I never saw him pull out the blade. I only witnessed as he plunged it into the old man’s heart.
“I require you to die,” said Caesar as Kato bent forward with the blow, gasping as he toppled to the stone floor.
Two noblewomen screamed. The music stopped. One senator turned to run for the door, but suddenly every entrance was blocked by Caesar’s men. That’s why Drussus had his officers patrolling the streets. Caesar needed all of his own for crowd control in here.
I gripped Grandfather’s wrist but remained still. Everyone else froze. I caught the gazes of some of our many allies in the room—Agrippa, Appius, and Horatius.
No one moved a muscle. The emperor had just committed murder of a sanctioned consul. There had certainly been assassinations under past emperors, but none had ever done so in front of all the highest nobility of Rome. He wanted us to witness it. He wanted the fear to burrow deep.
By the looks of his audience, it had. Wives cowered against husbands. The men stared—some with horror, some with awe.
Caesar climbed the steps, wiping the bloody blade on his toga. Itwas his gladius, the one I’d used to kill the Visigoth, Adolfo. I wondered how much blood had soaked into that steel over the years.
The emperor set his blade on the table next to his throne. I noted that he didn’t put it away, but kept it close and handy in case he needed to use it again. Then he raised both hands to assuage the crowd as if he hadn’t just murdered an innocent, respected elder in front of everyone.
“Now, now. I realize my actions might come as a shock to some of you.” He chuckled like he was telling a joke. “But it was necessary for the good of Rome.”
Titus, one of the few honorable generals in Caesar’s legions, spoke up. “What good might that be, Caesar?”
He didn’t sound accusing, but there was a definite tone in his voice that demanded an explanation.
“Rome is under threat, my good citizens. Not from enemies abroad but from enemies within.”
Caesar scanned the entire room, as if he might be able to determine who were the traitors simply by looking at them. No one dared interrupt or ask another question. Then he continued.
“When my nephew Julianus Dakkia betrayed us all several months ago, he left a seed of rot inside our city. That seed seems to have germinated and spread. Not only did his bold betrayal empower a mere slave girl to rise up and murder her own master in his bedchamber, but it emboldened other Romans to hide her.”
No one spoke. No one moved. Caesar watched the room, gathering information with every reaction and expression. I focused on keeping mine completely blank.
“It came to my attention that one of our own, Fausta Ovidius, has been an enemy of the state, a criminal, for some years. She is the one who’s been smuggling runaways and bastard-born dragons out of the city.”
There were murmurings of disbelief as many whispered to each other.
“Yes, it’s true. We discovered that even our own newly appointed tribune, Trajan Tiberius, was tricked by Fausta and the murdering slave. They manipulated him to get passage through the city to Fausta’s home.”
Caesar turned and locked eyes on me. I kept still as stone, holding his feral gaze, thinking of cold waters and the coolness of the ocean to keep myself calm and my heart rate even.
“Unless of course, Trajan, you are to tell me now that you knew the whore you transported to Fausta’s home was in fact the murderess I’ve been hunting.”
Without flinching, I lied, “No, Caesar. I was not aware.”
He stared, but I knew that he didn’t believe me. Was he about to kill me here and now for it? He didn’t go for his blade, and I wondered why he didn’t. He obviously thought me a liar, and a traitor, the greatest crime of all.
“That is good to hear, Tribune.” Then he swiveled his gaze to my grandfather, and I flinched. “We cannot have a Rome that is riddled with liars and murderers and enemies of the state. It breeds chaos and corruption and ruin.”
I wanted to scream in his face thathewas the one who bred chaos and corruption and ruin, but I kept myself perfectly still, waiting for the moment I would need to act.
He stood next to my grandfather and faced the audience of nobility. “I am going to save you all from inevitable doom. The only way I can do that is to have supreme rule over Rome.” He turned to face my grandfather. “We can have no more consuls. No more senate.”
I thrust myself between them and glared at the maniacal monster. “You will not kill my grandfather, the ancestor who formed the senate, the most respected senator of the empire.”
Caesar’s eyes gleamed with malevolence. “Kato had to die because he was too set in his ways. Too feeble to be of any good anyway.”
I gritted my teeth that he would think the man useless merely because he was old. But I kept my mouth shut when he obviously wasn’t done.
“You are correct that Gaius Tiberius is the eldest descendant of the founder of the senate.” Caesar turned to face my grandfather. “That is why you must not only renounce your position as consul but dissolve the senate as well. For Rome to remain strong under my rule, there can be no more senate.”
Instantly, there were murmured protests. Someone said, “He can’t be serious,” which caused Caesar to whip his gaze to the audience on a snarling growl.
