“This is perilous,” she said, looking up at the ceiling. “Two people of the opposite sex in one bed. There’s a great risk of sin. And an even greater one of unwanted pregnancy. Luckily it doesn’t affect us. We’re safe. Protected by the law.”

“Yes?”

“If a Jew is caught sinning with a Christian woman, they cut off his cock and gouge out one eye. A Christian who lies with a Jewess risks graver consequences. He is in danger of being accused of bestialitas, of debauchery contra naturam. And the stake is certain for something like that.”

“Ah.”

“What do you mean, ‘ah’? Are you afraid?”

“No.”

“You’re a bold one! Or perhaps it’s not courage but ignorance of the dangers? For you don’t know me; don’t know with whom you’re sharing a bed. For I am a terrible woman. It’s in my blood.”

“What is?”

“Jews caused the death of the Saviour, didn’t they? It is just and natural that those guilty of the Saviour’s death should bear the mark of their villainy for ever and a day.”

“Meaning?”

“The blood of many generations of the chosen people flows in my veins. When Jesus was being taking to Golgotha, my forebear Levi spat on him, and since then every Levite has had a permanent frog in his throat; he cannot cough it up. Jews of the tribe of the Gad—who I am related to—placed the crown of thorns on Jesus’s head, for which reason every year foul-smelling scabs erupt on their scalps which can only be healed by rubbing Christian blood on them. And finally, the most terrible: the tribe of Naphtali forged the nails for the crucifixion, and on the advice of a Jewess by the name of Ventria—undoubtedly a forebear—blunted their points in order to increase Jesus’s suffering. For that wickedness, when women of the tribe of Naphtali reach thirty-three, live worms hatch in their mouths as they sleep. But don’t be afraid, my boy, sleep peacefully. I’m only twenty.”

“Ought I to be afraid?” asked Reynevan, playing along. “Me? I can do even better. I’m a sorcerer, I know the artes prohibitae. It flows in my blood; I’m utterly pervaded with dreadful black magic. When I pee, a rainbow appears above the stream.”

“Oh! You must show me.”

“What’s more, I’m a Hussite,” he announced proudly. “During holidays, I walk around quite naked and look forward to the day when wives will be shared among men. Just to warn you, I’m also a heretic. Do you know, dear girl, anything about our practices? At our secret heretical gatherings, Satan appears in the form of a black tomcat, whose tail we—heretics and Hussites—lift and then kiss its arse one after the other.”