“It’s different from whatever I can do with the bulla, but just as strong. And I bet that if he got the bulla, he could use it, maybe worse than me. He’ll make what I did in the arena look like a game of knucklebones.”

Felix’s face went pale. He took the keys from Aurelia, sorted through them until he found the one he wanted, and handed it back. She stuck it in the lock on my manacles and it opened.

While she completed the others, Felix said, “General Radulf wasn’t born a Roman. He came from a barbarian tribe up north and was captured thirteen years ago when Rome conquered his land. He became a gladiator here, one of the few to never lose a fight. Radulf became a hero in this city, and through his skills, he earned his freedom, then his citizenship, then his military position.”

Aurelia snapped off the last of my manacles and said, “Let’s go.”

I resisted her tug. “You think he won because he had magic?”

Felix looked around before speaking, as if he thought we might be overheard. “I worked with the animals while Radulf waited for his turn to enter the arena. I saw him up close many times, bare except for his gladiator uniform. Nic, whatever that mark on your back means, Radulf has one exactly like it.”

“Nic, now!” Aurelia said. “We’ve been spotted.” Two soldiers talking by the amphitheater glanced at us.

No, this was my chance to get answers. Maybe my only chance. “I heard he killed others who had the mark.”

“Every one of them, and now we know why. He’ll do the same to you.” Felix’s eyes darted around again. “If that mark is a source of magic, then you have to worry about more than the bulla. It means there is magic coming from inside you.”

Aurelia pulled at my arm, but Felix grabbed my shoulders. “Listen carefully. These are dangerous times, and what you did in the amphitheater proves you will either be the emperor’s greatest friend, or his greatest enemy. He will not take the risk of guessing wrong about you. If you go to the emperor or anyone loyal to him right now, they will kill you.”

Aurelia only briefly met my eyes. Clearly, Felix’s warning included Horatio, the leader of the emperor’s Senate. And I had agreed to go.

Felix continued, “If you want forgiveness from the emperor, you will have to do more than get evidence against Radulf. You will have to defeat him and take his magic, just as he has taken it from others.”

I shrank beneath his gaze. “I can’t stop him, Felix! Expose him, maybe, but that’s all.”

“You may be the only one who can.”

The thought of that terrified me, but then I remembered when the bulla had pressed against the mark on my back, the way I had felt it pulling out the magic. If I could do that same thing to Radulf, I could win. There was an obvious problem, of course. I would have to get close to Radulf, and I doubted he’d cooperate with my plan.

“We have to go now!” Aurelia grabbed my arm. The two soldiers who had been talking to a slave closer to the amphitheater pointed at us. One of them pulled out his sword.

I started to leave, but turned back long enough to look at Felix. “If it’s the only way I can get freedom, then I will do as you ask. But if the emperor doesn’t keep his end of the bargain, then yes, I will become his greatest enemy.”

Felix only stared as Aurelia and I hurried away.

This time, Aurelia actually had a good excuse to be angry with me. I had tarried so long with Felix that the Roman soldiers were on our heels now. As far as I was concerned, my reasons were good. Aurelia disagreed.

“Why didn’t you listen?” she scolded.

“You could’ve left, you know. It’s only money.” I spoke as irritably as she had, though I hoped she wasn’t angry enough to actually leave.

“You’re worth more than just money,” she said, then shifted directions slightly. The soldiers had taken a high road, hoping to cut us off. This bought us a few extra paces. “This way! We’ll hide in the forum.”

It didn’t seem like the best suggestion, and in any other situation, I’d have stopped to make an argument of it. I’d only seen the forum from a distance, but enough to know it was always full of people, going to and from the many temples, markets, and other public buildings. Most of them had probably been in the amphitheater. I figured it was a safe guess that they’d remember the boy who had nearly destroyed it.

We crossed in front of a building with enormous marble columns. My mind filled with the possibilities of what would happen if I accidentally released any magic here. If I toppled one column, or even cracked it, the entire building could collapse.

“I have an idea!” Aurelia grabbed my arm and yanked me midstep toward one of the temples, built up on a ridge of earth higher than many others in the forum. We ran around a speaker’s platform to a wide flight of stairs, where, for a moment, we got ahead of the soldiers when they tripped over each other in their race to snatch me. At the top was a second set of stairs, divided by wide marble columns. Behind them, the great doors of a temple were already open. Aurelia ran in, but I stopped at the entrance, my breath caught in my throat.

An imposing statue of Julius Caesar stood inside the entrance, and it stared down at me as if he were alive, warning me I had no right to enter this building. Carved into the statue’s forehead was the Divine Star. My hand was around the bulla and I released it at once, ashamed of having stolen it from Caesar’s own cave. Although it was still hidden beneath my tunic, I had no doubt that Caesar knew exactly where it was.

“Do you want to stand there and be cut down?” Aurelia scowled and grabbed my hand again, this time dragging me inside the temple with her. Inside Caesar’s temple.

As soon as we crossed the doorway, my shoulder started to prickle. I took it as a sign that Caesar was displeased with me, but he would have to get angrier than that before I’d leave. At least so far, no one in here was trying to kill me. The same could not be said if I stayed outside.

The temple was filled with altars for sacrifices, elaborate vases, sculptures, and, of course, the colossal statue of Julius Caesar, still watching me. I stood up taller and gave the statue a nod of respect. I had his magic now, and I intended to use it well. For the record, it didn’t nod back, which was a relief. Turning away from Caesar’s gaze, I noticed the walls of the temple, decorated in frescoes of other gods and goddesses, all more beautiful than anything I’d ever seen before. But the one that caught my eye was a painting of the Divine Star, the red comet of fire leaving trails of light on its journey through the heavens.

Aurelia touched my arm. “That’s the image on your shoulder. Almost exactly alike.”

There were a few other patrons inside, but a woman in flowing white robes saw our entrance and put a finger to her lips to remind us of the need for silence here. She was as beautiful as the paintings around us and I lowered my eyes, humbled by the power she seemed to possess.

“She’s a vestalis,” Aurelia whispered. “She is a sacred woman — her job is to care for this temple. Come, we have to speak to her.”

“Not me,” I whispered, pulling against her. “Not here.”

“You’re a slave, Nic, not a plague. Come on.”

She misunderstood. The bulla was warming again, and I grabbed it, hoping to dispel any magic that might still be there. Whatever they might do to me in here, I would not destroy this temple. I needed a place to calm the bulla. To calm myself.

Aurelia started forward, but the two soldiers who had been chasing us walked through the doorway. Their eyes fell immediately upon me.