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‘I cannot believe this,’ he said. ‘You think I would sacrifice my own advisor, a man who was like an uncle to me… and for what? Perhaps it is you who is trying to frame me?’

‘Why would I do that? I could’ve died today. Gia was injured. One of my guards was shot in the throat, and who knows how many others were killed or injured in the chaos.’

‘I saved your life.’

‘Maybe that was part of the plot, to make it believable.’

He threw up his hands. ‘No, no, this I cannot believe.’

‘I’m just here to determine the truth,’ said Claudia. ‘I hope to be wrong but I can no longer ignore my suspicions. Or the fact that the knife was in your rooms.’

‘Then it seems we have a problem, because that knife isn’t mine. I have never seen that before,’ he said. ‘I cannot explain its presence in my chambers, but I did not put it there.’

Cassius looked back and forth between them in concern.

‘Who found it?’ asked Darius.

‘I did,’ said Gia.

‘Then the gladiator is lying. She must be,’ he said, face curdling.

‘She wouldn’t,’ said Cassius.

‘That is why she desires to drive me out,’ said Darius. ‘I am a threat to your closeness. She has motive to work against me.’

‘Trust me, you’re not a threat,’ said Gia.

‘She has no reason to tell tall tales and endanger me for show,’ said Claudia. ‘She wants to find the real culprit, as do I. I trust her with my life. There is no question. She is telling the truth.’

Darius looked sickened, shaking his head in consternation. If he was an actor, he should’ve joined the Campus Martius players.

‘Someone is setting me up,’ he said. ‘This is a political act. They wish to diminish the might of the Persian empire. I wasn’t even in the city when you were attacked at the Pantheon.’

Claudia stared at the ground. She could see no clear conclusion. She believed him, but she doubted that belief. She was afraid to risk her trust. She didn’t know which way to turn.

‘One of your enemies must be using me for a scapegoat,’ said Darius. ‘They knew you wouldn’t trust me, that you’d go looking through my possessions and find this. They’re setting me up to look like a traitor, and for you to look like a fool… and all the while, the real culprit is hiding in the shadows, unnoticed.’

Something about his defence rang true but she was reluctant to be deceived again.

‘Tell me why I should believe that you’re innocent.’

‘I am innocent because I intervened to save you today. Because I would never lower myself by carrying a talisman to a Roman god. Because I would bring disgrace on my family, my people and my pantheon, to come to Rome and attempt to kill its ruler. Because I am not a savage or a warlord. Because I find that I am protective of you, that I see you as an ally in a treacherous world. Because if I wanted to kill you, I would do it openly, before an audience, so there would be no doubt. Because I would do it for good reason, and you would know the reason before you died. Because I wouldn’t sneak around like a coward with a dirty dagger. Because I have more to gain from allying with you than I do from taking a blade to your throat. Because I would never be accepted as ruler of Rome without a Roman by my side. Because I am an outsider. Because I know this, and I am not ashamed.’

Her resolve faltered, her doubt dissipating.

‘Think of what my father will do if he learns about this,’ he said, in cold, wide-eyed fear. ‘He’s not as diplomatic as me, nor does he think as highly of women. He’d tell me to kill you and seize your city, even if it cost him a hundred thousand men, including myself. He would declare a war on principle alone.’

‘My father would’ve done the same,’ she said, ‘but we are not them, as we have already agreed.’

‘To kill you would be killing myself,’ he said. ‘That is the real reason why I did what I did today. Not to be a hero, but because I need you to live so you can fulfil our agreement, so I can return to my father and tell him I did not fail. I need you alive… so you can marry me.’

Claudia didn’t know what to say, what to think.

‘What would you do in my situation, Prince Darius?’ she asked. ‘If I visited you in Persepolis and one of your guards found a weapon in my chamber – not just a weapon, but a weapon connected to an attack on your life? Would you give me the benefit of the doubt? I don’t think you would.’

‘You would not like the outcome, I suspect,’ he said.

The prince fixed her with a meaningful gaze.