‘I am glad that you are safe,’ he said. ‘Last night I was…’ He struggled to finish, but then she leaned forward and he pulled her to him. They kissed for a while, until more might have happened if she had not pulled away.

‘You are a good friend,’ she said. ‘Someone I can trust.’

‘I have been from the start,’ he said, wanting to believe her in spite of his instincts that told him no fine lady would bother with a mere centurion unless she needed him for some dark purpose. ‘If you just want a friend, you did not need all that business last night.’

She sat up, the covers slipping down so that she was naked to the waist. Her face was a mask except for the anger smouldering in her eyes.

‘What do you really want from me, lady? I am a nobody, and you have thrown yourself at me from the start.’

‘Bastard!’ she hissed the word. ‘I must be a fool to bother.’

‘As a matter of fact you are. I’m really not worth it.’

The slap caught him by surprise. The lady swung her arm and hit him across the face with enough force to sting. ‘Bastard!’ she said again, but now her eyes were glassy, and Ferox still did not know what to think.

There was a knock on the door before it opened and Flora appeared with the news that a carriage and escort was on the way to collect the lady. She hurried Ferox out, and he knew that there was nothing to be said even though he wished that there were. They left Sulpicia Lepidina to get dressed – her maid had appeared and must have spent the night in the place. From the next room Ferox heard Flora telling the soldiers that the prefect’s lady would be with them soon, and informing the decurion in charge that Flavius Ferox had stood guard all night outside the lady’s room, so that it was just moments ago that she had sent him off to sleep. The lie added to the sense of unreality, and it was already feeling like a dream save for the lingering taste of her lips and the smell of her hair.