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‘I know.’

Cassius looked unexpectedly forlorn for someone who was just having uncommitted recreational sex.

‘And Marcellus?’ asked Claudia.

‘We haven’t been able to find him. He hasn’t been seen since dinner last night,’ said Gia.

‘They haven’t announced him as emperor yet?’

‘No, they cannot find him either. He might’ve fled the place, but the general and his cohorts are trying to declare him in absentia.’

‘Then we must move quickly,’ she said.

Claudia looked around, trying to recover herself. It was light outside. Dawn had come, and she was still alive.

In a small alcove, next to the smoking incense, Claudia saw a small carved figurine of Meditrina, the goddess of medicine whose festival she had established.

She’d be sure to leave an offering to her later.

‘Aquinas is trying to seize power, for himself and for Jupiter,’ she said. ‘Marcellus is just his emperor puppet – but all the same, Aquinas needs him. He has no claim to the throne himself. We must find Marcellus and we must stop this.’

‘Aquinas has the entire army on his side,’ said Gia. ‘We don’t have the numbers. If we kill him, they will tear us limb from limb.’

‘We won’t be alone. Others are coming to fight. We will have thousands of warriors to fight for us soon enough,’ said Claudia.

‘Who are you talking about?’ asked Cassius.

‘I was in the underworld. I saw Proserpina, and Discordia and Invidia. Bellona came with her furies to overthrow Pluto.’

The others looked to each other with concern.

‘Say that again?’ said Dom.

‘The goddesses are rising up and overthrowing the gods.’

‘It might take a while for the effects of the poison to wear off,’ said the physician.

‘I’m not hallucinating,’ Claudia said. ‘I’m not intoxicated. The war of the pantheon is just beginning.’

‘No, I believe you. After all we have seen, how could I not?’ said Gia, nodding in affirmation. ‘But it is still an impossible battle. No one would judge you for walking away.’

‘I will judge me for it,’ Claudia said. ‘I cannot let the goddesses down – not just Minerva and Diana and Venus, but all of them. If I fail now, everything I tried to do will be lost to the sands of time. They will write me out of history, and women will not stand a chance. It is time. This is it. We rise to the occasion, or we die.’

Claudia fixed them all with what she hoped was a serious, commanding look.

‘Are you with me?’ she said, looking to them each in turn.

‘Always,’ said Gia. ‘You know that.’

‘Yes, Empress,’ said Dido, bowing.

Celadus nodded, confidently. ‘I do believe I am.’

‘I suppose so,’ sighed Livia, though she didn’t look entirely unhappy about it any more.

‘We’ve come this far, my lady,’ said Dominic.

‘I… don’t have much of a choice,’ said Cassius.