The Rogue Emperor (A Riordanverse Story)

Chapter 14: Reyna Kills an Emperor

Reyna was able to pick the lock on the chains that were keeping all the captives together as Frank retrieved the fasces from a storage closet. Everyone appeared fine, just shaken up from their time locked in the mansion of Tiberius. Not just the Hunters and the members of the Roman quest were here, there were demigods who had just been on the island for recreation that the emperor had thought were out to get him and had taken. Reyna wasn't sure why or how the faun had gotten themselves into this mess, but they were grateful and then immediately asked for if Frank or Reyna had snacks to share.

"Are you okay?" she asks the Hunters, handing them their weapons that Frank had found as well. "Are you hurt? Did Tiberius torture you?"

"No torturing, unless you count him forcing us to scrub his floors every day with toothbrushes. He beat us pretty hard with a walking stick stick when we tried to take him down, ended up breaking Essie arm, maybe a few noses in the process. He's a lot stronger than he appears in that body. We were thankfully able to avoid his throwing knives."

"Yeah, what's up with that? Very unlike a Roman," yells Frank from across the room.

"Thank the gods, he didn't take away that one satyr's pipes so over the course of a few days he was able to heal most injuries we sustained. The main problem is we're all pretty weak; he only gave us olive oil and a little stale bread a day for all of us to share." 

Reyna swallows hard; he was starving them like Augustus had said he might. The Hunters didn't look too bad, but Hazel, Leila, Pranjal, and the other mortals were starting to look a bit gaunt.

Thalia squeezes her hand. "Are you sure this isn't a ploy to take you both captive too?"

"If anyone is going to be taken captive, it will be Nico by the Augustus and Livia to spoil with their enormous wealth. They were practically snuggling him on the ferry over."

Thalia gives a weak smile. "He let them? Hey whatever works, he needs people to care about him. Nico's always been a bit lost in this world. Too many people in his life have died, maybe he needs some people who can't die. I know he has Will, but that's different."

"Perhaps." Reyna has the Hunters all gather hands and bestows some of her strength upon them, her power as a daughter of Bellona. "Hopefully, that will be able to sustain you until we can get you off the island." She reaches into her pocket, pulling out a gold coin and handing it to Thalia. "Call the others, let Diana know you are okay; she had not been able to sense you."

Thalia takes the coin and hugs Reyna. "Thank you for not believing we were dead."

"You can thank Nico for confirming that wasn't the case. I already knew you would be too hard to kill, you all are too stubborn."

The Hunters all smile, and Reyna was so overcome with joy she hugs them all again. Her sisters were okay, they were safe. The group was so close to finishing what they had started. Reyna hoped that Tiberius wouldn't decide the last minute that he wanted to live forever and try to kill them all. Hopefully, Nico and the imperial couple were keeping him at bay for the moment.

Frank walks over with the fasces in hand, Hazel at his side. "How should we handle disposing of this?" He hands it to Reyna. "I've only killed an emperor once he was vulnerable and don't really have a desire to do it again."

"Domitian's nearly crumbled in our hands. He was so frail, he practically turned to a ghost after the fasces was destroyed. It gave us false hope for this one," says Hazel, rubbing her wrists from where the cuffs were. "Tiberius is too powerful, you sense it, right?"

Reyna looks at Tiberius' source of power, an unassuming wooden rod with an ax like blade at one end. Along the handle his name was inscribed Tiberius Caesar Augustus. It looked so like Caligula and Commodus' that she'd destroyed with Meg and Lester. She doubted that it would be as easy to break it as the first emperor Hazel's team hunted, but she hoped it wouldn't be as difficult as the ones from the members of Triumvirate.