“I’m arranging a journey.” Marcus rolled some papers out of sight.

“For yourself?”

“No, not for me.” For Flavia’s son, recuperating quietly at the house in Brundisium. From Brundisium it was a short sea voyage to Pandateria, where his mother had already been delivered. The Empress had assured Marcus of secrecy.

“I’ll see Flavia and her son cared for,” the Empress had said impassively. “It was Julia’s last wish. Marcus—she could not have falsified her own death and escaped to the House of the Vestal Virgins without help. Did you . . .”

“I did.” Marcus had shrugged. “She wrote to me in Cremona, after the madness had gone. After she tried to open her stomach. I hadn’t believed her before, but I believed her then. I helped.”

Something had gleamed in the Empress’s usually impassive eyes. “Marcus,” she’d begun—

“Keep your secrets.” Calpurnia’s voice broke his thoughts. She pulled a chair beside his, turning her face toward the orange sunset. “I’ll not pry.”

“You never do. You realize, Calpurnia Sulpicia, how unusual that makes you?”

She smiled. “I sent a slave to Paulinus’s apartments at the palace—they say he hasn’t come out of his bedchamber yet, except for his work.”

“How long has he been in there?”

“Since the Vestal’s execution.”

They were silent a moment.

“Sabina has a request.” Calpurnia leaned forward to refill Marcus’s wine goblet. “She asked me to make it for her, since she thinks I can persuade you to anything. She wants to go to the games with you tomorrow.”

“The games?” Marcus blinked. “She’s too young to go to the games.”

“She said she’s been before.”

“I didn’t allow her to watch. She was seven years old. She sat with her back to the carnage, playing with the slaves. That is, until the Emperor began tossing people into the arena.”

“Well, it must have made an impression on her because she wants to go back. She says it will be interesting. She also says Paulinus will be there, and she never gets to see Paulinus anymore.” Calpurnia smiled. “She means it. She looked just like you at the last Senate debate when you were determined to get the tenements in the south quarter shored up before they collapsed, and Publius’s claque was objecting.”

“I didn’t know you came to watch the Senate debates,” Marcus said mildly.

Calpurnia flushed. “I sit at the back.”

“I see.” He smiled, rotating a pen between his fingers. “You think I should take Sabina to the games, then?”

“You’re asking for my opinion?”

“I’ve come to value it.”

Calpurnia looked down, fussing with the folds of her dress, but Marcus saw her smile. “Take her long enough to visit with Paulinus—perhaps she can get a smile out of him. Then we can take her home before the blood starts to flow.”

“No. If she goes, she stays for it all. A Norbanus doesn’t cover his eyes at the unpleasant. Or her eyes.”

“Heavens, how grim. I suppose I’ll have to stay for it all, too.”