The lamp fell from Decius' hand as he staggered backward, eyes widening in shock. The ceramic shattered, spilling flame and oil onto the floor. Decius looked down on it in shock, stomping on it until he somehow managed to put it out.
Then he ran to the bed.
Sinking down on the side of the bed, Decius touched Minerva's neck, already knowing from her bloodied corpse, coating her dress from the stab wound in her chest, that she was dead. Her skin was cold beneath his touch, her eyes closed.
"No," Decius moaned. "No, Minerva, no!" Gently, he pulled her toward him, cradling her lifeless body in his arms. "No!"
Hot tears stung his eyes as the scream that had been building up in his throat tore free, ricocheting around the room. Minerva was dead. His wife, the woman he loved, was dead. Dead. An irrevocable move, an irrevocable wound. Minerva had been snatched away from him, stolen, ushered down into Gravium's throat, by his own brother.
"I'll Lucius for this," Decius raged. "I'll kill him. I swear it, Minerva, I swear it, Lucius will die for what he did to you and to our son."
As the words fell from his mouth, the thought struck him. Diana. Straightening, Decius cast his gaze about the room but saw no other body, no sign his daughter had been placed there to taunt him. There was no sign of Diana at all.
Where is she?
"Imperator."
The voice was low, apologetic. Decius twisted around on the bed, still holding Minerva. Octavius stood in the doorway, his head bowed. "I come to offer my life to you, for failing in my duty."
"What happened?" Decius demanded. "What happened?"
"We escorted them to Vican's villa, per your request," Octavius said quietly, eyes downcast. "We arrived there safely, but it wasn't long before the king's soldiers attacked us. They outnumbered us twenty to one, at least. Vican fell shielding Minerva and then they cut her down. I grabbed Diana and ran, hoping to at least save her."
"And did you?"
Octavius nodded, meeting Decius' gaze for the first time. "I rode to Marquin's shrine and gave her into the Forelooker's keeping. I told her to keep Diana safe and hidden. I believe she will. She knew what I was riding from. She's Ascantal herself, the Forelooker."
Decius felt an immense relief settle over him. Diana was safe. His daughter was safe, in a place Lucius couldn't reach her if he had any fear of the gods.
You know he has very little.
He doesn't know she's there, he told himself. Diana will be safe. After this is all over, perhaps I can retrieve her. And if I don't survive...she will continue to be safe, sheltered by Marquin.
"Thank you," Decius said quietly, looking at Octavius.
Startled, Octavius looked up. "Your wife was killed while under my protection, sir. I swore an oath I would die defending her or else –"
"Deliver yourself into my power, I know," Decius said heavily, gently placing Minerva's body on the bed. He would bury her soon, next to her son in the gardens. Rising from the bed, he faced Octavius, who still looked bewildered. "And I choose not to kill you, not to waste a promising young life. Enough blood has been spilled already. There's only one more who need die to end this; it need not be you."
"And that one?"
"The king," Decius said, anger settling in his bones. As a child, he had lost everything, and then lost almost everything again when Sipio had been murdered. Now, for the third time, just when things had been calm, the past finally behind them, Lucius had tried to kill everyone he loved, only failing to kill his daughter.
I am going to kill him.
Octavius straightened. "You mean to kill the king?"
"I do," Decius said, glancing at the lifeless Minerva. His blood boiled. "He has gone too far. Lucius killed my family, my innocent family. He will pay for that." Decius drew his sword, eyes running down the blade. "There is no other way."
---
Planning the assassination of a king was no easy business.
Planning the assassination of a brother was no impersonal business.
Octavius enlisted a small unit of his fellow soldiers whose loyalty still lay with Decius as imperator and had been able to find several groups of Ascantal soldiers scattered throughout the city, but Decius knew it wouldn't be enough. Lucius' paranoia had only grown since he began his massacre, not abated. As the bodies piled up on the pyres, Lucius' suspicion rose up with them, the smoke of fear clouding Fure. An entire legion now guarded the Tonius Hill on top of Lucius' own personal guards. Decius felt trapped in his own house. The one time he requested an audience with Lucius, Lucius refused. Instead of allowing an audience, he had sent a letter.
"Brother, I know you do not understand why your wife and son had to die. I know you don't understand why your daughter has to die. But you must try to see. The Ascantals were going to rise against the both of us for dethroning their interrex and stripping the senate of power. I heard the stirrings of unrest, the same as you. Except I am the only one who heard them for what they really were: conspiracy. If I hadn't struck when I did, the Ascantals would have rebelled against us, in their longing for power that doesn't belong to them. And we both would have perished.
