Текст книги "Mark of the Thief"

Автор книги: Jennifer A. Nielsen

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

Aurelia breathed my name, but I wouldn’t look at her. “Nic,” she said again. “That’s Horatio. We can talk to him together.”

There was more pounding on the door, and Valerius and Crispus hurried into the atrium. Crispus’s face was tense with worry, but I couldn’t read Valerius as well. Either he was terrified, or else his heart had stopped working. Possibly both.

“You turned Nic in to him?” Crispus asked Aurelia. “How dare you?”

Her eyes pled with me to believe her. “I didn’t, Nic. I swear —”

“Don’t!” I shook my head. “Don’t say anything else.”

“Run out the back,” Valerius said.

I wasn’t going to run, and it would’ve been futile if I’d tried. The door opened and in poured Horatio’s personal guard, looking similar to Roman soldiers except for Horatio’s banner worn on their uniforms. They pushed Aurelia aside, and walked directly toward me.

My hand curled around the bulla, which was currently beneath my tunic. The heat in it worried me. Magic flowed in through my fingers, and up my arm. It wanted a fight.

Horatio glared down at me and no doubt was weighing the odds of how many of his men I could take out before one of them got the bulla. The correct answer: all of them. And I would’ve released the magic already except I wouldn’t put Crispus or Valerius at risk. Or even Aurelia, who stood off to the side with her eyes wide and still full of tears.

Horatio’s face twisted as he prepared to speak. “Nicolas Calva, Emperor Tacitus has ordered your execution. I am here to arrest you.”

“No,” I said.

“No?” He arched an eyebrow. “I’m not asking your permission, slave.”

“And I’m not giving it. The emperor and I made an agreement. Once I fulfill it, I will go to him. On my own.”

Valerius pushed past me. “Senator Horatio, Nic’s magic is stronger than you can imagine. He plans to take the key to the Malice of Mars. If you want to live, you will give it to him.”

“Stop this!” Aurelia darted forward. “Nic has not threatened his life, not once.” Then she turned to Horatio. “And you will not threaten Nic’s life either. He’s my friend.”

Horatio laughed. “And why should I take orders from a street girl?”

Aurelia bit down on her lip, then held up the crepundia, still in her hand. Visibly trembling, Horatio took it from her and examined the miniatures. When he looked back at Aurelia, there were tears in his eyes.

“Where did you get this?” he asked.

“From you. On the day you exposed me.”

He made a sound in his throat and stepped closer to her. “My daughter,” he whispered. “I had no idea you were still alive.”

“We have much to discuss,” Aurelia said. “But first, you must not arrest Nic. He’s done nothing wrong.”

“Hasn’t he?” Any of the sentimentality he’d felt toward Aurelia vanished by the time he remembered me. “Tell me, slave, how did you get the bulla?”

“It doesn’t matter how I got it.” The magic flared in me again, and I clenched my fists to contain it. “What matters is how I use it.”

Horatio nodded his head at Aurelia. “Wait outside, daughter. I wish to bring you home, so we can talk.” Aurelia tried to say something to me, but one of his soldiers was already escorting her outside, and I still wouldn’t look at her. When she had left, Horatio waved a hand forward for his men. “Burn this house, so other senators may know what happens when they ignore the orders of the emperor. Then arrest anyone who survives.”

“No, you won’t!” I raised a hand at Horatio. My intention had only been to warn him, but magic burst from me instead and shot him against the wall. Immediately I felt a sting across my back where one of the soldiers struck me with his sword. His cut went deep, too deep. It might’ve been worse if I hadn’t been moving already, but the injury still dropped me flat on the ground.

“Nic!” Crispus ran to my side and rolled me to my back. I gasped with the pain of moving, but he clutched my hand.

“What have you done?” Valerius cried.

Horatio seemed equally horrified. He shoved his soldier away from us. “You fool! General Radulf wants him alive!”

If anyone answered, I didn’t hear them. My breath was locked in my throat and I felt warm blood pooling beneath me.

“Heal this,” Crispus whispered. “Nic, I know you can.”

So much had happened to my body over the last few days, I didn’t have the same confidence. Even with magic, there were limits to what I could take. I closed my eyes anyway and tried to find the Divine Star, or even the bulla, but the pain was so fierce it made any concentration difficult.

