The Eventide Child Read Online Free PDF Page A

at a few grapes, tossing them in her mouth quickly.
    “As you said, the Imperial Senate was dissolved ... fuck... What was it? Thirty years ago now? Gods, it feels like it was so long ago.” Tullius grinned, taking a massive swig of wine. “And as you know, Emperor Septimius Sextus abolished the whole damn thing and assumed emergency powers, reinvigorating the dictatorship. As you might also know... We promptly wound up at war.”
    Alexandra quirked at the word war. Was this to be a war story, then? She drew her legs in close to her body as she sank into the cotton padding of the most comfortable sofa she had ever sat upon. It was akin to sitting upon a cloud, covered in fine silk. Such a seat was far too luxurious for her. It was fit for a king, perhaps, or maybe even a God. A servant came by, Alexandra quickly snatched another grape from the serving boy and popped it into her mouth.
    “Yea, a bloody war, too,” her father said as Tullius nodded in agreement.
    “Aye. A lot of good men were lost, Petros. Your sons included. They died well.”
    Petros nodded, a simple sign that the man appreciated even those little words.
    “When Emperor Septimius went and died in the Battle of Three Armies, ten years ago, he left the Eternal Throne empty. Now, Septimius was the sort that thought he’d live forever and actually believed his throne was to be eternal, so he never selected a successor. Long story short, as far as the Empire is concerned, the Imperial Blood went extinct. Nobody can scrounge up enough of a birthright to inherit the throne, and with the Senate abolished, we’re sort of ... well, stuck. There’s talk that a Bastard of the Emperor still lives, but nobody has been able to find them. Our fine Latin cousins in Italia went and declared themselves Kings and Lords in the absence of the Emperor, and now fight among themselves.” Tullius paused, downing the last of his wine and allowed a servant to bring him more. “Fine idea, really, if it weren’t for the fighting part.”
    “Aye, so how is it that you’ve come to call yourself a senator, then?”
    “Well, that is the best part. There is no longer a central government, and yet we still continue to send our young men off to war. No more. The quality and the local Legion commander have taken it upon themselves to reconstitute order. Since a peace with the Shahzad cannot be negotiated with the absence of a government. The Merchants, The Stone Masons, and the Collegium Pontificum, all agree that it is time for a change. Naturally, we needed representation and so, ever the civil servant, I offered my name.”
    There was tension in the air that even Alexandra could sense. Her father didn’t show it, but he was displeased. His weight shifted and he eyed Tullius as if the man had just stabbed the Emperor himself. It was treason, what Tullius described, and everyone knew it. Even if the war dragged on, it was better to be destroyed than to surrender. That was the hard line the Legion had taken, and that was what they intended to do. Military rule was pretty clear cut like that.
    “The Most Serene Republic of Arkadia. We’re on the precipice of a reawakening. The Shahzad Empire has agreed to acknowledge our existence, and their emissaries arrived earlier this evening while you were selling your wares. It was good fortune I saw you when I did, Petros.”
    “Are you mad?”
    “Pardon?”
    “You’ve broken your vows, Tullius. You’ve forsaken all that we sacrificed, all that we built. I can understand that, and even accept it... But you've invited them into the city walls?”
    “Yes, what of it?”
    “You weren’t there. You weren’t there when Larissa fell, at the Summit.”
    “Yes, and? I was injured and recovering in Athens.”
    “In Larissa, the Emperor sought peace. He invited the Shahzad’s men into the city. Something terrible happened there. Mark my words, you’ve invited death upon this city and now you’ve brought me and mine into it, you damned