" Will you bend the knee to your new emperor, " Anabella asked him, a strange smile gracing her lips at last. So many years they had remained in the shadows of lesser men -- Varis had never been fit for the throne after Solus had died, but he had been the firstborn son. Now that he was dead, it was time to rebuild the Empire in their glorious image. " Varis has failed his duty. You can either die with him or help Garlemald to return to old glory. The choice is yours. "
Ordinarily, it was of no concern nor business to him whom the Galvus family members chose to wed -- and that didn't cease being the case now. That spineless whelp Nerva could do as he pleased; it was Quintus's sworn duty to serve and protect the royal family, as was the case with the entirety of the Ist Imperial Legion, and that wasn't a duty he would forsake due to personal distaste for any particular member.
No, he thought with a hint of bitterness, the killing of heirs to the throne had been Baelsar's job. It was an unsavory task that he was quite glad had fallen to someone else in a position of loyalty, although he didn't envy Gaius for having to take that role.
But this woman... The new empress, oh how she rubbed him in all the wrong ways. The Legatus's jaw clenched tight at her words, and he bit back the temptation to roar at her for her insolence towards the late Emperor Varis's memory. Varis had not failed -- he had been sabotaged. During his reign, however, the younger man had set Garlemald upon a path of unification under one standard, the Garlean standard.
What had Nerva done, aside from whine to his father and hide away while the crowned prince and the damnable IIIrd Legion did his work for him? Nerva knew nothing of military and political affairs, and it showed time and again.
But Empress Anabella, on the other hand, was not so useless as her husband. She knew these matters and how they worked, and she was not afraid to take charge -- which was good, considering her husband's missing backbone. Unfortunately for Quintus, that meant that he would have to serve her, and thus would need to steel himself towards her barbs.
No matter how vividly they made him see red.
Those steely, deep blue eyes narrowed, and his jaw loosened just enough to allow lips to pull back and reveal gritted teeth. Neither Emperors Solus or Varis had demanded he kneel to them. No, it had been something he had been willing to do by his own choice, without prompting, just as he had been willing to give to them his unwavering loyalty. The more Anabella spoke to him, the more his ire grew towards both her and the new emperor, and the more he struggled to quell his anger over the situation at large.
I do not bow to those unworthy of respect, he wanted to snap, but refrained. Instead, he hardened his expression all the more, uttering out a terse reply of, "Yes, Your Majesty," then offered the traditional Garlean salute. "Glory be to Garlemald, and glory be to His Radiance."