Felix crosses from behind the desk. Amara watches him walk toward her, forcing herself to stay still, even though she wants to back away. When he is very close, he puts his hands lightly on her neck. “And you would, wouldn’t you? Tear them all apart.” Felix tightens his grip, pressing down on her throat. “Would you like to tear me apart?” Amara struggles to breathe, and dark spots form at the sides of her vision. Panic seizes her, and she puts her hands over his, unable to supress the instinct to claw them away. He lets go, and she collapses over the desk, gasping for air. “Do you know what happens to people who betray me, Amara?” She nods her head, unable to speak. “You do, don’t you? You didn’t hesitate to encourage me to punish Simo.” Amara is slowly getting her breath back but doesn’t dare stand upright. She stays crouched over the desk, leaning as far away from him as possible. “You are not the goddess Diana.” Felix circles round her. “Or Artemis, as you Greeks would have her.” He draws out the foreign words, mocking her accent. “Porna eis. You are a common whore. Even if you do play the lyre.” He pushes her down on the floor so that she is kneeling in front of him. “And I own you. Don’t ever think you are cleverer than me.”

In the women’s baths with Victoria, the steam cannot hide her tears. Amara wants to dive under water, for it to swallow her so that she never has to surface. She stands by a large communal basin, sweating in the heat. Victoria gently wipes Amara’s face, cupping cool water in her hands, splashing her friend’s cheeks.

“You can’t let every encounter upset you like this,” she says, her fingers gentle on Amara’s skin. “It’s just fucking. It’s just your body; it’s not you. You’re strong. I know you are.”

It’s noisier and more crowded than at Vibo’s, and the decoration is nothing like as grand, but even without a huge warm pool to soak in, the women’s baths are still more relaxing. Men cannot come here, not even Felix. “It’s not every encounter. Felix is different,” Amara replies. “It’s not just what he does, though that’s bad enough. It’s what he says. How does he know what will hurt the most?”