‘Will you take it still?’ Stargazer spoke softly to Silvius. Achates had plunged his hands into an amphora of wine.

Elissa watched.

Silvius nodded. He clenched his teeth together, standing firmly on the ground.

At first, he grunted with effort, and Elissa saw veins appearing on his forehead. Little rivulets of sweat were flowing down from his temples, and his cheeks were reddening with heat.

Then suddenly he went limp, his legs crumpling beneath him. There was a terrible stillness in the hall, and Lavinia started forwards. Aeneas held her back.

Stargazer was implacable, eyes unfathomable in the torchlight. This was a wild creature, after all, thought Elissa. They had taken him on trust. But how did they know that he meant what he said? And a spasm of fear shook through her.

Silvius gasped, a huge intake of air, and opened his eyes with shock, seeming to take the room in as if he’d woken from a dream.

‘Release your grasp. What did you see?’ Stargazer was calm.

Silvius looked up, puzzled, ‘I saw … Python.’ Even the name made Elissa shudder.

‘Yes,’ answered the centaur. ‘Is that all you saw?’

There was a moment’s hesitation. ‘And then I saw Apollo.’ There was uproar from the watchers. ‘Only for a moment. His light … And he said it was for me!’ Lavinia choked back a sob. ‘But …’ And he looked at Elissa, and there was something in his expression, more than envy. He retreated, his look settling into a challenge.

‘Elissa must take the test too. Please, Elissa, stand forward.’ Stargazer touched her gently on the cheek.

‘I really don’t think …’ Aeneas said. ‘We can’t put her through that trial …’

But Stargazer lifted his hand, and Aeneas bent his head in acknowledgement. Elissa finally realised that her sandal was undone, and she quickly did it up. Ready now, she faced the casket, and grazed it with her fingertips, feeling Stargazer’s eyes on her.

At first, it burned through her fingers, hotter than a warming pan when it’s come straight off the fire. Her entire body was telling her to let go.

She looked up, and into Stargazer’s eyes. He nodded, very slightly, and it sent a surge of resolve through her. But as she concentrated through the pain, a different sensation began to take over.

The shadowy, smoky wooden hall slipped away from her vision, and instead she was in a brightly lit grove by a rushing stream. She was no longer holding the casket, and there was no pain.

Standing by the stream was a tall, dark-haired youth, handsome and lit from all around, garlanded with laurel leaves. A glossy-feathered raven was perched on a branch above him, and it cawed. In its eye Elissa could see herself reflected.