Mark of the Thief (34 page)

“I will win the Praetor War,” Radulf said. “At any price.”

He drew his own sword, but it was still in the air before I raised a hand and yelled, “Stop!” Radulf locked eyes with me, and I hated the glint of triumph in his. But there was nothing more I could do. I would not test Radulf against my sister.

“We will join your house,” I muttered.

“We will join your house …” He raised an eyebrow, waiting for me to finish the phrase.

My hands curled into fists. “We will join your house, Grandfather.”

“And you will become part of the Praetor War, as you always were meant to do.”

With that, he thrust Livia toward me and replaced his sword. I wrapped my arms around her as she cried on my shoulder.

“We had better leave before Valerius arrives with his victory celebration,” Radulf told his men. “I must gather a few things, and by then, you will have my grandchildren in the wagon ready to travel back to my home.”

As soon as he left, Livia whispered, “That threat — he couldn’t have meant it.”

“He did mean it, Livia. You have to accept what kind of a person he really is. That’s the only way we’ll ever escape him.”

“How? We have nothing. Without him, we are nothing.”

I shook my head. “That’s not true.”

The soldier who had spoken before motioned us to walk forward. “You two follow me. Any tricks and I’ll poke the person walking beside you.”

Livia took my arm where I had received the burn in the arena. “What happened to you?”

I looked at the wound. It had started to heal, but not entirely. And the pain was so minimal that I had almost forgotten about it. It was still healing, despite Radulf having pulled so much magic from my shoulder. Despite Radulf having taken the bulla. It was healing anyway.

“I know about the bulla,” Livia said. “Radulf told me the jewels in it come from the gods.”

I couldn’t suppress a grin. “There are jewels in it, yes. But not from the gods.” The ones with the glow were sitting inside Aurelia’s crepundia. While still on the lift to enter the arena, I had switched them. There was nothing in the bulla but Aurelia’s cheap imitation stones and a fading scent of magic.

“Radulf is making a mistake by bringing us into his home,” I told her. “Before I leave, I will know exactly how to defeat both him and Valerius. And I will get that bulla back.”

With that thought, my smile widened. The bulla was only part of my magic. The rest was in the Divine Star. And even now, as my strength began to recover, I felt a prickle in my shoulder. Caesar’s power had awoken within me once again.

My battle had only just begun.

Readers often ask about the inspiration for a book or character.
Mark of the Thief
began when I happened upon a random fact: Emperor Julius Caesar used to claim he was a literal descendent of the goddess Venus. Historians believe he created this part of his image to make himself seem more powerful, but I began to wonder, what if he had been telling the truth? What if he really did have special powers, if he was a sort of demigod?

That led to other questions, with answers that took my imagination into exciting possibilities. Slowly, ancient Rome came alive in my mind — but now in a time filled with magic, competing forces between good and evil, and a journey where the least likely of all — a young mining slave — rises to save an empire. My stories often begin this way, by asking questions that I can’t wait to answer.

But though my stories begin in this simple way, bringing them into readers’ hands is a much bigger process, one I could never do alone. So for that, I am forever grateful to Jeff Nielsen, my husband, best friend, and true companion, and to our three children, for their support, encouragement, and willingness to split the last square of dark chocolate. Few things are a truer act of love. Thanks also to my amazing agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette, whose wisdom and knowledge greatly outdistance her years. Heaps of gratitude to everyone at Scholastic — it is a privilege to work with each of you in your various areas of expertise. Finally, warmest thanks to my editor, Lisa Sandell, who does far more than help me shape a story for publication. You are mentor, advisor, teacher, therapist, guidance counselor, and above all, a true friend. You are gold.

One final word — to all those who were my teachers, even in the subjects where I clearly wasn’t paying attention — if you’ve ever wondered whether you made a difference to any of your students, here’s at least one answer: For me, you made all the difference in the world.

J
ENNIFER
A. N
IELSEN
is the acclaimed author of the
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling Ascendance Trilogy:
The False Prince, The Runaway King
, and
The Shadow Throne
. Jennifer also wrote
Behind Enemy Lines
, the sixth book in the Infinity Ring series, as well as the forthcoming novel
A Night Divided.

She loves chocolate, old books, and lazy days in the mountains. Born and raised in northern Utah, she lives there today with her husband, three children, and a dog that won’t play fetch. You can visit her at www.jennielsen.com.

ALSO BY

JENNIFER A. NIELSEN

T
HE
A
SCENDANCE
T
RILOGY

The False Prince

The Runaway King

The Shadow Throne

Copyright © 2015 by Jennifer A. Nielsen

All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc.,
Publishers since 1920
.
SCHOLASTIC
,
SCHOLASTIC PRESS
, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Nielsen, Jennifer A.

Mark of the thief / by Jennifer A. Nielsen. — First edition.

page cm. — (Mark of the Thief ; book 1)

Summary: When Nic, a slave in the mines outside of Rome, is forced to enter a sealed cavern containing lost treasures of Julius Caesar, he finds himself in possession of an ancient amulet filled with magic once reserved for the Gods, and becomes the center of a conspiracy to overthrow the emperor and destroy Rome.

ISBN 978-0-545-56154-9 (jacketed hardcover) [1. Magic — Fiction. 2. Slavery — Fiction. 3. Amulets — Fiction. 4. Rome — Antiquities — Fiction. 5. Insurgency — Fiction. 6. Rome — History — Empire, 30 B.C.–476 A.D. — Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.N5672Mar 2015

[Fic] — dc23

2014017068

First edition, March 2015

Cover art © 2015 by Larry Rostant
Cover design by Christopher Stengel

e-ISBN 978-0-545-56203-4

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.