[b]Aemiliana[/b]
Aemiliana watched the boy leave hurriedly. [i]Did I say something wrong?[/i] She shook off her thoughts and fastened the cloak around her shoulders. It really was a handsome thing, fine dark gray wool fastened with a silver owl brooch. She smiled as she smelled the fabric. [i]It smells like textbooks and herbs! Aemilia always tells me I reek of old paper and dusty herbs. I should love to marry a man who appreciates learning. But to do that I will have to get away from my father.[/i] With that thought she fished around in her basket until she produced the tiny dagger she had purchased some days earlier. It had a flat hilt about an inch and a half long, and a blade about the same length. She tucked it between her first and second fingers and clenched her fist, so that the blade was the only thing protruding, sticking out between her fingers. It would hardly be noticeable until she was actually stabbing her father. She trembled at the thought, both from terror and excitement. [i]Today. Before I lose my nerve, I am going to hurt him. Today I take control of my own life.[/i]
With a half-crazed laugh she hurried out the door, half-running back to the palace. She slowed to a walk and ducked her head in shame as she approached the gates. One of the guards called for her to halt, and she did. "Excogitas quid?" he asked. What is your purpose? (literally, "what are you planning?")
Aemiliana timidly ducked her head. "Videre poenae mei venio, quod mei pater ignorabam." I come to see my punishment, because I ignored my father.
The guard nodded, and then gave her a tiny smile. "Good luck, Aemiliana. You'll need it." He opened the gates and escorted her through, into the “throne room” where her grandfather and father met with important people. The guard touched her shoulder lightly and left. Aemiliana’s knees trembled, but she forced herself to walk forward, past the point where she would have ordinarily knelt, until she stood six feet away from her father. She forced her eyes up, the bright purple sparking from anger. She was all too aware of the guards stationed along the walls beside the throne, ready to subdue her as soon as she made a move. Gaius raised his hand to slap her. She didn’t flinch, and she knew it. [i]He[/i] knew it though, and a spark of fear showed in his own eyes. She forced herself to open her mouth and say, quietly, “Non timo, Pater.” I am not afraid of you, father. “Morior libera, non vivo captiva volo.” I wish to die free, not live a captive. “Mihi non impera tu.” [u]You[/u] do not command me. She took three more steps, brought up the fist that held the knife, and plunged it as far into his flesh as it would go. She yanked it across his torso and pulled the blade free from the painful, but not life-threatening, wound. Aemiliana wasn’t sure who was more surprised: herself, her father, or the guards. She flung the knife at her grandfather, still seated regally in his throne, again wondering who was more surprised when the blade stabbed him through the arm. She knew she only had a few more seconds before the shock wore off and she was restrained, so she turned to her father (who was gasping and clutching at his chest) “You coward. You’re a coward. You made me fearful of living so that I didn’t dare to challenge you. But now it’s my turn.” She saw the fear in his eyes for a split-second, before she was thrown to the ground by the guards. “I’m not afraid of dying. Every time you had them beat me, another part of me died. This will just be more permanent.” The guard twisted her arms up behind her back and kicked her savagely in the ribs. She screamed as she felt something give way, and in a flash she was back. Aemiliana was no longer fearless… Now she was terrified. This was worse than anything she’d done before. In an instant had gone from the goddess, in control, to the scared little girl that her father could push around. But not quite. Even as the guards yanked her to her feet, keeping her subdued, she was glaring at her father. Again she saw the flash of fear in his eyes before he regained control.
“In the Forum.” He growled, his eyes gone murderous. “Read off her charges as threats to authority figures, attempted patricide, attempted assassination of the emperor, and intent to murder. Have her disowned from my family. And then…” he paused, seeming to think. “Some sort of nice, very painful, very public, punishment. Make absolutely certain that her classmates are there. And feel free to kill her. I have no use for the bitch who nearly killed me, her and her scumbag mother!”
Aemiliana raised her voice, though it felt like razors were eating her sides as she tried to shout. “Do not speak ill of Mother! She’s a goddess. A goddess fell in love with a “scumbag” like you.” A cuff to the head that made her eyes all fuzzy. She was vaguely aware of a rope being tied around her wrists. She tried to say something, anything, to the guard tying her arms, but the instant she opened her mouth she was struck again and the world faded to black.