Brutus stepped closer again, and now if he did reach out, he could easily touch me. Aurelia tried moving between us, but I grabbed her wrist and held it firmly, forcing her to remain where she was.
Brutus seemed to be weighing his answer to my question. "Vestals are sensitive to magic. Atroxia can help you find the stone. But the Mistress cannot be there when it's created -- you can understand how dangerous it might be for a dragon created by Diana to find itself in the presence of Jupiter's magic."
"He won't create a storm for you!" Aurelia turned to me, her face almost as bright as the dragon's crimson scales. "Why are you listening to him?"
"Because someone is finally making sense!" I said. "Why shouldn't I have a chance at freedom? Why shouldn't I consider an offer that brings peace with the Praetors? Rome has done nothing for me -- why should I care what happens to it?"
"You've said it's because what replaces a fallen empire is only darkness." Aurelia touched my arm as she added, "Or do you no longer believe that?"
"He believes that what replaces the empire is even better," Brutus said. "Imagine a world ruled by the Mistress, under control of the goddess Diana."
"He's not that foolish!" Aurelia tried to free herself from my grip, to no avail. Now she became even angrier, if that was possible. "Or maybe you are."
"The Mistress will help me find the stone," I said, repeating his earlier instructions. "But I have to create the storm alone. If she's caught up in Jupiter's lightning, it might break the curse."
"Yes." Brutus hadn't even finished speaking the word before he realized what he had done. When he did, he sucked in a large breath, as if trying to draw the word from the air.
I only smiled and moved to a safer distance. "Thank you for that information. Now I know."
Brutus didn't take kindly to being tricked. He muttered a string of curses and lunged for me, but I had already raised the shield between us. He could not touch us.
Beyond that, I had magic again and plenty of it. Releasing Aurelia's wrist, I immediately shot out a ball of magic aimed directly at Brutus. It caught him square in the chest and knocked him hard against the far wall. A nearby statue on a pedestal was knocked off balance in the fall, and the statue toppled onto the ground, barely missing his head.
The Praetors who had only been watching us a moment ago moved toward me again, waiting for my shield to fail. If they had seen my indifferent reaction to the broken statue, then they would've known it was the least of the damage I was about to cause.
"Get out of this home while you can," I warned, though I didn't much care if they listened. Then I crouched to the ground and put a hand flat on Radulf's floor, letting the magic travel away from me to shake the earth below us. Radulf's entire villa quaked, enough that any other statues still standing fell as well, crashing into pieces. The pool in the center of the atrium cracked, leaking out water along the floor, and with another larger shake of the home, the opening above the atrium became significantly wider than before. Even with the shield, it was still necessary for Aurelia and me to dodge some of the larger falling pieces of plaster.
I guessed most of the servants of the villa had left shortly after the Praetors arrived. If they hadn't, I figured the quake would encourage that decision. They had all better be gone.
Once the Praetors got back on their feet, they pulled out swords and advanced toward me.
"You can't hold that shield forever," one man said. "And we'll be here when you drop it!"
"I hope you are here," I said with a grin. "Because I'm not finished."
By now, the whole power of the Malice had returned, and I emptied it completely on Radulf's home, beginning with the doorway behind us. The opening crumbled to pieces as the villa walls shifted, leaving long cracks in the plaster. Some of the Praetors cried for help and raced to safety while I grabbed Aurelia's hand and led her on a race toward the back of the home, which was still intact, mostly. That wouldn't last for long.
She seemed to know where I was heading and soon ran ahead of me toward the rear entrance, where the stables were. Several Praetors had followed us, and now I used a bit of magic I hadn't tried in a while. I raised up the water from Radulf's baths until it all hung midair, floating in the room like a very, very wet cloud.
Aurelia grabbed my arm. "No more games." Apparently, she wasn't enjoying this as much as I was.
"The empire is fond of games." I couldn't help but chuckle. "Entertainment first, no?"
Once the Praetors had joined us, their eyes went to the water overhead. Wiser men would've run, but they only stopped as if mesmerized by how it could be floating there. Did it not occur to them that I was holding it in place with my upturned hand?
Aurelia pulled me with her to the rear door of the home. She went through first, and once she was safe, I rotated my palm, letting the water crash down upon the Praetors. It swept them off their feet where they were either carried into the pool or simply left upon the ground. I chuckled to see it and barely paid attention to the fact that I was almost as wet as all of them. It was the second time in two days that these waters had made me laugh.
"Nic!"
I glanced outside. Aurelia already had Callistus saddled and was on his back. I nodded at her and then heard Brutus run into the room.
"This is not over!" he cried.
"I agree," I said. "Consider this my rejection of your offer. Your power is coming to an end. Then all my family -- my grandfather included -- will leave the empire. Your days are numbered, Brutus."
"As are your grandfather's," Brutus said. "If you refuse me, by tomorrow night, he will leave the empire in a coffin. Then I will come for you."
"Your end might be sooner than that," I said. "At the count of three, I will collapse the rest of this home. Get out any way you can. One."