Caesar chuckled, watching the beaten man writhe against the sculpture. “This one has outlasted them all, hasn’t he, Drussus?”
The general watched, steely-eyed. He was of the Media Nocte house. I’d only seen him in dragon form once when his legion had joined ours on that same battlefield in Carthage so long ago. He was a vicious giant of a beast in both half-skin and dragon form. And there was no question he was loyal to Igniculus.
“I believe this man was important to their leader.”
“Was he?” Caesar set down his goblet and took a step closer. “What is your name?” he shouted as if to a deaf man.
The human bound to the statue breathed heavily and didn’t respond. Caesar cracked the whip in the air near his head. The man jumped, turning his face toward us. He was a gruesome mess.
“What… is your name?” Caesar asked clearly.
The prisoner managed to mumble through bloodied lips in a thick German accent. “Adolfo.”
Caesar turned to face us, the whip still dangling from his hand. “Good. Before I behead their barbarian king, I’ll let him know how much Adolfo suffered under my whip.”
So their king was indeed captured. There would be a triumph for Drussus and Caesar where they’d publicly execute him. That ruined my and Julian’s secondary plan.
Drussus merely nodded, seeming bored. He likely was, eager to get on to his next mission. Caesar finally turned his attention back to me, expression calculating.
If he knew that I’d hidden Lela in my home, then I’d already be dead. And he’d likely have her here in front of me, ready for his own personal kind of torture. So that wasn’t why I was here.
“A shame about Valerius,” he finally said.
“Indeed,” I agreed.
“Ha! You don’t believe that. I am aware he was an enemy of yours.”
I shrugged. “He was no friend of mine. But no man should be murdered in his own home like that.”
“That is a fact,” he growled.
I held his gaze—and my breath—willing my pulse not to quicken though I was struggling under the weight of his golden stare.
“Have they found his killer?” I asked casually.
“Not yet,” Caesar answered. “But we’ll find that cunt soon enough. And bash her brains in when we do.”
Steady breaths, in and out.
“You wanted his seat as consul,” he stated with conviction. “Everyone sees you’re an ambitious man.”
Exhaling a heavy breath, I nodded and pretended he’d found my secret. “I did.”
“Then why nominate your grandfather?” He waved his free hand, claws out, one tip bloodied, likely from plucking out the eye of his prisoner.
Thinking quickly, I replied, “From what I know of the senate, I didn’t have the numbers to get the vote.”
“Why didn’t you have your grandfather nominate you? His support would have given you the numbers. I know that he’s never really wanted to be consul.”
No, Grandfather had made it clear to his colleagues and friends that he didn’t want that position. It was too tied to the man standing in front of me, bare chest blood-spattered from his day of killing.
“Grandfather doesn’t believe I’m ready for such a high seat in leadership.”
Caesar made a disgusted sound in his throat, letting the whip fall to the ground while he picked up his goblet again.
“Your grandfather isn’t a man of action, Trajan. I’d rather you were Valerius’s replacement.”
He wasn’t simply expressing his disappointment. He was giving me a warning. I remained silent.
