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‘Yes. You seem surprised?’

‘I thought you would pray to Mithras.’

‘I do,’ he said, ‘but I also pray to Anahita. There is much you don’t know about me, Empress.’

Claudia made a note to find out about Anahita later. Maybe she could even ask Minerva about it.

While Claudia and Darius enjoyed the palace’s galleries, parading arm in arm along the colonnades of sculptures and paintings, Gia walked behind them silently, listening to their chatter about salting carpets and star-tiles, bronzes and bas reliefs, occasionally straying into more intimate conversation.

‘You are not what I thought you’d be,’ said Darius.

‘What did you think I would be? A gorgon?’ said Claudia.

He laughed – a natural, joyful sound.

‘What I mean is, I am impressed with how you conduct yourself compared to Roman men, and the way you treat your servants.’

He gestured to Gia, who frowned minutely. Claudia flashed Gia an apologetic look.

‘If my people were saying such offensive things about me, I would be hiding away in a dark room right now.’

Claudia pulled up, her heart clamouring. ‘Offensive… things?’

‘I would be ashamed to show my face,’ he continued, and each word was a small dagger in her chest. ‘I would want to run away, to go and live in the forest or the desert as a wild man with no name, but you are still standing here, in front of the very people who disparage you on the walls of your own city.’

‘The graffiti… Ah. You have seen that?’

‘Oh, yes. It has been written many times.’

Claudia physically winced at his brutal delivery.

‘Despite this, you maintain composure. Your resolve impresses me,’ he said. ‘Even in humiliation and mockery, you are graceful.’

Claudia wasn’t sure this was quite the compliment he seemed to think it was but she was also secretly pleased, for some reason.

‘I’m glad to have found something that impresses you,’ she said.

‘I would not have held myself together so well, in your position,’ he added, apparently unable to stop talking about it. ‘How do you deal with such defaming rumours?’

‘It isn’t true, of course,’ she said quickly. ‘They are threatened by what I represent. They wish to paint me as a man-hater, so they object to my close friendships with my, uh… female staff. They make more of it than it is. Men do not understand such things.’

‘There have been times when I too was misunderstood. My actions were interpreted in a way that brought shame to my family. It is a deep regret of mine. The people of Persepolis have their opinions on me too, and it brings my father great concern.’

Claudia was curious about the opinions in question but she wasn’t sure he would respond well to her prying. Recalling what Hieronymus had told her about flirting, she decided to spread her flattery a little thicker instead.

‘I’m sure they are wrong. You seem a fine man, even though I met you just a few hours ago… and, admittedly, my bar for a fine man is quite low, on the example of my father and brother, but…’

The compliment was rapidly derailing.

‘What I have seen, I am impressed with. I spent many years imagining what you might be like, and I must say… you are even more handsome and charming than I envisioned.’

‘Did you dream of me?’ he said, fluttering his dark lashes.

‘Many times. I longed to escape, to come and find you.’

‘I dreamed of you too,’ he said. ‘You were the vision of love I grew up with, the promised princess of a foreign land.’

‘That is… so romantic.’