"Where is the Malice?" Brutus said, on his feet again and coming closer to me. "The time for games is over."
"I don't have it," I said.
"Just as you denied having the key," he said.
"Yes, well, I was wrong about that," I said. "But I am not wrong about the Malice. It's out of your reach now."
Another lie, though I never flinched while telling it.
"Are you sure about that?" the Mistress asked.
I readied myself for whatever she might bring. If she as much as coughed up another ember, I would call in enough rain to put out her flame forever. For my own safety, I didn't want to, but I would. The clouds were already gathering, in fact.
The Mistress paid no attention to the skies overhead. Instead, her golden eye went from me to Aurelia and Crispus, who were trying to get up the hill to Crispus's home.
Faster than I could react, she snatched them each into a claw and raised them high into the air.
I sent everything I had at her chest, hoping it would force her to release them. Yet like Aurelia's arrows, nothing registered even a scratch.
She squeezed them tighter, enough that both Aurelia and Crispus reacted with cries of pain. "Now will you deny having the Malice?" she said to me. "Because if you do not give it to me, I will crush your friends!"
I used magic to launch all of Aurelia's fallen arrows back into the air. Had Atroxia been anything other than a dragon, they'd have been driven through her. But the arrows and my magic combined failed to even get her attention.
"I'm telling you that I do not have the Malice!" I yelled. "Search me for it if you must."
"You lie!" she said. "I can sense it nearby. I can feel its power."
She tightened her grip on Crispus, and he cried out again. I understood his pain as if it were my own. It had been my own less than an hour ago, when she had crushed my wrist in her hand. No matter how that had felt, I knew it must be so much worse for him now.
"Wait!" I said. "You cannot harm him. Those are your own words."
She loosened her hold a little, or at least, Crispus seemed able to breathe again. "Why not?" she asked.
"He's a Praetor now," I said. "And you just told us that the Praetors serve you, so you are bound to protect them."
Atroxia turned to Brutus, who until now had seemed relieved to be forgotten in this conversation. "Well?" she asked.
His irritation was obvious, and he clearly was pained at having to answer her. But he did. "It's true, Mistre
ss. Only days ago, this boy was made a judge in Rome. He is a Praetor, though he's not really one of us. His father served the empire, not you."
I stepped closer. "But you cannot punish him for his father's loyalties. Crispus is a Praetor and must be granted your protection."
"Yes," the Mistress said. "I suppose he must."
And she dropped him to the ground. I released enough magic to cushion his fall, but there was still the problem of Aurelia. She had no similar claim of protection from Atroxia. Nothing she could offer for her life.
But there was my life.
I got to my knees and lowered my head. Not in humility to the Mistress but because I knew how Aurelia would react and I didn't want to see it. "Take me instead," I said. "Take me and not her."
"No!" Aurelia struggled to break free, and Atroxia squeezed her again.
I heard her cry and looked up, yelling, "You want me!"
"Let her go!" Crispus stumbled to his feet and crossed between us. "The Praetors of Rome have the protection of the Mistress."
"That privilege does not extend to the friends of Praetors," Brutus said.