Valens bent down and pushed the brooch and cloak to the bottom of his trunk. It had been a lapse to even think about such things. He had come this far without any help. He had found a way to solve his problems on his own and he would not seek help now.

He would try to buy time for Julia, but he could not look beyond the games. He would have to trust the gods, something he had found impossible to do. But what if they had a gentle nudge?


Julia entered the dank Temple of Venus the next morning with a heavy heart. She knew Juno and Minerva had ignored her prayers. The white rose on her dressing table had wilted. The smell of incense and roasted lamb assaulted her nose. Her father, dressed in his best white toga with its narrow purple stripe proclaiming his equestrian status, led the way towards the main altar. Sabina, the very picture of a pious Roman matron, followed closely on his heels. Behind her, Julia could hear the soft bleating of the newborn lamb her father intended to offer to the temple as a sacrifice.

Despite the number of layers she wore, Julia shivered as they waited for the augur to arrive. When a door beside the high altar finally opened and a bald-headed man dressed in priestly robes appeared, the only thing Julia wanted was for the ordeal to be over.

"The questions you wish the goddess to answer, please,' the augur intoned in a singsong voice after the initial ceremony finished.

Julia's father bowed low and withdrew a scroll from a fold in his toga. 'These are the questions concerning the fate of my daughter.'

The priest appeared to go into a trance as one of his apprentices waved heavy incense over the scroll. Another banged a drum slowly, the beats filling the cold temple.

Julia pressed her palms together and offered prayer after prayer to Venus. She had to understand about affairs of the heart.

'As to the first question,' the priest said, opening his eyes, 'the omens are poor for an alliance with Mettalius Scipio. The goddess has permitted me to see that his star is on the wane. Your family will suffer should such an alliance be pursued.'

Julia bowed her head against her hands. Venus had answered.

'But, but—' Sabina exclaimed. 'He's a senator.'

'Who is this woman who doubts the goddess's word?' The priest's face grew thunderous and Sabina shrank back.

The priest paused, and waited for the temple to grow silent Julia could hear the faint noise of the street. He gave a nod and the drumbeat started again as the priest did a series of complicated motions with his hands over the scroll. He gestured to one of the acolytes who brought a shiny bowl filled with a red liquid. The priest nodded. And the drumming ceased.

'As to your questions about where to seek a match, the omens assure me that you are best seeking an alliance with someone who has been restored from death.'

The temple went silent. Julia felt a curl of cold trace down her backbone. How could anybody be restored from death? The priest's prophecy made no sense. Who had her father picked out?

'Restored from death! Are you positive that is what the omens say?' Julius Antonius questioned. 'Don't you mean restored to health?'

The priest stared at him with cold eyes.

'If you would like me to re-examine the entrails, it will be another fifty denarü.'

'I thought when we discussed my intentions…' Julius Antonius blustered.

The priest pressed his fingertips together, forming a temple. His eyes flashed cold fire.

'When we talked, I agreed to read the entrails once for you. I told you then that the goddess moves in mysterious ways. Do you question my word as priest? The price of knowledge is not cheap.'

'I told you this augur is a charlatan!' Sabina exclaimed. 'How can anybody be restored from death? Julius Antonius, I told you that we ought to—'

'I will have silence in my temple,' the priest roared. 'You were warned to keep silent. Escort that woman out!'

Julia watched as Sabina was forced to leave the temple. Every limb felt tired. But the one thing she knew was that she would not have to marry Mettalius. She'd worry about the other part of the prediction later.

'Shall we go, Father?' Julia asked as the priest finished the ceremony and departed.

'What?' Julius Antonius shook his head. 'Julia, the priest's second prediction was entirely unexpected. It appears the goddess must speak to him after all.'

'I am not sure I understand you, Father.'

'Dealing with augurs can be a tricky business, Julia. I had rather thought he would say something different.' His lips gave a queer half-smile. 'I dare say your stepmother thought it would be something else again.'

Julia tilted her head and look at her father, trying to assess what he was saying. 'Surely the priest speaks for Venus, Father.'

