Kitabı oku: «Conquered And Seduced», sayfa 4

‘You’re right, Lucan,’ she said, a gladiatrix going for the quick thrust, the most merciful kill. ‘We can’t go back. Nobody ever can.’

Lucan studied her for a long moment, the warmth in his eyes growing colder with every passing second.

He pushed away from her. ‘We should move along now. Apollodorus, for all he’s been a good friend to me, is not always a patient man.’

Severina rose without speaking.

‘Apollodorus isn’t patient,’ Lucan said as he took her hand and drew her towards the door. ‘But I am, Severina.’

She looked up sharply.

‘Remember that. I won’t rest until I get what I want.’

‘And what do you want, Lucan?’

His eyes were cool and determined when they met hers. ‘You,’ he said. ‘I want you.’

Chapter Seven

‘Don’t look now, but we’re being followed,’ Lucan said as they shouldered their way through the crowded Forum.

She turned impulsively, and he jerked her back around. ‘No! I said not to look around, and what’s the first thing you do?’

He rolled his eyes. ‘Let’s do this my way, shall we? In a minute I’m going to stop and put my arms around you and kiss you. And despite my outstanding abilities as a lover, you’ll have to keep your head together and attend to business.’

Severina’s heart clenched with abrupt, intense longing. She was half-afraid he was teasing—and totally afraid he wasn’t.

He chuckled at her startled expression. ‘Relax, will you? I’m not trying to seduce you. While you’re in my arms, you’ll look over my shoulder and tell me whether you know the man who’s following us. Tell me if you’ve ever seen him before.’

‘But you have to kiss me?’

‘Yes. I think maybe he’s merely a hopeful suitor smitten by your beauty. If so, he’ll turn aside when he sees our kiss. If he doesn’t, then he’s either damned persistent or up to no good.’

‘Smitten by my beauty? You can’t be serious.’

‘Don’t laugh. I’m entirely serious. I once followed a beautiful woman through Ostia for an entire afternoon: to the butcher’s shop, the vegetable market, the clothing vendors. I was in serious pursuit, until a man built like a gladiator joined her for an afternoon at the theatre. The minute he kissed her, I abandoned all my romantic hopes.’ Lucan sighed dramatically. ‘A woeful tale, but true.’

‘She must’ve been a great beauty.’

‘She was. But then, so are you.’

Severina made a sound of disbelief.

‘Do you find it so hard to believe that you’re beautiful?’

Severina didn’t answer.

‘Trust me,’ he said quietly. ‘You hold a sensual allure that any normal man would desperately long to explore. It’s almost mystical, Severina, and very compelling.’ He shook his head. ‘So I don’t blame that man for following you. But I do need to make sure he’s not dangerous.’

He pointed up the street. ‘See that small alcove there? It’s perfect. I’ll push you back gently against that wall and I’ll kiss you. You pretend to go along, but you’ll really be looking behind me for a tall, angular man with black hair and a thick beard. Not many Romans wear a beard, so look for that. It’ll make him easier to spot.’

‘Look for a beard,’ Severina repeated.

‘Yes.’ Lucan glanced at her almost sympathetically. ‘We’re almost there. Let me know when you’re ready.’

Severina drew in her breath, knowing she’d never really be ready.

At her word, Lucan halted and pulled her into his embrace, carrying her backwards with him to the stone wall and into a passion that felt far more real to her than feigned. The moment his lean body made full contact with hers, Severina gasped. ‘Lucan! Oh, no.’

‘Look. Look for him!’ His command was hard and breathy. Then his lips came down on hers.

Severina was suddenly drowning in sensation. Thought fled away beneath the primitive power of Lucan’s kiss. His hands held her, clenched tightly in the folds of her cloak. His body held her, pressed hard and tightly against his own.

His breath seared her lips.

‘The man, Severina! Look for him!’ Lucan’s low-voiced command forced her to open her eyes. She struggled for coherence, fought the flood of sensation, but Lucan’s lips were warm as they returned to her mouth, tracing a light path across the sensitive edge of her lips, a whisper of touch, barely there, teasing, making her wish for more.

Her lips parted, and her breath sighed out between them. Her hands tightened on his shoulders, fingers pressing into his muscle in an unspoken request for something deeper, firmer, something—

‘Look for that man,’ Lucan growled.

She resented having to look when what she really wanted was Lucan’s kiss. And his hands on her body. And his—

‘I see him,’ she said finally, her eyes closing languidly even as she spoke. She didn’t want to think about anything now but the feel of Lucan’s arms around her, his powerful body holding her firmly against the wall. He felt beautiful, so mighty and so strong. A warrior and a lover, as fully man as she was fully woman.

