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As they began debating, Claudia raised her voice, cutting into their conversation: ‘Maybe there’s another explanation.’

‘Like what?’ asked Damocles.

‘A natural disaster that gave them no time to prepare. Perhaps they took shelter in a nearby settlement and word is yet to reach us.’

‘The camp is undisturbed, with no sign of a battle, nor any kind of disorder,’ said Aquinas. ‘There were no storms, no evidence of a fire, and the camp was as far from the sea as you can get on a small island. It’s hard to imagine what kind of disaster could’ve vanished so many soldiers and left no trace. I suspect the cause may be… unnatural.’

Claudia shivered, meeting Gia’s gaze. She was beginning to get an idea of who might be responsible and it seemed that Gia shared the idea.

Jupiter.

He had tried to sink her ship. He had sent a human assassin. What if he had spirited the legions away – turned them into insects or stars? Maybe he’d graduated to more sophisticated forms of warfare, by staging a catastrophe which she would be blamed for. This was how the deities had played the game of civilization for centuries, arranging mortals into position like pieces in a strategy game.

‘What should we do, Empress? Should we retaliate?’

‘Yes, please do advise us.’

‘Should we send more soldiers to investigate?’

There was something suspicious about the disappearance. It had the fingerprints of the gods all over it.

The earth felt to tilt and roll, like it had in Pompeii ahead of the Vesuvian eruption. Her father had never taught her statecraft, yet now she was expected to solve the empire’s problems. She couldn’t complain; she’d put herself firmly in this position. This was the occasion and she intended to meet it, to look it in the eye and clutch it around the throat.

‘Send four more legions to the area,’ she said. ‘They should talk with the elders of the nearest villages. Speak to their client kings and queens. Tell them we will reward them for information.’

Damocles almost looked impressed.

‘Good call, Empress,’ he said.

‘That won’t work. We need to drive out the barbarians who are responsible and set an example,’ said the general. ‘Their settlements will be burned in search of the culprits.’

‘You don’t know what’s happened yet. If they are hiding five thousand Romans, dead or alive, we shall know about it without incinerating their settlements,’ said Claudia. ‘There is no need for you to inflame the situation by murdering innocent children.’

The Roman generals sneered at this.

‘What are you suggesting?’ asked Aquinas.

‘There should be some kind of investigation,’ Claudia insisted. ‘We must attempt to communicate with the tribal chiefs.’

‘I told you she’d be as wet as a milkmaid,’ said one man.

‘We must flush out the enemy,’ said Aquinas. ‘The occupation is challenging enough as it is. We cannot have the natives thinking they can overpower us so easily.’

‘Let me be clear: the legions are not to pillage and plunder. There is no need for a massacre before we know what happened. Inform me when Marcellus returns. He can tell us what the Legate says.’

‘Very well, Empress,’ said Hieronymus, in the tone of voice that said: on your head, so be it.

Damocles continued to regard her with growing interest, but General Aquinas stared at Claudia without expression, his iceberg-blue eyes boring into her soul. The encounter lasted for an uncomfortably long time before he turned and walked away.

A dull droning noise filled Claudia’s head as she attempted to read through the scrolls Rectina had loaned to her: everything she needed to know about governing an empire, as written by men. Pliny, too, had been helpful, visiting the palace several times a week to counsel her. Yet a wall had now formed inside her head, preventing her from absorbing the new information. She’d been sitting there for over an hour and she couldn’t recall a single thing she’d read, largely due to the incessant sound of shouting. The noise seemed to be getting louder, permeating every word, until she threw up her hands in frustration.

‘What is that?’ she said, when she heard footsteps in the hallway outside. ‘What is making such noise?’

She turned, expecting to see one of her handmaids, but it was Gia to whom she’d barked these enquiries.

‘Oh, sorry. I—’

‘I’ll go and check,’ said Gia.