‘How should I know?’ Her head was slightly on one side, and Claudia was in charge, always ready to mock. ‘They are at home.’ She sighed as if in disappointment. ‘You have received the letters?’

‘Yes.’ Every month Claudia had one of her servants write to him to say that their twin girls were well, and list accomplishments such as the times they had learned to crawl and then walk.

‘I would guess that they are squealing and dirty, demanding food and attention and anything else that takes their fancy. That is how they usually behave.’

‘Would a mother’s guidance—’

‘Silures!’ Claudia interrupted. ‘They make their women work like slaves, whether they will or not. Brigantes and Romans alike are more enlightened.’ Her hands were on her hips now, and she snorted. ‘Huh! Your children are well, no thanks to you, that much I sense even from so far away. They are cared for and loved by women and a few men utterly devoted to them, rather than a mother who finds their bawling and self-absorption tiresome. That is a good deal more than most children get!’

‘How do they look?’ Ferox asked.

Claudia smiled. ‘They take after their mother, thank the gods for great mercies. And so alike that I for one cannot tell the little mice apart. No wonder the Romans call them both Flavia.’ Her head went back on one side. ‘You are grinning like a halfwit, Flavius Ferox,’ she said. ‘They have each sent you a snail shell, and you can have them later. Why snail shells? Why indeed, but I understand the choice was between that and some leaves. They are as half-witted as their father, but at least have the excuse of being infants and may learn in time.’

‘Thank you,’ he said, and on instinct put his hands on her arms. She did not flinch, but did not respond either.

‘Your gifts for conversation have not improved, have they.’

‘Why are you here, my queen?’

There was another smile. ‘At least you know your place, even if you speak like a surly brute and maul me about. Well, I could be here as the dutiful little wife, to help her husband in his many onerous tasks, could I not? Just as dear Lepidina follows her Cerialis half way across the empire.’

‘It seems unlikely.’

‘Pig.’ She pulled one arm free and reached up to her forehead as if wiping away tears. ‘I have missed you,’ she added, serious once again.

‘Not every time, but I am pretty good at ducking.’

‘Brute.’

She did not pull free from his other hand and her skin was soft and warm. Her scent was all around him, and brought back memories of better times.

‘I am here to help,’ she said, and brushed his chin with her fingers. ‘Philo still does a good job, and more remarkably yet manages to restrain himself from slicing the razor through your throat. Remarkable fellow that.

‘And I am here because I am queen and my people are going to war.’