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The two men were looking at each other, simply staring in silence. The younger was waiting the reply of the old one, whom seemed to be thinking carefully in what had just been proposed to him. The young man started looking around the room, he wondered how long had it been since the last time he had been in that room. The last times he had been in that room he had never sat on one of the chairs that were made of mahogany wood. He had always stood either behind one of them or by the door, but this time being sent as an emissary, gave him some advantages and he was placidly sitting in front of the desk waiting patiently. He looked through one of the windows that were at one side of the room, he could easily see how the wind moved the top part of the foliage of the trees. He turned around and looked at the other direction, just to find a white fireplace made completely of smooth white marble, the fire on it was dying and a fade gloss was coming from it. Soon enough it died away, making the moonlight that came from the windows the only light in the whole room.

"So?" asked the young man. "What's your answer Duke?"

The Duke remained thinking in the proposal; he had both elbows against his desk and had his face rested on his hands. He raised his grey eyes and met those dark brown eyes of the younger man that were looking at him with a cold and piercing stare. How many times he had seen that look, wondered the Duke, of course not on this man, but on the Commander of the Grand Guard. But what could he had expected after all they were father and son. The Duke returned to the moment when he saw how the younger man tapped his fingers against the desk that was in between them. The Duke leaned against his chair and then said.

"Well Lord Protector, that's… that's an interesting proposition that you gave me…"

"So would you accept it or not?" asked Corvo looking straight at the man's eyes.

"You know, at this moment I could hold you in a prison and label you traitor. For what you are asking me is quite the contrary of what the Empress sent you to do. 'Deny Dunwall the cure of the rat plague…' that is something cocky. If we were in Morley I would had accepted right away, but we are Serkonos."

"An island that decided to subdued to Gristol, not because it was willing to form part of the Empire but because it had already too much internal bloodshed at the time of the Gristolian expansion, and couldn't afford a war."

"Well Master Attano that was in part fault of your ancestors…"

Corvo smirked at him, "Oh yes, the Attano family that comes from a long line of assassins and mercenaries that were forced to become the Grand Guard, because they were becoming far too dangerous and were the only ones to survive the great purge of the Iron fist King of Serkonos."

"Won't deny that, but there is a reason why my family had been ruling Serkonos for so long, Master Attano," said the Duke with a smile. "Now let's return to the main point. What you are asking me to do is too risky, and maybe I won't want to do it. Think about it from my point of view, if I gave you the cure for the rat plague. Serkonos would be the savior of the Empire and we would be on the Empress favor. But if I don't, what is the catch for me and my island?"

"Well first of all Duke, do you really think that Dunwall would appreciate what you would do for them? How long had it been since the last time you spend some time with any of the nobility of the wretched city? It would be quite the contrary they would be mad at you, not just because you didn't deliver the cure before someone asked you, but because being part of the Great Empire it would had been your obligation to save them from the beginning. They are a bunch of arrogant idiots who believe themselves to be better than anyone else. Also probably the Spymaster would say that you were holding back the cure so you could appear as a hero when it would be needed the most, of course we both knew that is a lie. But let's say you decided to give me the cure and indeed I deliver it, how long does your Grace think that the nobility would forget what Serkonos had done for them? Before your lordship could receive a 'thank you' letter they would had already forgot about it. "

"That might be the nobility but what about the Empress? I think she would be in our debt for a long time."

Corvo chuckled softly, "Jessamine?" he looked at the other man's eyes, the Duke rose an eyebrow when he heard with what familiarity the man referred to the Empress. "Truly she would, yet she can't force the Parliament to her will half of the times, and they are a bunch of arrogant bastards. Let them suffer a bit more, let them fall to their knees and crawl for help. They deserved it."

"And don't you think she would be surprised that suddenly Serkonos found a cure and send it afterwards? Wouldn't your Spymaster wonder what happen?"

"If everything goes accord to what I have in mind, well, Burrows won't be the Spymaster for too long. I'm sure Lord Resnik had already told about Burrows being the one responsible for importing the rat plague, hasn't he?"

"Yes, and how do you know?"

"Duke, who you think told Resnik about it, Burrows thinks he covers up all his nasty business very well, but being part of the Grand Guard of Serkonos makes you able to find any small clue no matter how well they think they hid them, after all some of the people you send us to kill were trickier to find, but we always find them, no matter what," said Corvo with cynic smile upon his face. "It isn't difficult to find what you are looking after, if the man who tries to hide it had this compulsion of being extremely methodical."

"Then tell me master, why hasn't he been removed if you already know about this? Haven't the Empress known about it as well?" said the Duke as he leaned against one of his hands.

"Well I can't exactly come rushing into her room holding papers of that man, saying he is the culprit of the rat plague, can I? If I would had done that, probably he would say that I'm just trying to get rid of him and that I'm a spy of Serkonos as he had always suspected it."

"And aren't you?" said the Duke while Corvo smiled back.

"I wasn't when I started, I have to admit. But after living there for the last sixteen years and that people still think that I'm trash and not worthy of my position, why should I care about that city and its people? Why not care about the only place that had never labeled me as a merchant or a whore? Why not get rid of those that are a nuisance."

