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My vision was like a tunnel. All I could see was this hateful man. Around the edges of my sight, the illuminated parts of the cave and the darkness beyond seemed to ripple.

He was only an arm’s length away. His fingers were still curled tightly around the rock he had used to hit Sebastianus. Blood seeped onto the floor.

“I thought you’d get what you deserved in the Diluvion,” he continued, “but perhaps the Lord of the Deep preserved you for this very moment. I’ve never forgotten what you prevented me from having all those months ago. It’s become a strange craving that I can’t seem to shake.” His hand drifted down the front of his toga. He cleared his throat. “I like the idea of taking you right now, while he’s unconscious on the floor beside us.”

A sense of panic filled my throat. My thoughts were a jumble. I had to help Sebastianus, and together we needed to escape to see our friends again. Klaudia, Pollux, Don. Use it for something good.

“Clemens Fabius,” I took a quick step toward him, arranging my face in the flirtatious expression I had seen Valentina use. “I am so grateful you’re here. No one knows what I have suffered with this man. Everything you warned me about was right. I came down here to hide from him, but he followed me, and now you’ve come to rescue me.”

He blinked in surprise.

I ran my fingers lightly over his knuckles. “How I wish I had listened to you in the first place.”

“But you seemed—I had no idea—”

“You must know that I was making another escape attempt when I saw you in the old quarter.”

“You gave no indication. In fact, you spoke quite discourteously to me.”

“I was so frightened by the soldiers that I hardly knew what I was saying.” I let my lower lip jut out just a bit and looked up at him with what I hoped was an expression of doe-eyed vulnerability. “I was watching my chance at escape slip away, and I didn’t know how to tell you.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You were there because you received an invitation from one of Georgios’s daughters. I know because I wrote that invitation.”

“Yes, of course, but I planned to beg them for help. It was the first chance I had to be among people not part of the Archidux’s household.”

He studied my face so keenly that I thought he might be trying to see into my mind and read my thoughts.

A small, bright feeling of confidence bloomed in my chest. I could do this. I would use all the tools I had available to me to save myself and Sebastianus.

“Please help me,” I said. “I will give you—I will give you anything. I will give you what you have been longing for.”

His expression changed subtly. His mouth opened slightly. “Right now?”

I turned toward him and put both hands on his shoulders. I looked up into his narrow, pinched face. “Yes. Right now.”

Clemens Fabius dropped the stone and was on me with a single broad step, gripping my shoulders roughly and spinning me around. I felt his breath hot on my ear. “Let’s see if the jewel of Corlivo is as good as I imagine. ” He pulled up the hem of my dress, and I felt his fingers groping around the top of my thighs.

What was the next step? Panic was making it hard for me to think. How could I use this moment to get out of the situation? There was no one here to help, only the great, silent statue watching over us. The little votive that had fallen beside Sebastianus still flickered gamely beside his bent elbow.

“Wait!” I cried. “Wait! We must observe the ritual of the Goddess. She’s watching us.”

He stilled his hands. “What are you talking about?”

“You will think it superstition, but for a woman of Casa Caligine to—to do this before the eyes of the Goddess, we must first say a prayer.”

“I’ve never seen any woman here do such a thing before.” His fingers resumed their exploration, moving up my thigh.

“But you’ve never been down here before, in this sacred place.”

He looked around and scoffed. “It appears to be a room for the washing of clothes, and no, I certainly have never been here before.”

“In this place, we must say a prayer before her altar.”

“Superstitious nonsense. An altar in a laundry.”

“Please,” I said. “One prayer. I shall kneel and thank the Goddess that you have come along to rescue me. You could stand over me and watch me.”

Something about this seemed to appeal to him. “Yes, all right. You shall kneel and I will stand over you.”