“How do you know I have amassed a small fortune?” Vilia asked him.

He smiled. “I know everything about the emperor and his family, my darling. I would not have survived this long did I not. You possess almost five million gold cubits along with considerable land holdings.”

She nodded in acknowledgement of his words and then said, “And what do you possess, Jonah?”

“More. Much more,” he said and the corners of his mouth turned up just faintly in reply to her question.

“How much more?” she demanded.

“Do not be greedy, Vilia. I am going to help you to become the richest woman in Hetar-as well as its empress,” Jonah told her. “But since I see you cannot be satisfied until you know what you will know, I will tell you that I possess over one hundred million cubits of gold. You have more land than I do but I could not appear to be gaining wealth lest the emperor become suspicious.”

“How in the name of the Celestial Actuary did you ever amass such a fortune?” Vilia wanted to know. She did believe him and she was enormously impressed.

“Mostly from the Razi kiosks,” he told her. “Remember, I hold the monopoly on Razi in Hetar. And I have more kiosks throughout the country than anyone else. And if someone wishes to open a kiosk they must come to me first and apply. Of course I gain a fee when an application is filed. And then another fee when I issue a license. And the kiosk builder must pay me a fee for every kiosk he builds and there are only two builders who may build kiosks in the land. And the independent Razi vendors cannot own their kiosks. They must pay me a monthly rental, as well as thirty percent of their profits-collected daily so they may not cheat me. Razi has turned out to be a very lucrative business for me, my darling. And of course my vineyards are profitable and becoming more so each year.”

“And my husband has more than that?” Vilia wanted to know. She had never paid a great deal of attention to Gaius’s wealth. She had her own and her husband had never denied her anything she wanted for herself or their children.

“My wealth is equal to the emperor’s now although he does not know it, my pet. But when you gain half of what is his and we combine our assets, we will be able to gain control. Cubits are power and the more one has the more powerful one is. We will marry, my dear Vilia, and you shall be Hetar’s empress.”

“When will we wed?” she wanted to know.

“I must consider the timing,” Jonah told her. “It would appear suspicious should you divorce your husband, then turn about and wed too quickly.”

“Will it not look suspect under any circumstances, Jonah, my love? If I aid you in gaining your goal I will not allow you to set me aside.”

“Never!” he swore to her. “You will be my empress and my wife, Vilia, but be patient. First you will divorce Gaius Prospero and retire to your villa in the Outlands province. You and I both know that the only way to gain the throne must include the disposal of the emperor and his empress. And when I have been acclaimed Hetar’s new emperor, my darling, I shall announce to all that as I have admired you from afar for many years, I have now asked you to be my wife and sit by my side as Hetar’s empress. You are of an old and distinguished Hetarian family, Vilia. And your charities among the poor as Gaius Prospero’s wife are well-known. Many gossip now that it is a disgrace he has not made you empress. You will be welcomed as my empress.”

“What will happen to my children when Gaius is overthrown?” Vilia wanted to know. “Especially my son, Aubin?”

“Aubin has no taste for the political life,” Jonah said. “He is merchant-born as his father once was. And he enjoys a slightly decadent life, as do many young men of wealth. I will never harm any of your children, my darling. I swear it! But I will want you to give me an heir of my blood, Vilia. You are young enough yet.”

“Aye, I am,” she agreed. “I love my children, Jonah, but Aubin reminds me too much of his father. He is already running to fat.”

“Then we are agreed as to the order of things,” Jonah said. “You will obtain your divorce and retire to the country. After I have overthrown Gaius Prospero and gained the throne, we will wed and you will be my empress.”

“We are agreed, my love,” Vilia told him. But she did not agree. She would wed him sooner. “I had best return to my apartments, Jonah. Sleep well, my lord.” She kissed him softly, running a finger down his narrow face.

Jonah remained seated, staring into the fire burning in the hearth. His time was coming. He could smell it! He could taste it! Within two years he would be Hetar’s ruler and Vilia would be by his side. He was surprised to realize that he really did want her with him. Was it love? He had no idea, but she was beautiful and clever and would make a perfect empress. But Vilia was also impatient. It would take all of his own skills to keep her from ruining everything. He would be more at ease once the divorce had been settled and she was back in the Outlands.