Crispus pulled the bulla out from beneath my tunic and pressed it into my hand. Instantly it began to work, though as I called upon the Star, Radulf crept into my head too. He was angry. He hadn’t wanted Horatio to injure me. And I understood then that he didn’t like Horatio. Finally, we had something in common.

“He should’ve done worse,” I muttered, hoping Radulf could hear me. “This won’t stop me from fighting you tomorrow.”

“I hope not.” Radulf laughed, sending a chill through my bones. “Because if you fail to show up in that arena, I will punish Livia for your cowardice.”

His words were like a second wound. “Don’t hurt her!” I cried. “I will be there!”

“Who is the boy talking to?” Horatio asked.

Crispus seemed to understand. “Ignore what you’re hearing, Nic. Just heal that wound.”

“Take the boy,” Horatio said. “He’s in no condition to stop us now.”

That was true enough. The sting wasn’t so bad now, so I knew I was beginning to heal, but it had also taken strength from me. While one soldier kicked Crispus away from me and then kept a sword on him and his father, the other picked me up.

“Put him in the wagon.” Horatio then turned to Valerius. “There will be consequences for hiding the boy here. Until then, may I remind you that I am the sponsor for tomorrow’s games in the amphitheater? As a fellow senator, I expect you to be there to show your support. We must not let the people think there are … differences between us.”

Valerius responded with a frown. “Tomorrow, you will make yourself a traitor to Rome. Trust me, there are differences between us.”

Horatio laughed. “Are you sure about that?” He stepped closer. “If you could use the bulla, would this boy still be alive?”

If Valerius answered, I didn’t hear it. The soldier had carried me out by then and dumped me in the back of the wagon.

“Nic? Are you all right?” Aurelia jumped from a carriage, which her father must have arrived in, but a third soldier quickly forced her back inside. Horatio came out immediately after and got into the carriage with them. Once it left, ours followed behind it. Chains lay in a pile near my legs and despite my weakness, I kicked them away.

“We should put them on the boy,” one of the guards said.

My eyes narrowed. “Try it and the only parts of this wagon that’ll be seen again will be splinters on this road.”

One man leaned forward with a sneer on his face and breath so rancid it actually made me remember Sal’s more kindly. “I was in the arena that day. I saw what you did, and trust me when I say that there’s plenty we’d have done to you already, except that Radulf made us promise not to touch you.”

“So Horatio has already given his loyalty to Radulf?” I asked.

“Not yet.” The sneer turned into a smile of genuine pleasure. “He’s going to announce that in the arena tomorrow, after your execution.”

Horatio had a large apartment very near the amphitheater, though when we arrived I was immediately locked in an underground room. They warned me not to use magic in this tight space, but it wasn’t necessary. I wasn’t sure how many families lived above where I stood, and I wouldn’t endanger them.

Besides, I had bigger issues pressing in on me. The revelation from Aurelia shouldn’t have surprised me, and once I found out, I never should’ve been so harsh. I was still angry with her, but I also missed her, somehow. Whatever friendship we’d had was in ruins now.

Weighing even heavier on my mind was the question of who had turned me in to Horatio. As I considered it, the answer came like a lump in my throat. Sal.

Of course it had been Sal, who saw me leave the forum with Crispus. Even his crusty brain could figure out who Crispus’s father was.

That suspicion was confirmed almost immediately when the door opened and Sal’s face was on the other side. He’d been cleaned up and was now dressed in a long white toga. Despite that, he still reeked of the mines.

“Try anything and there’s a dozen armed soldiers behind me waiting to take their shot at you,” he said.

I didn’t even blink. “Are you sure? Getting rid of you would do them a favor.”

“I’m part of Horatio’s house now, managing servants for the Senate’s presiding magistrate. So you can see how much my life has improved from the filthy mines.”

“Horatio is filthy too,” I said. “Just in a different way.”

“The senator pardoned me, after I told him where you were hiding. But to be honest, I’d have told him even without the pardon.”

I turned from him and sat down on the single chair in the room. “Go away, Sal. Crawl back underground with the other worms.”

He chuckled. “If you knew what Horatio has planned, you would beg the gods to take you right now.”

“If I begged the gods to take any life, it wouldn’t be mine.” With my growing anger, magic coursed through every vein in my body, so much of it that I was terrified of what might happen in this tight space. “I could bring the entire apartment down on our heads right now. I might survive it. You won’t.”

“Your mother warned me about you!” he said. “I should have believed her.”

