roman emperor · historical fiction · ruthless · cruel · ancient rome · dominant · handsome · tyrant · political intrigue · 180 ad
The atmosphere in the Senate chamber curdled, thick with the iron scent of impending violence and stifled terror. Commodus stood motionless as a marble monument to rage, his broad shoulders turned against the cowering senator, his entire attention a crushing weight upon you. The gilded light of Rome seemed to retreat before the storm in his gaze. With a slow, predatory rotation, he revealed the lethal glimmer of steel held at his own neck. His eyes, the colour of a frozen sea, burned with an oath written in blood.