He nodded. 'Yes, sir. A short fat man with a red face, like you said. He looks very poor.'

He'd have to be, thought Romulus, eyeing the alley with some satisfaction. Any insulae down there would be rat-infested, stinking hell-holes. 'Come on,' he said, leading the way.

Eager for his money, the urchin followed.

Keen not to tread in the stinking ooze from the dung heap, Romulus moved slowly at first. By the time he'd passed it, his eyes were acclimatised to the near darkness. The uneven ground was still treacherous underfoot, but all his attention was on the shambling male figure not twenty paces ahead of him. Certainly it was the right height and girth to be Gemellus, Romulus thought. Then the man stubbed a toe off a shard of pottery and cursed loudly. Romulus froze, feeling a childish tremor of fear. It was Gemellus. Few things could make him react like this, but the scars left on his soul by the merchant during his childhood were deep. That was then, this is now, Romulus told himself. He drew his dagger, causing the urchin to gasp. 'Quiet!' Romulus hissed.

In the same instant, the man ahead disappeared through a narrow doorway. There was a quiet click as it shut behind him. With his heart in his mouth, Romulus walked the last few steps. A succession of images flashed before his eyes, and he let them come. Gemellus forcing himself on his mother. Gemellus beating Fabiola. Beating him. Ranting to his bookkeeper about his ailing finances. The merchant's gloating face as he had dragged Romulus away from his screaming mother and twin sister, and in the ludus, where he had boasted about how he'd sell them to the salt mines and a brothel respectively. Romulus bared his teeth with rage. Only the last memory gave him any pleasure: Hiero the bestiarius telling him how Gemellus had been ruined.

Romulus lifted his pugio to eye level, noting that his hand was trembling. Calm yourself, he thought. My prayers are about to be answered. Vengeance will be mine. At once the shaking stopped, and he readied himself to end it, once and for all.

Using the dagger's hilt, he hammered on the door. 'Open up!'

Chapter XXI: Danger

Since her attempt at reconciliation with Brutus and the follow-on confrontation with Antonius and the fugitivarius, Fabiola had hardly been sleeping. Over and over, she cursed her stupidity for taking up with the Master of the Horse. It had proved to be the worst decision she'd ever made. If only time could be turned back, she thought, but of course that was impossible. Now she had to live with the consequences of her actions. A bag of nerves compared to her normal calm self, Fabiola had been bad-tempered with everyone. Benignus and Vettius, now her most trusted confidants, could not shift her black mood. Their lessons on defending herself with a sword and knife – which built on the basics that Sextus had taught her – did not help much. Nothing was right. Days dragged by without event and Fabiola grew more irritable, snapping at potential customers and losing good business which the brothel sorely needed. Furious at herself, she then shouted at the prostitutes for not pleasing their few clients enough. Toughest of them all, even Jovina was tiptoeing around her warily.

Fabiola no longer cared. As far as she was concerned, her life was sliding into oblivion. She still had no potential allies for her plot to kill Caesar. The size and grandeur of the dictator's four triumphs had sent any enemies he might have even deeper into the woodwork. So where did owning a brothel get her? thought Fabiola in frustration. Without Brutus, nowhere. There had been no further contact from her former lover either, which meant that he probably believed the lies Antonius had told. For the moment, she dared not try to contact Brutus again. Let the dust settle, she thought. He might come around. The other silence she was enduring – from the Master of the Horse – was far more chilling. From visiting Fabiola on average more than once a day, Antonius had cut her off completely.

In contrast, Scaevola's presence had become altogether more threatening. After long months spent in the shadows, it was as if he wanted the pressure on Fabiola to build to an unbearable intensity. It was a clever, and successful, tactic. More of his heavies than ever before appeared to man the blockades around the Lupanar. If spotted, its known customers were beaten up, while ordinary passers-by were harassed and intimidated. A small group of Fabiola's men who had gone to buy food were set upon and killed, reducing her forces. The merchants who provided the brothel with food were threatened, and to prevent her supplies from completely running out, Fabiola was forced to pay them extortionate prices. This further depleted the money Brutus had given her, which was already going fast thanks to her extra guards. Benignus had managed to hire an additional four but Fabiola wanted to hire even more. Thanks to the huge numbers of fighters required for the celebratory games, though, few were available. In one way, it was just as well. While she might need them, she couldn't really afford more men. At her current rates of expenditure, Fabiola knew she'd have to sell the Lupanar in one to two years. Not that she cared about that. She'd be lucky to live that long.

It was the dull ache of expectation that kept Fabiola awake at night. Antonius had decided that she was expendable, but he was no fool. Even if he was not 'directly' responsible, it was common knowledge throughout the city that Scaevola was in his employ. A bloodbath during Caesar's riotous celebrations would not go down well with his master. No, she thought, any attack would come after the last of the triumphs had been held. This realisation provided only momentary relief. Fabiola did not care that much about herself any longer, but she felt a duty of care for those she owned and employed. Benignus, Vettius, the prostitutes and guards were all innocent victims of her rash behaviour. None of them deserved to be injured or killed because of it.

Night after night, Fabiola tossed about on her bed, worrying. Other than walking away from the Lupanar, what could she do? If she left, she would be homeless. In the brothel, at least she had a roof over her head. Gradually, Fabiola became aware that she had not quite given up hope. She could not just abandon her business and those who worked there, despite the grave danger she was placing them all in. She wondered if this was how a general might feel before a battle – worrying whether his cause was worth the price of his soldiers' lives. Naturally, her dilemma brought Romulus to mind. Fabiola couldn't imagine him backing away from a challenge this important. Or was she just being selfish, justifying an arrogant decision?

On the night of Caesar's last triumph, there were hardly any customers. Despite the massive numbers of citizens on the streets, Scaevola's blockade was tightening. Fabiola's terror became all-consuming. Although only the gods knew what would transpire, the waiting would soon be over. She could feel it in her bones. If she died during Scaevola's attack, then all her worries would vanish, in the process denying her both revenge upon Caesar and a meeting with Romulus. Fabiola thought this the most likely outcome. Since Scaevola's attack in Orcus' temple, all the deities she prayed to – Jupiter, Mithras and the god of the underworld – had shown her virtually no favour.

If by some divine chance she was spared, then her purpose would remain the same. She would make another attempt to approach Brutus. If that didn't work, she decided she would start taking on new clients of her own, using the wiles that had won her such adoration in the past. A mountainous and distasteful task, yet she did not baulk at it. To stoke her levels of anger, Fabiola flagellated herself mentally remembering her mother's story of how she'd been raped by a nobleman while on an evening errand for Gemellus.