Power(87)

Chapter 49


Rome

282 A.D.





“There’s nowhere else I’d care to be,” Marius said to the empty room. He shook as he paced the floor, hands vibrating unconsciously as he struggled to keep them steady. “This is my home now. It has been since—”

“I know this, dear boy,” Janus said, “but you have to understand … you make the others nervous.”

“Maybe they should be nervous,” Marius said, his voice quivering just a little.

Janus sighed and lifted a hand to his head. “Good lad, you have been allowed to absorb a great many souls that have caused us immense trouble.” He hesitated. “Far be it from me to suggest that you might have had enough, but—”

“They’re scared,” Marius said. “They’re scared because I have power that they don’t. Power they’ll never have.”

Janus looked at him flatly. “Yes. But these are not people who you want to scare, Marius. Neptune himself has convened councils to discuss—”

“The problem with me,” Marius said, spinning on his heel to look away from Janus. He sniffed the air, catching a hint of the fire in the next chamber. “Well? You were there. What have they decided?”

“They have decided nothing,” Janus said. “I have argued in your favor, but of late you are more distant and temperamental in your dealings with the others. I cannot read you anymore, Marius, and that is concerning—”

“That’s all right,” Marius said with cold precision. “I can read everyone else.”

Janus clicked his tongue. “So it is true. You have absorbed the powers of a telepath.”

Marius spun around to him and gave him a slow smile. “Among others, yes.”

Janus appeared to consider things for a moment before speaking. “You should be careful in gathering the sort of power you are. It does not come without some cost.”

“Cost?” Marius laughed. “You are a peculiar one to lecture me about costs of power. Was it not you who manipulated me into helping you kill Jupiter?”

“To establish a safer course for our people and a better path for this Empire, yes,” Janus said, and he sounded unapologetic. “For—”

“Revenge,” Marius cut him off.

Janus did not even blink. “It was a consideration.”

Marius nodded once then again. “I can’t say I haven’t taken a little revenge myself.”

Janus hesitated. “I suspected it was you who burned your old village to the ground. The others thought perhaps an earthquake, or an incursion through Gaul.” Janus shifted and folded his arms. “Tensions are high right now. There are too many outside considerations with usurpers causing uprisings. Neptune does not want fractiousness. He wants a united front, a safe haven. The Emperor is already nervous enough. Ares—I mean Mars,” he said, shaking his head, “is handling more than he can deal with, trying to reach to the edge of the empire to handle this foolish man’s requests for territory.”

Marius blinked. “Perhaps he should tell them no. Let them fight their own battles for a while.”

“They likely could for a time,” Janus said, shaking his head. “But we hold this empire together.” He clutched a hand tight in front of his face. “They exist because of us. The rule of law, the peace for the citizens, it comes from us. Men cannot handle holding together what gods have made.”

“Maybe gods should rule it, then,” Marius said, unflinching.

Janus did not blink. “What you suggest runs in the opposite direction of what Neptune is proposing. He wishes us to distance ourselves further, to let ourselves fade into the background of the empire, exercise the power needed to keep it running and no more. Keep the enemies at bay and grow powerful through other means.”

Marius stared back at him. “Why would we fear to stand before them and declare ourselves? They fear us. They worship us. We are fit to rule them. Indeed, we are the only ones who are.”

Janus looked at him carefully. “That sounds … much like Jupiter speaking.”

Marius turned away. “Jupiter is dead.”

“Is he?” Janus asked. “Or is he in there somewhere, in you? Whispering words in your ear about who you are, what you can do? Does he tell you that you can be emperor? Does he define for you what you are capable of, what your ambitions are?” Marius heard Janus’s steps just behind him. “Is he telling you to strike me down right now, merely for speaking these words to you?”

Marius whirled and thrust a finger in Janus’s face. Janus did not react but to glance at it. “I am the most powerful man in Rome.”