Following, Fabiola laid a hand on her shoulder.

Sabina jerked away as if a snake had bitten her. 'You did this!'

'No,' Fabiola protested. 'It was him.' She indicated Memor's body.

Sabina jumped to her feet. 'You're lying!'

'Why would I harm your mother?' Fabiola cried, aghast. 'I loved her.'

From nowhere, a knife appeared in Sabina's right hand. 'How did such a lowlife get his hands on her then? Mother was a freewoman! She had no right being in a filthy place like this.' Her eyes glittered with malice.

'After Brutus bought her freedom, Docilosa chose to stay with me, and to come here,' Fabiola explained, desperate that Sabina should believe her. 'She just happened to be passing this room when Vicana cried out for help. Her bad luck.'

With a terrible scream of pain, Sabina launched herself at Fabiola. 'Why did I stop the fugitivarius?' she hissed. 'Better to have let him kill you too.'

Sabina was quickly stopped by Benignus, who grabbed her arms from behind. Fabiola stepped forward to snatch the blade, letting it clatter to the floor. 'I'm sorry,' she said.

'Heartless bitch,' spat Sabina. 'It should be you lying there, not my mother.'

'Perhaps,' agreed Fabiola sombrely. 'But it isn't. My time is not today.'

'Maybe not,' snarled the other. 'Your life will not be long, though.'

Fabiola was struck dumb. Sabina sounded like an oracle.

'I curse you to deep unhappiness,' the priestess snarled.

Fabiola's jaw hardened. She could take that. She deserved that.

'Brutus will not stay by you either.' Sabina laughed at Fabiola's surprise. 'Nor will the other you open your legs for so easily.'

Docilosa must have told her about Antonius, thought Fabiola, reeling from shock. How else could she know?

'As for your brother-' Sabina began.

'No,' shouted Fabiola in panic. 'Shut her up,' she ordered Vettius.

At once the doorman placed a meaty hand across Sabina's mouth. She did not try to prevent him, but her eyes still glinted with venom.

Fabiola bent to pick up Sabina's dagger.

The priestess's eyes opened wide.

'I'm not going to kill you, even though that's what you would have done to me,' snapped Fabiola. She didn't want to anger Orcus again. 'I'll even send a messenger to the temple so that you know where Docilosa's grave is.'

Sabina's eyes filled with tears.

'Never come back here. On pain of death,' Fabiola commanded. Then, to Benignus, 'Throw her out.'

He obediently manhandled the priestess out of the room. She didn't fight him.

Still shaken, Fabiola headed straight for the baths. All she wanted to do now was wash off Docilosa's blood, which had formed a thick crust on her skin. She tried to put Sabina's words from her mind, but it was impossible. They hung before her mind's eye, haunting her as she undressed. Not only was poor Docilosa dead, but her own destiny had been revealed – and it was unpleasant. Fabiola cleaned herself mechanically, going through the motions while her mind spun ever faster. By reasoning things through, she eventually managed to calm herself. Who knew if Sabina's prophecy was accurate? Even if it was, the priestess had said nothing about Fabiola failing to kill Caesar. Which meant that her plan could still come to pass. So be it, Fabiola thought, stiffening her resolve. I can succeed. The possibility of always being unhappy and losing Brutus were as nothing compared to achieving her heart's desire. Dying young didn't matter either. Only one thing did.

What would Sabina have said about Romulus if she'd been allowed?

Half of Fabiola wished she'd just let the priestess say her piece and have done.

The other half couldn't bear to think of it.

Fabiola occupied herself by going to the kitchen. One of the tables had been draped with a sheet so that Docilosa's blood-soaked corpse wouldn't lie on bare wood. With Vicana's help, Fabiola arranged it with the feet pointing towards the front door. Sending all the domestic slaves away apart from Vicana, she stripped Docilosa naked and began to wash the blood from her body. She used the opportunity to grill the British girl about what had gone on: it helped to take her mind off what she was doing.

'He was angry even when deciding which of us he'd have,' revealed Vicana. 'Said he liked my fair skin. Yet he still seemed preoccupied.'

'Go on,' Fabiola murmured, rinsing her sponge clean.

'Once the lanista was undressed, I offered him a massage. He didn't want that.' Vicana sighed. 'So I began stroking his prick to get him hard. Nothing happened.'

Fabiola shrugged. It was common for customers to suffer from stage fright, especially if they'd been drinking.

'I took him in my mouth, but it was no good,' Vicana revealed. 'He seemed completely uninterested. Started muttering to himself.'

That engaged Fabiola's interest. Any crumb of information was worth knowing. Memor had owned Romulus for several years. 'Did you hear what he said? Think carefully.'

'I didn't understand,' said Vicana. 'Something about Caesar and the fortune that an Ethiopian bull would cost to replace. How it wasn't his fault that it was dead.'

Had the horned beast died before it could appear in the arena? It wasn't impossible. Fabiola had heard of many wild creatures that died of fright in the cages below the amphitheatre. Why would Memor have cared, though? He had been a lanista, not a bestiarius, she thought, puzzled. It made no sense.

'I asked him if he was all right.' Vicana touched her bottom lip, which was swollen and bloody. 'He shouted that it was my fault and backhanded me across the face.'

'And you cried out.'

'I couldn't help myself,' sobbed Vicana. 'Then suddenly he produced a knife. He wanted to cut me while I pleasured him. That's when I really started screaming.'

Twisted old bastard, thought Fabiola, feeling glad that Memor had never acted in that manner with her. Noticing Vicana's distress, she patted her on the shoulder. 'He's gone now, and you're unharmed.'

Vicana nodded bravely.

'Go on,' said Fabiola. 'Try to get some sleep. I'll finish preparing Docilosa myself.'

The red-headed girl did not protest.

When she was alone, Fabiola sat thinking for some time. What had made Memor so angry? Was it really the death of the Ethiopian bull? She could come up with no reasonable explanation. She would have to ask Brutus later. Now, though, she had to make sure that Docilosa looked her best for her journey to the other side.

It was one of the saddest things Fabiola had ever had to do; it brought up old, painful memories. She did not shy away from the task, however. The tears that welled up in her eyes had been too long held back.

Tenderly Fabiola anointed her servant's body with oil, weeping as she imagined doing the same for her mother. Like so much in a slave's life, that had been denied to her. Velvinna's corpse would have been discarded like so much waste, tossed down a disused mine shaft or left out for the vultures. The thought made Fabiola want to hunt down Gemellus in whatever dark hole he currently resided and kill him – slowly. She made a resolution to have the doormen search him out whenever the opportunity arose. Finding him would be difficult, of course. The bankrupt merchant had been forced to sell his house in the Aventine, which meant that he could be anywhere. I must stay focused, thought Fabiola. Caesar is my main quarry now.

Docilosa's body was still warm. Once the stab wounds had been covered by her best dress, she could have been just sleeping. It was a fanciful pretence, but Fabiola wallowed in it for as long as she could. The proper rituals could not be delayed, however, and eventually she closed Docilosa's eyes and placed a sestertius in her mouth. Without this coin, Docilosa would have nothing to pay Charon, the ferryman.

Her funeral would take place the following night. No eight days of lying in state for Docilosa, the lowly ex-slave, thought Fabiola. There was no point. Who would come to pay their respects, apart from her and Sabina? Yet she was determined that her servant's passage to the other side would be conducted in the proper manner. Professional mourners and musicians would be hired, and a decent tomb purchased. It was the least Fabiola could do for the humble woman who had become her only family. The anger she'd felt towards Docilosa earlier was gone now. In its place was a throbbing grief which physically hurt every fibre of her being.