Murder. He, the Emperor, was clearly referring to the cold blooded act. Now Queen Sparta, herself, had killed hundreds of men in battle, for killing in the name of War was acceptable, but to take a human life, unprovoked, with malice aforethought, there was no nation on the face of the Earth that would find this brutal act justifiable in any court of law or temple of religion. However if there were some justifiable, provoked reason for the taking of General Cothos' life, well Queen Sparta's ears were opened with a mind set to hear the reasoning of the Emperor of Rome. "Please forgive my silence, as I was lost in a thought.., but I am now quite intrigued.., so please, by all means, tell me the thoughts of your own mind."
"General Cothos.., as I have made mention, is an incredibly ambitious, cautious creature, like a viper his mind twists and turns to all manners of ways of improving upon his station in life, and if he could take my place as Emperor.., he could take the world." here his voice grew tense as wire when he spoke of his hated brother in-law. "I have heard rumors and whispers, among certain members of the senate, for Cothos could soon pose a threat to my throne, being that I have, as of yet, no male heir. This being the case, his ideas involve getting rid of me, placing my nephew, his son, upon the throne, why then the clever General would set himself to rule as the young boy's proxy. Then he plans to kill my sister's son, after a few years on throne. These are his plans for the future and they do not include there being any breath of life in my body. My spies bring me news daily of his plots and conspiracies, treachery and treason. I can no longer suffer through his duplicitous actions, yet out of the deep love for my beloved Prisca, and the welfare of my nephew I have yet to act."
Queen Sparta sat back taking in all this new, disturbing information as she set her wine glass down, shifted her position looking directly into his sad dark eyes asking of him "How much trouble your mind must be made to suffer, I am so sorry to hear of this, the loss of your sister, the strife of your life. If I have him executed for you.., will this better secure the alliance between our two nations and help you sleep at night?"
"It would make a great start!" he smiled his laughter and bright eyes returning once again the he added "I can assure you, dearest Queen Sparta, spend a few weeks with him and you, yourself, will want to kill him with your bare hands!" here the two monarchs laughed together in good cheer but then he said something that made Queen Sparta quite angry and agitated when he added "Oh, I wager if you only knew some of the things he has been telling his men about you, and what he would like to do to you, then you would go off now and slit his throat leaving him in a pool of his own blood, dead!"
Whereupon she sat there frozen for a moment, with a cold stone look upon her face, as if someone had just walked over her grave. Queen Sparta gave a stern, sharp eyed gaze with fire in her words and the feeling of brimstone churning in her belly she said "Tell me now, all of it, tell me now, pray tell, what has he said? For if the General is as foolish as he is ambitious I will have his head."
Cyrillus smiled with delight, for this was precisely the reaction he had hoped to achieve in the young Queen, then he leaned in closer as he told her all, saying "My spies have overheard him bragging to his soldiers and servants that he plans to bed you in seven days time, saying he will pay out one thousand florins if it is not so. Also he made mention to one of his whores, whom I employee, that, were there not a suitable match betwixt my daughter and your brother, he would seduce you into bed.., and thereby seduce you into marriage, establishing himself as your King's Consort. This is all I know, I can tell you no more.., all of this is for you to act upon, however you see fit.., I do apologize for having to speak of all of this unhappiness."
"General Cothos.., as I have made mention, is an incredibly ambitious, cautious creature, like a viper his mind twists and turns to all manners of ways of improving upon his station in life, and if he could take my place as Emperor.., he could take the world." here his voice grew tense as wire when he spoke of his hated brother in-law. "I have heard rumors and whispers, among certain members of the senate, for Cothos could soon pose a threat to my throne, being that I have, as of yet, no male heir. This being the case, his ideas involve getting rid of me, placing my nephew, his son, upon the throne, why then the clever General would set himself to rule as the young boy's proxy. Then he plans to kill my sister's son, after a few years on throne. These are his plans for the future and they do not include there being any breath of life in my body. My spies bring me news daily of his plots and conspiracies, treachery and treason. I can no longer suffer through his duplicitous actions, yet out of the deep love for my beloved Prisca, and the welfare of my nephew I have yet to act."
Queen Sparta sat back taking in all this new, disturbing information as she set her wine glass down, shifted her position looking directly into his sad dark eyes asking of him "How much trouble your mind must be made to suffer, I am so sorry to hear of this, the loss of your sister, the strife of your life. If I have him executed for you.., will this better secure the alliance between our two nations and help you sleep at night?"
"It would make a great start!" he smiled his laughter and bright eyes returning once again the he added "I can assure you, dearest Queen Sparta, spend a few weeks with him and you, yourself, will want to kill him with your bare hands!" here the two monarchs laughed together in good cheer but then he said something that made Queen Sparta quite angry and agitated when he added "Oh, I wager if you only knew some of the things he has been telling his men about you, and what he would like to do to you, then you would go off now and slit his throat leaving him in a pool of his own blood, dead!"
Whereupon she sat there frozen for a moment, with a cold stone look upon her face, as if someone had just walked over her grave. Queen Sparta gave a stern, sharp eyed gaze with fire in her words and the feeling of brimstone churning in her belly she said "Tell me now, all of it, tell me now, pray tell, what has he said? For if the General is as foolish as he is ambitious I will have his head."
Cyrillus smiled with delight, for this was precisely the reaction he had hoped to achieve in the young Queen, then he leaned in closer as he told her all, saying "My spies have overheard him bragging to his soldiers and servants that he plans to bed you in seven days time, saying he will pay out one thousand florins if it is not so. Also he made mention to one of his whores, whom I employee, that, were there not a suitable match betwixt my daughter and your brother, he would seduce you into bed.., and thereby seduce you into marriage, establishing himself as your King's Consort. This is all I know, I can tell you no more.., all of this is for you to act upon, however you see fit.., I do apologize for having to speak of all of this unhappiness."
"I am shocked, and deeply disheartened by this news and can not even begin to formulate my plan of action, so dazed by his schemes and conspiracy am I" she said her teeth clenched together her pulse racing with the rage of anger.
"The General must be rid of so that we might stop his influence and crush all of is ambitions for power! Of this I require your cooperation and assistance so that we may solidify our alliance." Cyrillus said in all manner of seriousness.
"In a show of Unity, Loyalty, Respect and Honor I will take these matters into my own hands, telling no one of what I shall do.., when the time comes. However.., there is one thing I require in return." she said getting up off the plush bed standing to her feet her head swimming with wine, fury and anxiousness.
Emperor Cyrillus stared up at the towering figure of Queen Sparta and he said holding her hands "Tell me what it is you want and I will give it to you." he smiled with a light in his eyes as bright as the sun.
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