Page 99 of Firebird
I spun my body sharply and swept him to the floor with my tail. His trident went flying out of reach.
Before he could scramble for it, I was on him, my foot on his throat, my gladius poised over his heart. Suddenly, almost at once, the crowd’s cries transformed from nonsensical screams into one steady chant. A mantra.
“Conqueror! Conqueror! Conqueror!” they cried.
Someone in the lower balconies shouted, “Kill him, Conqueror!”
More cries for death and the spilling of this putrid excuse for a Roman’s blood. The idea sank deep. I could see it, feel the power of it. Of taking his life and ridding the world of yet another would-be tyrant.
My gaze never left Ciprian, and his never left mine while the world howled for his head. We were frozen, locked in place, waiting. My grip on my sword tightened. Sweat dripped down my red-scaled arm, glistening in the sunlight. It would be so easy to end him, end the threat to Malina.
I was going to kill him.
The fact that Caesar might execute me for disobeying a direct command didn’t seem to matter. The growling beast that lived inside me crawled up, filling me with the hard desire to be done with this pathetic rival once and for all.
The shouts grew louder. I lifted my head to look at the Roman people, and a bone-deep chill burrowed to my bones. I could rule these people. I could very well become the Roman emperor they’d always needed.
I gazed back down at Ciprian, his throat still under my foot, and bent over him. Ciprian struggled beneath my weight but couldn’t get free. I grinned as I tightened my grip on my gladius, then—
No, Julian.
A tingling through my veins and her voice in my mind made me halt.
Don’t do it.
Malina.
I jerked my head toward the crowds. She was here somewhere.
Suddenly, to my right there was movement. Emperor Igniculusstood from his throne beneath the canopy and stepped to the edge of the box. He raised his hand high. As if he’d pulled a garrote tight around their throats, the crowd silenced at once.
“Well done, Julianus! A true son of the Ignis dragon!”
There was a clamor of applause and cheers that died quickly.
“Now you’ve tasted each other’s blood. It is done!”
There was steel and violence in his voice. It did the job. I removed my foot from Ciprian’s throat and stepped aside. Ciprian instantly stumbled to his feet, obviously wanting to come at me again.
“Come forward, Generals,” called Igniculus.
Chests heaving, we both walked closer to the emperor’s box and stood beneath it. The sun was high and hot.
“You have both done well. And though this is a draw—”
“I bested him,” I bellowed.
“I didn’t yield,” snapped Ciprian.
“Because I was about to slit your throat!” I glared at him.
“Enough!” Igniculus’s command echoed high into the rafters.
Nothing could be heard but a whoosh of wind through the arena, Caesar’s ire clear and apparent.
“That is quite enough,” he said in a calmer voice, still loud enough for those patricians in the lower boxes to hear. “To appease one another, you will each forfeit property of my choosing to end this feud once and for all.”
He paused, and my entire soul screamed, for I feared what was coming.
