For some reason, that struck me as funny. “Such a powerful emperor claimed to come from the goddess of love?”

“Also the goddess of military victory. If Caesar was telling the truth about Venus, then he would have been more than a simple human. He may have even had some of her powers. What do you think about that?”

It wasn’t up to me to believe or doubt him. Nor could I see how it mattered. Caesar had been dead for almost three hundred years. Unless … unless he had become a god, one of the immortals. Unless he was alive enough to whisper warnings from inside a sealed cave. I had not stolen the bulla from Radulf. I had stolen it from Caesar.

I nodded and forced out the words that sat like a lump in my throat. “Yes, I believe that.”

“Good, because it’s true. Venus is the mother of all Romans. She smiled upon Caesar more favorably than any other Roman before or since. And even when he was young, she gave him a way to draw upon the powers of the gods.”

My fingers wrapped around the bulla. I was barely able to comprehend the full meaning of what he was saying. “This came from the gods?”

“Straight from Venus’s mighty hand to his. When Caesar was alive, this bulla gave him wealth, brought him military victories, and provided him with the power to unify Rome and become the strongest emperor the world has ever known. But he began to believe too much in himself, rather than in Venus’s power. His journals boast of his own abilities, not hers. In his arrogance, he removed the bulla and it became lost. Without the bulla, Venus’s protections gradually abandoned him. Soon after, he was murdered by his own senators.”

“My mother told me about that, sir. Only a few months after the assassination, a comet appeared in the skies for seven full days, bright enough it could even be seen in daylight. The people said it was Caesar’s soul, rising to join the other gods.”

“They called it the Divine Star. But its journey did not end with Caesar’s death.” Felix pointed to my shoulder. “That is the mark on your back.”

I leaned forward, certain I had heard him wrong. Was he saying that Caesar himself had marked me? Why?

Felix rested his arms on his legs and looked directly at me. “When I held that bulla, I felt nothing. But your hand is rarely an inch from it, and even now, you can’t let it go. Tell me, is there any magic left in the bulla?”

My heart pounded. I wanted to lie to him. A convincing lie would allow me to eat the rest of his food in peace, and then go back to Caela’s side. The right lie would end this conversation and any special interest in me. The problem was that I had more questions than ever before, and only the truth would get me any answers.

So I nodded. “There’s some magic left, but not much. I can feel it, but that’s all. Maybe when Caesar put the bulla aside, Venus’s power left it.”

“Or maybe the gods have waited three hundred years for someone else to pick it up. Someone with Caesar’s mark on his back perhaps. You got that mark from the griffin? She is a creature of the heavens, you know. Only something born of the gods could give you their magic. The magic is stronger than when you first felt it, correct?”

I couldn’t deny that. But stronger wasn’t necessarily a good thing. I hadn’t told Felix about the whispers in the cave, warning of the curse that came with this bulla.

Felix clasped his hands and said, “You come to Rome at a dangerous time. The foundations of our empire are crumbling, and we are so large that if we collapse, the entire world may fall with it. For centuries, the barbarians have run in fear, but now they gaze at our walls and see cracks have formed. We are not as strong as we once were.”

I pressed my brows together and tried to absorb everything he was saying. Having seen the greatness of Rome, it seemed impossible that it could ever fall. If it did, I couldn’t imagine anything but darkness would replace it.

Felix continued, “Emperor Tacitus can see the cracks in the empire, but he doesn’t know how to fix them. If only the gods would help him, but they have been silent. If he had a touch of their power perhaps …”

Felix’s voice drifted off as his eyes fell to the bulla. I wrapped my fingers around it, letting the vibrations travel up my arm.

“Sir, whatever you think I can do with this bulla, I can’t. I certainly can’t use it to save an empire.”

“Can you use it to save yourself? Because people have been searching for that object since Caesar’s death. Some want it to expand this empire, others want to destroy it. And if they know you can use it —”

“But I can’t use it! I’m nobody. Just a slave —”

“A slave who happens to be holding the most powerful magic the empire has seen since the days of Julius Caesar! And you’re right, Nic. You are nobody to this land. No one will fight a war to save you. No one will care if you fall. And if the enemies of this land surround you, even with that bulla, you will have no chance against them on your own.”

I felt dizzy. “No one knows I have it. Or even that it’s been found.”

“Not yet. But how long can something like this remain a secret? Do you think anyone would hesitate to kill you in order to get that bulla?”

My head was already swimming, but I croaked, “Then I will throw the bulla away. Destroy it!”

“Something created by the gods will not be destroyed by a mere human. Besides, if you are captured by the enemy, how much torture can you endure before you convince them it’s truly gone?”

This was what Valerius had warned me about. I was in a great deal more trouble than I realized. Because keeping the bulla would destroy my life. And getting rid of the bulla couldn’t save it.

“What should I do, then?” I asked.

Felix smiled. “Give it to Emperor Tacitus. Let him bear this burden for you. He can protect the bulla, and use it to destroy our enemies.”

“How? You can’t feel the magic. If he can’t either, then it’ll do him no good.”

“He believes the leader of his armies, General Radulf, will know what to do.”

“Radulf?” I shook my head. “He’s the enemy, Felix. He tried to get this bulla for himself. He would use it against the emperor, against all of Rome!”

Felix leaned forward. “How do you know that?”

“I heard him speaking to one of his men. He intends to destroy the empire!”

Felix waved a hand in the air. “We’d better hope to the gods that you heard wrong. General Radulf is extremely powerful. If he were to turn against Emperor Tacitus, that would be a cause for concern. But so far he has remained loyal.”

“He said he would crush this empire in his fist. Does that sound like loyalty to you?”

Felix pressed his lips together and frowned. “This will be our plan, then. Keep that bulla until after the games in two days — I suspect you’ll need it to control the griffin. But after the games, I must ask you to present it to the emperor. It will save your life, and save all of Rome.”

I clutched the bulla even tighter. I had stolen it from an emperor and no doubt it should be returned to an emperor. But if there was truly magic inside it, then I was starting to suspect it had begun to run through me as well. I couldn’t separate myself from the bulla any more than I could divide the two halves of my body.

Felix, however, seemed to consider the matter settled. He glanced out his small window and said, “It’s getting late. We’d better get you back to the venatio before anyone begins asking questions.”

He returned me to the ramp leading underground and sauntered away as if all was well. As if we didn’t just have a conversation that I knew in my heart would change my life, and possibly the fate of the entire Roman Empire.

Somehow, no matter how tired I already was, I doubted I would get any rest that night.