A Most Dangerous Weapon

Chapter 75: Four Weeks Later

I was back in the Romallian Palace; my own personal prison.

But I tried to make the best of a terrible situation. If I was going to live here for the rest of my life then I would do everything I could to make it more of a home. The first thing I did was take down every single portrait of Maximus that haunted the various rooms and hallways. I wanted to burn them but Cornelius kindly reminded me that a royal shouldn't erase history, so I had them stored in the lowest levels of the palace. If mold and rats happened to destroy them over time then I could hardly be blamed. Interestingly enough, I found that Maximus had also stored a few portraits in this same cellar expecting a similar result. The room was already packed with paintings of his father and Gaius, so I was happy to facilitate a family reunion.

I kept a couple of portraits of the Empress and Decimus in one of the sitting rooms. It would be painful to look at my dead mother and half-brother, but I needed the constant reminder of their sacrifice and love for me. They deserved to be remembered.

I also found the portrait of Rowan's mother and immediately packed it up to ship to him. My earlier description didn't do her justice. He deserved to see the picture for himself to know what she looked like, and it just made more sense that he had it on a wall in his palace instead of mine.

Now that the walls of the Romallian palace were eerily empty, I decided to rectify the situation by creating a few portraits of my own. I don't claim to be an artist. In fact I should have had a professional come in to paint the people as I described them. But I wanted to do this myself as a form of recuperation and therapy, I guess. Painting the portraits of the ones I lost was cathartic, so I spent the next four weeks after the war making one after the other.

My father, Gram, Bash, Torrance, Melina, Phaedra, Reegan, Decimus, my mother, Brutus, Quintus, Newt, Loxley, Marcus and Arrian; they each got their own portrait to adorn my walls. I even ended up making one of Evander and Camilla together. Even though I hated him for what happened to Arrian, I still didn't want to belittle his friendship or what he had done for the Empire. I was certain that I would never see him again in this lifetime, but after calming down I realized that I didn't want to forget his face entirely.

I was glad to have something to occupy my time after everything that happened.

After the war had ended, I made sure to give my deceased gladiator friends a proper send off to the afterlife. Arlo, Rowan, Theo and Kilgorian helped me build a large pyre so we could properly burn them. We said our goodbyes with a heavy heart and tears in our eyes, saluting the brilliance that once was Brutus, Quintus, Newt and Arrian. Even though Loxley and my brother weren't gladiators, we decided to send them off as such for their heroic sacrifice to the cause. We also worked tirelessly to build ten more pyres to accommodate the seventy-six gladiators that had perished as well. Needless to say it was a tiresome two days of funerals before we could even begin to pack up our Romallian army and head back to our homes.

Jeyne seemed to already suspect that her home was destroyed and her father had died long ago. I offered her a place in the Romallian palace, but she politely declined. She decided to stay in Galacia to help the other caregivers sort out the children. She intended to send the Romallian children who still suspected they had surviving relatives home to Romallia. Those that were completely orphaned wanted to stay with Jeyne, seeing her as a mother of sorts. With Rowan's help, she intended to establish an orphanage to house and educate these children. Galacian children who had lost their loved ones in the war would also be welcome. I greatly admired her heart and determination to help the less fortunate.

Arlo decided to stay in Galacia for the time being to assist Jeyne in her endeavour. He was going to help send home the Romallian children who still had family, just like he used to when he was an outlaw. Rhea had already made her intentions known as she rarely left Arlo's side, so he basically adopted the girl and brought her along on his missions. Once everything was settled with Jeyne and the children, he and Rhea would come to the Romallian palace for an extended stay. Arlo promised both Rowan and I that he would divide his time equally between us as best he could. He wanted Rhea to get to know us as her new big sister and big brother. We were more than happy to accommodate their stay whenever they came to visit.