'Sometimes, daughter,' Julius Antonius said, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze, 'sometimes, but don't fret, Julia, I shall find the right match for you. One that honours the family and brings you happiness. I need to ponder the phrase— restored from death. The goddess moves in mysterious ways.'

'Very mysterious ways,' Julia agreed and listened to her father's suppressed chuckle.

'Shall we go rescue Sabina Claudia before she starts shrieking the temple down?'

Her father took her arm and Julia felt like they were father and daughter again, as they had been before her mother died. He was very different from the austere father of only a few weeks ago.


The blow from Tigris's sword hit Valens squarely on his right shoulder, causing him to wince and nearly drop his shield. Valens wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and eased the shield back up his left arm. With the blow his shoulder had just received, the shield felt twice as heavy as it normally did. Valens crouched down, balancing on the balls of his feet, watching for the next feint by Tigris.

'You need to pay attention,' Tigris said with a wide smile as Valens barely blocked the next blow. 'You normally see that particular trick coming before my sword is halfway to your shoulder.'

'Shall we begin again?' Valens said, ignoring the comment as he rotated his arm.

'That's the third parry you've missed this morning, Valens.' Strabo's voice rang out across the Julian compound. 'What is the matter with you, boy?'

'A slight shoulder pull.'

'Then see the doctor immediately after this session and concentrate. A tiny could do better than that,' Strabo said, coming over to Valens to test his shoulder. 'The opening day is less than a week away and I want you fit and well. All mental faculties concentrated on the games.'

Valens gave a brief nod and wiped the sweat from his brow. Concentration. It was all very well to say it, but he discovered it was hard to find. He knelt down and rubbed the sand between his hands, feeling the grit stick to his palms. A symbolic act to show he was now part of the arena, his other life had no meaning. He balanced on his toes and gave a nod to Tigris.

'Are you going to tell me about her?' Tigris said after Strabo left to harangue another set of fighters.

'What nonsense are you spouting now, Tigris?' Valens blocked the blow by moving his shield with great speed.

'The reason you only just made the start of practice, the woman you are not interested in taking to bed. I assume she has a name.'

Tigris blocked Valens's move and countered with another blow. Valens could feel the anger beginning to build within him, his concentration starting to slip once more.

'You have a vivid imagination,' Valens said and brought his shield up. 'I told you I had to make an act of worship at one of the temples. I felt a sudden calling.'

'Since when did you come religious?' Tigris remarked. He touched the brim of his helmet and then brought his sword back for the next attack. 'You should take her to bed instead of skulking around temples. A much more pleasurable activity to my mind at any rate.'

Valens watched for the next swipe of the sword and knew what he had to do. He and Tigris had practised this easy but showy move a thousand times before. Valens brought down his shield, intending to strike Tigris's sword, but Tigris's remarks about Julia distracted him. The shield came down a fraction too late and connected with Tigris's hand with a bone-jarring thump.

'Sorry about that,' he muttered, staring at Tigris's reddened sword arm. It was basic mistake. Had this been in the arena, he would now be dead, as the opposing gladiator's sword would have sliced through his unprotected midriff. A mistake worthy of an untried tiro rather than a very experienced gladiator.

Tigris flexed his hand several times.

'It will be a nasty bruise, but not much more than that,' Tigris said.

'Shall we go and see the doctor, just to make sure? I have no wish to be the cause of your pulling out of the games,' Valens said with a teasing note in his voice, but his insides churned. He had come within a whisker of seriously injuring his friend through his own lack of attention.

'What is her name?' Tigris remarked as they walked towards the infirmary. 'A hurt sword arm deserves at least a name.'

'You're incorrigible, Tigris.'

'The name.'

Valens glanced around the dusty sand-strewn courtyard. It

was only a practice of the Thracian and other small shields. If Tigris's gentle teasing made him make a mistake like that, how much more damage could Aquilia do?

'Julia, Julia Antonia,' he said quietly as Tigris continued to stare.

Tigris whistled. "I thought you were only interested in her dog.'