Pericles stopped chewing even though his mouth was full. His warm brown eyes asked the question but she answered.
"We just weren't careful enough, I suppose. But I want to give you a son." She ran a hand through his thick beard, knowing it tickled him. All men in Athens had a fashionable beard.
Pericles finished the food in his mouth. And swallowed. His eyes clouded over with anger.
"How could you let such a thing happen? Do you know what kind of position that puts me in?"
For once, Aspasia held her tongue. She had thought Pericles would have been happy to know she was carrying his child - his son. Something was wrong though. He rarely got angry about anything.
"I just spent six months pushing for the Assembly's acceptance of a law. Now I have to look the other way while my wife, nay, rather my concubine, a non-Athenian, gives birth to my son and makes a fool of me. Do you know what I proposed?" His eyes glared at her.
"I know," Aspasia murmured, fixing her eyes on his. It wasn't for nothing that she was known as a woman who had no fear into entering a political debate.
"Perhaps you didn't hear about it," he said as if he hadn't heard her. "I proposed a law that considers sons with full citizen rights, legitimate only if both the mother and father are citizens of Athens. The Assembly passed this law and now look what I'm confronted with! A non-Athenian woman carrying my son! What will I do to explain this to the Assembly?" He paused to think, his brows knitted together.
As if a storm had blown through and wreaked minimal damage, his shoulders relaxed. "You may have a daughter and then there would be nothing to worry about. We'll just wait for the outcome of your pregnancy - son or daughter." With that he got up and stalked out of the room without kissing her as he usually did.
Aspasia fell into a stupor, staring at the plate filled with grapes and the cup filled with white wine. What had made Pericles so angry? She had known about the law but the same way their marriage was secret, the presence of a child could be kept hidden for a little while. Perhaps circumstances would change to allow Pericles to accept his son or daughter.
