Chapter 10 - THE KING'S LAST SPECTACLE
Cassian stood before the largest crowd Rome had seen in years.
Hundreds of prisoners knelt in the Forum.
Families.
Former soldiers.
Merchants accused of supporting Marcus.
Cassian raised his hands.
“Today we end the rebellion.”
The crowd responded weakly.
Rumors about the arena had spread everywhere.
People whispered about the boy.
The scar.
The lion.
Aurelius.
Cassian hated whispers.
He preferred fear.
“Bring out the traitor.”
Guards dragged Marcus onto the platform.
Lucan saw him from behind a column.
His father was alive.
Bruised.
Bleeding.
But alive.
Varro walked behind him.
Lucan whispered to Mara.
“We have to get closer.”
Mara grabbed his arm.
“You are not walking onto that platform.”
“That's exactly what I'm doing.”
“No.”
“If Father dies, Cassian wins.”
“If you die, I lose my son.”
Lucan looked at her.
“You told me to remember who I am.”
Mara's eyes filled.
“I didn't mean become reckless.”
Lucan smiled slightly.
“Maybe I got that from Father.”
“You absolutely did.”
Elias climbed onto a nearby roof.
He carried copies of the emperor's letters.
They had spent the previous hour paying scribes to reproduce them.
Cassian raised his sword.
“Marcus Aurelius Draven is guilty of treason.”
“No.”
The voice came from the crowd.
Cassian froze.
Lucan stepped forward.
People recognized him immediately.
“The boy.”
“That's him.”
“The lion boy.”
Lucan walked toward the platform.
Umbra walked beside him.
The crowd opened.
Cassian stared.
“You.”
Lucan climbed the steps.
Varro reached for his sword.
Marcus shouted.
“Don't touch him!”
Lucan pulled the original imperial will from beneath his tunic.
“My grandfather named Marcus Aurelius Draven his heir.”
Cassian laughed.
“A child's lie.”
Lucan held up the emperor's seal.
“Then why are you afraid of it?”
The crowd murmured.
Cassian's smile disappeared.
Lucan opened another letter.
“Cassian ordered poison delivered to Emperor Tiberius three days before his death.”
Varro stepped forward.
“Enough.”
Then hundreds of pieces of parchment began falling from the rooftops.
Elias stood above them.
Copies floated over the Forum.
People grabbed them.
Senators began reading.
Soldiers exchanged uncertain looks.
Cassian shouted.
“FORGERIES!”
A voice answered from among the prisoners.
“They're real.”
Darius stood.
His chains had been broken.
“I carried the poison order.”
Cassian went pale.
Darius continued.
“And Varro murdered the witnesses.”
Varro drew his sword.
“Traitor!”
He rushed toward Darius.
Marcus stepped between them.
Their blades collided.
The crowd erupted.
Cassian backed toward the palace.
Lucan saw him.
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The king wasn't trying to defend himself.
He was escaping.
