It had been an enjoyable few days for Cordelian. He had outmaneuvered his dullard elder brother on several occasions, and then it had been Agathio's birthday. He’d held a pleasant soirée with a few close, highly influential friends (he hadn't invited Euphastolon, too uncouth). Now he was waiting in the chambers of the Eukrates for a meeting which would also prove to be highly beneficial for him.

Lacratium, the head of a powerful and ancient patros family whose lineage dated back to the days of Mekos herself, had been wheedling and hinting for the honorary position as Majester of the Stables for years now. It was a pointless job with no actual duties, but it made the holder an adjunct of the royal household, and so gave them some bragging rights and good seats at festivals and the like. Cordelian suspected that what Lacratium really wanted was the right to have a stripe of the royal purple in his formal robes.

His father Holophian had refused to do this favor for Lacratium, always sneering at him, calling him a worthless buffoon behind his back. Usually behind his back. His father was right, but Cordelian was good at finding uses for grateful buffoons, especially rich and powerful ones with many friends. It had been easy to convince Fornulus to finally approve the patents. Lacratium would know who was responsible for that purple stripe at long last and would be very grateful to Cordelian. He already had some favors in mind to request from the man.

Finally, Agathio informed him that Lacratium had arrived. After being announced the old patros swept into the room in his usual large way, occupying the whole room the moment he stepped into it. He was smiling widely, had he heard about Cordelian's news already?

After the formal introductions were complete, he said, in a booming voice, "Your Highness, I assume you want to congratulate me?"

Cordelian stopped for a moment, swallowing the rehearsed words he had prepared. Congratulate him about what? He couldn't ask until he knew if it was something he should have already known. He said something pleasant but noncommittal.

Lacratium went on, "I'm so gratified to finally get the position. You know I've been waiting to receive my due for several years now. Majester at last! My blood counted as belonging to the royal household, as I've always wanted, as it should be."

What was going on here? Cordelian's eyes narrowed fractionally.

"I am truly pleased for you, old friend."

"Thank you, thank you! I'm glad the new Empress saw my value. Unlike your father." Lacratium realized this was a dangerous comment. "Well, Oma rest his soul, of course, I mean he was a great Doukar! I respected him enormously, don't misunderstand me."

The man continued his ingratiating babble but Cordelian wasn't listening, his mind racing. Vicca had nothing to do with it, so why did Lacratium think that she did? But of course: Fornulus, the blundering oaf, had opened his big mouth in front of his wife about Cordelian's plans. She'd realized helping Lacratium would give him another ally, so she'd taken it upon herself to inform the man, undercutting him. Judging from the way the big patros was talking, she'd even taken the credit for his elevation.

That Cordelian couldn't abide. To compete fairly was one thing, but to underhandedly lie and steal something someone else had worked for was low, and unworthy of royalty. He should have expected nothing else from some unlettered horse-faced farmgirl like her.

Agathio subtly slid a scroll onto his desk which included news from a province near Lacratium's holdings. He glanced over to the young man, nodding ever so slightly to signify his pleasure. Yes, he could use this to concoct some reason as to why he had asked Lacratium here today, to cover this embarrassment.

Something needed to be done about the Empress. She was getting uppity.

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The next day, Cordelian was sitting in his office, diligently carrying out the official tasks of his position. Meeting with supplicants and completing missives on wax tablets and scrolls for Agathio to distribute, all normal, everyday tasks to occupy his time while he waited for his main guest to arrive. When she was finally announced he put away his work and sat up straighter, glancing over at his brother to make sure the man wouldn't do something irritating in front of her. This guest was far more significant than the slobbering Lacratium.

Euphastolon had shown up some time ago, apparently out of boredom, and sat at a small desk near a window, as usual, eating one of his favorite Danrian apples and playing dice with himself. Gambling. The grotesque habits his younger brother had picked up from his mercenary friends disgusted Cordelian. Still, having his brother around had the useful benefit of unnerving some of the supplicants, due to the dark rumors the patros spread about him. Cordelian never tried to find out which of them were true. That was one of the last things he wanted to know.