“Warned you about what?” It had been almost five years since Sal sold my mother, while I’d had this magic for only a few days. She couldn’t have warned him about this. When Sal failed to answer, I threw some magic at the wall beside us. A large chunk of concrete tumbled to the ground, not much, but enough to frighten him. “What did she say?” I yelled.

“I hate you,” he snarled. “And even more, I hate having a debt to you. You never should’ve saved me in last week’s games.”

“And you didn’t have to spare my life at the mines. So why are you here now? Not to free me.”

“No, of course not.” He shrugged. “But since you’ll probably die in the arena tomorrow, I thought I owed you an explanation. The day I sent you away from the mines, Livia tried to tell you something about your mother.”

“What was that?”

The fingers of his hands pressed together, and then he asked, “Why do you think your mother made you promise to stay together? It wasn’t so that you could protect Livia. Nic, she has always been there to protect you.”

My mind skipped through the last five years, all the times Livia begged me to not to defy Sal, when she hurried me away if Roman soldiers came through the mines, and how she refused to share any of her memories of our parents. I always thought I needed to keep her safe. It had never occurred to me that I was the one who needed saving.

Seeing my confusion, Sal added, “Your mother never sold you to the mines. She paid me the last of everything she had to take you. After the way your father died, she knew the empire would try to find you.”

“Why? It was a lightning storm – that had nothing to do with the empire.”

“During one of Rome’s battles with Gaul, your father saw his people were about to be destroyed. He tried to create something known as a Jupiter Stone, which he could’ve used to defeat Rome.”

Valerius had told me about the Jupiter Stone, the most powerful of all the magical amulets. He had also told me that many men had gone to their deaths in the attempt to create one.

“My father had magic?” I asked.

“Not enough, apparently. Done correctly, the Stone is activated in a lightning storm, but your father failed and Rome had its victory in Gaul. Your mother fled with you and your sister, but she knew Rome would come after you too, just as they tried to destroy all of your family. Magic runs strong in some families, and Rome would not rest until they knew you could not become a threat.” He grinned. “Which you are.”

I wondered if Livia knew all of this. Probably not, but it bothered me that my mother would’ve held that one secret back from us. If Rome was determined to destroy my family, how could she have believed they wouldn’t one day come looking for me?

“We hid for almost two years,” I said. “But I thought it was from slavers, not the empire itself. We would’ve stayed in hiding, but Livia was getting sick.”

Sal grimaced, as if having to look at me made him ill. “All I know is that your mother believed you and Livia were safer in the mines. Then she asked me to sell her far enough away that Rome would ignore you. And look what you’ve done – made yourself known to the entire empire! It’s the last thing she would’ve wanted.”

My breath came in shallow bursts, and the magic swelled again within me. “Where is my mother?” I asked. “Is she still alive?”

He shrugged dismissively. “Whatever happened, it was all her choice. For you, Nic.”

“Thank you, then.” I hated to force out those words, but they had to be said. Even to him. “Thank you for taking in Livia and me.”

“Not a day has passed when I don’t regret it.” Sal frowned at me. “Well, when I don’t regret taking you.”

I used enough magic to raise the fallen chunk of concrete, although it turned out to be much heavier than it looked. I stepped forward, trying to hide the strain within me to keep that rock held in midair.

“So this is your magic? Lifting rocks?” He laughed. “That would’ve been useful at the mines. I am still your master, you know.”

Grinning, I said, “Let’s test that. Command me not to drop this on you and see if I obey.”

I lifted it higher so that it came to rest directly over his head. One hiccup from me, and Sal would be finished. He knew it too. Sal backed against the wall and made a cry for mercy.

“Wherever you go, you will never threaten me again,” I told him. “And you will never again approach my sister. Never look at her, never think of her!”

“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.” He blinked. “I saw her only yesterday in the forum. She was with General Radulf.”

“Why?” Reflecting my anger, the ground shook beneath us. “Was she in chains, or hurt? What possible reason would he have to drag her through the forum?”

“There were no chains, Nic. She walked beside him, clean and well dressed, and she looked happier than I’ve ever seen her.”

I shook my head, more bothered than confused. My emotions were a turmoil inside me, and this new knowledge was yet another weight on my chest. To have any chance of breathing again, I had to let it explode.

