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‘Just like that.’

‘Well, where did they go?’ asked Damocles.

‘They say they were captured by a feral warrior queen.’

Gia’s eyes lit up.

Claudia shot her a look that said, ‘Focus.’

‘They were taken back to her fort and interrogated,’ he said.

‘Thousands of men were captured by a single woman?’ said Cassius. ‘They didn’t resist? None of them were harmed?’

It seemed he was sceptical too.

‘They were vanished away by some dark and monstrous magic. But Jupiter himself appeared to her and appealed for their freedom. She feared the wrath of the gods and let them go.’

‘And what of the queen?’

‘She was killed, to set an example,’ said General Aquinas.

A solemn hush fell upon the room.

The general’s eyes were not dark like her brother’s, but a cool pale blue. Yet they had the same skin-crawling emptiness.

Claudia recognized it well.

‘I’m still not clear on the details of how an entire legion was whisked away and returned like a scroll from a library without a single drop of blood being spilled?’ she said, holding his gaze.

‘Jupiter blessed us. He aided our passage home,’ said Marcellus. ‘Our ship moved at four times the speed.’

Claudia looked to Gia, then to Rectina, mutually recalling how Salacia had spirited them to Rome across the sea, faster than any ship could ever sail without divine intervention.

‘And what does your god expect in return?’ asked Claudia.

‘That is between him and me,’ he said.

She looked to Darius, thinking of the prophecy he’d foretold: Marcellus as emperor.

‘Perhaps we should discuss an appropriate reward,’ said Damocles. He gave Claudia a sharp look, which she interpreted to mean that she needed to placate her cousin, but she was sick of coddling men.

‘A parade, a public holiday, a new building named after the great Marcellus Suetonius?’ Damocles suggested.

‘I have a much greater reward in mind,’ said Marcellus.

‘Which is?’

He looked to the throne, but he didn’t say anything.

‘I asked you to speak with the Legate, Marcellus,’ said Claudia. ‘I didn’t give you permission to launch a mission.’

‘I need your permission to save thousands of lives?’

‘You need my permission to take military action. What you and your men did is a capital crime.’

Marcellus’s wide smile faltered.

‘We could stand here pointing fingers but it would do Rome no good,’ he said. ‘You have seen the work of the deities for yourself. You have your goddesses, and now I have my gods. The people outside are celebrating. Our soldiers have been saved. Let us just enjoy this moment.’