“But is he dead?”
“You hit him in the head. He’s gotta be.”
I wanted to see his body, to confirm that nightmare truly was gone from this world.
Rocco read the uncertainty in my eyes because he still knew me so well, despite our three-month estrangement. “When the gunfire ceases, we’ll burn his body.”
I nodded in agreement.
He patted me on the shoulder as the sounds of warfare continued. “Take back the Roman Empire, Constantine.”
Both sides were evenly matched, so all the windows of the restaurants and gelato shops were shattered, and glass littered the cobblestone streets. Bullets marked the Pantheon, adding to the graffiti that had already been painted over the Egyptian stone.
Rocco was already gravely injured without the head wound, so he hung back while I moved in with the others, shooting down the Skull Kings and the others dumb enough to fight me.
Luca arrived from the rear with his men, shooting my enemies in the back while they were distracted by me in the front, littering the ground with the traitors who’d chosen a tyrant over an emperor. The second the battle shifted in my favor, so did the surrenders. They dropped their guns and took a knee—and I walked up and shot them each right in the fucking face.
Luca watched me from where he stood, and after he leveled me with a hard stare, he gave me a nod in approval.
I’d never been the merciful type.
Some fled through the streets, and Luca’s men chased them down. The men whom I knew were close to Darius were hung from the Pantheon to choke until death, swinging from side to side and bumping into others that had been dead for hours.
There were so many bodies, probably hundreds. Blood filled the cracks between the cobblestones, and the Pantheon witnessed another battle at her steps.
I searched the men for Darius, looking for his black T-shirt and dark hair, turning bodies over when I thought they could be him to get a good look at their faces. But none of them was ever Darius, and I continued my search, kicking every man over to be sure.
“Searching for a loved one?” Luca asked, coming to my side with a cigar hanging out of the corner of his mouth like the shoot-out had been a mere hookup to him.
I looked at the sea of dead men, losing their lives in a battle that never should have been fought in the first place. The Skull King should have been eliminated a long time ago—and I should have been the one to do it. This was all my fault, and not because I’d sacrificed my reign for a woman, but because I didn’t kill him sooner. “Darius.”
Luca took a drag before he released the smoke in a big cloud. “I’m sure he’s around here somewhere.”
“Rocco said I shot him in the head, but I need to make sure.”
Luca continued to survey the dead like he’d seen it all before. “If he managed to crawl away, he probably bled out in an alleyway somewhere. And if he managed to survive, he’s gonna lie low. He’s lost his men and is painfully aware of the strength of your allies.”
“Fishing for a compliment?”
He took another drag before he dropped the cigar on a dead guy’s chest. He raised his boot and smashed it against the body to put out the fire and smear ash into the cotton. “It’s good to have friends in high places ... all I’m saying.”
“What you’re saying is I owe you.”
He gave a shrug.
“Even though you’re here because you owe me.”
He gave another shrug. “I just gave you back your empire. The debts are not equal in value.”
“Instead of owing each other, perhaps we should forge an alliance. It’s in our best interest to maintain our respective republics. Not an easy job.”
“It’s an interesting prospect,” he said noncommittally as he looked into the distance.
“I’m sure it’ll be even more interesting the next time the Fifth Republic needs assistance.”
“We’ll require no assistance as long as I’m the First French Emperor. But whoever my successor is ... they might need a hand.” He turned back to me.
“You’ve just started, and you’re already planning to leave?”
