Wolf Whistle

‘Yes.’ Zygia’s hand closed over Severina’s. ‘I’ve thought long and hard about this, love, but provided I stay indoors next Friday’-she could not bring herself to say ‘market day’ ‘-and we say I’ve got the fever,’ she kissed Severina’s palm, ‘there’s no problem.’

Although even under the aedile’s roof it was impossible to be a hundred per cent certain. Too many entrances, exits, visitors bringing retinues of their own as preparations for the forthcoming games were stepped up. Which is why she’d taken to sleeping with a small stabbing knife slipped between the mattress and the webbing. Although she saw no need to worry Sevvi with the knowledge.

Severina chewed her lower lip. ‘Are you holding out on me?’

Zygia shrugged and avoided all eye contact.

Sevvi yanked her hand away. ‘All right, if you won’t tell me, I’ll work it out for myself.’ A heather broom began to scrape along the corridor outside their room. The sweeper was humming. ‘Let’s think. You shared a dormitory with those other girls, didn’t you?’

She looked at Zygia, chewing the edge of the sheet. So much they had shared, her and Zigs. Suddenly Severina felt a millstone collide with her stomach. So much they had gone through, concealment of feelings was out of the question.

‘Oh, no.’ Sevvi sank down on the bed, the colour leached from her face. ‘Holy shit, you know who the killer is, don’t you?’

Her friend’s tortured face needed no answer.

‘Mars almighty, you can’t keep this to yourself, your life’ll be worth zero. You must go to the authorities-’

Zygia ruffled the blonde girl’s hair. ‘The Empire’s in crisis, Sevvi, everything else is shelved-’

‘Even a butcher on the loose?’

She gave a short laugh. ‘Since when did the deaths of a few common slaves compare with the life of a middle-aged philanderer? It’s who you are that counts, Sevvi, not what you are. Remember that.’

‘Then share your secret with me.’

‘And put your life on the line, too?’ Zygia held Severina’s face between her hands. ‘No way.’ She kissed her lightly on the lips. ‘Anyway, I may be jumping to conclusions.’

Severina snorted. ‘Twelve of you billeted in that wing and three sliced to bits? You must take me for a right bloody fool.’ She jumped off the couch and began folding clothes furiously.

The other girl buried her head in her hands. ‘I didn’t mean to insult you,’ she said thickly. ‘It’s just that…’ Her voice trembled. ‘Sevvi, I am so damned scared.’

Severina ran across and cradled her. ‘So am I, Zigs, so am I. But we can’t go on hiding away. If the army won’t help, can’t we do something?’

‘For instance?’ For the first time in days, hope surged in Zygia’s breast.

‘Suppose,’ Severina said thoughtfully, ‘we band together with the other eight girls and kill him before he gets another one of you?’

Zygia pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. ‘I don’t know where the others live,’ she said wearily. ‘It was hardly in Arbil’s interests for us to keep in touch, in fact the only girls I’ve seen since I left have been Didia and Annia-and Didia they found in the Argiletum yesterday!’

Severina stroked her thick, dark curls. ‘Lord, you’re tense. Roll over and I’ll massage your shoulders.’ She paused in her kneading. ‘What about Arbil?’ she asked. ‘He raised you, why can’t he sort this mess out?’

‘Arbil would only step in, if it was proving detrimental to his business.’

‘I felt you tense up.’ Severina poked Zygia’s shoulder blade. ‘You always tense up when you lie.’

‘All right, so I’m worried about a cover-up,’ Zygia confessed. ‘And who gets her mouth shut permanently for blabbing? You know how ruthless these Babylonians are.’ She flipped over on to her back and stared at the lavender-painted ceiling. ‘On the other hand, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to pay Annia. a brief call’ Her mouth turned down at the corners. ‘Providing I can drum up the courage.’

‘Oh?’ Severina rubbed almond oil over her lover’s breasts in a gentle, circular motion. ‘I thought you lot got on well in the dorm?’

‘Most of us, but there’s no love lost between Annia and me.’ Zygia wrinkled her nose. ‘The trouble was, she thought herself a cut above the rest. All that crap about blue blood in her veins. I-we-rather put her in her place.’

‘Gave her all the dirty jobs, you mean? I’ll bet you jibed her rotten, too.’

‘She deserved it, sanctimonious little cow. Talk about airs and graces. I’m not proud of my behaviour, Sevvi, but we were young and that’s how it was in that place. You either mixed or…paid the price. Oh, but she was a pretty one, that Annia. You two could pass as twins from the back, and the same colour eyes.’

Severina shivered. ‘Suppose the killer mistakes me for her?’