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‘She’ll be fine,’ said Rectina, comforting her. ‘It’s okay. We’ll find her soon.’

‘What if…’ Claudia began.

‘Do not say it,’ said Cassius, scowling.

‘Maybe she was dragged into the abyss,’ Claudia said. She laid her hand on the shoulder of a soldier lying face down in the gutter, shaking her head in sorrow. ‘Maybe she…’

She rolled the soldier over and came face to face with her lover’s cold, lifeless brown eyes.

‘No,’ she choked.

An arrow protruded from Gia’s chest.

Blood congealed around the wound. Claudia’s mind went cold and white. She was aware of the others rushing forward and of someone screaming. It took a moment to realize it was her.

‘Gia! GIA!’

She shook her violently, slapped at her face, but she didn’t blink or breathe, her skin already cold.

It couldn’t be… wouldn’t be.

They were at the end… the war was over and they had won. She was victorious. It was just as the goddesses had foretold, back in Pompeii: the warrior who would protect her, lay down their life for her, and love her as she loved them. That was the prophecy. That was their destiny, or so it was supposed to be.

It wasn’t real, she decided. None of this was real at all. She was still poisoned, dreaming, back in the underworld.

But Gia’s eyes were still open, unblinking, and she saw nothing. The blood on her chest had begun to dry.

With every second, the reality became too hard to deny.

Gia was dead.

‘No, no… you cannot leave me.’

Cassius pushed past Claudia to try and rouse her, shaking her even more violently than Claudia had.

‘Gia… Gia… Gia,’ he cried, like a prayer.

It did no good.

‘Who did this? Tell me who did this? I will kill them. I won’t rest until they are dead,’ Cassius raged.

Darius put a gentle hand on his shoulder.

Dazed, Claudia focused on the fletching of the arrow. It was of a similar style to the arrows that had been fired at them at the Circus Maximus, but instead of bronze it was made of gold – forged by the gods.

‘One of Jupiter’s men,’ said Diana, mournfully. ‘The arrow of a divine archer. She died in battle beside me, and I didn’t even notice.’

She knelt down, laying her cloak upon Gia as if she was asleep.

Through tears, Claudia looked to Darius, as she recalled what he’d said about choosing between power and love. She could only have one, and she had won the war. She was empress, she was powerful, and she was victorious, but Gia was the price.

‘What victory is worth such loss?’ she said.

‘I am so sorry, Empress,’ he said, his eyes wet too.

Gia was the sacrifice, just as a part of her had always feared.

‘She cannot have died alone,’ she sobbed. ‘I cannot stand it. Not without me by her side. I will not allow it. I will not… allow it.’