His guest now, however, had a backbone of bronze, and was not the type to let Euphastolon unnerve her. She was a tall woman in late middle age, with a tanned and weathered face that spoke of a great deal of hard work out in the sun. She gave the impression of a piece of tough old leather.

"Princes," Tokropos greeted Cordelian and Euphastolon with a simple nod after Agathio had finished the usual greeting ceremonies. It wasn't a sufficient show of deference, but Tokropos was a powerful ally, so it suited him to let it slide for now. He would have to overlook the leftover behavior from when she was still plain Tokos the noumens from Mellor.

Tokropos was not a woman to be taken lightly. Over the last forty years she had taken control of trade in vast swathes of the western empire, rising from an anonymous noumens family only by her own intelligence and determination. His father had never recognized her achievement, but one of the first things Cordelian had done upon Fornulus' coronation was to recommend that he make her a patros. Fornulus hadn't minded; after all, rising from nothing to greatness was a proud imperial tradition. The empire had not prospered for five hundred years by rewarding the incompetent and ignoring those who succeeded. A few of the more snobbish patros had complained about the upstart grain merchant being one of them, but most were happy to see her raised, as made her vast wealth nearer at hand for them. Now she was present at many of their meetings, eager to make new connections, and had many ceremonial responsibilities, all of which would allow them to wheedle coin out of her. Many of the patros families spent more than they earned from their holdings, desperate to outdo each other, so there were always outstretched hands among them. If they were foolish enough to stretch their hands out to a crocodile, well, that was their problem.

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That time Cordelian had made sure that word of who was responsible for her rise had made it back to Tokropos, and so he had gained a powerful ally. Tokropos' low background was an advantage to him, as it made her a pragmatic and innovative thinker. She saw and seized opportunities that most of the other patros never even imagined existed. Like him, she was ambitious and hated complacency. Her trade empire not only complimented his job as Eukrates well, but also doubled as an information network. Through her he often learned of important events before word reached the Doukar. Naturally he kept this fact from Fornulus and the others.

As always, Tokropos wasted no time getting down to business. She told him in no uncertain terms that the Empress was putting a cramp on her business. Apparently, Vicca had been using royal information to help her own family underbid Tokropos’s merchants and snatch up particularly appealing opportunities before she was able to. He almost admired how Vicca had devised this way to increase her family's power and be a thorn in his side at the same time. Although he might be giving her too much credit, and she was just being nepotistic in the usual way.

The Empress was a linear thinker, unable to see both sides of a matter. On the one hand, hurting Tokropos did indeed reduce his power in the short term, but on the other hand, infuriating Tokropos would only drive her further into his arms and make her more willing to consider helping him hobble the Empress, benefitting him in the long term. The sad truth was that Vicca was not very talented at political machinations. He almost felt sorry for her.

"Your Excellency," Tokropos continued, "rein in the Empress. Hurting trade only hurts the Empire, so she’s not doing her duty."

Cordelian didn't reply to her right away, instead taking a moment to mull over his options. There was a light tinkle from Euphastolon's bone dice; Cordelian wondered what animal's bones had made these dice of his. If they were from an animal at all.

He decided to give Tokropos the runaround for now, to make her come up with a solution. If you had allies, you had to put them to use from time to time, lest they become too dependent on you, and thus of no use to you. He wasn't certain what to do in any case. He couldn't tell the Empress to stop helping her family, as there was nothing untoward or suspicious about that. Patronage towards family and friends was traditional, indeed, the Empress would have been acting inappropriately if she had not attempted to benefit her own. He couldn't prove she was trying to hurt Tokropos. It was even possible that she wasn’t and had no idea that Tokropos was his ally. Even if she was, plenty of the patros resented Tokropos and would look kindly on anything that annoyed her.

