They watch Drusilla leave, her walk effortlessly languid, even though Amara knows she isn’t tired at all. “That went rather well, I thought,” Rufus says. He leans in to kiss her.

Amara pushes him off. “What did he mean, that I could join your family household?”

“That’s just what he’s like,” Rufus says. “He knows about the place I’ve rented. He’ll come round.”

“Does he know you will free me?”

Rufus doesn’t look at her, but she can see the blush creep up to his hairline. “Would it be so terrible if I didn’t?” He takes both her hands, pulling her closer. “We’d still be together. You wouldn’t be at the brothel, that’s the important part, isn’t it?”

“I cannot believe that you don’t understand the difference,” Amara says, withdrawing her hands from his. “How often have you told me you can see how hard it was for me, to lose everything in Aphidnai. I lost my self when I was sold. Why would you keep me a slave, if it is in your power to set me free? Why?”

“It’s not so simple. My father isn’t keen on the idea. I don’t know that I can defy him on this.” Rufus sits down heavily on the couch. “Freeing you . . . I would have to give you the family name. It doesn’t just belong to me.”

Amara sits beside him. She can still feel Hortensius’s hands on her body. She thinks of Philos, of Chremes, of all that happens to slaves who become familiar objects in their masters’ houses. Rufus puts his arms around her, kissing her softly on the forehead, the cheek, her lips.

“I promise you, if you belong to me, I will never let anyone hurt you. I promise.”

40

“He who hates life easily scorns god”

—Pompeii graffiti

Victoria and Amara wait in Felix’s bedroom. Neither imagine they have been summoned for sex. Victoria sits cross-legged on the bed, as if she belongs there, but Amara doesn’t want to touch it, doesn’t want to remember the night she spent there with Felix. She perches on a stool instead.

“It’s about Simo, isn’t it?” Victoria whispers. “It must be.”

“I thought he was going to take care of that himself,” Amara says. “I don’t see why he needs either of us.”

“He told me I saved his life, as well as yours,” Victoria replies. “He’s never been like that with me before.” She looks drunk on love, completely unaware that Felix’s sudden devotion is likely to be as much manipulation as genuine. A warm-up act for whatever horrible job he has lined up for them both now. “He said no woman has ever shown him greater loyalty than me.”