His lips touched on her chin, her cheek, her brow, so careful with her. She didn’t want such reticence. She wanted his lips to come back to her mouth, so that her stomach fluttered hard and made her ache. She wanted to taste him, to burn in deep places. To grow weak and hot and…to feel utterly wonderful.

Lucan pulled back to look down into her face. ‘Sweet hell and damnation, Severina. Don’t do this to me.’

He took a ragged breath that shuddered all the way through her. She could feel his tension and his growing desire; their bodies were indecently close.

‘Pay attention to that stranger. Do you know him? Have you ever seen him before?’

‘No.’

‘He’s still there?’

She could barely open her eyes. Her lashes rose, fluttered, fell again. ‘No.’

Relief rolled through Lucan. His muscles loosened a little as he drew in a long breath. His hands released her cloak. Severina sensed his intention to pull away and suddenly she didn’t want that.

‘Don’t go.’ The words were her own, but they sounded strange.

He went immediately still.

There was a moment when everything hung in the balance, when the world stopped and even time itself slowed.

His growl of surrender gave her a fierce and immediate satisfaction. His mouth came down hard on hers, tasting of strong, raw desire. This time, he gave her no light kiss. It did not flirt or tease at the edges of her mouth.

It took her breath and demanded even more. It was hot and hungry, possessing, devouring.

Severina’s knees weakened and Lucan pushed her into the wall with the hard pressure of his body. The rough stones dug into her backside, but she welcomed the brutal sensation.

She was alive, gloriously alive, wanting this man, needing him, aware of his answering desire as his lips left her neck and burned down her throat. Aware that his lower body ground hard against her skirts, pulsing against her aching core, soothing and arousing at once. She wanted to part her legs and let him slip into place between them. She wanted more, and she wanted it harder, faster, hotter.

Lucan groaned as he pulled away. ‘Not here. Not now. Not like this.’

He steadied her with one hand as his supporting weight was withdrawn, leaving her limp and miserable against the cold wall, her knees trembling, her loins moist and suffused with fire.

Lucan ran an agitated hand through his hair. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to do that.’ His eyes seemed abnormally dark, a deep green forest burning with gold fire, the pupils wide.

Long moments passed. Severina fought for control.

‘Don’t apologise,’ she said finally. ‘It wasn’t your fault. I wanted it, too, and that’s what frightens me.’

‘It frightens you?’ He made a sound of exasperation. ‘Forgive me, but you hardly seemed frightened just now.’

‘Maybe it’s myself I’m afraid of. Or maybe it’s the way you make me feel. So hungry, so out of control. And it’s always been that way with you, never with anybody else. Just you, because…because I want to yield to you.’

‘Then do it.’

‘I can’t. It tears me inside to think of submitting to a man, any man, even you.’ Severina brushed tears away with the heel of her hand. ‘But then there’s this…this passion between us. I’ve denied it, fought it, hated and loved it…and still it’s there. And it will be there if we marry.’

‘And that would be a bad thing?’

‘I don’t want to lose myself to you.’

His expression grew immediately wary. She could only guess at his thoughts.

He looked away, his jaw working in agitation. ‘I won’t hurt you,’ he said after a long moment of silence. ‘I’ll take nothing from you but what you willingly give me.’

‘But there’s the problem, don’t you see? I’d willingly give you everything. Then you’d control me, Lucan. You’d own me.’

Lucan exhaled deeply. ‘Fear. Always fear. And you’ll never tell me why, damn it. And in the meantime, you’re missing so much. We’re missing so much.’

‘I’m sorry, Lucan. I don’t mean to hurt you.’

‘You say I would own you,’ he went on, ‘but that’s not true. No person can ever truly own another. But bodies and minds and hearts…they can be shared, Severina, and there is joy in that. Not pain, as you fear.’

His face softened, becoming more gentle and sad. He lifted a hand to her face and stroked warm fingertips down the smooth line of her jaw. ‘Don’t fear my possession, for you would own me, too. We would take from one another. We would give to one another. Marriage would make us better and stronger, never less. Only more. Trust me.’

She closed her eyes against such sweet seduction.

‘Who was the man who hurt you before?’ he growled. ‘I would willingly sheath my dagger in his heart for you. But, Severina…know that I am not he. All men are not the same. Whatever pain you experienced in the past, whatever this hurt that makes you fear and cleave to your freedom…I swear you’ll never know it again. To my dying day I’ll protect and cherish you. Do you believe me?’