But that would be a disaster. If I refused to have any master, then that must include the bulla. I would control it, and not the other way around. Nor would I give Sal the satisfaction of seeing me fail here. I was still angry and confused – after everything Sal had said, how could I feel otherwise? But I was also in control, and I let the magic dissipate within me. As it drained out, I was left feeling stronger than before. The magic wasn’t gone; it was learning to weave itself through my body where I could manage it better. With more time and practice, I would learn to control it entirely.

“Get out!” I hissed at Sal. “Now!”

The door slammed behind me and locked again. It didn’t bother me, though. He may not have understood it yet, but I was glad for his visit. Because Sal had given me hope of coming through this. I would return to the arena in control of my magic.

It was evening before Horatio came to visit me. I hadn’t eaten all day, so my hope was that he’d bring food along with him, but it wasn’t a great surprise either to see his empty hands. Even if he had left his table with a tray of food, I had no doubt he’d have satisfied his round belly before ever reaching me.

I stood when Horatio walked into the small room. He surveyed me from head to toe, then sat in the chair where I had previously been. My eyes darted to the open door. It was just him and me in here, and as far as I could tell, we were alone. He was unarmed, and I still had the bulla.

“You could run, of course,” he said. “But I don’t think you will.”

“Not until I get an apology for what your men did to me this morning.”

He brushed that aside with a wave of his hand. “For someone of your abilities, that wasn’t even a scratch. And I know that if you had wanted to stop the arrest, you could have done it.” Now he folded his arms across his bloated chest. “Why are you still here, Nic?”

Because going into the arena was now about more than taking Radulf’s magic. He had threatened Livia if I failed to appear. But there was more …

“We needed to talk alone.” I paused to draw in a breath. “When I go into the arena tomorrow, you must not be there.”

He smirked. “Yes, that would work out well for you.”

“It’s better for you too. I think Senator Valerius intends to have you killed in there.”

His eyes widened, briefly, before he got control of himself and the greasy smile returned. “Oh? Why do you think that?”

“He wants the key to the Malice of Mars. Before you give it to General Radulf.”

“I’ll give it to Radulf, after he defeats you.” Now the smile curled into a sneer. “Valerius cannot believe you have any chance of winning tomorrow.”

“That’s exactly my point! He’s only using me as a lure to bring Radulf into the arena, which means he must have another plan.” I took a breath. “More than that, with your death, he becomes presiding magistrate – he will lead the Praetors and control their loyalty. By tomorrow, Valerius intends to possess all three amulets.”

“Whatever his plan is, it will fail!” Horatio said. “When I give Radulf the key tomorrow, I will do it in front of the mob, so they will know the Senate and all its Praetors bow to Radulf now. They will see his power, and see me standing at his side. Once I give Radulf the key, Valerius can do nothing to stop us. Valerius will bow to us too, or the Praetor War will begin!”

“He won’t bow,” I said. “And if war begins, Rome will be destroyed!”

Horatio grinned. “Yes, destruction is my price for the key.”

“You want Rome to fall?” I asked. “You are head of the Senate, second in power only to the emperor. Why destroy your own world?”

“My world was already destroyed, many years ago.” His eyes fell, and when he looked at me again, they were full of sadness. In that moment, I saw the resemblance between him and Aurelia, more alike than I had realized before.

Horatio said, “Aurelia is your friend, correct?”

I didn’t respond. Not because I refused, but because I wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Was she still my friend? Had she ever been?

Ignoring my silence, he said, “She’s a remarkably stubborn girl, just like her mother. Maybe you noticed.”

I smiled a little. “Yes, I might’ve noticed that.”

“I loved her mother more than I’ve loved anyone or anything. But she died giving birth to Aurelia, and that released a poison inside me. I was a senator, in the greatest empire the world had ever known. But it was not great enough to save her.”

“That’s why you exposed Aurelia?”

“She was a thorn in the wound opened by losing her mother. And I thought that by giving Aurelia away, the wound would heal. But all these years later, it’s only worse. I will give Radulf the key because I want him to destroy the empire that could not save my family.”

“Valerius will stop you,” I said. “He will kill you before that happens.”

“Valerius has no such power.” Horatio reached over and patted my cheek. “You seem like a smart boy, for a slave, but not smart enough. I have the key with me at all times, and tomorrow, it will belong to Radulf. Once he finds the Malice of Mars, all of Rome will be his. What can Valerius do about that?” He motioned toward the door. “Run now, if you wish. I know that I can’t stop you.”

I shook my head. “Tomorrow you’re taking me into the arena to fight Radulf. Well, that’s what I intend to do.”

