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‘I invited them back,’ said Claudia.

‘You aren’t responsible for what deities do,’ said Gia.

‘No, but I did just inherit an empire.’

They quietened again.

‘It’s all too much,’ Claudia sighed.

‘You’re telling me,’ said Gia, shaking her head.

This startled Claudia out of her self-pity session, turning to Gia to acknowledge her own harried expression.

‘Are you okay?’ she said. ‘I haven’t had chance to ask. It’s been never-ending preparations.’

‘Well, apparently you’re marrying the prince,’ Gia said. ‘I can’t say I’m too happy about that.’

She was trying to play it off as a joke, but Claudia could tell there was something sharp and serious underneath it.

‘I was just trying to keep Marcellus at bay,’ said Claudia. ‘Never take seriously anything I say to men.’

Gia didn’t respond, and her expression remained sombre.

Ordinarily, Claudia didn’t have to question what Gia thought or felt because Gia would tell her plainly, sometimes without saying a thing. No words were required when a penetrating look or subtle gesture would do. Now, Claudia felt that same connection falling away. Something was bothering Gia, and she wasn’t being forthcoming about it, which was new.

‘Talk to me,’ Claudia said. When Gia didn’t respond, she lightly added: ‘As your empress, I demand it.’

‘I’m fine, I’m just… annoyed about Marcellus, worried about the prince… and then there’s my brother.’

‘What about him?’ asked Claudia.

She reached for Gia’s hand, sensing that she was having some difficulty forming the next sentence.

‘I don’t know, he’s… I don’t know.’

Claudia nodded gently, encouraging her to go on.

‘He’s struggling to accept what happened back in Pompeii.’

The eruption unravelled in Claudia’s mind like a ribbon from a spool, as it did at least once a day. The black skies. The rivers of fire. The seas of stone and the dust that made everything look corpse-like.

‘He thinks… I let Mother down,’ said Gia. ‘That I should’ve protected her instead of…’

‘Me?’ said Claudia.

Gia rubbed the back of her neck. ‘Maybe. I think he feels lost, too – far from home. I wish I could support him more.’

‘Why can’t you?’

‘Because I need to be right here beside you, to protect you.’

Claudia reminded herself that Gia was grieving. Her mother’s death had been lost in all the chaos of seizing the throne.

‘We’ll make time – for him, for you,’ Claudia said. ‘If he is your home, then he is my home too.’

Gia’s expression twisted in pain.

Home. Claudia’s home was here, right here, but Gia’s home was gone. Claudia had never seen Gia look like that before, not even when they thought they were going to die.