His gaze captured hers and she saw how sincerely he meant the words. ‘Yes,’ she answered truthfully. ‘I do believe you.’

But she still couldn’t find enough faith to yield.

Neither could she explain. There was still much she didn’t understand and until she did, she’d have to endure the deep hurt in Lucan’s eyes.

Unless she moved on.

The thought had come before, but she’d avoided it. She couldn’t avoid it now. It probably was time to pull up stakes and leave Rome, taking on a new identity in some other place.

Maybe she’d grown too complacent. Maybe in grasping for happiness, she’d exposed both herself and Lucan to danger.

Leaving would be the most drastic solution to the questions she couldn’t yet answer, and it had disadvantages. She’d leave behind people and dreams she valued. She’d hurt Lucan—again.

But leaving had even more advantages. She’d leave behind her confusion. She’d never have to decide whether to divorce Lucan or yield to her desire for him, and she’d protect both of them from the secrets of her past.

It was time to leave.

Her eyes filled with tears at the thought. She blinked them away quickly, before Lucan could see.

He took her hand and raised it to his lips, brushing a warm kiss across her knuckles. ‘We’ll discuss this later. Now we must go. Apollodorus will be waiting.’

Apollodorus had sent word to Lucan that he’d be at the work site of the new forum being constructed for Emperor Trajan. Lucan was glad it wasn’t far from where he and Severina had just enjoyed one of the most arousing sexual episodes of his life. Her passion amazed him, even though he’d done nothing more than kiss her.

Doubtless he’d regret not doing more while lying alone in his cold bed later. She’d almost been willing, and he’d probably been a fool to turn away from that. But like any lucky madman who gambled for high stakes, he’d gathered his hopes into one huge pile and staked everything on the still-undetermined roll of the dice.

Maybe he could have had one long afternoon of magnificent pleasure with Severina, but he’d rather have her pledge her life to him for ever.

Yet she had admitted that she desired him, and that made him feel like a king. At least passion hadn’t died. It had always been strong between them, burning white-hot from almost the first moment he’d laid eyes on her outside the granary of Donatus’s farm. He’d been faithfully serving the Christ at the time, but he’d still been carnal man enough to notice Severina’s well-shaped feminine attributes. He’d decided on the spot that this woman would be different from the rest. The statuesque beauty with flame in her hair and eyes of cool grey would someday become his lover and his wife.

Such noble intentions hadn’t always eased the lust they’d felt, but his sincere commitment to his faith, and Severina’s sincere commitment to helping him honour that, had somehow kept them from free-falling into uncontrollable desire.

Today they’d both known the barrier of his faith was gone.

Anything might happen between them now, and Lucan couldn’t fault either of them for wanting to assuage the hunger that had gnawed their bones for long months now.

But truthfully, he had to claim most of the guilt for this current episode of it. That wonderful seduction in the popina had been one of his finest moments, and he’d enjoyed every tender nuance of it. Severina had almost combusted on the spot. But she wasn’t the only one feeling that sweet, familiar tension. His manly parts had throbbed the entire time.

Delicious. And he wasn’t thinking of the food.

Now his passion had cooled. Colder reason had taken its place. He was gradually putting together all the pieces of Severina’s complicated puzzle, piece by delicate piece, and beginning to touch the sensitive place of her core fears.

She didn’t want to lose control. She was desperate to retain her independence. She feared losing herself, even to something as wonderful as desire.

But the most worrisome part, the elusive piece he did not yet have, was why. As badly as he wanted her body, he wanted one other thing more—her trust. Only when she shared her past with him would he feel like he’d won her. And that, he now realised, would take more time and patience.

He was, however, no novice in the art of siege warfare. He meant to discover those secrets, and he meant to wed her. The only thing that bothered him, as he led her up the long street towards the building site on the hill of the Quirinal, was the issue of time.

Whether she married him or whether she didn’t, the censor’s hearing was all that kept them together. That hearing would be held in three weeks, and Lucan wasn’t sure three weeks would be long enough.

But he’d gone into battle with worse odds before.

Lucan was being too quiet. It worried Severina that he’d been so talkative before, but was withdrawn now. She shouldn’t have told him how she wanted him. Their relationship was confused enough already without throwing passion into the mixture.

It couldn’t happen again, no matter that Lucan was as handsome as a god, no matter that he smelled like heaven and tasted like sin and knew how to touch her in ways that spiralled her into insanity.

