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‘This man is a murderer,’ said Claudia, staring at Aquinas. ‘He has killed in plain sight, before your eyes. Have him taken to the dungeon, and his accomplices too. Do it now.’

‘Do not do that,’ said Marcellus. ‘By my orders.’

‘I am the empress. The ordained and ratified empress,’ she objected. ‘You shook my hand and conceded. The title is still mine, and you won’t take it without a fight. Please, gentlemen, do your job and arrest him.’

‘No, men, arrest her instead!’

The guards did neither – looking back and forth, unsure whose orders to follow.

Claudia levelled her gaze at Aquinas.

‘Over my dead body will you take Rome,’ she said.

‘Gladly,’ said General Aquinas.

‘Claudia!’ cried Gia.

Gia managed to break free, but she was prevented from reaching Claudia by Cassius, who dived out in front of her. He held her at sword point, his gaze hard, as if she were the enemy.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked, in disbelief.

‘Shut up, woman,’ Cassius replied, in the voice of a stranger. ‘Do as you’re told. Don’t make this difficult on yourself.’

They exchanged a brief look of understanding as Gia struggled against him, though not too hard. Then she turned back to Claudia.

‘Say you will marry him,’ Gia said. ‘Do it. Save yourself.’

But to live meant being prisoner, and to die meant being free.

‘I cannot. I will not.’

‘It appears that you were wrong,’ said General Aquinas, turning to Marcellus. ‘You thought she could be brought to heel.’

‘I am not a dog,’ said Claudia.

‘Maybe if you gave her some time to think,’ said Marcellus, hopefully, ‘she might still come to her senses.’

‘It cannot wait. You must stand up as a man, as a ruler, and claim your crown as we have planned. Here – here is a weapon,’ said the general, handing a sword to Marcellus. ‘Do what you must.’

Her cousin stared at it, as if he had never seen one before.

‘You… you want me to kill her?’ he said.

Claudia’s heart plummeted, rolling rapidly downhill like the great boulder of Sisyphus.

‘Do it now, before it’s too late.’

‘You want me to do it… right now?’ said Marcellus.

‘Her prince is banished. Her gladiator is detained. Either she marries you, or she dies.’

Claudia felt weak on her feet, a thick slick of sweat forming on her skin as she shook her head in fear.

‘My goddess,’ she prayed, hoarsely. ‘Please hear me, Minerva.’

‘Kill her, I said.’

‘I beg you, goddesses. I need you now,’ Claudia tried.