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kissed her forehead. “Come, then, it isn't so terrible, is it? You have all my wealth at your disposal, and an honorable name. If I hadn't offered for you, your father would have been lucky to find you a line officer to marry. Can you honestly tell me that you would rather broil or freeze in some distant outpost with a rough soldier as a mate, half a dozen hungry children, whose only hope was getting a farm before your husband was cut down in battle?"
    "Yes, Justus.” She saw his brows twitch in disbelief. “If that soldier treated me with honor, then I would know myself a fortunate woman."
    "What absurd notions you have of honor,” Justus said as he turned away. “Tomorrow, wife, I will be leaving for a few days. I expect that when I return you will have found someone more likely to do as I require.” As he crossed the marble floor, the long Parthian robe brushed against the stone. When he got to the door, he clapped his hands briskly. “Sibinus,” he ordered, “the secutor is finished here. See that he leaves shortly, and is suitably rewarded."
    Sibinus slipped into the room. He was more like a ferret than any man Olivia had ever seen, and she had never felt comfortable in his presence. Now his long, lean hands moved furtively over his long tunica and his narrow eyes darted from Justus to Arnax to her. “Suitably rewarded,” he repeated.
    "Do not, of course, tell him that the money comes from me. If you can, contrive to make it seem that my wife has sent it.” Justus had given these instructions many times before, and Sibinus knew them as well as his master did, but it always distressed Olivia to hear these plans, and so they were repeated.
    "I will wrap the coins in her new veil.” An expression that might have been a smile stretched his mouth.
    "Excellent. I trust you to finish the business.” He put a coin in his slave's hand, then went out the door.
    Sibinus came into the room, crossing the floor in a curious, sideways walk, as if he feared apprehension at every step. He paused to look once at Olivia, then scurried to the naked secutor. There he bent over the recumbent form, and shook Arnax gently, saying a few soft words that Olivia could not hear.
    Arnax stirred and opened his eyes with an oath. He thrashed wildly, grabbing his clothes and hunting for a weapon.
    "No, good secutor,” Sibinus murmured. “Do not make such sound, or someone may tell my master of what you have done here tonight with his wife."
    This warning had an immediate effect. Arnax became quiet, almost docile, immediately. He looked toward the bed once, favoring Olivia with a lewd, frightened smile.
    "My mistress will reward your prowess and your silence when you have left her.” Sibinus was already helping the big man to his feet, holding his tunica and cloak while Arnax struggled to lace his sandals.
    At last he was dressed, and with a last show of obsequious deference, Sibinus bowed him toward the door, following him after covertly pulling one of Olivia's veils from the chest by the bed.
    Olivia looked at the closed door, filled with shame. She had tried to do as Justus wished in order to protect her family, but after every such night, her doubts grew. She had once told her mother of Justus’ needs, and her mother had listened with strained sympathy, advising Olivia to think of something else, and to offer at the Temple of Venus for her husband's tastes to change. The unbidden question then had plagued Olivia—would her mother have said the same thing if her family's safety were not dependent on Olivia's docility? She had wondered that every time since then when she had seen her mother, and for that reason had learned to give inconsequent answers to her mother's occasional questions.
    There was no one she could trust. Not her mother, her father, her brothers or sisters. The loneliness of that admission brought tears to her eyes, and impatiently she wiped them away. Tears would not help her. She rose and pinched out the perfumed