to spend all that money and go someplace?”

“All I want is to make you happy.”

“You won’t be disappointed?” Livia asked.

“I’ve had other opportunities to travel. I won’t be disappointed.”

“You sure?” Livia asked, doubt making her voice hoarse.

“I’m sure. What do you prefer if we stay in places familiar to us? Where do you feel the safest?”

“At Ratco.” Then Livia winced. “That’s your and Terrence’s place—”

Corvin didn’t bat a territorial eye. “It’s likely that is where we’ll end up living for the semester. You’ll have to move out of the dorms.”

“Will Terrence be angry I moved in with you?” Livia asked.

“He’ll get over it. We can have the place to ourselves for the remainder of winter break.”

“So, I need to get out of my housing contract—” Livia frowned. “That’s going to be complicated.”

“Sometimes they have a waiting list, or you could call Whitney and see if she knows someone she’d like to transfer to live with her.”

“I need to go do that…now, probably?” Livia stood, clutching her phone. Then she hesitated. She had only scratched the surface of her concerns. Not even the surface. Her roundabout way of raising the topic had taken a complete detour.

Livia went to the girl’s bunk room and started the process of switching her housing.