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Invidia gave her a sceptical look.

‘Try again,’ she said.

‘Because Pluto stole her from her home, abducted her and forced her to live in the underworld for half the year as his queen?’

‘Now you’re cooking on fire,’ said Discordia.

‘Not so fast, sister. Proserpina is both Pluto’s wife and his prisoner,’ said Invidia. ‘She says she chose to stay with him, for love.’ Her face twisted in disgust. ‘But he gave her no choice at all. She is afraid of him, as we are all are. Proserpina’s mother caused a famine that threatened all mortal existence, and still he didn’t set her free.’

‘She won’t be easily persuaded to turn against him, and he won’t be easily persuaded to turn against Jupiter.’

‘That’s why you’d be better sticking to my plan,’ said Discordia.

‘We should at least try to get through to her. Stealing the key can be our backup plan.’

‘I don’t know,’ said Invidia. ‘It’s a lot of effort.’

‘Please, will you take me there?’ said Claudia. ‘As quickly as possible? Who knows how long I have been dead already.’

‘Fine. I am game,’ said Discordia.

‘It’s such a long way,’ complained Invidia.

‘That’s not the real reason, is it?’ said Discordia.

‘No,’ admitted Invidia.

‘You just don’t want to see her.’

‘Why not?’ asked Claudia.

Invidia’s dark eyes glittered with crystalline tears.

‘Because every time I see her, I wish to fill his cup with poison and set her free.’

They silenced. Discordia looked away awkwardly as Invidia quietly fumed. There was obviously a complicated history there.

‘You say Proserpina won’t easily be converted,’ said Claudia, ‘but perhaps she has the strongest reason to turn against the gods. She, of all the goddesses, knows that as long as gods rule the pantheon, they will do exactly what they want, with no consideration for anyone else.’

‘You won’t have long to get through to her,’ said Invidia. ‘I do not think she will see sense.’

‘It’s worth trying.’

‘If we cannot change her mind, why will she listen to you?’ said Invidia. ‘Even Diana and Minerva have tried. You think a human could persuade a god?’

‘It has happened before,’ said Discordia. ‘Even Jupiter has been fooled by mortals.’

‘I can try,’ said Claudia. ‘I managed to convince the Senate to confirm me as empress, with a little help from a goddess. Imagine what I might do with the help of two.’

20. AN ARMY OF GODDESSES

The streets outside were eerily empty, free of horses and chariots, with only the occasional shade to be seen. Filmy, see-through human forms, they were just fragments of what they used to be. A little boy with a ball. A brothel girl whose robes were stained with blood. An elder statesman who staggered drunkenly across the Forum, eternally intoxicated as he was when he died.

The longer shades were here, the less they remembered themselves. Eventually, they would become mere matter, just ether… the stardust that gods were made of. If Claudia could not find her way home to Gia, she would be just like them one day.

That fear pushed her forwards, through the macabre sights of underworld Rome. The city had none of the charm or flavour of its surface counterpart, as everything appeared to be rotting slowly.

Collapsing aqueducts, burned-out temples… It was like a vision of the city that could one day be.