- Chapter 8: Beyond anger -

"This is an outrage!" Marius roared as he slammed his fist against the table, causing the inkwell to stir and his mouth to twitch in unspoken pain. "My own brother, taken down by some lowly savage! Unacceptable!"

Caught up in his own tirade, the imperial didn't even notice when his wife entered the chamber, flanked, as always, by a pair of hooded sentinels.

"What's wrong, Marius?" the woman asked calmly, tilting her head in subtle curiosity.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?!" the imperial echoed irritably as he turned to face her. "My brother is dead, that's what's wrong! Even worse, Nordberg has been taken by some magical barbarian!"

"Nordberg?" the woman repeated, her expression tightening ever so slightly.

Marius didn't seem to notice as he proceeded to pace around the room, waving his arms theatrically.

"This is an insult!" he bellowed, as if addressing a whole crowd of listeners. "Not just to me and my family, but to the empire itself! To rebel against our will, to assassinate an imperial governor – it is to spit in the face of Emperor Solarius himself!"

"Calm yourself, Marius!" his wife instructed, rational as ever. "Anger makes for a poor strategist!"

"Oh, I am beyond anger, my dear!" Marius assured her as he finally came to a stop. "Mark my words: This lowly savage, this– this– son of a harlot is going to pay for what he has done today! I will make sure of it!"

As he turned to examine the documents upon his desk, the imperial once again failed to notice the way his wife's expression seemed to harden, ever so briefly, at his words.

"And how exactly do you intend on doing that, dearest husband?" the woman asked as she strode up to stand beside him, glancing at the documents scattered across the table.

"Oh, just you wait~!" Marius crooned in a devious voice as he stroked his goatee. "If those little rat-things really were what I think they are, I have just the thing to lure him out...!"


Author's note: Hate to disappoint, but due to some unforeseen technical difficulties, I ended up loosing a lot of work, which I now need to redo. In the meantime: here's another in-between chapter with some juicy foreshadowing! Enjoy!