"And how do you know he will be removed soon enough?"

"Well one just needs to seed a small idea on Jessamine's head and let it grow, yet I have to admit that this time it wasn't just my own idea of having the Spymaster investigate the rat plague. It seemed that she thinks that the rat plague could had been imported by a foreign power, wondered what she would do when she finds out that her loyal Spymaster was behind all this, I guess I will have to tell her that I told her so and if I play well my card we can get an ally in that position, wouldn't you like that one of children be Spymaster, Duke? It wouldn't be that difficult to manipulate her in not trusting the men of Burrows. She will be heart broke, I guess I will have to comfort her," he said with a bit of lustful look on his eyes.

"Comfort her?"

"A man has to do what a man has to do," he smiled.

"So the rumors are true, Attano."

"I have never denied them neither her. So what is the surprise Duke?"

"I wonder what your father and Lord Resnik would say about it," said the Duke with a smile while Corvo frowned when he heard the mentioning of his father.

"Probably the ambassador would say that I had learned how to press the correct buttons of the Empress, while my father… I can't really care less."

"Still, Corvo, how could she not be suspicious that we suddenly had the cure? After all maybe she wouldn't be so trustworthy after what is coming from Burrows."

"Well I will deliver her the letter that says that Serkonos, Tyvia and Morley are planning to blockade the city of Dunwall and once we are in private," Corvo looked at the man, who smirked at him. "I would tell her that the Duke of Serkonos remembered something about a disease that was similar to the rat plague of an old Serkonan text, which wouldn't be a lie. And that, your Grace is looking for it and once the text had been translated from old Serkonan and a cure had been made you will send it. Of course I would send your Grace a letter to let you know when. With fewer nobles in the Parliament it would be easier to manipulate it to the favor of Serkonos. So you decided Duke, either give me the cure right away and save hundreds of lives and be forgotten soon enough, or let them rot a bit more but get far more benefit out of it."

"You are a crafty bastard Attano," he said. "You know that? Just like your father, though is good that he had never used that to his advantage. But I won't deny I would love to see those bastard noblemen suffer, so I guess we have a deal."

Corvo smiled back at the Duke of Serkonos as he extended his hand to close the deal, the Duke took the young man's hand in his.

"Let this gesture be a sign of the blood we share," said the Duke.

"For we are children of Serkonos," answered back Corvo.

"From the day we were born."

"Till the end of our days," said Corvo and smiled in a cruel way.

-0-0-0-

Corvo took a deep breath and enjoyed the clean air of the open sea. Soon enough they would be reaching the city of Dunwall. A part of him didn't want to return at all to the city, not only because he hated that city but because of its awful stench that it had lately. He had to admit that he had never learned to love a city so cold like Dunwall and the fact that most of the inhabits of the city believed that he shouldn't be holding the position of Royal Protector never helped him, more than once he had heard not only high born but low born saying that the Lord Protector should be someone worthy, someone that really deserve the position. That he had been appointed out of pity. Of course at the begging he had tried to ignored them, he had thought that maybe Dunwall could become his new home, that he would learn to love the city, even though the first six months he had hated everyone in the world as he had felt that Serkonos had been disposing of him as he was merely a tool and the aristocrats and officers of Dunwall didn't make him feel any better. Of course he had thought things would change once he and Jessamine had started to treat each other more closely, but nothing really changed. People kept being rude and impolite to him. He thought that maybe he could learn to love the city since it was Jessamine birthplace, and he loved her, but it didn't matter how much he tried. Every time he ended up hating it more, so he had manage to see Jessamine as separate being of the city, as someone that was just there, but not really being part of the hateful city. After Emily was born he saw both of them as separate entities from the city and his hate toward the bothersome city remain over the years.

He had to admit to himself that he had been partially pleased to hear the disgrace that had fallen upon the city. Not that he enjoys the death of the people, but he couldn't care less about them. But when the first noblemen had fallen to the illness he hadn't been able to hide his joy, of course he had told Jessamine that he was very sorry about it. But it was until that city had fallen into chaos that they, the noblemen of the Parliament, had believed that it would be wise to seek aid outside. As if any of the other islands would do something for Dunwall, he knew pretty well that all the nobility of the rest of the Empire hated Dunwall nobility, that wasn't a secret at all and probably were already enjoying the fact that the city was rotting.

But it hadn't turned out that bad the situation of the rat plague; it had its bright sides, of course not all the people could see them, which was as shame. One of them from Corvo's point of view was that Jessamine and he had begun to sleep together more often than before. She had asked him to go to her bedroom far more often after the first three months of the plague than any other time. She had told him that it makes her feel safer when she was in his arms and that she want him to exhausted her so she wouldn't think about the plague during her sleeps, a thing that he had done gladly more than once. He knew that with the news he was bringing she would be devastated and that would mean a long night of love making. He smiled at the thought of that. After all he had been away from the two months and he did miss her as much as he did miss Emily. He wondered how they could be. Would they be alright? He only hoped so.

