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“Yes. It got me out of the city. I was a young man of one-and-twenty, and I had to do something. Gods, I felt such rage at the world. I’ve spent the years since trying to outrun it by traveling or drowning myself in women who are paid not to care that I have a lame leg and a missing eye. Telling myself it’s no different from enjoying the theater.”

I propped myself up on my arm and looked down at his tired, weather-beaten face.

He caressed my temples, my cheek, my neck with a callused hand. “And here you are, beautiful beyond words, and I realize I have no idea how to sit still, how to be a companion to someone. Or what to do about the fact that I’ve brought a young woman—bought a young woman, as you rightly won’t let me forget—to come and live with me in a place where she’ll face hostility and shame. I have no idea what I’m doing.”

It was as though we were each holding tightly to the end of a thread, tugging each other nearer and nearer. What if one of us pulled too tightly and the thread snapped? What if one of us let go?

I felt the gentle pressure of his fingers on the back of my head as he pulled me slowly down toward him. I let the tip of my nose touch his for a moment, and I felt him exhale. I dipped my head slightly, an invitation, and he kissed me very lightly on my forehead and then on my cheekbone, and finally on my lips.

I felt the familiar tightening behind my navel and arched toward him, returning his kiss, feeling the pull of a desire that threatened to overwhelm me. I wanted to kiss him. I loved kissing him. He tangled his fingers in my hair and kissed my mouth, my jawline, my neck. Something inside me burst into flame. The feeling of being close to him was a world away from the few interactions I had experienced with bidders at Casa Caligine.

With a groan, Sebastianus pushed me away gently. I clung to him, but he shifted and sat up. “As hard as this is for me to say, I don’t think this is the time, after what you’ve been through.”

He noticed that I was struggling to catch my breath, and he laughed softly. “There’s something so genuine about you. You approach everything so openly, without a hint of artifice.”

“Naively, you mean. Foolishly.”

“No. That’s not what I mean. Curiously. Honestly. You have no idea how clever you are, Anna, how much you’ve learned in just a few short weeks. I marvel at it. And you’re willing to think the best of people. You’re willing to think the best of me. It makes me want to be better.”

My braid had come undone, and I tried in vain to tuck the stray strands back in. “You’re already good,” I told him. “You fight for what you believe in.”

He smoothed my hair back and let his hand fall to my shoulder. I winced. He pulled away in confusion and slid back my sleeve to reveal a deep purple bruise from where the soldier had hit me.

His brow furrowed. “Let me get Don to look at that. We should go downstairs, get you something to eat, and figure out what we’re going to do. Besides, if we stay here any longer, I’ll lose the battle with my better nature completely.” His eye twinkled. “I’m not ready to admit defeat.”

I felt a pang of disappointment as he stood up and straightened his toga.

WHEN WE GOT downstairs, I saw that the large ebony spiral from the shrine lay broken in pieces on the atrium floor. We went out into the garden, where Don, Klaudia, Cassius, and Cornelia were talking quietly together.

“We need food,” Sebastianus growled. “Don and I have ridden all night, and Anna nearly died. Don, you need to look at Anna’s bruise.”

Cornelia jumped up and hurried to the kitchen.

“Do you have to be so rude?” Klaudia said.

“He can’t help himself,” Don said with a wry smile.

I was so grateful to be sitting in this warm, breezy courtyard, surrounded by kind, funny people, that I almost teared up again.

Sebastianus rubbed his tired eyes. “Parts of the mystery are clearer now. Clemens Fabius lured Anna to the old quarter.” He handed Don the crumpled parchment.

Don read it and passed it to Klaudia. She looked it over, shook her head, and then handed it to Cassius. The old man had a blanket around him and a bowl of soup by his elbow.

“How are you feeling?” I asked him.

“Much better,” he said in a wheezy voice. “Thank you.”

Cornelia came in with a tray of sweet rolls, honey, fresh figs, and mugs of hot cider.

Sebastianus took the tray from Cornelia with a little bow. “Thank you. Please sit down. Pardon my temper.”

“By the gods, the world is ending,” Klaudia said.

“You’re saying Fabius wrote that letter?” Don asked.

“Yes,” I said, “and he came to Casa Violetta with the soldiers.”

“Did he know the scouring of the old quarter was going to happen?” Don asked.