This is the last chapter. I apologize for taking so long to finish it. Reviews would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading.
"Cassia!" Lucius's strained whisper made Cassia stop in the hallway. When she turned, Lucius knew his suspicions were correct. She held his newborn sister tightly to her chest, swaddled tightly in a small, red blanket.
"Cassia, Give her to me." Lucius ordered. He held out his arms quickly.
"She told me to come with you," Cassia said, quickly moving the babe away from Lucius's outstretched arms. "Is she…has she passed?"
Lucius cocked his head questioningly. "What? She told you? You knew?"
His voice cracked with emotion, and his eyes burned with tears that he refused to let fall.
"I am to find someone to nurse. Your mother asked me to help you," Cassia explained. Her bright eyes met his. Her eyes were full of energy—whether they were full of panic or excitement, Lucius wasn't sure, but they were no longer sad and distrusting.
"What?" Lucius demanded.
"I said I am coming too. Your mother told me the plan. I understand," Cassia whispered. "Now come on. Most of the guards have gone to Lucilla's bedchamber. Commodus has caused quite the spectacle and gained all of their attention."
"We may get caught," Lucius said quickly, warningly. "I don't have a plan. My mother did not-"
"We won't. Now come on," Cassie stopped to grab a basket. "It is worth the risk."
"Wait. I…I need to stop Commodus first," Lucius stammered.
"What? No. Revenge is not going to save your sister," Cassia snapped. She reached for his arm but still his feet remained rooted to the floor.
"But-"
"Or me…It will not save me either," she murmured softly. "I know how good revenge feels….But it's not the answer. Come on. He is distracted and he will never find us."
Lucius gritted his teeth together tightly. He turned to look back at the empty hallway behind him, but Cassia grabbed his hand.
"Please come with me. With us. Your sister and I need you."
Lucius exhaled sharply and nodded to her. "Come on then."
"Lucius, What are you both doing? Why did you put our sister in there?"
Lucius and Cassia stopped. His heart leapt in his chest as he slowly turned to face Servius in the corridor.
"Mother is dead. I have to find a nurse for our sister or she will die," he choked out. He released Cassia's hand and took a few more steps toward Servius.
"Dead?" Servius questioned. "But You can't take her from the palace."
"I have to. I was instructed to," Lucius murmured.
"Without guards?" Servius asked skeptically.
"There is not time," Cassia broke in.
Servius stepped closer. He propped his hand on a dagger that Lucius knew he kept concealed at his waist.
"You're lying," Servius murmured. "My father told me to watch you closely."
"Servius," Lucius snapped. "This is a serious matter. Our mother is dead. Your father is busy and-"
"It tis serious. I think that you need guard escorts. Or send the nurse to the palace. Taking our sister out would be dangerous. Father told me that you and our mother were involved in something very bad before I was born. He told me that he forgave the both of you, but that you were both never to be trusted the same," Servius murmured seriously.
"What did he-"
"That he took mercy on our mother by allowing her to marry him instead of banishing her as he should have. And he took mercy on you…a bastard child to allow you to stay in the palace," Servius spat.
"My father died," Lucius snapped. "I was no bastard. He and mother were married and it was a true marriage…not what your father arranged for he and our mother!" Lucius gritted his teeth. "You did not care about our mother. Commodus made sure that the bond you had with her was never strong because he knew she-"
"Put our sister down," Servius demanded.
"Servius," Lucius began. He was beginning to feel frantic. "Servius…Your father is not the man he should be. He has done terrible things."
"He has done nothing that was not needed."
"He forced our mother to marry him. He threatened to end my life when I was young if she did not marry him. I know that you have heard the stories of Maximus," Lucius choked out. "You may not have seen what your father did to him, but you now see what your father has done to Rome."
"And this…this is the girl you were so furious at my father about? She's just a chambermaid," Servius scoffed.
Lucius tightened his fists at his sides.
"Servius," he gritted through his teeth.
"You will have to go through me to leave with our sister. I know that my father would not approve of this. You are escaping—stealing our sister away," Servius responded calmly.
Lucius saw the flash of the dagger as his half-brother pulled it out from beneath his robe, and Lucius lunged forward, placing himself in front of both Cassia and his new sister. In a nearly blind rage, he reached for the dagger.
