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out of the dining hall.”
    Gundi smiled. “No, it wouldn’t please that one to see how Freya-Aphrodite favors you. But come on, who was smitten by the sight of you?” She kept asking until I admitted that the courtiers had stared at me.
    “And so did—” I stopped. It seemed better not to speak of my stepfather.
    Gundi seemed satisfied. Humming to herself, she shook out a drop of scented oil before her statuette of Aphrodite. I recognized that blue-glass scent bottle—it, too, was my mother’s.

EIGHT
    BANDITS

    The morning after Pilate’s banquet, there were chariot races. Before we went to the stadium, Herodias came to my room with a present. “Dear Salome, I’ve been selfish. I think
you
should have these opal earrings. Don’t protest—I know you want them! And they do look sweet on you. Suitable for a young girl.”
    As Herodias fastened the opal earrings in my ears, I couldn’t help noticing the jewels bright as pomegranate seeds—but much larger—dangling from Herodias’s earlobes. She saw my gaze and smiled. “Do you like my new earrings? Antipas surprised me with them this morning. These are rubies, set in platinum.” She lowered her eyelashes demurely. “He looked into my eyes and quoted that Jewish proverb, ‘A good wife who can find? Her price is far above rubies.’ I was so touched.”
    Herodias was flying high that morning. In the stadium, as the Tetrarch Herod Antipas and his wife were seated in the Governor’s pavilion, there was a flourish of trumpets. I caught a glimpse of her radiant face.
    The rest of Antipas’s court took their seats behind the couple, and everyone hurried to make bets. Antipas favored the Orange team, so of course Herodias, Chuza, and the Tetrarch’s courtiers wore orange ribbons and bet on Orange. Governor Pilate and his officials were backers of the Greens.
    I was caught up in the excitement, but just to be different, I decided to put my money on White. “Leander,” I said as he climbed the stadium steps past my seat, “a denarius that White wins the first race!”
    Leander bowed to me, but he shook his head. “On principle, I don’t gamble, Miss Salome. Gambling gives honor to blind Luck.”
    “It’s just for fun,” I protested. Leander could be such a stick.
    With a glum smile he admitted, “In any case, I don’t have any money. I just sent my wages to my mother.”
    Of course, Leander’s money was promised to his sisters’ dowry fund. I was a little ashamed of forgetting that, especially when I heard Antipas’s bodyguards teasing the secretary. “Gambling gives honor to blind Luck,” one man told the others in a mincing voice.
    The guards guffawed, and another man called out, “The Greek would rather be back at the palace, reading a
scroll
!” I glanced over my shoulder at Leander, who certainly did look as if he wanted to be in a garden with Plato, not in the stadium among loud, sweaty soldiers. Today the guards were worked up into a feverish excitement.
    I sat with Gundi right behind Antipas and Herodias. As the chariots lined up for the first race, Antipas was busy laying a wager with Governor Pilate. On the track below, a gong sounded, and the horses sprang forward. “They’re off! Go, Orange!” called Antipas.
    “White!” I cried, shaking Gundi’s arm. “Look, White’s out in front! Are you still betting on Orange? My silver denarius to your copper
quadrans
!”
    “As you wish, Miss Salome,” said Gundi.
    On the racetrack, the chariots rounded the second turn. An attendant flipped a brass dolphin on a rail to mark the third lap. The White team had fallen behind, and Green was just barely ahead of Orange. “Show your best, Orange!” shouted Antipas. “Give them the whip!”
    “Orange, Orange!” Herodias rose to her feet, along with the rest of the crowd. It was the final lap, with Orange and Green neck and neck.
    “Go, White!” I called out, although my chosen team was now trailing by two lengths.
    Just before the finish