"I am truly sorry for the trouble you have been through you… if only you give me a few minutes to explain…"
Apologizing with the same confidence and mockery he had frightened everyone with earlier, words suddenly froze in his throat. Cold eyes that embodied malice and distrust were staring at him from every corner. Wherever he turned, he was surrounded by the throttling aura of the offended counselors who waited impatiently to see the end of the farce he had put them through.
How much he despised that chocking feeling.
"We will give no minute until we see good old Marcus and hear his words!"
The head of the group spoke with the least try to maintain his irritated composure. Germanous nodded silently, leading the group to the interior chambers.
" I hope we will find the governor here and not another jester."
Another counselor group remarked in discontent. The situation that engulfed the blond was quiet dire, many questions rose that no one dared to express out loud. Was Germanous keeping his old man close so that he can take his life at any moment? Or perhaps he kept him to force him to write a will entrusting him with the province's rule?
Nothing was said.
A guard opened the door to the governor's bedroom, the blond stepped aside allowing the counselors to enter while he preferred to stay outside.
***
The feeling of a looming betrayal waiting to manifest boldly, of an abrupt failure and undesirable twist of circumstances dominated the young governor's thoughts and drowned his heart in fear.
Feeling the tense aura, the soldiers that guarded the corridor did not dare make an eye contact with the nervous boy except for one person who shared their duty of guarding but did not confirm to their uniform or stance. Standing near a pillar, leaning on his long spear, Diarmuid watched the young blond whom ordered him to return after his mission was completed to the palace, and while he was not sure if it was safe to go back to the palace and trust the governor, for some reason, the latter was hoping the spear wielder will protect him in case any sudden schemes or betrayal took place.
Diarmuid felt he was assigned to protect a disturbed child. The blond was paler than usual, and he was still in the same miserable state from their meeting in the morning; nothing of his usual arrogance or self - confidence was present, they were still replaced by fear and worries, anticipation dominating his red irises, and nervousness steering his every move. He took brief glances at his surroundings every few moments, carefully analyzing the expressions directed at him.
Insecurity phrased his internal feelings.
He once had his most prized soldier always by his side, the one friend that would never hesitate to protect him but now he was replaced by his own killer. What a twist of fate, for despite that fact, Germanous felt the gods had taken that one friend from him to gift him another with whom he could feel the same safety and connection. It was something difficult to explain but Diarmuid read it clearly in the red irises, gazing at him, as if talking to him in direct words.
The Celtic actually felt sorry for the blond lad; watching him leaning on both arms, small shoulders brought together where his head sank between them. What he was seeing was nothing more than a frightened kid yearning for the feeling of safety and warmness.
He could imagine another young blonde boy in the exact position, suffering the same feelings.
Never! He will not feel sorry for any of those Romans. Diarmuid immediately tossed the feeling away like detested food; these feelings of compassion can only be directed at the other boy, his true friend. Diarmuid raised his head when he realized the governor was actually monitoring his brief change of expressions and the little care he revealed toward the blond and that it did not pass unnoticed. A little shade of peace flickered in the red irises feeling the hidden softness the bronze eyes had cast on him.
"You have an honest face."
Germanous spoke, fingers of cold ivory running down the lancer's right cheek and stopping at the teardrop - shaped mole beneath his eye.
"Your sadness is always present on your face, you shall never forget it, thus you shall never betray it."
The blond raised his eyes to meet the bronze ones feeling he had finally found that one person who would not betray him, that one person whom he can trust.
"No man possesses this. I like it."
The sound of the large doors being opened, and the following grave footsteps startled the blond who stepped backward taking a deep breath. Eyes falling on the defeated faces of the counselors, his bent back immediately erected as his eyes retrieved their natural radiance and the arrogant victorious smile carved his lips again. For the counselors, being confronted by that smile was more horrible than the expected sight of the killed governor.
As if breathing life into a corpse, Germanous returned into his usual confident bold self in a second.
"Governor Marcus is alive, and he has put much faith in you, as you always return to his guidance when necessary."
The words left the leader of the group like the last breaths of a strangled man. Disdain did not leave their eyes, but respect framed their words once again.
"Since you have confirmed with your own eyes that my father lives and continues being the governor of this province, the emperor's letter is of no significance here."
The last words stung the most. The truth they held accompanied by the devastation they promised with was something to be feared.
Fate still favored him.