Though he had to admit that he would had preferred to reach Dunwall by nightfall rather than daylight, it would had been more easier for him to play his cards when Jessamine and he would be alone in her chambers than when there would be other people around. He had thought that he could simply tell Emily about his voyage as night story and then proceed to see her mother and press the right buttons once they would be alone. He wondered if she had already asked Burrows to make the investigation and what that man would have to say about it or if had already been brought to light what he already knew. Would Burrows try to deny it? Or make a petty excuse for it? Either ways the days of the man as a Spymaster were counted.

"We will finally reach Kingsparrow Island and be home soon enough, isn't that good, Lord Corvo?" asked Geoff Curnow making Corvo return to the present moment.

"Yes, Captain. I'm sure you will be happy to be back at the city you love so much, don't you?"

"Yes, and I will see my niece again, I hope that she is alright, but before anything we most deliver the news to the Empress. Is such a shame that none of the island had the cure for the rat plague," said Curnow with sadness in his voice.

"Yes, such a shame," said Corvo coldly. "Would you be returning right away to the City Watch?"

"Yes, I'm sure some of the men need to be put back on the right track, most of them believe that since the city is falling apart they can do as it pleased them. Still I'm sure that that isn't really important, right now is that you gave the Empress the answer of the other islands, I'm sure is eager to meet you, Lord Corvo."

"As I'm, I hope that she and Emily are alright," said Corvo sincerely.

"I'm sure young Lady Emily will be alright, Corvo, I'm sure she is also eager to see you back and received the lovely doll that you brought her."

Corvo chuckled, "That's for her birthday, a month from now. I will give her a simple bracelet right now, or she will go wild trying to find a present among my things," he said smiling.

"She is a very special to you, right? Just like my niece to me," Curnow said smiling.

Corvo simply nodded and then looked ahead the small light house that was in Kingsparrows Island was starting to be visible now, just half an hour of journey ahead and they would soon reach Dunwall Tower.

"You know Captain Curnow, if your niece ever needs a job as a tutor… I'm sure that the Empress would be more than glad to give her an opportunity. After all you had done a great service for the Empire," said Corvo.

"You, you really think so, Lord Corvo? I mean I could tell her, if the family she had been working for had fall sick with the plague, she could get a better place to work in, though that didn't sound good at all…" said Curnow a bit concerned.

Corvo laughed, making the other man looking at him with surprise. "I'm sorry, is that it sounded funny, don't take it in a bad way, is just… to get a job, she would need her last masters to be dead by the plague? That sounds weird… Still I will tell the Empress, you are a good man Curnow and if what you said about your niece is true, then she must be a fine woman."

"Thank you Lord Protector," said Curnow nodding softly. "Well I will go and see that everything is ready for when we disembark," he said and left Corvo.

Corvo eyed him and then turned to look at the city of Dunwall, a soft nasty smell had started to be present. Corvo wondered vaguely if there could be other persons like Curnow in the city, after all he was a good man, but then he remembered an old Morley saying about people of Dunwall 'a good apple doesn't make it up for a basket full of rotten ones'. Corvo just looked ahead and began thinking again in what he would be saying to Jessamine he needed it to be perfect and precise. He couldn't permit himself to have any mistakes, no he couldn't, if he wanted for things to go his way, if he wanted to get rid of Burrows. He would also need to deal later with Campbell but the man of faith didn't worry him too much, he might lead the Overseers, but if Burrows would be proved that he was the one importing the rat plague. Corvo was pretty sure that Campbell would soon abandon him, the High Overseer wasn't exactly known to be the most loyal man in the whole Empire, and less since he thought of himself almost as an equal to the Emperor. Yet Corvo knew that he needed to deal with the man sooner or later, maybe the High Oracle could replace the man, after all she was a woman devoted to the island of Serkonos and a close advisor to the Duke. Corvo wondered if the Duke had already told any of his advisors, meaning Lord Resnik, the High Oracle Anke Noboa, Mr. Duval, head of the merchants of Serkonos and his father, the Commander of the Grand Guard, Master Attano, of what he, Corvo, was planning to do.

If everything would come as he expected Serkonos would rise above Gristol. Corvo wondered if he could persuade Jessamine to move the Capital of the Empire out of that damned city. But then he guessed that the Duke wouldn't like to be remove of ruling his island, but at least they could had a bigger influence on the matter of state if everything went as he wanted. But if things didn't go the way he expected… he didn't even want to think about it, he knew he was playing a very dangerous game in which he could lose his head if he did something wrong, or get exile at least, not to mention to put Serkonos in odds with Gristol, but at the current situation of the capital he knew that Dunwall nor Gristol would go on an open war against one of the other island since it could be a start of a civil war and the fragmentation of the whole Empire. That was something that at the present condition wouldn't happen. And contrary to Burrows he had the precaution to do everything verbally and never get something written, and even though he would be found to be a 'traitor' Jessamine wouldn't have him beheaded, after all he was the father to her daughter. He smiled at himself and thought that he was worrying too much, because what could possible go wrong?