"They are dangerous, Decius. Monsters, in what looks to be human skin. In a world where the gods are dead, where they don't look down on us, trust wins no favors. You can't love creatures such as those, no matter how hard you try to deceive yourself. You don't understand this yet, but you will. I know your clear sight, brother. You will come to see the truth, in the end.
"I know you are angry with me. But that anger will wither with time, as you realize that I was right. I will wait to speak with you in person until then.
"Your brother, Lucius."
Decius' hands had shaken with anger and disbelief on reading the letter. With a yell, he had crumbled it and thrown it into the fire, watching it burn with gritted teeth. He had no words to express his rage over Lucius' words. There was just his urge to drive his blade into Lucius' heart and watch his own body burn, watch the flames devour him the way they devoured his words.
Now Decius walked through the dark streets of Fure, attempting to release some of his anger through his fast-paced stride. The threat against Diana's life made him want to charge headlong into the palace and kill whoever he needed to in order to get to Lucius. You will not hurt my daughter! he wanted to scream. I will not let you!
But that wasn't an option yet.
In his quieter moments, Decius thought seriously about his decision to kill Lucius. After all, he was his younger brother, someone he had watched grow up, taught the art of combat, and fought beside in the war. Lucius had saved Decius' life in the end, fending off Pirilius and keeping Decius from being torn to pieces.
Is it right to kill him out of vengeance? Decius had wondered silently to the gods. Am I right to feel such anger?
Then he saw the fresh dirt over the graves in his gardens or walked through his empty, silent house and it all came back to him. In those moments, his anger was affirmed and justified. Lucius took life from so many, including his own brother's family. If the only way to stop him is to kill him, then I will do it.
He had already sworn his oath on Augustus' scepter that he would kill Lucius Sipio and rid Fure of his terror, committing himself to his revenge.
He was supposed to end the reign of terror, not me. He was supposed to help Fure, not damn it.
Decius stopped as he reached the execution forum. It had used to be smaller, before Lucius became king, but due to the proscriptions and massacre, it had been expanded to accommodate the funeral pyres where the bodies were unceremoniously thrown, the human Furians looking on. Their complicity in this made Decius sick. He felt so alone, knowing he no longer could belong to them, but he hadn't yet been reduced to the status of an Ascantal and hunted down for them to burn.
A recent pyre was still smoldering in the center of the forum, wisps of smoke reaching for the starry heavens. Decius was thankful he had been able to bury both his son and his wife, to keep to their people's rituals as best he could. He wondered vaguely who had been a part of the pyre today, if he knew any of them. Most of his Ascantal associates were dead, but Acitus Casarion and his wife Suelia had not been reported dead yet. Not that there was any list of names; but Decius had a feeling Lucius would have told him if they were dead.
Lucius gave me back Minerva's body, although it was only to show me she was dead. And for all his insistence on burning the Ascantals, he has not yet ordered that anyone exhume Minerva or Tiberias. In fact, I have seen or heard nothing about Lucius having the Ascantal cemetery outside Fure being exhumed, either.
Decius wasn't sure if leaving Tiberias' and Minerva's graves alone was Lucius' way of being considerate, or if there was something else afoot. It must be the latter; what else explains his leaving the Ascantal cemetery alone? If Lucius truly believes all Ascantals are monsters, than he would have wanted to exhume and burn the skeletons, all out of spite, all for the symbolize of erasing them from memory.
But Lucius hadn't, at least not yet.
Perhaps it has something to do with the Ascantals' reverence for their cemetery.
When Decius had been growing up, he had seen the Ascantal processions when carrying a deceased to the cemetery for burial. The strange murmur of their chants, calling on Verula "to make them whole again" throughout their procession, had caused chills to run down his spine. Although he had attempted to replicate the rituals as much as he was able with his wife and son, he knew it wasn't the same and had simply begged Verula to accept them, to escort them safely through Gravium's throat.
Lucius must have seen those funeral processions growing up, at least once. The way the Ascantals had invoked Verula to "allow them to drink from the cup once more, on the day of summoning," would make Decius think twice before violating their cemetery. Perhaps it made Lucius think twice, as well.
A dark figure furtively approached the pyre and Decius narrowed his eyes. Wearing a hooded cloak, the figure stopped on the edge of the ashes and lifted his hand. The soft murmur reached Decius across the forum, the words lost, as the figure began to toss something onto the pyre, the substance either incense or earth.
