Wrath of the Storm (Mark of the Thief 3)

Knowing what would likely come next, Brutus climbed onto the statue, getting his feet out of the water. That disappointed me. I wouldn't have minded if he were in the water when the lightning came down.

The Mistress also launched herself into the air, though she was becoming agitated and finally touched down on the head of the statue of Jupiter. Something about that seemed appropriate.

Most of the time when I used my magic, I felt it draining me, slowly weakening me. Even with the Malice, that happened. But not tonight. Something in this storm was building the powers already within my chest and shoulder. I was stronger than I had been when the storm began.

For whatever it was worth, I'd have to trust my own instincts, and hope the magic was powerful enough to sustai

n me until it was over.

Until all of it was over.

Through nearly every hour of my turbulent life, I'd gotten by on the insistence that I had no intention of dying that day.

Tonight was different. Tonight I would die. I knew that now.

I removed the bulla from around my neck and wrapped the cords around the Malice, holding the amulet itself in my hand. Beneath the bulla, safe in my palm, was the stone. It was only a rock now, but before I was finished, it would be different. Everything would be different.

I lifted the rock over my head and shouted up through the oculus, "I am marked by Julius Caesar, bearer of his bulla containing the magic of Diana, and wearing the Malice of Mars! They give me great powers, but tonight I seek the greatest power!"

"Diana will receive that greatest power," the Mistress said. "For she is the greatest of all the gods."

I didn't accept that. "Is that why her temple is a full day's ride from Rome? Why her twin brother, Apollo, sent me the griffin, and why Mars sent me an amulet that makes hers seem like a toy? Is that why the other gods have always favored Venus over her?"

"She has been wronged!" the Mistress scowled. "Who is Venus? A goddess of love? What is that compared to Diana, who blesses the hunt?"

I lowered my arm, even as hard rain continued falling, and I had to shout above the noise. "It's everything. The hunt is death, the end of a life. But life exists because of love, something Diana knows nothing about. It saved my life when Gaul was invaded, and helped me survive the mines. Love kept me going when the world literally crashed down upon me. That's why Venus is the favored god. She builds and sustains and gives. Diana only takes."

"Diana should be the ruler of all gods!" the Mistress said. "And with the Jupiter Stone, she will prove it!"

"Diana has betrayed the gods!" The vestalis had seemed content to be forgotten in this room, but now her voice boomed louder than mine had ever been and her finger pointed accusingly at the dragon. "Diana deserves no honors!"

"You only want Atroxia!" the Mistress said, and even in the rain, smoke blew from her mouth. "You want me gone!"

"You are a curse that never should have existed!" the vestalis said. "You are a symbol of the crimes you have committed, but Diana will haunt you no more. I have come for Atroxia. The vestals will reclaim her tonight."

More smoke puffed from the dragon's nose. I couldn't risk her attacking the vestalis, although I had greater faith in the old woman's abilities to take on this dragon than my own.

Yet I shouted, "Turn to me, Mistress! I am the one who angers you! I freed you from the temple only to trick you with the Malice."

Fire burst from her mouth. It was immediately doused by the rain, but her growing anger was evident. That was good. I wanted her angry.

So I yelled even louder this time. "I fought you again and locked you inside the cave, not for Atroxia's sake, but to punish you! You were the one I entombed there!"

The Mistress began flying around me, her circle coming ever closer. "I defeated you in the cave and brought you here."

I shook my head, holding up the Malice again, with the bulla and rock still in my hand. "With this Malice, I cannot lose. So if you think you defeated me --"

"Another trick?" the Mistress screeched with anger. "Why?"

"Because I intend to break the curse tonight. I intend to destroy you."

"No!" the Mistress shouted, and somewhere farther away, Brutus shouted it too, though his shouts were for different reasons. Brutus had seen through my plans. In her anger, the Mistress did not.

She charged directly at me, fire blazing from her mouth, and eyes nearly as hot with rage. As soon as she was within the moonlight, I brought my arms downward again, but not to bring in the rain.

I brought lightning.

It didn't touch me, for I had ducked low on the altar, and the Mistress had flown directly over me. She was between me and the lightning when it struck her back. With lightning searing her from wing tip to claw, she continued forward under her momentum and crashed into the far wall of the Pantheon. At least two statues toppled over, and most of the paintings on the walls fell. Every remaining bronze sheet that had been in the dome crashed with her, all of them falling to the ground.