She’d leave some day soon and until then, she must concentrate only on doing what she could to save the inn for Lucan’s sake. She owed him that. But she’d give him nothing else—no kisses, no intimacy, nothing to deepen the pain when she left. That way, she’d always remember that she’d done him good and not harm.

Small comfort, that, but life could be unfair. She’d learned long ago to take what was given and not ask for more.

She was in the middle of these unhappy thoughts when she and Lucan reached the top of the hill. He turned to her, his eyes shining like spring leaves in the sunshine. ‘Look at this, Severina. It’s amazing, isn’t it?’

It was amazing. It seemed the entirety of the Quirinal was alive with activity. In places even the hill itself was being moved, cut away to provide a level building site. Elsewhere foundations were being laid. Even without walls up, Severina could see that the buildings would be massive.

Sadness struck her. If she left Rome, she’d never see them completed. By the time they were finished, she’d be in Alexandria or Athens, Corinth or Crete.

That hurt, though she knew it would be the best way to protect her heart—and possibly, Lucan’s life.

She looked at him now, standing like a god on the sunlit hill, his face alive with excitement. She’d remember him as he was at this moment, a vibrant man cloaked in careless grace. A light breeze caressed and lifted the sun-streaked gold of his hair, billowing through the dark brown, coarse fabric of his paenula to fling it out behind him. He looked like a captain at the helm of his ship, peering out towards dark waves with excitement and longing.

She’d imagine him this way for ever. It would give her peace to remember him so happy.

He turned and held out his hand, palm up, inviting her to step into the vision with him. ‘Come,’ he said, and his smile was beautiful. ‘We’ll find Apollodorus somewhere in the midst of all this work. He’ll be wherever the problems are the most aggravating, I’m sure.’

‘He’s good at solving problems?’

Lucan chuckled. ‘After he’s spent all the time he wants screaming and swearing about them.’

‘That sounds ominous. I bet the workers fear him.’

Lucan laughed. ‘No. They adore him. He could ask them to jump off a cliff and they would. It sounds contradictory, and I guess it is. He’s the most vexing man you’ll ever meet, but he’s also one of the kindest. He’s bossy as hell, and arrogant, but he’s an undisputed genius in his work. He’ll quarry stone and lay brick and sweat like a slave, but he dreams with all the clarity and vision of a gifted artist. You’ll understand better when you meet the old goat.’

‘The old goat?’

Lucan laughed and pulled her forwards. ‘You’ll love him. Everyone does.’

Lucan’s descriptive expression turned out to be an apt one when she and Lucan found Apollodorus the architect. Short and squat, with long, hairy arms and a dark-eyed, saturnine face topped off by a disorderly shock of iron-grey hair, Apollodorus stood in front of a sun-bleached and tattered army tent set up in the centre of the construction, issuing orders to a variety of subordinates.

When he noticed Lucan and Severina’s approach, he waved away all the men surrounding him. ‘Get on with your tasks, you bunch of worrisome insects,’ he said in a gruff voice so loud it carried to Severina. ‘Work on your own problems so I can spend some time with Livius Lucan. And I swear I’ll flog the first one who pokes his head in my door. You hear me?’

Lucan was laughing as he reached the tent. He extended his hand, shook the one offered him and suddenly found himself embraced most enthusiastically.

‘Apollodorus.’ Lucan grinned as the other man thumped him rhythmically on the back. ‘You’ve not changed a bit. Not one bit.’

The old fellow scowled up into Lucan’s face. ‘Aye, lad. I have. I’m not half as ornery as I used to be. I’m too damn soft in my old age.’

‘Yes, I can see that.’

The older fellow grinned and turned his attention to Severina. ‘And who might we have here? What a wondrous, lovely creature…’

‘This is Cassia Severina, my…friend.’

Apollodorus didn’t miss much. Severina saw interest and amusement flicker through his dark eyes and knew he’d noticed Lucan’s slight hesitation.

Lucan drew her forwards. ‘Severina, meet my old friend, Apollodorus. The most skilful architect in the entire empire.’

‘Damn right.’

‘Who’s also an annoying burr under my saddle.’

‘Damn right again.’

Severina laughed as the two men pretended to glare at one another.

But Apollodorus’s sun-weathered face crinkled into a smile when he turned to Severina. ‘A friend, Lucan? And such a beautiful friend…how delightful.’ He took her extended hand and lifted it to his lips in a surprisingly elegant gesture. Even more surprising, the courtliness didn’t seem out of place despite the man’s coarse appearance. ‘It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, beautiful lady.’

