Ciro glanced at the setting sun, frowning to himself. “If he’s not back by dark, we could slip out. If we packed onto a single ship, we’d have enough to storm one of the galleys. Take one and you can take another.”

Brutus looked at him in surprise. The years had subtly altered the men he thought he knew. Ciro had become accustomed to command and his confidence had grown. Brutus replied without thinking.

“If they hold him, they’ll expect us to try that. They’ll anchor as far out as they can get and spend the night in close formation. That’s if they don’t head straight for Asia Minor with Julius, to give him to Pompey.”

Octavian stiffened as he spoke. “Shut your mouth,” he said flatly. “You hold no command. You are here only because my general did not see fit to execute you. You have nothing to say to us.”

Brutus glared back at him, but dropped his gaze under the combined stares of the men he had known. It did not matter, he told himself, though he was surprised how much they could still hurt him. He noted how they looked to Octavian in Julius’s absence. Perhaps it was something in the blood. He took a deep, angry breath and his right hand twitched in the sling before he gained control.

“I don’t think—” he began.

Octavian rounded on him. “If it were my choice, I would nail you to a cross on these docks. Do you think the men would object?”

Brutus did not have to consider it. He knew the answer very well indeed. “No, they’d love a chance at me. But you won’t let them, will you, boy? You’ll follow his orders even if it means everything you value is destroyed.”

“You can still try to justify what you did?” Octavian demanded. “There aren’t words enough. I don’t understand why he brought you here, but I will tell you this. If Julius expects you back as one of us, I won’t do it. The first time you ever try to give me an order, I’ll cut your throat.”

Brutus narrowed his eyes, leaning forward. “You’re brave now, boy, but bones heal. When they do . . .”

“I’ll do it now!” Octavian said, raging.

He surged at Brutus, and Regulus and Ciro grabbed hold of his arm as it came up with a blade. Brutus staggered back out of range.

“I wonder how you would explain killing me to Julius,” he said. His eyes were full of malice as the younger man struggled to reach him. “He can be cruel as well, Octavian. Perhaps that’s why he let me live.”

Octavian subsided as Ciro prized the knife from his hand.