He stood to leave and brushed off his clothes from the dirt in this room. “You have the heart of a gladiator. It will be a glorious fight. I’m almost sad that you won’t survive it.”

Very late in the night, I received one other visitor. I had been asleep on the floor, grateful for the warmth of the bulla against this cold concrete, when the door opened. I sat up and glared into candlelight.

It was set on the floor, allowing me to see Aurelia’s face behind it. “Why are you still here?” She never wasted time in becoming angry with me. “There are no guards here, and your door isn’t locked. I thought I was coming to free you, but now I see you won’t even free yourself!”

“Go back to your father,” I said tiredly.

“I’ve been talking with him all night. Here.” She handed me a thick slice of bread, which I gladly took. Then she added, “He said he had often watched for me, and wanted to bring me back home, but never knew where to look. He never remarried, or had any other children. Lately, he’d begun to worry about dying without an heir.”

An interesting worry, considering the warning I had given him only hours ago. “Congratulations,” I mumbled. A part of me meant that. Even if she had lied about him, I knew that getting back to her family was as important to her as Livia was to me. Would I have lied to Aurelia if it meant I could recover my sister? Yes, I probably would have.

She leaned against the wall with slumped shoulders. “However, he’s not who I thought he would be.”

Her tone was blank, not quite disappointed, or angry, or even sad. It was just stating a fact, I supposed. I stared back at her, completely unsure of what to say. Finally, I came up with a question. “Why?” It seemed safe enough.

“He told me that a war is coming between those who support the empire, and those who support Radulf. He called it the Praetor War.” She sighed. “Then he said that if I am to be part of his household, I must support Radulf.”

“What did you expect? Valerius already told you all of that.”

“But I didn’t believe him. I never really trusted Valerius, so I thought he was lying to you.”

I paused, and then said. “He told plenty of lies. Just not about that.”

She pushed the door back. “Come with me, Nic, but we have to hurry. We’ll leave Rome tonight. Go anywhere else that we want.”

“What about my sister? I’m supposed to leave her in Radulf’s control?”

Aurelia brushed a hand through her hair, obviously frustrated. “Do you know what Horatio has planned for tomorrow? It would be awful to leave Rome without your sister, I agree, but at least you’ll leave alive.”

“I have a bargain with the emperor. Tomorrow in the arena, I will take Radulf’s magic, and when I do, he will grant Livia and me our freedom.”

“It won’t work.”

“When I leave Rome, I want to go as a free person, not a fugitive.”

“Nic, you’re not listening —”

“Neither are you!”

“They intend to kill you in the arena!”

“And I intend to live!” I exhaled a slow breath. “There’s no other choice for me now. Either you’ll stand by me and support what I have to do, or you’ll get out of my way.”

She turned toward me, as her face slowly pinched into something resembling pain. “I can’t help you destroy yourself.”

“Then this is good-bye.”

She tried again. “I was wrong to lie to you about my father, and wrong to want to bring you to him before. I will admit to both of those. But this time, you are wrong. If you go into that arena tomorrow, something terrible is going to happen.”

I didn’t look at her to ask, “How do you know that?”

“Because I can feel it. Because we’re friends, Nic. So you have to believe me now.”

I scoffed. “Well, that’s the question, then. Whether I still believe that we are friends.”

“Do you?”

I held out my hands to her, remembering several days ago when she had slapped chains on them. “Are we equals, you and I? Or do you see me as a slave?”

I must’ve turned enough for her to see the dried blood on my tunic from where I’d been cut. She gasped and cried, “What happened to you? They told me you weren’t hurt!”

My eyes darted behind her as Horatio filled the frame. “Ask him what happened.”

Horatio eyed Aurelia cautiously, and said, “It’s time, Nic.”

“Don’t go into that arena,” Aurelia said.

Horatio pushed her aside. “If you are living in my home, you must obey my orders.”

Aurelia’s eyes went from me to him, and she said, “Then I will not live in your home.” She removed the crepundia and hung it over my shoulders instead. “Maybe Nic should’ve been your child. He seems perfectly willing to obey you.” Then she pushed past Horatio’s guards and was gone.

Horatio briefly stared at where she’d been before his face hardened again. He turned to me. “I expected you’d have run in the night. Surely you were warned about the arena today.”

“Many times,” I said as I walked out of the room. “But my bigger worry is that you weren’t warned enough.”