In the Imperial Palace

Andreus Davonus was many things. The younger son of the younger son of a middling noble house. A husband and father. An avid reader. Imperial first minister. And something he had not thought about in a while, he was a friend of Lord Luthor Andros. Or he had been, he supposed.

In truth, friend wasn’t the right word. Friendship implied that the two had liked each other, and Andreus could honestly say he had never liked Luthor, and he was well aware the man hadn’t particularly liked him either. Not that there’d been any hostility or outright dislike either. The relationship between the two men had been built on a strong foundation of mutual respect and appreciation for the other’s abilities.

They’d met during the war, back when Andreus was but a lowly clerk who had been assigned to the administrative service of the army Luthor had only recently been given command of. His gift for logistics, bureaucracy, and organization had been immediately apparent to the young general, and a fruitful working relationship had grown from there.

Andreus was not a boastful man, but neither was he one for false humility. He knew his abilities were extraordinary and that his capacity for work was second to none. He would have found success eventually one way or the other. But without Luthor’s recognition, praise, and backing, his rise would not have been anywhere near as swift. And of course, Luthor had received great rewards from it as well. Initially just in the form of an incomparable administrator for his army, but later in the form of a very powerful man who both trusted him and owed him a debt of gratitude.

Had the young lord seen the potential in his new clerk to rise this high way back then? In theory the post of Imperial first minister came with little direct power, but in practice it gave its holder massive influence. Essentially it meant being the absolute head of the Toranian Empire’s vast bureaucratic machine, which was a job Andreus was uniquely suited to. The reforms he had enacted shortly after accepting the office had done great things to both speed up various processes, reduce cost, and crack down on corruption.

His success in the role, and loyal service, had earned him power of a different sort. He had the Empress's ear and trust, and he did his very best every day to be worthy of both. As such his mind should really be on his upcoming meeting with her, but it wasn’t.

Andreus was not a large man. In fact, his height and build were almost perfectly average for a Toranian Heartlander, but the man and mind within that body were anything but, and everyone was well aware of it. Servants and courtiers alike parted like a sea before him as he strode down the large and bright hallways of the palace.

As he walked, try as he might, he couldn’t avoid his mind going back to the conversation he’d had just a few short hours ago. An acquaintance from his old military days, one who had served alongside him under Luthor, had urgently requested an audience. A fighting man Andreus might not have been, but the ties of service still ran deep, and he’d made time as quickly as he could.

He'd expected that it would have something to do with Luthor’s recent passing, which proved to be true, but he could never have expected the true purpose of it.

Meandros Krokin had ever been an unremarkable man in terms of appearance and that had not changed. In all honesty Andreus recalled very little about him. He had been one of Luthor’s officers, and by all accounts a fine one, but he had always been quiet and reserved, seemingly content to stay in his commander’s shadow. Capable and loyal, those were the words Luthor had used to describe him, and that loyalty had been rewarded with elevation to Luthor’s sworn shield after the war was won.

For that man to now seek out Andreus and almost feverishly insist Luthor’s **** had not been natural and that his own son somehow had a hand in it… To say it was unsettling would be an understatement. Meandros had precious little to support his theory, but Andreus found he could not simply dismiss it either.

Still lost in thought he didn’t even register that he had reached his destination until the deep voice of Knight Captain Arvus greeted him.

Doing his best to hide how startled he was, Andreus returned the greeting and nodded. The Knight Captain was the head of the Empress's personal guard detail, and one of only three Knight Captains in the Royal Bodyguard. A man of singular determination and skill, with honor and loyalty to match. He was one of very few individuals that Andreus could truly say he admired. As the door swung open and he entered the chambers, he did his best to clear his mind and mentally prepare to meet one of the others.