“There I am!” Catus said, suddenly excited. “Look how young and strong I am!” He stepped forward, the better to see himself as he carried a couch with his then friend, Konstantin Modestus. “That there,” he turned to the goddess who smiled upon the brightening scene, “that there was Modestus,” Catus said. “He looked up to me so. We were inseparable, we were. Always going about Rome with some of the others, dicing and laughing and…” his voice faded away, stoppered in his throat as a young woman came into the warehouse in the midst of a group of other young ladies.
“Junia…” Catus’ voice was a soft breath.
“Salvator Peli’s daughter,” Vesta added, coming up behind Catus to peer over his shoulder at the young woman who wore a sea blue stola, her long, graceful neck enhanced by a simple golden
