While Hylas was still smouldering happily from Idris’s suggestive wink, Felix smiled at the Silure and poured wine into a spare cup on their table, which he pushed across towards him. “I’m glad to meet you, Idris. Hylas told me a few things about you, but I have to say – it didn’t make a lot of sense.”

      “I told you he was good-looking,” Hylas pointed out airily.

      “Yes you did. I can rely on you to notice a man’s looks before anything more useful,” Felix agreed affably, “Like his integrity or his bank balance. Neither of which are in question in your case, of course,” he added to Idris, “Unlike the last client he tried to snag for us.”

      Hylas shuffled in his seat. “I didn’t know he was a bankrupt convict from Ostia, he just said he was in the slave trade,” he muttered, and buried his face in his wine cup.

      Felix smiled at his accomplice and returned his attention to Idris, who was also grinning not unkindly at the young Greek’s discomposure. He turned the cup of wine in his hands, meeting Idris’s gaze squarely and honestly. ”Spurius has explained the predicament, and what a pretty pickle it is too. I’ve assured him we’ll help, but it’s hard to know where to start. I take it you know both of them very well?”

      “I do, and I hope you’re not going to ask me if there’s any possibility of truth in the accusations against them,” neither Idris’s steady gaze nor his pleasant smile faltered, but the implication was clear enough – he would be both deeply offended on his friends’ behalf and disappointed in his own opinion of Felix, if the question were to be asked.

      Satisfied, Felix shook his head, “No, I wouldn’t insult any of you by even considering that. I was only going ask where you fitted into it. But I suspect that’s a long story and probably one not best told in a public taverna, right?”

      “Oh yeah, anyone might overhear,” said Hylas sagely, oblivious to the ironic fact he was probably the most avid eavesdropper in the entire establishment. There was a moment’s silence as the two men just looked at him thoughtfully, then returned to business.

      “Spurius said you two hadn’t finished your negotiating,” Idris mentioned, “If there’s anything more that needs to be arranged, I can speak for him and Eirik.”

      “The only thing we hadn’t finishing negotiating was the payment,” a look of distaste flittered briefly across Felix’s eyes. He hated discussing money – in truth, he would have preferred it if his allowance from his father’s business had lasted a little longer and he didn’t need to ask anything for services that would be freely given if he didn’t have Hylas and a cat to support. “But let’s not talk about that right now,” he smiled at the Silure, and nodded across to the now-empty table next to theirs, “First things first. I suggest we meet up again tomorrow, or sometime when it’s more convenient? Spurius knows where I live.”

      “Very well, I’ll see you both again soon then,” Idris agreed and lounged to his feet to take his leave, treating Hylas to another wink as he sauntered away from the table.

      Hylas’s eyes followed him wistfully for a moment, then he sighed deeply and shook his head. Felix regarded him pensively for a moment, wondering what was going through that pretty head now – apart from the obvious. He nudged the young Greek gently. “Come on, beauty, time to go home. See if you can slip some of that left-over tunny into a napkin for Flora while I settle the bill.”