This romantic musing reminded Agrippina of why she had fallen so firmly in love with Cunedda in the first place. She curled up her fingers and gently scratched the palm of his hand. ‘But even though it shaped his life, Nectovelin can’t read his own Prophecy.’

‘You could read it for him.’

‘I offered once. He pretended not to hear. He hates my Roman reading. I may as well have waved an eagle standard in his face.’ She suppressed a sigh. She had debated this many times with her cousin. ‘Words give you such power. If he could read he would be the equal of any Roman, the equal of the Emperor Claudius himself.’

He looked up at her, the stars reflected in his eyes. ‘Dear ’Pina. A head full of words, and dreams!’

‘Dreams?’

‘We need to speak about the future. Our future.’ He hesitated. “Pina - Claudius Quintus has offered me a position in Gaul.’

This sudden, unexpected news turned her cold. She knew that Quintus was one of Cunedda’s principal contacts for his pottery business.

‘Quintus is expanding,’ Cunedda said, uncertain what she was thinking. ‘He likes my work. He’ll be a partner in the new concern, but it will be my business, just as here.’

‘And you didn’t bother to tell me any of this?’

‘I wanted to be sure that old Nectovelin wouldn’t just keep me away from you anyhow. But he seems to accept me, doesn’t he? And now that he does, we have to decide what to do. Think of it, Agrippina. If I go to Gaul the trade routes across the whole empire will be wide open to me. And I won’t have to train up another woolly-arsed Briton every time I open up a new line!’

‘Now you sound Roman yourself,’ she said.

He gazed at her, evidently trying to judge her mood. ‘Well, is that so bad? It’s you who grew up in Gaul.’

‘But I came back,’ she said softly.

He frowned. ‘Look, if you’re unhappy we don’t have to do this. I’ll find some other way to build on Quintus’s faith in me.’

‘You’d do that for me?’

‘Of course. I want us to share the future, ’Pina. But it must be a future we both want ...’