Free The Chiron Confession (Dominium Dei) by Thomas Greanias Page B

me.”
    “Tell me.”
    “Either Domitian wants to get his hands on Helena for himself, or he wants to keep me out of the hands of his wife Domitia.”
    “I’m impressed, Athanasius. You figured this all out here in the dark?”
    “So which is it?”
    “It doesn’t matter, Athanasius. Did you really believe you could pen comedies about the rape and death of gods and get away with it? Domitian needs no personal motivation. Your own works are reason enough to execute you.”
    “Then why bother accusing me of being this Christian terrorist Chiron? It makes no sense. Executing me doesn’t rid Rome of the real Chiron. Unless…”
    “Unless what, Athanasius?”
    Athanasius knew he had struck a nerve. “Unless, of course, you are Chiron.”
    Ludlumus began to laugh at the joke, as if he wished he had come up with that one himself. “Not quite, Athanasius. But you are very close.”
    “Then it’s Domitian.”
    “Try again.”
    Now Ludlumus was cruelly teasing him. Athanasius was out of suspects. Then it struck him, an idea so simple and horrific he wondered how he didn’t think of it first.
    “There is no Chiron, is there, Ludlumus? You invented him.”
    Ludlumus actually clapped his hands. “Bravo, Athanasius.”
    Athanasius began to breathe faster, his mind racing. His hunch about Chiron was right, but it didn’t explain everything. “Why? How? You certainly didn’t invent Dominium Dei, did you? How could you? It’s been around for decades.”
    “True, but instead of the Dei infiltrating Rome, Rome has infiltrated the Dei. Now Caesar can assassinate senators or other threats to the empire and pin the blame on Christians, whom we then feed to the Games. It’s all economical.”
    “Economical?!” Athanasius exclaimed.
    “All right then, let’s call it… poetic,” Ludlumus said. “Like the poetry of the Flavian Amphitheater itself. Rome’s temple of death was financed with the treasures that Vespasian looted from the Jews after Titus destroyed their great temple almost 30 years ago. Of course, the Judean War cost a million lives on both sides. So to pacify the mobs back home, the Flavians built their eponymous coliseum as a political weapon. By making the Games the center of our universe, they’ve practically been getting away with anything else ever since.”
    “So the Dei is an imperial organization, not Christian,” Athanasius stated for his own understanding. “Only the Christians don’t know it, do they?”
    “No. Too bad you won’t live to tell them.”
    Something wasn’t right, Athanasius thought. But he couldn’t put his finger on it, and he couldn’t let Ludlumus go yet without learning of Helena.
    “What is to happen to Helena? Tell me, Ludlumus. You owe me at least that much.”
    “Why torture yourself even more, Athanasius?” Ludlumus asked, although he seemed quite pleased to go on. “If you must know, Domitian is confiscating her instead of the house on Caelian Hill. She will be allowed to keep it, but must remain on call for whenever her emperor requires her affection.”
    “No!” Athanasius screamed until his throat went raw and twisted like a rag. And then the tears that he had been holding back for hours burst forth like a flood, and he sobbed.
    “If it’s any consolation, Athanasius, I finally made you interesting. Helena and all Rome now think you are Chiron. As for the Christians, some might even mourn you as a hero.”
    Athanasius lifted his head and through tears of rage looked at Ludlumus. “Caelus the astrologer.”
    “What about him?”
    “That business in Ephesus was something else. Something that went wrong. Domitian didn’t want him dead. Not his precious astrologer.”
    Ludlumus paused, as if mulling over whether he would answer, then apparently decided that Athanasius was a dead man and it didn’t matter. “We control the Dei at the very top. But as you can imagine, there are far more dupes who have no idea who they are really working for. Some true