Having overcome the disturbing events triggered by the Regent and Kastor, Damen and Laurent are finally crowned in their realms.
But a new enemy seems to be stalking the two lovers. On Laurent's 22nd birthday, strange events occur.
Is the Regent rea...
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A year and a few months ago
It was summer in Ios when the Regent was executed.
The Veretian guard's single stroke, shortly after Laurent was proclaimed king, was deep enough to make the Regent bleed for an entire afternoon, but not accurate enough to kill him.
It was said that the southern vases, made of the cheapest pottery, bravely withstood even an occasional fall from a battlement. If you really wanted to break them, you had to hit the bulge of their belly with a metal hammer.
Laurent sent a physician from Akielos to see his uncle when he found that the Regent was still breathing, and half an hour later the man emerged, wiping his bloody hand carelessly on a towel as if he had come from a slaughterhouse.
"He lies on the floor of the hall, still in chains and guarded by soldiers, Your Majesty. The sword didn't pierce any vital organs. The Regent will live if we take care of him. Will you send one of your men to finish the job, or shall I follow medical protocol?" asked the physician as he entered the royal room where Damen, half awake, was being tended to by Paschal and other physicians.
There was silence for a moment and Damen, whose wound had been staunched, looked into Laurent's blue gaze, which remained cool despite the heat.
A shadow flitted across the cobalt blue of the Veretian's retina and settled on him like a menacing bird perched on a branch. Laurent, still wearing his tattered and bloodied chiton, finally made up his mind:
"Take care of my uncle. We'll make his perseverance in life something unforgettable. His resistance in leaving life will be celebrated."
Paschal, who was applying salves to Damianos' wound, turned to the other physician and looked at him with a pale face. A humanitarian shudder, perhaps. Death would have been better for the Regent.
"Yes, your Majesty," the Akielon man replied and left the chambers.
Laurent then turned impersonally to other quantitative problems, which he promptly solved with the keen mind of an owner.
"Assemble the Council. I want to talk to everyone first thing in the morning," Laurent said to Audin and Mathe.
And in the same emotionless voice, he turned to one of his soldiers:
"Inform the North army in Karthas about what has happened here and tell them to come to us. We'll have to deal with regional resistance. Also, ask the royal herald to come here. He must travel to Arles immediately and deliver a message."
Then Laurent returned to Damen's bedside and stood there with mute fidelity.
At this time of year on Ios, the intense sunbeam in the early afternoon boiled the marble and tiles in the halls and dried out the tops of the olive trees, turning the foliage a yellowish and brittle tone. The light filtered through the high open windows of the long balconies, mixing with the maritime and salty freshness brought by the wind.
