He tore his eyes from the Colosseum. Reached out tentatively in his mind, listening for the demon’s voice.

It’s dead, said Hercules. That demon’s as dead as the Emperor. You big dummy.

A clean, empty silence.

“Arius?”

He squeezed Thea’s hand, the Colosseum dropping off his back and disappearing into limbo, and set his eyes forward.

THEA

IT was just a small fast boat, made for ferrying up and down the Tiber, but it would carry us to the sea. Arius was already sniffing the wind and prowling the deck with the new lightened step that made my heart glad. He also threw a sailor overboard before we’d quite cleared the city, but the sailor had aimed a kick at the dog, and anyway Arius fished him out again quite amiably. Another sailor had kicked Vix for climbing into the rigging, but Arius didn’t throw him overboard. He advised the sailor to kick our son as often as he liked since Vix was a slow learner. Nice to see Arius so calm and cheerful. Nice to have Vix out of my hair, too.

“Good thing he outgrew the arena,” Arius commented in the sunny afternoon that followed, leaning beside me on the rail as we watched Vix try to talk the captain into letting him plot a course on the maps. “He may be an idiot, but even an idiot’s too smart for the arena.”

“How long do you think we’ll keep him?” I watched Vix ruffle his russet hair in a gesture exactly copied from his father. He’d been talking about coming back to Rome someday, becoming an officer in the legions, leading armies and slaying dragons . . .

“A few years.”

“Can we stop him?”

“The Emperor of the known world couldn’t stop him.” Arius hugged my waist, resting his chin on top of my head. “Didn’t that astrologer say Vix would lead an army one day?”

“He’ll lead an army of thugs, that’s what he’ll lead! Our son is headed for a life of crime.” Still . . . my child, son of a singer and a gladiator, growing up to command legions . . . how Lepida Pollia would have hated that! But Lepida wasn’t around to hate anything anymore. I didn’t care much about that, one way or another. When I’d helped bring down an Emperor, other things looked smaller—even Lepida. I’d hardly bothered to wonder who killed her. It could have been anyone. How many enemies had her years of scheming earned her?

Nessus had been looking more and more like his old self. He’d come up to me just yesterday, pressed my hand, and told me my baby was going to be a girl. “The first of a whole mess of them,” he said. “Red-haired and horrible; won’t you have fun? Good luck, m’dear.” Kissing my cheek.

A girl. I’d like a girl. A daughter born in Brigantia.

“What?” Arius caught my smile.

“Later.” No use telling him until the journey was over—he’d fret terribly. “Can I borrow your knife?”