The man was a master. Severina somehow knew it within minutes. His gaze was sharp and intelligent, but he made her feel welcome in spite of such deep scrutiny. There was an innate gentility to the man that defied her initial impression. As Lucan had predicted, she soon found herself drawn to Apollodorus and liking him.

‘Lucan, you old bear-chaser,’ Apollodorus said, returning his full attention to the younger man. ‘How goes it with you? I’ve been meaning to get back to you about my inspection of those properties you wanted me to look at, but I haven’t had a free moment these last few days.’

‘You’ve done the inspection already?’

‘Yes, and I quite agree with you. They’re in fine shape and have excellent potential. With a few improvements, there could be a handsome profit at resale. I can’t do the work right now, of course, but I’ll send Omnesimus. Trajan’s baths are nearly done, so I can pull him off that job. All that’s lacking there now is the ornamentation, some finishing work, tiling…nothing he needs to oversee personally. He can be working on your place within a couple of days.’

‘Yes, well…I appreciate that, Apollodorus, but I wonder if Omnesimus might take a look at another smaller project first.’

Apollodorus raised an eyebrow. ‘Something else first? I thought you were so eager to reinvest your profit from the sale of that office building, that you wanted to move quickly and—’

‘Those properties can wait a little longer. Severina needs the help more right now.’

A smile twitched at the corner of the older man’s mouth. ‘A project more important than making money for yourself, Lucan? Since when?’

He winked at Severina and suddenly she understood. This wiry little goat-man was definitely on her side. Though she wasn’t sure of his full purpose, Apollodorus was giving her information about Lucan she could never have discovered otherwise. It was a game the old man seemed to be enjoying tremendously, while Lucan merely endured it with long-suffering patience.

‘Ah, I understand,’ Apollodorus said. ‘Had I a woman this comely who likewise needed me to give place to her need, I’d surely move heaven and earth to accommodate her, too.’ He grinned at Severina. ‘Nice to know you matter more to him than gold, isn’t it?’

‘Apollodorus—’

‘Not that Lucan needs more gold. He’s really done very well for himself.’

‘Apollodorus!’

‘Added much wealth to his family’s coffers, he has. And oh, his parents are so proud. No wonder they want him to come home and marry that sweet little girl they’ve chosen for him. They’ll soon be needing an heir to inherit the family fortune.’

‘Apollodorus! That’s enough!’

‘Is it, now?’

‘Past enough, damn it. What do you think you’re doing, anyway?’

Apollodorus grinned. ‘I’m furthering your suit.’

‘That may be true, but I don’t need your help.’

Apollodorus shrugged. ‘Fine, then. Inspect your own buildings in the future.’

‘I don’t need your help with women.’

Apollodorus laughed softly and scratched his head, leaving his hair in further disarray. ‘True, true. You’ve never needed anyone’s help there. Unless you count that time…Remember that whore who went to the commander and named you the father of her babe? You needed help then. The lying baggage.’

Lucan cleared his throat much too loudly.

Apollodorus turned to Severina. ‘Lucan’s always had a way with women.’

Severina smiled sweetly at the older man. ‘Has he?’

‘He has. The young fool, he used to boast that he’d bed a thousand women before his thirtieth birthday.’

Apollodorus looked to Lucan, his eyes gleaming mischief. ‘And just how did that turn out, old boy? I never thought to ask. Did you meet your goal?’

‘Perhaps if you hadn’t thought to ask before, you certainly shouldn’t think to ask it now.’

‘But I’ve always wanted to know. Donatus swears you gave up trying before you’d quite made it. Says you’ve given up youthful follies.’

Lucan nodded.

‘Lately I’ve heard Donatus has given up his reckless ways, too. Trajan told me the lad’s married a fine-looking woman and sired two healthy sons. Ah, it’s good to see you two settling down. There was a time I thought you both quite mad. Thought Donatus might kill himself in those suicidal cavalry charges against the Dacians. Now look at him. A proud papa and serving in the Senate. Imagine that.’

Apollodorus’s eyes met Lucan’s, gleaming with amusement. ‘So when are you going to make a few golden-haired babies of your own? Legitimate ones, I mean.’ Apollodorus chuckled.

Lucan crossed his arms over his chest. ‘So many questions, Apollodorus. I begin to wonder why I enjoy our friendship.’

