“Indeed,” Janus said, looking him straight in the eyes. “And who points the finger of the most powerful man in Rome?”
“I do,” Marius said, the pride burning in his chest.
“Then why is your finger dancing with lightning?” Janus said and looked down.
Marius stared at his hand, and it shook. Blue electricity crackled over the flesh, and Marius took a step back, staring at it in horror.
“He has been whispering to you all this while,” Janus said. “I could tell, before you took steps to block your thoughts from me. I did not wish to say anything because, let us face it—you do not trust me anymore. You think I have used you and cast you aside. I could assure you all day that it was untrue, but it would be pointless. You see now the truth of what inhabits your mind.”
Marius fell to the floor, felt the cold smack of the stones against his palm as he hit the ground and began to skitter backwards, as though he could back away from the truth as easily as Janus. “I … I …”
“The others would kill you if they knew,” Janus said. “I would suggest you not give them opportunity to find out.” He turned his back on Marius and started to leave.
“You wanted him in me,” Marius said, and his voice cracked. “You put him in my head.”
Janus paused, standing in the middle of the room, and then his shoulders slumped slightly. “I did. I thought it was the only way to kill him, and I took it.”
“Now you are done with me,” Marius said, staring at his hands. “You expect me to—what? Go into exile?”
Janus glanced back. “It is either that, or you will eventually be killed by the others. Perhaps I have used you. Perhaps I have given you more power than I should have. But it is your power now, and your responsibility. You can listen to the voice in your head, and you could force the issue with Neptune. You could become the next Caesar, great and terrible as any who have ever lived. You could take control, kill each of us one by one, assert yourself over the kingdoms of man until you ruled the whole of the earth.”
Marius heard him, heard the words he spoke, and a jealous pleasure rushed through him at the thought. “And why would I not?”
Janus held out his hands. “Because then you would be no better than the people who ground you under their feet in your village. Back when they had all the power and you had none.”
Marius felt the spear of truth stab into him and he drew a sharp breath. It felt like something had hit him in the chest, and he blinked. The voice that had whispered so long in his thoughts, louder than the other voices in the chorus, it spoke. You are greater. You deserve to—
“No,” Marius whispered. “I am not … one of them. I am not … like that.”
You could do it more subtly. You could make them suffer, make them pay, make things right—
“No,” Marius breathed. “No, not that …”
“You see the truth of it now,” Janus said. “You see the truth of the man in your head. He ruled by force. What he could not use to control the empire, he crushed. We expanded in all directions under his rule and direction, but those who opposed all died. In order to do what you wish to do, you would have to be prepared to extend your grasp over the whole of the empire, and direct your military commanders to break them all if they moved out of line so much as an inch.” Janus stepped toward him. “Are you ready to slaughter whole villages, whole cities?”
“I am a killer now,” Marius whispered.
“Are you a murderer of the innocent?” Janus asked. He did not sound anything other than curious at the answer.
You can do it. One step, one easy step—one death, one man—Neptune, and you can be the head of the council. And then, from there, the Caesar—
“No,” Marius whispered and felt all the grand plans he’d imagined in the last year slip from him in an instant. “No. This I will not do.”
Janus nodded. “I thought not.” With that, he turned and began the slow walk back to the exit of the chamber.
“I will go into exile,” Marius said as his mentor—his father—his friend, had nearly walked out on him. “But know this: I want nothing to do with your empire, or with the world of gods, with the affairs of your kind, or with your manipulations of men. I will leave this day and not come back, and if you so much as send a messenger to seek me, I will send him back to you in pieces.”
Janus paused then nodded his head once. “So it is, then. Good journey, Marius. I wish you fair travels.” He disappeared behind the arch.
Marius felt a hot blush on his cheeks. “And I wish you an empire of ash to sit your ass upon.”