“So much has happened, I hardly know where to start,” Beronice exclaims. “Gallus came into the brothel one morning and just announced in front of everyone that we were getting married! I thought he was joking, but then he grabbed me, and we went up to see Felix, and it was all agreed. Felix signed me over to him! I never have to work there again.” She sighs, tilting back her head to gaze at the sun glinting white through the dark of the branches. “I know you and Victoria used to laugh; I know you always thought I was an idiot. But the first time Gallus and I were alone together in our own room above the bar, I thought I’d die of happiness.”

It has always been impossible for Amara to fathom Beronice’s devotion to Gallus who, at best, she found to be an oafish annoyance and, at worst, a devious thug, but hearing Beronice talk, Amara has no urge to ridicule her. After all, what might Beronice think of Philos? “It’s wonderful,” she says. “I hope he always deserves you.”

“I’m sure he will. And you should see him at the bar! It’s like he’s born to sell wine! It’s not all that big—there’s not much more than standing room, really—but we’ve been bringing in such a profit for Felix.” Beronice fusses slightly with her hair under the veil, patting it at the back, a gesture Amara remembers from the brothel. “He does still get a bit jealous, if I’m honest. It puts him in a bad mood if the customers are too friendly. He wanted to rename me, you know—now that he owns me he can do that. That way, he told me, if another man said my new name, I’d always remember who gave it to me and who I belong to. But then we worried Felix wouldn’t like it.”

“Probably for the best,” Amara says, finding this account of Gallus’s possessiveness less than endearing. It reminds her of Rufus, with his contract. “Did Felix say anything to you, when he sold you to Gallus?”

Beronice shakes her head. “Felix never found me very interesting. Thankfully.”

Amara thinks of the last time she saw Beronice, when she failed to save her, and reaches over to take her hand. “I’m so happy you’re safe now. And I wish I’d had the money to get you out before this. It was never because I loved Victoria more, I hope you know that. But I owed her.”