Apollodorus’s laughter was anything but repentant. ‘Because, like any good friend, I know when to dig into tender flesh to draw out the arrow’s deadly point. A little pain can be a good thing in the long run, young Lucan.’

‘Fine. You can be an army surgeon when you grow tired of the building trades. Now maybe you should stop playing matchmaker and tell me instead what is planned for this magnificent hill. It seems an enormous project.’

The request was like putting flame to a wick.

‘Enormous? Of course it is,’ Apollodorus said, turning to jerk hard at the flap of the tent behind him. ‘Come inside and see.’

Lucan and Severina followed him inside. Though the interior was more dim than the intense glare outside, the tent’s canvas panels were lit by enough sunlight that they could easily see that a table filled almost the entire space. Upon it sat a detailed model of the work in progress outside, all in diminutive but perfect scale.

‘Good heavens,’ Lucan said reverently as he stared at the complex of buildings laid out before him. ‘No wonder you’ve no time for other things, Apollodorus. There are no words for this.’ His eyes lifted to those of the architect. ‘It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.’

Apollodorus acknowledged the praise with a humility Severina hadn’t expected. Outside, he’d seemed rather odd—sometimes belligerent, sometimes playful, sometimes demanding.

But here in this room he seemed a quiet genius, an artist whose work would transcend his humanity for all the ages to come, a lowly man whose creative soul had been touched with divinity by the gods themselves.

‘Emperor Trajan and I were young together.’ Apollodorus spoke quietly, his gaze distant. ‘We met in Syria when his father was governor there. Trajan later served that province himself as military tribune. We spent a lot of time together in that place, riding through the territory to inspect bridges and aqueducts and military installations. Our respect and admiration grew alongside our friendship. I stood up with him when he married Plotina. He drank himself into a stupor with me on the long night my wife gave birth to Omnesimus.’

His eyes lifted to Lucan’s. ‘But in all that time, did we ever feel ourselves destined for greatness? Could we have foreseen where all our service to Rome would lead us? In all truth, we could not and we did not. But, Lucan, it’s often said that water will find its level, and so it has. Trajan has become Emperor. And I will use my talents to build for him a legacy that will long outlast our poor, feeble dust.’

He looked down at the model before him, his eyes suddenly glistening with tears. ‘It’s not a charge I take lightly.’

Lucan’s voice had a surprisingly gruff quality. ‘With this, your name will always be remembered. Men will come from far lands to survey these buildings. Apollodorus of Damascas, they’ll name you in the books to be written of you. They’ll call you the most gifted architectural mind in all of Rome.’

The architect smiled and laid a hand on Lucan’s shoulder. ‘Perhaps they will, my hopeful friend. But even if they don’t, I’m proud of my service. I’ve lived my dream and enjoyed the journey. No man can ask for more than that.’

He tapped the open area in the centre of the model. ‘Look here. In this plan, Rome shall have its largest forum yet.’

‘Good,’ Lucan said. ‘The space is badly needed. Our city grows more crowded with each passing year.’

‘The design seems complex at first, but look closer. You’ll easily recognise the basic configuration.’

Lucan studied it for only a moment before he looked up and smiled. ‘An army encampment. It’s laid out like an army encampment. A more elaborate one, of course, but with the same basic structure.’

Apollodorus smiled. ‘It is. Trajan’s idea, not my own. You know, Lucan…one of the things a good architect must do is listen, really listen, to the needs of the one whose building he designs. He must hear not only what is said, but what is meant, so that his design might fulfil deep emotional needs. Am I making sense?’

‘I think so.’

‘Well, you were in Dacia, Lucan. You know how Trajan felt about the men who served there. The men who fell and died there.’

‘He was and is a great commander of men. It was an honour to serve under such a man.’

‘One of the things he keeps saying is that we’re building this forum with the spoils of that war so it must be a source of pride for those men who served there and safely returned, and a memorial to those who did not. That it will be the only memorial most of those men will ever have.’

‘A noble sentiment.’

‘Yes. And soon far more than mere sentiment. Visitors will enter here…’ Apollodorus tapped the spot ‘…coming from Augustus’s Forum through this triumphal gate. It will be surmounted with a magnificently sculpted, six-horse chariot. This central open piazza here is quite large and will be flanked, here and here, by two large hemicycles. On three sides it will be surrounded by Corinthian porticoes, whose columns will be of green-and-white cipillino marble from Carystos. The entire open area will be paved in marble as well. An enormous statue of the Emperor on horseback will be here, in the very centre. You’ll have to see its size to believe it. Nothing of the like has ever been done for any Emperor before.’