Vince heard the door open behind him. When he looked back, Tiber with a stone cold face stared back at him. The elder marched towards Vince and struck his face, sending the younger man down to the floor. The chair underneath him broke.

  “You are a fool.” Tiber said, standing above him. Venomous anger pulsated in his voice. “Taking the General’s daughter and casting her off? I thought you better than that.”

  “I told her to wait.” Vince tried to answer, coughing and spitting out blood from his left cheek. “I—”

  “You told her no!” Tiber shut him down. “The whole city is looking for your head on a stake, boy. Vesta herself could have come down and told you to reject her, but I told you to honor her. How impudent and disgraceful you are.”

  Vince tried to stand, but Tiber slammed his foot into Vince’s ribs, leaving him wheezing on the floor.

  “You are a stupid, stupid boy. Benito died for you and this is how you repay him.”

  “What?” Vince choked out. He did not understand what Tiber had just said. Ben died in a fight with one of the General’s men, that was all he knew. He coughed again, causing pain in both his jaw and his side. Tiber did not answer him, his anger seemed to lift in part. A silence passed before Tiber went to his table and scribbled with his reed on a piece of paper.

  “You are a fool, but you are not alone.” He said, finishing his writing. “Get up. Get up! You will go to the temple and wait for me. No one would dare disgrace a temple of any god in this city. It is the only place you will be safe for a time. They came here for you hours before you arrived.”

  Though his body ached, Vince struggled to his feet and looked at Tiber. The eyes were still the same, soulful in caring though raging like a storm. He knew then that Tiber was not abandoning him.

  “Take this.” Tiber handed Vince the paper. Upon it, it read Anyone who lays a hand on Vincent, son of Tiberius Colonna, will face legions and death. In large letters, Tiber had signed his name. “Anyone who attempts to take you, hold this high and proclaim the elder of the Hearth has interceded. I will see you in the temple soon. Run quickly and carefully, Vincent.”

  Vince swallowed hard, catching his breath. He tried to calm himself before he nodded to Tiber and left. For this time of day before the sun had fully set, the streets of Aeterna were empty. No paupers called out for money or food. Still, Vince treaded carefully, rushing to street corners and searching for the General’s men.

  On the main streets, he found a growing number of sentries bearing spears and the emblem of crossed swords. Numitus was without doubt waiting in the forum, ready to slaughter him. Vince took a different approach, going to the other side of the nearby hill and going through a tunnel the Old People centuries ago had dug. Few in the city knew of its existence, and perhaps guards would be ready to kill him there, but Tiber was a man of many secrets. Such a place was bound to be kept hidden if the elder was able.

  When Vince entered and traveled in the darkness with his hand against the wall, he found no one waiting. As he approached the other side there was light hiding the exit with two figures casting shadows.

  “There he is.” One of the people holding a torch said. Vince recognized the voice as one of his brothers Cassian.

  “Where? I can’t see anything here.” Another voice said. It was another brother named Atticus. Vince sighed in relief.

  “Cass, Atty.” He called out. They both came toward him. “I feared you were War’s men.”

  “You are bold to come to the temple.” Cassian said. He and Atticus grabbed Vince roughly, and a struggle ensued.

  “What are you doing?” Vince said through his laboring breath. The pain from Tiber’s punishment resurfaced from its prior dullness.

  “General Numitus ordered your capture, Vince.” Atticus answered, pulling harder and twisting Vince’s arm. “He’s had his men harassing our family all afternoon. Said you’d shamed his family. I knew you were sleeping with Aemilia.”

  “You knew?” Vince asked incredulously.

  “You idiot!” Cassian snapped at him. “You’ve thrown the whole city into chaos. The General wants you crucified and is threatening the family. We’re giving you to him to keep them safe.”

  “Wait, wait!”

  “You can’t stop us, Vince. We’re stronger than you. Even Elder Tiber set everyone after you.”

  Both of his brothers wrenched harder against his arms and shoulders. Vince thought his bones would break at their strength. He had gotten into plenty of fights due to his more passionate nature, but Benito and many of the other boys in the Vesta family were stronger than him. This was even more the case with the effects of Vesta’s blessing. When the family is in trouble, no man nor army on earth would go unscathed. Their strength grew, even against a member of their own ranks.

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  “Elder—” Vince gasped in pain when Cassian pulled and drug him to the floor. Atticus jumped on him. “The Elder gave me— Gave me a message. The letter! The letter! My pocket!”

  Atticus, seeing the piece of paper, took it from Vince’s pocket and read it in the light. Quickly, he stood from Vince’s back and grabbed Cassian.

  “The Elder’s vouched for him.” Atticus said to Cassian, who let go of Vince and focused on his other brother. “It’s his handwriting. I’m sure of it.”

  “What’s it say?” Cassian asked. He was unable to read and needed Atticus, the literate one of the two, to relay the message. Atticus told him, and then they helped Vince up.

  “So father has interceded for you.” Atticus said, pondering the message.

  “You better make it up to the family.” Cassian said, cutting off Atticus’s thoughts. “His head is on the line. We will never forgive you if Elder Tiber and the family are harmed.”

  “I swear to you, I had no intentions of causing this.” Vince said, still breathing hard. His body was sore, but he could still stand. “I merely wanted to mourn for Benito. I swear.”