***
Upon hearing of the assigned group of counselors and officials unsuccessful trip to the hot springs, Laurentius went their himself. One of the residents welcomed him in awe. The counselor explored the burned house, asking to see the corpse. The request was unusual and a bit distasteful but the poor residents could not but comply wondering what with this poor lumberjack and these officials coming in waves to see him?! Lucky for the gloomy man, they had not buried the man yet, or more accurately what was left of him. Laurentius removed the cover laid on the corpse remains, the young boy who led him to the burial ground gasped still unable to get accustomed to the horrible sight. Laurentius on the other hand did not bat an eye or even attempt to cover his nose from the dreadful smell of rotting flesh. He wished to take a look at the dead man's face but nothing was left of it, a mold of flesh and bones with no distinguishable features as if the flame was plunged into his face.
Laurentius was a man of few words. He did not like to associate with people unless necessary but today was an exception. After veiling the dead again, he stood and asked the young boy.
"Have you ever been to the wood market?"
"No…"
The surprised boy answered with a bow for no reason. Laurentius went on:
"There was an old man there, a lumberjack whom the people often joked about his resemblance with the governor."
"Yes… I have heard of this! Although I have never seen the governor but my father often joked about this lumberjack resemblance… I mean… I apologize deeply…."
Laurentius did not pay attention to the young boy as he rode his horse again, leaving the poor boy wandering what was the meaning behind this visit.
Laurentius' eyes darkened, no evidence, no justice.
***
After the opposing group left the palace, their hopes in getting rid of the young blond spoiled, the old governor's room was left to drown in silence and darkness behind closed doors again but another visitor disturbed the old man's peace for the second time that day.
"It is funny, is not it?"
Germanous asked the lying man. To an inexperienced eyes, one would think he was talking to a corpse. Breaths barely escaping the agape dried lips, and the once sharp eyes eclipsed by shallowness, like the sun behind thick curtains. Agony wasn't heard but clearly present and the only left feeling was that of withering.
"You have always tried to pull down my hopes and hindrance anything I desired to do. You wanted to keep me under your shadow, restraining me with your ideals and beliefs."
The blond said, his eyelids slightly dropped refusing to show the heartbreak that hid behind his reproach.
"Now you have become the shadow and me the light!"
The fading eyes did not convey comprehension, staring with evident fear at the strange blood.
"That is right, this is not your fault my lumberjack friend. But since I have chosen you to take my father's place, I might as well spill my heart's sorrows to you!"
"My poor father, imprisoned in a humble shed, neglected and murdered brutally today… stripped of all the glory he had once striven to build… his burnt body was easily mistaken for the dirty corpse of a commoner! The title he was so proud of meaning nothing burned by the torches of pure hatred!"
The blond wished he could talk to his real father like this, to keep tormenting him with his regrets about his failure in raising a suitable son as he had often told the blond.
"You have the title, but I have the authority... I am the one who is enjoying and acting… what you're holding for now is similar to a mirage… just like the mirage you enjoyed turning every action and goal I tried to reach into!"
"You have never expected anything out of me, but I dare say I have managed to surprise you the most today… a surprise you will never recover from!"
Germanous laughed as he caressed the old man's head. Although taken by delirium at this hour of the night, the old man could tell that these cold touches were real and not a hallucination… as real as the killing intent they harbored.
"What was it you once told me? Ah… that I cannot be a governor, that you will never pass down this role to me…"
The sarcastic tone he maintained through this one sided conversation turned into words seeping with pure malice. Every letter he pronounced landed in the air like a spear piercing the ailing decoy, as if reaching through his similarity to the dead governor.
"But I am the governor now. I am the governor because you are! This is a cruel twist, is it not?!"
Germanous smiled; never had he felt immense pleasure like the one he got from imaging himself torturing his old man with these malicious words.
"Keep living for my sake, father."
Germanous kissed the frightened man forehead and left the room, he was talking and acting seeming convinced by the play he himself orchestrated. He had isolated his father when he fell sick, under the pretense of recovering in the hot spring and today, in the city's hall, as chaos reached its beak with the emperor's letter reveal, he communicated with one of his trusted guards to kill the real governor, who would never support him, via a single motion, plucking a hair from his head. But when one plays a treacherous game, paranoia is quick to catch up with him. not trusting any of soldiers he placed one last bet on the lancer's blade and he won, like he always do.
This thought of control intoxicated the red eyes with insane lust, he shall govern this province and its miserable people against their desire, fulfilling his own desire.