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It was the first time he had told me anything substantial about his own life. Now that the door had been cracked open, I wondered what more he might share. “Have you any other family? Have you ever been married?”

He cleared his throat. “I believe I’ve had too much wine. This sentimentality isn’t useful. It’s late. Come on.”

I followed him back through the house. “With all you’ve seen of the world, would you be willing to teach me some of what you’ve learned?”

“Cassius will do a better job.”

“You taught me to use an astrolabe.”

He paused on the covered walkway surrounding the courtyard. “You taught yourself. But even if I thought I could teach you something, I wouldn’t have time. If I’m going to have any hope of raising funds for another expedition, I’ll be very busy flattering my uncle at the Imperial court, trying to convince him that it’s worth continuing to look for something he thinks has already been found.”

He took another step and then paused. “I have no family other than the people you’ve already met, and I’ve never been married.” He thumped away toward the stairs, leaving me alone with the sound of night creatures rustling in the garden.

x

BY THE TIME I CAME DOWN TO BREAKFAST THE NEXT morning, Sebastianus had already left to attend a meeting of the Imperator’s comitatus. I enjoyed a cup of strong ginger root infusion and a sweet roll at the wooden table in the garden. Little birds chirped unseen in the shrubs.

In this, perhaps the first quiet, solitary moment I had experienced since the terrible days that led up to my departure from Casa Caligine, I felt the full weight of the change my life had undergone. Even the very air was different from the atmosphere of Corlivo, heavy and saturated with a moisture that dampened my skin. All my points of reference had disappeared, leaving me a disoriented traveler with nothing to do but start learning my map and directions all over again. I thought of Kyra, her cautious nature, her easy laugh and dimpled face, her rib cage moving with her breath as she lay in the infirmary. Even if I retraced all the miles that had brought me here, I would not find her waiting for me.

I took a second cup with me to the sitting room balcony to meet Cassius. The sun was bright. Unlike the gentle air of the night before, a stiff breeze now blew my hair and dress. In the busy harbor below, the colorful sails of a hundred sleek dromons flapped in the wind, and the sound of bells and voices rose and mingled with the thump of barrels on the docks. The center of the world. It certainly looked like it this morning.

Cassius was pale when he arrived. In one hand he held a cold, wet cloth to the back of his neck, and with the other he dropped a box of quills and parchment on the little balcony table. “You’ll pardon me, Anna. I have a bit of a headache. Too much strong wine last night, I’m afraid. It’s merry to have a full house.”

“Thank you for taking the time to look at these books. If you aren’t feeling well, we can put it off.”

He sat down slowly on the wrought-iron chair. “Not at all. Not at all. What do you have there?”

“This one is a copy of Semiarchus’s Astrolabe, and here is Geographica.” Straba’s letter was no longer tucked into the front cover, and I assumed Sebastianus had put it aside somewhere.

Cassius examined both books, turning the pages and inspecting the bindings. The wind rattled the thin parchment. “This early copy of Geographica must be very rare. Perhaps the only manuscript of its kind. There is certainly material in here that wasn’t in the two other copies I’ve seen.” He paused over a page and then flipped forward a few more. He shook his head. “His Grace’s theory might have some meat to it. Straba writes here about both Corlivo and Carrac, two cities in the Kotol. This section isn’t in any other known copy of his work.” He handed the book to me, open to the page he had been studying.

“I’m not able to read this. I can’t read Kish.”

“What? Oh, of course not. Here, let me translate.” He cleared his throat and began to read aloud.

“‘It is my duty as chronicler to set down the history of lands and peoples so that the origins of these things, from which our present-day lands and peoples descend, will not be forgotten.

“‘The cult of the Goddess was brought to the central mountains by the earliest settlers of the region. From where these ancient peoples came, we know not, and they have left no writings behind. Worship of the Goddess was well established in the region by the time of the Mighty Arcadius, and is mentioned in the work of Brunus, his scribe. The large city now known as Corlivo began as a small settlement surrounding a shrine.

“‘According to legend, the worship of the Goddess in the early days included a form of ritual in which the priestesses claimed to channel the deity while engaging in intercourse with travelers visiting the shrine. This allowed worshippers to claim a connection to the divine. The tradition has been passed down to the present day in the form of small images of the Goddess carved in ivory and bone, revered by the women who work in the pleasure houses in the mountains. Over time, food, shelter and other services were needed to support the influx of travelers visiting the shrine and, it is believed, those services were the early origins of the now-great city. The first city council was—’ Oh, that’s enough, I’m sure.”

I stared at the open book in wonder. Was that true? What a strange idea: that I, and the girls I had grown up with, were heirs to an ancient priesthood. Why had we never been taught that history? “I didn’t know that was how Corlivo began.”

“Nor did I,” he said. “Fascinating.”

“We still worship the Goddess there, though. I have a figurine like the one described in the text, a little image of the Goddess carved out of ivory. My mother left it wrapped in my garments when she gave me to the nursery.”

Cassius’s gentle face crinkled into a smile. “Remarkable. I don’t believe this connection with the ancient ritual is generally known.”

“I lived there my whole life and knew nothing of it,” I said. What else had we not been taught?

He stacked the two volumes neatly on the table. “Sebastianus tells me you’re proficient with the astrolabe? That’s quite an achievement. It takes most people much longer to learn.”

I nodded. “Don let me chart our route the last few nights of our journey. Of course, he already knew the way, but I enjoyed the practice.”

“He and Sebastianus could find their way across the continent blindfolded in a storm, I should think. But it doesn’t diminish your accomplishment.” He tapped the books. “What are you interested in learning about? You’re my student now, after all.”

I had my answer ready. “I’d like to learn more about the fixed and wandering stars. Are there other ways to track their movements besides an astrolabe?”