“Just get me a knife.” Arius’s voice was level, but my stomach jumped.

“He’s a common thug!” Paulinus burst out.

Arius grinned. The Empress looked at him, speculative. “You were the best fighter in Rome once, but you aren’t young anymore. Are you still the best?”

Arius gave her a long contemptuous blink.

“He is,” I said. “It may have been years since he fought in any arena, but he’s as good now as he was then.” Maybe better, I added to myself. Because then he didn’t have anything to love.

“It won’t be easy,” the Empress went on. “My husband may look lazy, but he can still fight with the best of them.”

“He sleeps with a dagger under his pillow,” I added.

Arius looked at me.

“Well, he does.”

“Really?” said the Empress, diverted. “A new development, since my day. Out of curiosity, my dear, why didn’t you ever stab him with it when he slept?”

“Because I wanted to live,” I shot back. “Why didn’t you ever stab him while he slept? You had as many chances as I did.” I looked around the little circle. “Anyone can kill an Emperor. It’s living to tell the tale that’s the hard part. So if Arius kills Domitian for you, there had better be a plan to get him out alive afterward.”

“He’ll get out alive.” The Empress produced a neat list and in a cool voice outlined the plan she and Marcus had constructed between them. “Paulinus, I trust you can take care of the guards?”

“Yes, but—” Paulinus looked at his father. “I don’t like it. You’re entrusting the fate of Rome to this—this criminal—”

Arius just shrugged, but I stiffened. “He’s not a criminal.”

“But neither is he exactly a model citizen,” the Empress murmured, a gleam of amusement in her eye. If there was one thing I’d never suspected her of possessing, it was a sense of humor.

Marcus was addressing his son in low tones. “Paulinus, assassination is not a pretty business. You knew that when you agreed to join us. You can’t quibble about means and methods. There is no honorable way to do this.”

“But he—”

“He has talents we need. So do you. Are you going to contribute them?”

A long pause. Then—“Yes.”

“Good,” said Marcus. “Then we have a chain of two.”

Arius and Paulinus eyed each other unenthusiastically. I looked down at my lap. I didn’t want to sit at home, waiting to see if my lover came back alive. I was tired of that. I wanted—I wanted to be a link in the chain for once.

Arius spoke over Paulinus’s head, to Marcus. “One more thing,” he said. “How do we know we can trust you?”

Paulinus blinked. Marcus and the Empress looked impassive.

“You patricians are used to sacrificing people for your politics,” Arius rumbled. “What’s a worn-out old gladiator’s life worth to you? What’s a Jewish singer’s life? Who says you won’t throw us to the lions once we do your dirty work?”