All five of them hold on to each other, clasping hands, grabbing one another’s togas, anything to prevent themselves from being separated. They know their place at these games; they will have to climb all the way to the back row at the very top.

It’s a long queue. They join a slow-moving column of women, all waiting to sit wedged into the worst seats in the arena. Amara’s legs feel like they might give way by the time they get to the top. The back row is filling up fast and there’s a lot of irritable shuffling around until Cressa spots a space where they might all be able to cram together. After a heated exchange with another group of women, they finally manage to sit down, though as the slightest out of the five, Dido is forced to sit half-perched on Amara’s knee.

“You have to tell us what Celadus said,” Amara says to Victoria, who has been resisting answering that question the whole way up the steps.

Victoria smiles, enjoying the secret. “Imagine what it would be like to have a man like that! Just imagine.”

“Maybe he’s nothing special,” Beronice says. “Might be a rubbish lay.”

“Oh, don’t be so bitter!” Cressa laughs. “As if you’d turn him down.”

“I would, I would turn him down!” Beronice insists. “I wouldn’t do that to Gallus.”

The rest of them laugh. “Even I might be tempted by Celadus,” Dido says. “And that’s saying something.”

“The feel of his chest!” Victoria sighs. “Like being held by Apollo.”

Amara shifts on her wooden seat. Even though Dido isn’t very heavy, it’s still uncomfortably hot having her on her knee. Awnings are stretched overhead to keep the sun off, but they also trap the rising heat. Not only will they have the worst view, it’s also sweltering up here. The murmur of so many people talking, reverberating round the arena, makes it sound as if they are in a beehive.

“What time are you meeting Menander?” Dido asks her.

“After the first beast hunt.”

“He must be something special, this boyfriend of yours, for you to miss the gladiators,” Victoria says.

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Sorry, that’s the ironmonger isn’t it?”

Amara rolls her eyes as they all laugh. She and Dido have only had three nights with Salvius and Priscus, but from the way Victoria teases her, it’s as if she’s embroiled in a breathless love affair. It gives her an odd feeling to think of Salvius now, when she is about to see Menander. Her intimacy with the widower has happened almost by accident, through the time they spend playing music together and his unexpected gentleness. But she never forgets that for all his kindness, he is a customer.