He was nearing the end of his patience; I could read it on his face. Though it went against everything in me, I forced myself to relax.
“Why would you do this for me? I do not understand.”
Seeming stunned that I had stopped the fight, Gaius removed his hands from my body, though he still straddled me. Waiting a moment to see if I moved, he waved the soldiers away. I watched them hesitate, but they backed away, out the door that he had gestured toward.
Idiot man.
Free but for the one hand, I rolled, shoving Gaius off of me. Using the muscles of my thighs, I pinned him by the hips. His face showed surprise, though whether he was surprised by my strength or the fact that I did not want the same things he did, I was not sure.
I was strong, but he had madness on his side. Grabbing him by the throat, I flexed my fingers, squeezing as tightly as I could. He bucked beneath me, stronger than I had anticipated. I was losing my grip, and my advantage, when I became aware of a commotion in the hall, where the guards had been dismissed to.
Black out, the gods damn you. Gaius’ fingers scrabbled at his throat, but he refused to submit. I was distracted by the shouts, the screams from the hall, and finally my fingers slipped from his throat and Gaius lunged at me, throwing me to the floor.
“No!” He was truly mad, to be pulling up the skirts of my toga while what sounded like a battle raged in the hall beyond.
As if from a dream, two men exploded into the room, vengeance in their eyes. I did not know them, but in that quick moment I saw that, despite the simple togas that they wore, they were gladiators.
I tried to scream, but my breath had been knocked out of me when Gaius had knocked me to the floor. Not knowing if the new gladiators were friend or foe, I struggled anew, finally succeeding in flipping Gaius off of me.
Soldiers streamed into the room, and the gladiators began to battle them, moving so fast with their swords that they seemed like the wind. This told me that they were friends, but who were they? Why were they here?
“Lilia!”
My heart leapt. I turned away from Gaius—I could not have done anything else, for the voice belonged to Christus. There he stood, just inside the door, the right side of his face purple and swollen with bruising.
“Cunt! You are mine!” I was caught off guard when Gaius wrapped his arm around my throat. My eyes widened—I was so stupid. I had turned my back on the beast.
Christus tried to make his way toward me, but the soldiers realized that a third foe had entered their midst and he could not move closer.
“I have offered you the world.” Gaius’ breath was hot against my ear. “Money, fine clothes, rich food. A place as the mistress of the emperor. Why, lovely Lilia? Why would you say no?”
Even through the confusion brought about by lack of air, I noted than something in his words was strange. Was he saying that I would be the mistress of his brother, the emperor? Or was he referring to himself as the emperor?
The thought fled as my air supply dwindled, and I ceased to care about his meaning. This was it, I thought. I was going to die, and by his hand, after all. I opened my mouth to suck in air; his grip on my throat was so tight that I could not. Gathering my strength, I prepared to try to elbow him in the gut, to stomp on his instep, to bite—anything that might save me.
A memory of Bavarius and the death that he had so deserved flashed through my mind, and with it came a surge of strength.
“I have survived far worse than a madman. I have not fought for my life only to succumb to you.”
Then, suddenly, his arms ceased tightening. Behind me Gaius froze, a great gurgling erupting from the depths of his throat.
It was not shock from my words.
I watched, horrified, as blood trickled down my neck and spilled over the breast of my toga. As soon as his hands relaxed enough that I could move, I sprang away from him, whirling to see what had occurred.
Blood was pouring from his mouth, his back. Behind him, trembling, stood tiny Viola. A wicked-looking dagger, slick with red, was clutched in fingers that were white with tension.
Her face was a study in vengeance, and her free hand was pressed tightly to her belly, protecting it from Gaius.
I was suddenly certain then that the emperor’s mad brother had fathered the young girl’s babe.
“Come here!” The fight still raged around us. I cursed the fact that I was still bound to the floor. Reaching as far as the chain would allow me to, I grabbed the girl and thrust her behind me, shielding her with my body. At my feet, close enough for his blood to splatter my tunic, Gaius slumped to the floor. He was still, and I knew that he was no more.
“Gaius is dead!” I could do nothing else, so I yelled from the depths of my soul. Some soldiers wavered, looking my way. “Gaius is dead!”