"Radulf has the Malice," Brutus said to the Mistress. "Take it!"
"No!" I yelled. "You want me!" Even if he fooled them for a moment, it wouldn't take the Mistress long to know she had been tricked. In her anger, she would destroy him.
"You must leave." Radulf was more firm than before. "I am your pater familias, so this is my decision. Besides, your magic is stronger than mine, so I need you to get out of here." Then he looked at Brutus. "Three!"
"We accept," the Mistress said. And with that, she snatched Radulf into her grip.
Instantly, I shot a bit of magic into his arm to make it feel as if the Malice had power of its own. It was all I could do. If I called the lightning back, the strike would kill Radulf. And for everything he had done to me once, I was surprised to find that all I cared about was saving his life, just as he was saving mine.
"Leave now!" Radulf said.
I rushed into the bushes, diving for the place Livia was hiding. She pressed the Malice into my arms, and the moment she did, the Mistress let out a fierce and angry growl. It hurt my ears, and Livia pressed her hands to either side of her head, obviously in pain too. Atroxia knew she was being tricked.
"I have to get away from you," I whispered to Livia. "Wherever I go, the Mistress will follow."
Unless. Unless I went to the one place she would never return to. I needed to go there and recover my strength. Then I could figure out what to do about Radulf.
I brushed one hand against Livia's arm. "Once I go, the Mistress will leave too. She'll try to find the Malice. Stay in hiding until she's gone."
Livia's eyes widened and she shook her head. "Please don't leave, Nic."
"I'll see you again soon. Take care of Mother for me."
I closed my eyes and pictured the room beneath the collapsed temple, where Atroxia had slept for three hundred years. Getting there took the last of my magic. It took nearly everything I had left, but at least I was safe here.
I landed beneath thousands of pounds of stone and brick, in a small pocket of space that could hold me, and perhaps a fly or two, if we all squeezed together. But nothing more than that.
Above me, I was sure I could hear the Mistress's screams and the vibrations of the earth with every stomp of anger. Even if she sensed where the Malice had gone, she would not follow me here, and it would take the Praetors a year to pull all of this stone away. Whether that was good news or not, I knew that my leaving would have consequences for Radulf. I couldn't imagine what was happening to him now.
I was bruised, badly injured, and could barely move. But ... I had the Malice.
I rolled to the side that hurt the least and gripped the Malice with my good hand. Once I had strength enough to heal the other arm, I would wrap the Malice around my wrist and claim its magic for my own.
Even now, holding it, I understood the greater power in this amulet. Though I only held it in my hand, it was already flooding my senses and sharpening my instincts in a way that made the bulla seem like a toy. With the Malice, I heard every shift in the stones above me and perceived each grain of dust that fell between their cracks. I was holding magic that was not only capable of creating a Jupiter Stone, but magic that wanted to create it.
I returned to my back, but the movement caused an unfortunate shift in the stones. One dropped directly on my legs, pinning me to the ground. In sudden pain, I thrust the Malice toward the stones, which instantly crumbled them into dust. It saved my legs, but the burst of such intense magic took my last measure of strength.
No! I needed to save Radulf.
To destroy the Mistress.
I needed air. And soon.
The Malice fell somewhere away from me. I knew it was lost, but I'd search for it once I woke up. If I woke up.
The rocks shifted again. There were loud cracking sounds above me, and dust crumbled over my head. As the first rock began to fall, only one thought remained with me:
This was never the way I wanted to die.