It all happened so quickly. Lucius felt a sharp slash on his hand as he grasped the blade, but he was shocked that Servius released it so easily. Servius shoved Lucius backwards and in blind fury, as he fell, Lucius stabbed at Servius with the short blade. He felt it connect to the younger boy's leg.
Numbly, Lucius sat frozen on the ground. Everything around him stilled and he stared trancelike into the eyes of his half-brother.
"Lucius!" Cassia shrieked, but she clamped her own hand over her mouth to silence herself.
Lucius stared into Servius's wide eyes as he pulled the dagger back from the boy's knee. He was shocked at his own reaction, and he was shocked that Servius had pulled the dagger on him in the first place. Servius collapsed with a cry, holding his knee, and Lucius climbed to his feet. Lucius gasped a breath into his own lungs.
The boy cried out. "Help! Lucius has gone mad!" but his voice was weak from shock.
"We've got to go!" Cassia shrieked from behind him, but Lucius was frozen. He stared at the broken boy in front of him- the boy who had pulled a dagger on him.
"You are so stupid!" Servius roared. "My father will kill you himself just like he should've done long ago!"
Then Lucius remembered Commodus. This was Commodus's son. He was the son that always bullied Lucius, the son that would take over the throne, and the son that Lucilla had but never really had. Lucius knew that Commodus was the reason for Lucilla's death. He had to punish Commodus.
Lucius reared back and heaved the dagger into Servius's stomach. The sound that erupted from the young boy was inhuman. He sounded like the animals that Commodus had slain in the coliseum nearly every day. In his mind, Lucius saw Commodus before him. He saw his uncle, sweaty and breathing heavily after he left Maximus's body in the coliseum. He saw his poor mother bending to Commodus's will in order to keep him safe, and he saw the bruises on Cassia's arms.
Lucius slid the knife down, slicing through the boy's stomach, and allowing his entrails to pour out, just as he had watched his uncle do to giraffes and gazelles countless times. They then untied the animals. They always tripped as they tried to escape.
Servius's hands clenched at his stomach He let out a wail that echoed down the corridors. He did not run though. He sank back against the wall.
Lucius stumbled backwards, barely making it back to his feet. He dropped the dagger and it clanged onto the stone.
He heard Cassia's sharp intake of breath behind him.
"Lucius, the guards…we must go," Cassia stammered. Her voice shook uncontrollably. "Your mother told me where to-"
Lucius reached out and grabbed her arm to steady himself. He felt sick. He removed his hand from her pale arm when he realized that he had left a bloody handprint.
"Lucius," Servius's strained voice broke his thoughts, and Lucius turned to face his dying brother.
"I…I'm sorry brother," Lucius stammered.
"Please don't leave me?" Servius gasped out.
Lucius swallowed hard. His stomach heaved at the mess he had made of his half-brother.
Servius reached out a hand to Lucius, and Lucius bent down to take it in his own.
Servius's hand was warm with his own blood—warm and sticky.
"I'm sorry that you had to pay for the sins of your father, Servius," Lucius murmured. His voice cracked and he paused. "He… ruined you before you had the chance to be anything different.
Servius gasped
Lucius closed his eyes painfully.
"This will hurt Commodus far worse than anything you could have done to he himself," Cassia whispered. "He has lost his sister and his son on the same day. And his daughter will be missing."
Lucius released his brother's hand and turned away.
"What is her name?" Cassia asked breathlessly. Lucius tried to focus on his sister—the one that could still be saved.
"Come on, let's go before we are caught," he murmured.
As they hurried back down the corridor, he finally answered.
"Commodus named her Valeria."
"But what do you wish to name her?"
"Lucille," Lucius reached out to gently touch the baby's cheek. "I have to go back and finish Commodus…I can't just leave him be," Lucius blurted out.
"No. He will be finished. He will not be able to go on without Lucilla or Servius. He is finished," Cassia murmured. "Lucius. We are free. You are free if we can just get out of the palace and leave Rome."
"My mother's free," Lucius swallowed back the lump in his throat, and Cassia nodded as tears formed in her own eyes.
"Whatever we have to face, we can face it. The three of us," Cassia whispered.
"And she doesn't have to know," Lucius murmured.
Cassia smiled at him. "She never has to know where she came from."