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‘Who cares what those monsters think? They don’t understand decency when they see it, nor love, nor kindness. Anything they don’t understand is perverted to them.’
‘You’re right. Why are you so often right? It’s very frustrating to me, as a person who likes to be right,’ said Claudia.
‘I do it only because you look so cute when you’re annoyed.’
‘Please, I am on the edge as it is.’
‘If it makes you feel any better, making fun of the emperor is a long-standing Roman tradition. It’s not personal. They would despise anyone standing there, but particularly a woman. You know that.’
‘I do know that.’
Claudia broke free to wring her hands, pacing again.
‘Do you think Darius was responsible for what happened in the theatre too?’ asked Gia. ‘Could he have paid them to humiliate you?’
‘Maybe. Or it might have been someone else. I have so many enemies now, I lose track of their names.’
‘Then forget their names,’ said Gia. ‘They deserve none.’
‘Everything feels cursed. I am standing on a clifftop, like I could be overthrown, literally thrown over, in my sleep,’ said Claudia.
‘Did you ever think it would be otherwise?’
‘I thought it would be a catastrophe and yet, the reality is even worse. The legion is still missing, Marcellus hasn’t reported to me since meeting with the Legate, the prince staying in my palace is conspiring against me, the people are putting on scandalous comedies about me, the king of the gods is trying to kill me… oh, and –’ This was the worst part – ‘Cassius is not a fan. Of me, in particular.’
She thought Gia might be surprised, maybe even deny it on her brother’s behalf or tell her she’d got the wrong impression, but she merely sat down on a bench and said, ‘I know.’
‘You know?’
‘He told me,’ Gia said.
‘When?’
‘The night you got the shield from Minerva.’
‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ said Claudia, sitting beside her.
‘I didn’t want you to be hurt by it. You have enough on your mind already. Why would I add to it? What good would it have done?’
‘What did he say?’
‘Nothing I haven’t heard before,’ said Gia.
‘Like what?’ Claudia urged. ‘Go on.’
‘Oh, you know, I’m just your servant, you’re weird and lonely, you’ll step over my dead body one day, that sort of thing.’
‘Wow. That is… wow. Weird and lonely?’ said Claudia. ‘And here I was thinking we could be friends!’
‘He’s wrong. He’ll change his mind, in time. He doesn’t know what we have. He doesn’t even know the truth about us.’
Claudia’s stomach rolled in dread again.
‘He does now, I’m afraid,’ she said gloomily. ‘He looked right at me during the play. He figured it out.’
‘I doubt it,’ she said. ‘My brother isn’t that smart.’
‘You didn’t see his face. He knows, Gia. I am certain.’
