All credit for this story to Sunjinjo.

An Overlady's Audiences Part 16

The next visitor was an Imperial, again. Jinx rolled her eyes – not only as he an Imperial, he was also fat again, and clad in a white toga. She wished she didn't remember so well, but the red band on it told her he was a senator, too.

"Greetings," she said in a withering voice. "Who are you and what do you want from me?"

The senator bowed deeply. "Noble Lady, my name is Vilanus Tiberius, senator of Arcadiopolis."

"You didn't tell me anything new." Jinx felt a pang of annoyance – had she survived the entire adventure with Sayron, and crushed Arcadiopolis utterly into the dust, just to be ceaselessly bothered by its inhabitants all the same? Her emotions were clear enough; her hands even glowed a little bit, and her visitor shrunk away. "Milady, I thought… we might do business. There are and were more Imperials in your waiting room."

Jinx thought back to the Imperials she'd seen today. For some reason her thoughts lingered with Miranda and Maraxus, and her hands cooled. They weren't all mere annoyances. She shook her head. "Alright, alright. Why are you here?"

"I would support you, Milady, use my influence at court to bring you back to the Empire."

"What kind of influence?"

"I oversee a major part of Lord Sayron's war machines and the army's equipment – weapons, armour, that sort of thing. I would be able to transport part of that to the north, where you could have it vanish into one of your gates." The senator allowed himself a smile. "This would give you a great advantage when you return to our city gates."

Jinx raised her eyebrows. "What assures you I have plans to do so?"

"You were most motivated last time, Milady. And we all know how you were treated."

"Very well, another question then. What do you expect in return?"

Tiberius twisted his face in his most disgusting smile. "Nothing special, Milady. Merely the promise of a small promotion in your Empire, and your light assistance in that of your half-brother. Perhaps a few of your invisible helpers… I have quite a lot of rivals, and I could serve you even better with them removed."

Jinx turned to Gnarl. He shrugged. "Well, it'd help Maraxus and his troops. And greens in the Empire, well, the shield is gone…"

"I'm not letting this bloated wineskin tell me how to take the Empire. By the time I take it there will be nothing left of it, let alone a place for him to rest his fat ass." Jinx' eyes burned into her advisor's. "This is not the way I face Sayron. And I'll outfit Maraxus with our armour, steel and durium, not the copper and bronze of his former masters."

"…Fine arguments, Mistress." Gnarl smirked. "So you do lean towards Destruction?"

"Where it concerns that place… yes." Jinx turned back to her visitor. "What makes you think there is the possibility of promotion in… my Empire?" Her hands started glowing again, and now the light flickered and danced. "And what makes you think I want to undermine my own brother that way? You didn't do your homework, Vilanus Tiberius. I've had a taste I liked as I took on Florian's Arcadiopolis, I want to enjoy that again, and I will not taint it with your underhanded squirming and scheming. When my Minions enter your villa it will be with bloody claws and fiery eyes, not invisible and under your command." Her own eyes were flaming as well now, and Tiberius widened his own in panic.

"Milady, I come to you with the best intentions –"

"The road to hell is paved with the best intentions," Jinx grinned as she rose from the throne, her claws curved and wreathed in flame. She swept them up, and suddenly the flames licked her visitor. She narrowed her eyes, content as a dozing cat in warm sunlight, enjoying his shrieks. It warmed her like a hearth fire. Her Minions cheered the display from the balconies. Eventually the screams stopped, and Jinx opened the trap door to remove the ashes and remains from the throne room. "Nobody will miss him."

"Sayron won't, in any case. You value fair game?"

"With him, I do. He deserves better than that vermin's deceit." Jinx seated herself again. "I'm ready for the next one."