Daxos shook his head. “Your girls, they laugh at me.”
“What?”
“I not belong here, in Rome.”
“Why do they laugh?”
Daxos shrugged.
“Promise me something, Daxos.”
“Yes?”
“That you will not say anything about immortui to the girls or my wife. Understand? It is too scary for women.”
Daxos nodded. “I promise.”
“Thank you. And I will speak with the girls about their laughing. All right?”
The boy nodded again and went back to his cubiculum before Gaius could ask him to join them for breakfast.
Gaius stood still for a moment in the shambles of a garden and felt the sunlight upon his face.
Mithras. Lord. Help me through this darkness, he thought.
“Where is Daxos?” Fulvia asked when Gaius returned.
“He had bad dreams and went back to his room.”
“Is he ill?” she asked.
“No. Just misses
