‘Me?’ Vespasian was shocked.

‘My dear legate, you may think that your moral integrity does you great credit, and that to serve the Emperor unquestioningly is the first duty of your office, but the very fact that you don’t suspect your wife makes you all the more useful as a political pawn. What better candidate to step into the gap following Claudius’s fall than a man who honestly believed he had served the old boy to the fullest extent of his ability and loyalty. The plebes would love you. I bet you could have given Antony’s funeral oration over Caesar a run for its money.’

‘How dare you?’ Vespasian said quietly, struggling to control his rising temper. ‘How dare you suggest that Flavia — could even begin to do the things you accuse her of?’

‘You never suspected? I suppose that’s to your credit as a husband. And I’m sure you’d make a great statesman, but you’d be a lousy politician. The men who attacked Narcissus came from a cavalry unit commanded by Gaius Marcellus Dexter, one of Scribonianus’s officers and, as it happens, a distant cousin of your wife. You don’t think that’s a coincidence, I hope. Face it, Flavia’s cover is almost blown. I’d have a word with your wife very soon. Encourage her to cease her meddling in power games and Narcissus might just miss her part in all this. If you want to keep your wife in good health, I suggest you make sure that I never feel the need to tell anyone about her extra-curricular activities. I haven’t yet told Narcissus what I know. You give me your silence about all that we’ve said in here and I give you Flavia’s life. A fair bargain, wouldn’t you say?’

Vespasian stared at him, his mind still trying to deny the evidence his memory relentlessly reassembled from the events of the last few months. That moment in the tent when she fumbled the scroll she had retrieved from Titus. It had been deftly swapped, he now realised.

‘Sir, I don’t expect you to agree to my offer right now. But think it over carefully. I won’t deny that I’ve been rather careless in many respects. And I might just be able to persuade Narcissus that any charges you bring against me are unfounded, or even unscrupulous. But the merest suggestion that I have been anything but the good and faithful servant he believes me to be, will surely undermine my position. So you see, if you force all this out into the open we’ll both suffer the consequences. Moreover, I’ll be forced to reveal what I know about Flavia. I’m sure you’ll accept that it’s in all our interests to be discreet about every detail of the last few months.’

Vitellius waited for a reply but Vespasian was looking down, wrapped in a growing despair and oblivious to the tribune’s final comments. He raised a hand to rest his head on, still shattered by the revelations.

‘Oh, Flavia…’ he whispered. ‘How could you?’