"You don't speak. Your voice is unfamiliar, it would give you away in moments," Ilithyia answers. "For now, you'll stay with my body slaves. Understand this, their sole purpose is to serve me closely and dutifully. A body slave is closer to her domina than anyone else. If there is anyone we are able to trust, it will be them."

She wishes, not for the first time, that Thesella had not been killed. There is no one she's trusted as she did Thesella. Not her husband, not her father, not even Lucretia.

"The ludus belongs to a woman called Lucretia," she says, leading him from the alley. "Should she summon you, you must go to her, but say nothing. Pretend to understand little. She may lose interest."