This time when the mirror lightened, she saw what appeared to be a seriously disfigured version of Zarek chasing an older version of his father through the ancient Roman house she now knew was theirs.
The middle-aged man was bleeding, his face ravaged as if he'd been knocked around.
The man spilled into what appeared to be a dining hall where Valerius sat at a desk wearing his armor, writing a letter. Frowning, he rose to his feet as he saw his father's frantic run.
His father fell against him and grabbed the metal straps of Valerius's cuirass. "For Jupiter's sake, help me, boy. Save me!"
Zarek drew up short as he saw Valerius in full military regalia. Candlelight shone off the golden armor that was contrasted by his blood-red cape.
Valerius made a fearsome sight as he pushed his father aside and pulled his sword out slowly from its burgundy leather scabbard as if to engage Zarek.
"That's it, boy," his father said with an evil laugh. "Show the worthless slave what I taught you."
"Go ahead, you bastard," Zarek snarled defiantly. "I'm here for my vengeance and you can't kill someone who's already dead."
"I wasn't planning on it," he said simply.
"Valerius," his father snarled. "What are you doing, boy? You have to help me."
His face completely stoic, Valerius looked at his father as if the man were a complete stranger. "We're Roman, Father, and I've long since ceased being a boy. I am the general you made me and you taught me well that we don't beg for mercy from anyone."
He handed his sword hilt-first to Zarek.
With those words spoken, Valerius saluted his brother, walked out of the room, and closed the door.
His father's screams echoed as he walked slowly down the corridor.
Tabitha couldn't breathe as she witnessed the tragedy that was both their lives. Part of her couldn't believe Valerius had left his father to die like that and another part of her understood it completely.
Poor Valerius. Poor Zarek. They both were victims of the same man. One son spat upon because he was a slave and another because he wasn't cold-blooded and unfeeling. At least not until that one moment.
She looked at Zarek, whose eyes still bore the hatred and pain of his past. "If you hate Valerius so much, why didn't you kill him, too, Zarek?"
"Pardon the bad pun, but the blind man was shortsighted at the time."
"No," she whispered. "You knew, didn't you? You knew who deserved your hatred and who didn't."
Zarek's sneer turned even colder as he shot a menacing glare from her to Acheron. "This changes nothing. Valerius still doesn't deserve peace. He doesn't deserve anything except contempt. He is his father's son."
"And what are you?" Tabitha asked. "It seems to me that you're the one carrying around the acidic hatred that won't let you live in peace. Valerius doesn't strike out at other people. Ever. To me that makes him twice the man you are."
Zarek's look pierced her. "Oh, you think you're so special. That he's worth defending. Tell you what, sweetie, if you want to know who Valerius really loves, go to the solarium in his house. Imagine how much Agrippina must have meant to him that he's been lugging her stone statue around for more than two thousand years."
"Zarek..." Ash growled in warning.
"What? It's true and you know it."
Zarek took a step back and then looked as if he were trying to disappear. "What the...?"
Ash gave him a droll stare. "Just for the record, Zarek. If you ever do hurt Tabitha, I will kill you. Gods and goddesses be damned."
Zarek opened his mouth as if to argue, but vanished before any words could escape.
The next thing Tabitha knew, she was back in Valerius's library right where she'd been standing.
"Tabitha?" Valerius asked as he walked back into the room. "Did you not hear my question?"
Tabitha reached out to touch the shelf nearest her to confirm that she was here. Yeah, she was back. But she felt rather strange all of a sudden.