I could have promised not to say anything, but he wouldn’t have believed me and besides, the story would get around anyway. Whispers that I had survived the cave’s collapse were probably already floating through the mines.

“Brand his forehead,” the guard behind me said. “Let him be a lesson to any others who think about escaping.”

“No!” I cried. “Please, Sal, don’t do that!” If there was even the smallest chance of my becoming free one day, I could never build any sort of life with my face marked as an escaped slave. Branding my forehead would steal away my last hope. But maybe that was the exact reason why Sal would do it.

Sal brushed a hand over his bruised cheek as he thought it over. Then he crouched near me and parted my hair to reveal my forehead. He tapped the skin and smiled. “We’ll put it right here, in big, black, burned letters.”

“Don’t do it, Sal.” My heart pounded wildly, causing my hands to tremble. “You know I wasn’t trying to escape. If I had intended to go, I would’ve succeeded.”

“I know that.” He removed his hand from my head. “General Radulf was furious when you disappeared. I told him that after everything settled in a few weeks, we could dig out the cave entrance again and get another man to go in. But that wasn’t the reason for his anger. He was upset because you’d be dead by the time we got back inside. Tell me, Nic, why does a general of the Roman army care if you’re alive?”

I shook my head, genuinely confused. “I don’t know. I think you misunderstood him.”

“And did you get whatever he wanted you to find in there?”

Letting Sal even touch the bulla was intolerable. He’d stain it with the grease of his hands, and tarnish it with his own corruption. “No, sir,” I said, looking him straight in the face. No matter how wrong it was to lie to a master, I couldn’t give the bulla up to him. Not to anyone.

Sal searched my face for any sign I was lying, and I was certain he would figure me out. I didn’t care. Where I should’ve felt guilt for my lies, I only felt anger that he was forcing me to tell them. It wouldn’t matter anyway. Surely he would sense the tumult of emotions inside me and know the truth.

But he didn’t. And from the darkened expression on his face, I soon realized what a mistake it had been to lie. Because without the bulla, he had no reason to tell Radulf I had escaped from the cave. My life was worth nothing to him.

A wicked grin spread across Sal’s face. “We can’t let the other slaves think there’s a way out of the mines. And if they do, they need to know the consequences of trying to leave. It’s not enough to brand this boy’s forehead. We have to kill him.”

Despite my struggles, the guards threw me back into the wagon and held me tight. They wouldn’t do it here, in view of the others. Instead, they’d take me back down the hill and leave my body in the weeds for the vultures to find. That terrified me more than anything. To enter the other world without a burial — I’d never be able to rest, not for the eternities.

“No!” Livia screamed. “Let him live, Sal, please. He’s the only family I have left!”

“Slaves don’t get to have families!” Sal said. “Because of your foul brother, that general almost ordered my death yesterday. He’s not worth the trouble, not even for you. He’s a curse.”

“I’m not!” I yelled it with more fire than I’d ever felt before, but even then, I knew it was another lie. Maybe Caesar’s ghost wasn’t telling me that the bulla was a curse. Maybe he had said that by wearing the bulla, I would become the curse.

By then, the second wagon came rolling into camp, with Caela’s limbs and wings tied up tighter than could possibly be necessary. Tears filled my eyes when I saw her, such a magnificent animal reduced to bondage. Whatever would become of me, I feared that her fate might be no better.

At least it provided a temporary distraction for Sal and the guards, who wandered over to the wagon to get a closer look. I took advantage of the moment to jump from the wagon and run the other way. With my arms still tied, it wasn’t the best way to escape, but it was all I had.

I yelled at Livia to follow me, and at least for a little while, she stayed close. Then her footsteps trailed behind and when I turned to look for her, someone grabbed me around the waist and tackled me to the ground.

Sal.

He wrestled me to my back and knelt on one forearm to hold my arms down, then pulled out his own knife. I saw Livia a few feet away, also on the ground.

“Take this as a warning,” I said with as much anger as I felt. “Once you kill me, I’m going to come back as a Shade. I will haunt you every day of your miserable life. And I’ll enjoy it too.”

Sal’s eyes widened at my threat, then he said, “I’ll have them toss you into the lake and drown your spirit. I will kill everything that is even a memory of you.” He raised the knife and I closed my eyes.

“Sal, I will give you what you want!” Livia yelled. “I will marry you.”

My eyes flew open and I struggled again beneath Sal’s weight. “No!” I cried. As far as I was concerned, Sal was a roach that had crawled from the underworld and taken on human form. He hadn’t done a good job of it either — the resemblance was far too close. If she married him, Livia’s life would only grow worse than it already was, and I would never, never accept him as part of our family.

But she had Sal’s attention now and he lowered the knife. Livia walked to Sal and fell to her knees beside him. “Let my brother live,” she said, folding her hand around his arm holding the knife. “And when I come of age next year, I will be yours.”

Sal put his hand over hers and my stomach lurched. When they both got to their feet, I could finally breathe again, though the air smelled like Sal, fetid enough to make me retch. The guards who had been with Caela returned and dragged me to my feet, waiting for their orders.

“No!” I said again to Livia. “You must not marry him.”

“It’ll save your life.” Tears filled her eyes. “This is the only way.”

Something about Sal’s widening smile made me nervous. With a quick glance to Livia, he said, “That bird in the wagon will go to Rome, as my gift to the emperor. Nic will go with it, as part of the games in a few days.” Now his eyes fixed on mine. “I will not kill you, Nic, but I will come to the games and see what sort of fun the empire has with your life there. I doubt you will last ten minutes in that arena.”

Livia cried out and pled for Sal to change his mind, but he had kept his promise by allowing me to live, and would not be persuaded to do anything more. I yelled out in protest and fought with everything I had, but the guards threw me into the wagon and bound me to it with chains.

“Let me talk to him one last time!” Livia was sobbing now. “Mother wanted him to know —”

But by then, the guards had already begun driving me away, and her words were drowned out in the noise. I didn’t fight anymore after that. My shoulder throbbed, I was numb with worry for Livia, and I was terrified of what lay ahead for me.

As we rode away in the waning light, I saw a wagon approach the mines, bearing a flag marked with the house of Valerius. Even from here, Crispus’s curly blond hair was visible. They had come, just as the senator had promised. But they were too late.