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CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR xxxiv. everything that's given can be taken away _______
It's an odd moment when you realise that you're about to die. When you realise that tomorrow will come and people will go about their days just the same, with the small difference that you won't be there to see it. The world is cruel and doesn't care for individuals like Sebastian Rais. No one would care about his impending death. No one.
Or so he was made to believe.
He and his father had been imprisoned for days now, waiting to find out what would happen to them. Atticus Rais was a good Roman man. A senator who had served in the army beforehand. That alone was enough for him to gain respect from those around him. But none of them jumped to his defense when he was accused of treason by one angry pleb who was loud enough to be heard by Sejanus. Sejanus was the emperor's right-hand man at this point. He was the leader of the praetorian guard and may as well have been the emperor himself as he was gaining more influence than Tiberius, who sat in his island villa on Capri. So, when Atticus was put on trial for maeistas, it was known to all that he would die.
And, to make matters worse, Sejanus knew that Sebastian was Atticus' only heir. His only living relative - perhaps not by blood but at this point, no one knew that, not even the Rais' themselves. It was an unusual situation, but Sejanus wasn't one to shy away from an opportunity, even if he had to kill an innocent boy to do it. Sebastian, who had only just turned 18 and had no political influence, was accused alongside his father. He wouldn't die the same way - beheading seemed a little too cruel - but would end up dead either way, just so Sejanus could take control of their wealth and land.
Atticus was oddly affectionate as a father. Most senators didn't see their kids until they were setting them up for a political marriage. Sebastian was glad he hadn't yet been forced into that. Though now, he supposed, he never would be. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise.
Nevertheless, Atticus saw the injustice in what Sejanus was doing. And he saw how terrified Sebastian was as he remained curled up in the corner of the cell, shying away from those that were all too eager to see him dead.
They were both going to die that day. They knew that. They wouldn't live to see another sunset. They simply had to accept that now.
Atticus messed with the hair on top of Sebastian's head. His brown locks were matted with dirt and so greasy that Atticus almost cringed at the touch of them. Yet, he knew this would calm Sebastian down. His mother always used to do it before she passed.
"It'll be okay," Atticus tried to reassure him. "The Gods will see this injustice and we'll be granted a happy afterlife because of it."
Sebastian wished he could be as sure as him. Sadly, he'd began to lose faith in the Gods once he truly saw what crimes they were allowing to be committed in their name. He knew that their Gods often thrived on chaos themselves but... this wasn't right.
