<b>Regain What Was or Lose What Could Be</b><br> <i>Getting the woman can return to him the past. Saving the girl stolen will gain him a future. Choosing one will cost the other everything.</i> <p>The question, "Have I bedded you?" pushed for voice. In addition to the embarrassment of having to ask, there was the propensity of learning he had been inside a woman other than his murdered wife. The guilt of gaining that knowledge could send him back down the spiral staircase.</p> <p>Smarter to avoid cataclysmic subjects. Caderyn nodded to himself. "I think we should learn if any townspeople might recall seeing Indrasena the night of her disappearance. While in Polus you mentioned a painting of her. Might I show it around Floridus?"</p> <p>"If your arms could stretch so wide," Jana spat.</p> <p>"What do you mean?"</p> <p>"Verum, I had no idea your stupidity reached such depths. Figure out what it is I mean. When you do, invite the townsfolk to come here. Line them up single-file starting at the atrium and continuing here on the lawn and there on the road. Charge admission. People would pay were they told of the <i>art's</i> sheer lewd size. Or why <i>he</i> had it created. Let each gaze in solitude upon the painting in all its excruciating detail and marvel as I did and do and must and witnessed you doing the same. You shall have more chance of shining light on someone's recollection should their memories have faded. That I rather doubt. No one could possibly forget seeing <i>her</i>."</p> <p>The outburst and how Jana had said art, he, and her reeked of jealousy. Caderyn felt green, too, wondering whether Jana's envy based itself in desiring Lepidus when the proconsul had directed his affections elsewhere. "We need smaller replicates. Are there artists?"</p> <p>"Query Lepidus," she uttered through clenched teeth. "In the tablinum."</p> <p>"Jana..." He reached for her arm.</p> <p>"Dare not touch me unless the touch leads to intimacy."</p> <p>His hand dropped.</p> <p>"I s