Emperor: The Death of Kings E#2 by Conn Iggulden Read Free Book Online Page A

go?” Renius murmured.
    Brutus tested his legs gingerly, wincing at the fire of returning circulation. He began to pull his garments on as quickly as possible, the armor clanking loudly as he searched the bag with one hand.
    “As soon as I’m dressed.”
    He knew the crowd’s stupor couldn’t last, but still jumped as Livia came shoving through the people, her voice shrill.
    “What are you doing standing there?” she screamed at the crowd. “Look at my father! Who will kill his murderers?”
    Behind her back, Brutus rose, his sword ready. The sweet smile he remembered from the afternoon had twisted into hatred as she screamed abuse at her own people. None of them met her eyes, their desire for vengeance cooled by the sprawled figure at her feet.
    At the edge of the crowd, her husband turned his back on her and stalked away into the darkness. As she saw who it was, Livia turned on Renius, raining blows on his face and body. His only arm held the sword and as Brutus saw the muscles tense, he reached forward and pulled her away.
    “Go home,” he snapped at her. Instead, her hands reached for his eyes and Brutus shoved her roughly. She fell to the ground near her father’s body and clung to it, weeping.
    Renius and Brutus looked at each other and the thinning crowd.
    “Leave her,” Renius said.
    Together, the two men crossed the square and made their way in silence through the town. It seemed hours before they reached the edge of the houses and looked out on a valley leading down to a river in the distance.
    “We should push on. By dawn they’ll be swearing blood feud and coming after us,” Renius said, finally sheathing his sword.
    “Did you really hear . . . ?” Brutus asked, looking away.
    “You woke me up with your grunting, yes,” Renius replied. “Your quick tumble could still kill us if they send out decent trackers. In her father’s house!”
    Brutus scowled at his companion. “You killed him, don’t forget,” he muttered.
    “And you’d still be there if I hadn’t. Now march. We need to cover as much ground as possible before daylight. And the next time a pretty girl looks twice at you, start running. They’re more trouble than they’re worth.”
    Silently disagreeing, the two men set off down the hill.

  CHAPTER 4   
    N ot wearing your wreath? I heard you slept with it,” Suetonius sneered as Julius came on watch.
    Julius ignored him, knowing that a response would lead to yet another exchange that would bring the two young officers closer to open hostility. For the moment, Suetonius at least made the pretense of courtesy when the other men were near enough to hear, but when they stood watch on their own, each second dawn, the bitterness in the man came to the surface. On the first day at sea after leaving the island, one of the men had tied a circlet of leaves to the tip of Accipiter’ s mast, as if the whole ship had earned the honor. More than a few of the legionaries had waited around to see Julius catch sight of it, and his delighted grin brought a cheer out of them. Suetonius had smiled with the others, but the dislike in his eyes had deepened even further from that moment.
    Julius kept his eyes on the sea and the distant African coast, changing balance slightly with the movements of Accipiter as the galley moved in the swell. Despite Suetonius’s snide remark, he had not worn the circlet since leaving the town of Mytilene, except for trying it on once or twice in the privacy of his tiny bunk below the decks. The oak leaves had already begun to brown and curl, but that didn’t matter. He had been given the right to wear it and would have a fresh one bound when he next saw Rome.
    It was easy to ignore Suetonius with the daydream of striding into the Circus Maximus on a race day and seeing thousands of Romans stand, first only as they saw him, then in waves stretching further away until the whole crowd was on its feet. He smiled slightly to himself, and Suetonius snorted in