On the other end of the deck, I saw Trajan toss his dice aside and rise with a mild curse. He put his hands to his back, stretching, and that sour-faced Plotina asked some question that he ignored. “How did you get him to go back to Rome?” I asked Sabina.

“I hate to admit it, but I cried.” Sabina made a face. “I can’t abide women who cry to get their way, but Trajan always was a soft touch for a woman’s tears. I scolded him a while about how he had to be sensible and preserve his own health if he had any hope of preserving this Empire he’s built, and then just as he was getting angry I let my chin quiver. In truth, I think he wants to go back home for a little while. He’s tired.”

“You’ll look after him?” I said anxiously. “Properly, I mean? Old Stoneface Plotina hasn’t got a nurturing bone in her body.” I’d heard she hadn’t been pleased to arrive in Antioch and be told that her husband was taking ship for home within the fortnight. “You’d think she’d be glad to have him home again after four years of absence, but I suppose a cow like that likes running everything her own way.”

“She won’t have everything her own way this time. I’ll make sure to give her plenty of headaches.” Sabina’s voice was full of relish. “And I might just stay in Rome for a while.”

“Hadrian doesn’t mind going without you?”

“Not at all.”

“Time was you two never went traveling without the other.”

“Times change.” Her voice was coolly neutral, and I took a glance at her. Her face was as blank as a new slate. Well, it was none of my business anymore what went on in her odd marriage and her even odder mind. She glanced over at me over the cat’s head, her face oblique and pointed, and for a moment she and the enigmatic earringed cat looked just alike. Then she gave a smile, changing the subject, and the resemblance vanished. “Your shoulder—why the bandage?”

“I took an arrow at Hatra, pulling the Emperor out of the way. Better my shoulder than his neck.”

“No wonder he gave you a legion.”

“He’d already planned on that, he said. You know how many of his officers hate me now, for getting jumped over their heads? Last week a group of them tried to waylay me in the bathhouse—”