The day Agrippa returned to Rome a week later, he headed straight for Augustus's residence and allowed himself into the villa with a nod at the guards. He had to tell him. There wasn't a chance that the emperor would allow an adulterer to stay married to his daughter. There wasn't a chance in all the Underworld of that. And once he told him, Julia would be free of her husband -
But before he could bring up what he had seen of Marcellus up north, Augustus launched into a stressed tirade about all the problems that had arisen since Agrippa had left.
"And I thought I could handle a month or two of your absence, old friend," the emperor said with his head bowed and his hands clenched around the ends of his armrests. It was rare that Agrippa ever saw him show such weakness and frustration, b
