“When you leave the hill, make your way to my father"s house on the Quirinal. There you will find my sons… No, wait. They"ll be watching the house, won"t they?”
“They absolutely will,” agreed Mamercus.
There were only four of them standing on the rampart of the Capitoline"s northern wall – Sabinus, Mamercus, Abigail, and Perel. The air was chilled and thick, the sky cloudy – the weather was about to turn. They had come without a light, lest they give away their intention. But with the stars only occasionally visible, it had taken them some little time to reach the spot.
Though darkness covered them, they couldn"t risk opening a gate. It might creak and give away the whole affair. Instead they had come to a point beneath a rooftop that overhung the wall. In its shelter, Sabinus had begun