  “Go.” Cassian said, waving his hand and turning to Atticus. Vincent left them behind, hearing only portions of a conversation of where they should go to avoid the sentries. He heard no more as he approached the end of the tunnel where there was stone that blocked the entrance into the temple. He pushed, and the stone rolled just enough so he could slip through into the main hall.

  “So that’s where you were, rat.” Vince saw a man a head taller than him, eyes red with fury toward him. General Numitus was waiting in the Temple of Vesta. “Tiber is a smart man, loyal and crafty. I knew he would not give up one of his own.”

  Numitus was a man of the Old People like Tiber. Procas and Colonna were names older than anyone could remember, going back even to the days when the city was not Aeterna but Roma. His armor of steel plated in gold with a purple cloak. Aeterna had not had a king in a thousand years, but this man’s power radiated like a crown had been placed upon his head.

  His jaw was wide and grizzled by a short beard, and small scars and knicks covered his face. He had no hair, preferring it shaven so the steel of his helmet felt connected to his body, though he wore no such headpiece in the temple. On this day, he carried no weapons, preferring his hands for the task.

  The General rushed and grabbed Vince, who attempted to escape back into the tunnel. He felt the great hands of Aeterna’s sovereign catch him, and soon his left shoulder collided with the floor. Numitus stomped on him again and again.

  “You ungrateful whelp.” He said while kicking the downed Vince. “I gave her to you. Tiber knew I would. You disgraced me. You dishonored her. I will have your body rotting in the forum for a hundred years.”

  “Numitus!” Yelled a man from the entrance. The assault stopped and Vince, blooded and beaten by the General, looked to the open side of the temple. There the columns were all that separated the realm of Vesta and the outside world. A crowd of multitudes stood trying to peer into the temple but not enter. It was a great taboo and offense to the gods to enter a temple uninvited by the god’s followers. Numitus had broken this taboo in great anger, and no one else came with him.

  There was however, a man of age in the temple. Elder Tiber standing with a fearsome look on his face, adorned in light bronze armor with his finest red and white fabrics. Only in the times of war and festival would Tiber don this attire.

  “You disgrace yourself in the temple of one of Aeterna’s holy goddesses.” Tiber continued to speak, though no one outside the temple could hear. “Do you not see the flame for which the city is named in the hearth?”

  “Silence, Tiber.” Numitus said, leaving Vince and approaching the elder. “You… You told me that this boy would offer himself to her, not bed her and dishonor her.”

  “Vincent will marry Aemilia immediately if you so desire.” Tiber said calmly. In the face of a raging berserker, the old man did not back down. “He’s a young fool—”

  “Oh no, Tiber.” Numitus cut him off. “He will wed no one. I will slit his throat and hang his body from the highest tree in Aeterna. And I will beat you into the dirt.”

  “You threaten me?”

  Vince could only watch as Numitus stood and spoke to Tiber. For all his life, the elder had told Vince and his brothers to respect Aeterna’s sovereign. That War had ruled for nigh a hundred years, with each general taking power by pure strength. Everyone could see that he ruled through impartial and divine providence.

  “I gave you everything, Elder of Vesta.” Numitus said, somehow appearing taller every moment. “I offered my beloved daughter. I waived the rite of Mars, allowing your boy to wed her without defeating me in combat. I even offered peace after one of my men killed your boy Benito for slandering this child and Aemilia.

  “No Tiber. I threaten nothing. You will die. This child will die. And no one will remember you.”

  “I will allow no such thing.” Tiber answered, not backing down an inch. “If you want a battle between our gods, I will give it to you.”

  “Have you no honor!” Numitus shouted. The crowds could now certainly hear his voice. “I know you have struck against me in spite of my offering. You sought revenge against me by dishonoring my daughter. I executed one of my men for his slander and killing of Benito Aurelia. For this I have received your betrayal!”

  “I have done no such thing.” Tiber’s voice became stronger, louder. “I will not let you spill blood in this temple and lie before my goddess.”

  “Then face me Colonna.”

  “I challenge you then to the rite of Mars for rule of Aeterna!” Tiber shouted for all to hear. Vince had only lived through one of these rites, often called the contest of kings, and had not been around to see it. When he was a young boy, not even in Aeterna, Numitus killed Mars’s former leader and took his place as general of Aeterna. His daughter Aemilia was named heir, ready for the man who would show true strength to defeat him and claim her.

  Silence fell from the crowd and in the temple. The challenge laid bare for the world to see. Numitus Procas, proclaimed strongest man in Aeterna and perhaps in the world west of Persia, was to face Tiberius Colonna, beloved of the people of Aeterna and administrator of the city.

  Vince sprawled out on the temple floor and felt tears leak from his eyes.

  What a fool I was! He thought. I loved Aemilia. I still do. Why did I let her leave? Benito is dead and gone. He died defending my honor, defending her honor. And now I watch as my father lays his life down for me.

  He saw Tiber’s eyes in a cold stare toward Numitus. The General shoved Tiber out of the way and left the temple, with all of the sentries in the crowd following him to the temple of Mars. All eyes rested on Tiber who did not turn towards either the crowd or Vince. Quietly he tilted his head and met Vince’s eyes. They softened, but within them, Vince saw a deep and abiding disappointment and pity.