Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 137958 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 690(@200wpm)___ 552(@250wpm)___ 460(@300wpm)
Macrinus was wise enough to keep silent.
Indeed, he was wise most of the time.
It would seem when he was tired of seeing his brother suffer that his wisdom receded.
In fairness, if the table was turned, he could see himself intervening with Mac.
That table, however, was not turned.
They descended the stairs, hit the grand entryway with its threatening, spiked, intricate, wrought iron candelabrum that was the breadth of two men—two tall men—hanging over it.
They turned left, as Nero had done, into the Great Hall where Gallienus held court, as his father had before him, and his, and depressingly for centuries before that, their fathers.
The king sat in the large, midnight-velvet-cushioned, dark-wood chair which was intricately carved, tall steeples rising high at each side, several feet over his father’s head. This behind a long table set on a raised dais where, during feasts, or required dinners as summoned by the king (which were often), Cassius sat to his father’s right.
And his three wives surrounded them.
It was nauseating, not only being in his father’s presence during these times (or at all), but also that his father was a man who was so little of a man he could not find what he needed in one wife.
He had none of their love.
Just their greed, need for status, fear, or all three.
Fortunately, after his father’s first attempt, he did not demand his granddaughter attend him there.
He had a second son, a spare to the throne.
When he attempted to make his rule include his granddaughter, he learned he would not have even that.
Gallienus never again made that attempt.
As he walked through the tables where the appalling number of courtiers sat to dine when his father was in full king mode, which was nearly nightly, Cassius saw that, indeed, all of his men were around. His personal guard. And this had been true even when they were but simply soldiers.
Then again, they each thought of all as their own personal guard.
As it should be with soldiers.
Macrinus, of course. Nero as well. Otho. Antonius. Severus. And Hadrian.
Every one a general.
Every one had things to do.
Cassius knew whatever was to come would not be a blessing.
He stopped directly in front of his father, absolutely did not bow, but instead noted, “You summoned?”
Cassius endured the flash of displeasure from his father’s eyes and it was not difficult to do so.
“Before I even had breakfast served to me, the witch Fern demanded an audience,” his father began.
“Is she still alive? Or have you had her beheaded for her insolence?” Cassius asked drolly.
“I can have you beheaded for yours,” Gallienus snapped.
“The truth of the gods, I might welcome it for it’d put me out of my misery,” Cassius murmured.
“And what of Aelia?” Gallienus pressed snidely.
Cassius felt a sharp pang rend his heart.
“She has six fathers. She’ll be all right,” he returned.
“This is not getting us to where I wish us to be,” Gallienus noted hostilely.
“Please,” Cassius rolled a hand, “do proceed.”
“I’m delighted beyond measure I have your permission,” Gallienus rapped out.
Cass sighed.
“The witch Fern has shared that the tremors mean the Beast is being roused,” Gallienus announced.
Cassius’s back shot straight and he felt the air in the room turn thick as his men went alert.
“You jest,” Cass whispered.
“I wish I did. Alas, I do not. All of the witches have met. They’ve been trying to put a stop to it as well as discover who’s behind it. Someone is rousing the Beast. They mean for it to rise. To surface. For what purpose, I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter. As it seems they cannot stop this from happening, we must be prepared.”
“And how exactly do we prepare?” Cass demanded. “If lore is true, nearly the entire population of the continent of Triton fell to this Beast before they fled to Mar-el. It was only the Beast’s aversion to water that kept them safe. But it’s been so long, and there are so many incarnations to that story, we can’t begin to truly know how it happened. Some say magical forces banished it. Some say the water injured it and it slithered home to recover. Others say—”
“I know the lore, Cassius,” his father interrupted him. “I also know that the Great Coven was formed back then for this exact purpose. They’ve met over the millennia for other reasons, but there’s a plan they concocted in that ancient time that they’ve carefully nurtured over the centuries. And the time is nigh for them to put it into action.”
“And the plan is?” Cassius queried.
“King Mars will marry Wilmer’s niece, a girl named Silence.”
Cass did not at all like how this had started.
And he knew, irrefutably, that Mars was going to lose his mind at having to marry a Wodell.
“And how is this marriage—?”
“And Prince True will marry a Firenz woman called Farah.”
Sad for True, who many said was deeply in love with the second daughter of the Nadirii.