He must be Ascantal.
Tossing the earth was part of the ritual, Decius remembered. Usually, it was tossed onto the body lying in the grave, but since these ashes were allowed no grave, this Ascantal had brought the earth to them, in a crude mimicry of their customs.
When the figure finished, he turned and began to walk into the shadows on the other side of the forum. On a whim, Decius stepped out of his own concealment and hurried after the Ascantal.
The figure strode down the dark streets of Fure, heading for the neighborhoods near the walls, where the lower classes lived. Decius kept far enough behind to escape casual notice, but close enough to keep the fast-walking figure in sight. He didn't want to lose the first Ascantal he'd seen since this whole thing began.
The figure stopped at a boarding house, disappearing into the first door he came to. Cautiously, Decius approached the door, weighing his options. He needed to speak to this Ascantal, to learn if there was any hope in an army coming from their scattered numbers. In order to kill Lucius, he needed allies, and he had precious few of those.
Lightly, Decius tapped on the door.
Quiet footsteps marked someone's approach, then the door creaked open slightly. "Who is it?" the voice asked gruffly.
"I'm looking for the person who just entered this room," Decius said quietly. "My name is Decius Numas, and I wish to speak with him. He is not in trouble; I owe no loyalty to my brother after what he did to my family."
There was silence for a long moment and Decius waited, his muscles tensed. Then the door swung open and he was yanked inside, the wooden door shutting behind him.
He stood in a dimly lit room, surrounded by several people. One of them, standing by the door, looked human, but the other two both wore hoods, their faces shadowed. Decius could only guess they were Ascantals.
"Why did you follow me?" one of the hooded figures asked, his voice low.
"I saw you sprinkle the earth on the pyre," Decius said. "I know it as an Ascantal ritual; I was married to one. You know me as the king's brother, but he has struck a blow against me just as he has struck against you and your people."
"But unlike us, he won't kill you," the figure replied softly.
"Pity, that," Decius returned. "It isn't mercy, his sparing me. Not to me."
"You say he can be trusted?" the figure asked, turning toward the second hooded figure.
The second figure shoved back his hood, revealing his greying head. "Yes, Decius can be trusted."
"Acitus," Decius murmured. "I am glad to see you alive."
Acitus Casarion, Decius' father-in-law, looked worn, his features etched in sorrow. "I heard about Tiberias," he said. "My daughter, Minerva. What about her?"
Decius felt the anger and sorrow burn within him once more. "She's gone."
Acitus closed his eyes only, concealing the rest of his grief. It is for this that Lucius deserves to die, Decius fumed. He didn't just steal Minerva from me, he stole her from her parents.
"What about their bodies?" Acitus rasped. "Will they ever have peace?"
"I buried both of them," Decius said quietly. "In the gardens of Numas House. I performed the rituals to the best of my knowledge and ability. I hope I was able to give them some sort of peace."
"And Diana?" Acitus asked.
"Alive, as far as I know," Decius answered, grateful he was able to give the older man one good piece of news. "I believe Lucius would tell me if she was dead. Diana is in a safe place. I dare not say more than that." He paused for a moment. "And Suelia, how is she?"
"She's alive," Acitus said. "We both owe our lives to Sarico, here." He nodded to the figure beside him.
Slowly, the other Ascantal shoved back his hood, revealing wavy black hair dusting the back of his neck and hard dark eyes. A scar marked the side of his face, the thick, pale injury only adding to the hardness of his features.
"I am Petron Sarico," he said. "And yes, I am Ascantal. Why did you follow me tonight, Decius Numas?"
"I need some sort of answers," Decius said. "From whom, I'm not sure. My family was stolen from me by my own brother. And I don't just want answers; I want revenge. I want justice. And in this case, I believe they are one and the same."
Sarico smiled grimly. "I believe the same thing. We also want Lucius Sipio dead."
"If you will allow me, I want to join you," Decius said. "We work toward the same goal. I have some allies, Ascantal soldiers hunted down simply due to heritage who have placed their trust in me and human soldiers whose loyalty remains with me as their Imperator. Before, I would have found it disturbing. Now, I only find it encouraging."
"Decius," Acitus said quietly. "You are about to commit treason. I am not telling you not to do it, but Sarico and I, we have nothing left to lose. You could lose everything."
"I've already lost almost everything," Decius replied, his voice just as quiet. "And I will absolutely lose everything if I don't stop Lucius. So if I commit treason, let me commit treason. I've sworn my oath; I will fulfill. And yes, I will kill my brother. There is no other way."