He leaned forward and put on his best expression of regret over steepled fingers. "My lady, I truly wish to aid you in any way I can. However, you must know that the Eukrates has no right to dictate to the Empress. I'm sure you are also aware the current Empress does not deign to listen to my humble advice."

Tokropos huffed slightly, and finally sat down heavily in the chair opposite his desk, which creaked under her. "I could try to hurt her family out west: I hear that branch has a lot of debt. I could always buy it up and squeeze them." She made a squeezing motion with her hand. How colorful.

Not a bad idea for the future, but the time wasn't ripe yet for such direct action. The Empress was still too close to Fornulus. Once he had introduced some light between them, he could let Tokropos loose.

"I fear that would only prompt retaliation from her family, and indeed, from the Doukar. You know His Exaltedness worships his wife and will do whatever she asks of him." He was spineless, in other words.

Tokropos drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair. This didn't produce a single clink or jangle, as, unusually for a patros, Tokropos did not bother with jewelry. Cordelian understood: by avoiding ostentation, she emphasized her profound wealth to the flashier patros who had nothing but the appearance of wealth. He admired subtle touches.

"In other words, what we need is to get the Doukar to stop kissing her backside so much."

Delightful. "I suppose you could put it that way. However, I'm not sure what I can do, as the Empress is much more charming than I am." Cordelian smiled.

Surprisingly, Euphastolon spoke up for the first time in over an hour.

"Get him a new girl."

They both turned to look at him. The younger prince just shrugged, threw his apple core out of the window, and continued to roll his dice. "Get him a new pair of tits to bury his face in, and he'll stop listening to Vicca. The Doukar can marry more than once, so there's nothing weird about introducing him to some new tart."

Cordelian gave his brother a surprised, admiring look, and Tokropos nodded. Euphastolon rarely contributed serious ideas, but every so often he reminded Cordelian that he could be cunning if he wanted to be. It was easy to forget, as he usually agitated for direct action.

"That's a good idea, brother," Cordelian said.

"All my ideas are good ones, except for the ones involving gambling."

Tokropos leant forward. "Do you know a girl he would like?" No 'Exaltedness' this time.

Cordelian waved. "All the young ladies of the court are known to His Exaltedness, and while he certainly lusts after many of them, I'm sure the Empress already knows how to deal with them. It would be best to find someone new in order to grab the Doukar's interest. A fresh face has an appeal all its own. That shouldn't be a problem for you, my lady. You have connections all over the empire, you must know of many beautiful young ladies who would be eager to come to court."

Tokropos rubbed her chin. "I'm sure I could find someone. What sort of person would be suitable – besides beautiful and young, of course?"

Cordelian considered it for a moment. "She must come from a good family naturally, but ideally a family of no true importance, one which would be desperate to grab an opportunity to have an empress in their family. Perhaps an old and noble bloodline fallen on hard times."

"Make sure she's a lot younger than Vicca," Euphastolon chimed in cheerfully. "Bigger tits too, if you can manage it."

Cordelian suppressed a wince and continued, "she should be charming, full of life. The Doukar is easily dazzled by girls like that, and she'd make a fine contrast to the Empress. Bold and willing to grab what she wants."

He did his best to ignore another disgusting comment from Euphastolon revolving around grabbing. Even Tokropos looked put off.

She was silent for a moment after he finished speaking before smiling slightly. "You know, I think I might know just the girl. There's a family who owes me a lot out east because - it's not important. It will take me perhaps a month to arrange this and get her here, so I better get started." She rose.

"Excellent. I'll write a letter of interest as Eukrates for you to take to the family while you have preparations made for your journey. What is the name of the girl and the family head?"

She told Cordelian and Agathio made note of it for him. Just as she was about to leave Cordelian stopped her.

"Oh, one more thing my lady. The girl you have in mind, she's not intelligent, is she?"

Tokropos smiled. "Don't worry Your Excellency, she's as dumb as a rock."

"Wonderful."

Euphastolon laughed. "Can't wait to see her."