During the next few days Jonah carefully steered Gaius Prospero toward the emperor’s goal. He coached his master carefully as to his meeting Vilia in order to tell her that he was divorcing her. “You must lay no blame for this decision upon her,” he advised the emperor.

“I am bored with her,” Gaius Prospero whined. “She does not excite me any longer and she is unable to take pleasures with me. Only Shifra can please me.”

“And how fortunate you are, my lord, to have found this wonderful maiden,” Jonah enthused. “But on the rare occasions I have been in the lady Shifra’s company she has appeared a gentle and kind girl, my lord. I know she would not want you to hurt the lady Vilia.”

“My Shifra is the soul of courtesy, Jonah. No, she would not want me to harm Vilia in any way. Ahh, Jonah, may you one day find such perfection,” the emperor enthused with a gusty sigh.

“Indeed, my lord, I wish it myself. But we must also consider the people in this matter of your divorce, for what they think is important to you,” Jonah continued.

“How shall I please the people, then? They love Vilia,” Gaius Prospero said.

“The first step must be to speak with your wife,” Jonah advised.

The emperor visited Vilia. Her delight in his arrival within her apartments almost made him feel guilty. She was still a handsome woman and far younger than he, Gaius Prospero considered silently. Was he doing the right thing? And then a vision of Shifra arose in his head and he knew that right or wrong, he must have Shifra for his wife and for his empress. If he kept Vilia and then supplanted her with Shifra as his empress the people would not stand for it. No. He had to divorce Vilia. There was no other way.

They were seated in the privacy of Vilia’s dayroom. She had dismissed the serving women and was serving him herself. She poured him a large goblet of sweet wine and placed a wooden board with bread and fine Midlands cheese before him. “I am certain you are famished after your long day, my lord,” Vilia said pleasantly. “We have hardly spoken since Anora’s tragic death. You seem to have born up well, Gaius.”

“I have had Shifra to comfort me,” he answered her.

“It was kind of you to free her from her slavery in Anora’s honor. The people very much liked such a generous gesture on the part of their beloved emperor,” Vilia remarked with a small smile.

He drank half his goblet down and she quickly refilled it. “I have come, my dear Vilia, to speak with you on a most sensitive and serious matter,” the emperor began. Tiny beads of moisture were beginning to dot his smooth forehead. “Over the past months we have barely seen one another and it is long since we took pleasures together. Your life seems to be spent more and more at your villa in the Outlands province, Vilia, while mine must of necessity be spent here in The City.”

“You wish to divorce me,” Vilia said and she almost laughed when he paled at her words. But then she reached out and put a comforting hand on his arm.

“I have not said it!” he cried.

“But it is what you wish,” she answered. “If you wanted me to spend more time with you, Gaius, you would have asked me directly. You have found love, I am told, with the young Shifra. You have not loved me as a husband should for a long time. I think I realized it when you asked to marry Anora.”

“Do you love me as a wife loves a husband, Vilia?”

“No longer, Gaius, but you know that without asking. We have grown apart and while that is sad there is no help for it,” Vilia told him frankly. “We can remain friends.”

He could feel the waves of relief rolling over him at her words. “I think of you as I would a dear friend,” he told her. “I want us always to be friends, Vilia. We have children in common.”

“Indeed, Gaius, we do,” she said with a small smile. “But as long as I am your wife you cannot wed Shifra without my approval and knowing you as I do, you want her for more than a wife. You want her for your empress, Gaius.”

“I have not said that!” he protested but she waved his denial aside.

“Gaius, Gaius, I am not a fool. If you wanted Shifra only for a wife I would give you my permission and you would wed her. But you want to make her your empress and you cannot do that while you are still married to me. The people would not stand for it. You are clever enough to know that. You must rid yourself of me first. And you cannot have another wife conveniently die, can you?” She laughed at the look of shock and surprise and yes, even a little fear upon his fat face.

“I…I don’t know what you mean,” he said nervously.

“I mean what I say, Gaius, but do not distress yourself. I am perfectly willing to give you the divorce you desire and to make certain that the people know we are both of a single mind in this matter. And because of your great generosity to me I shall sing your praises to the skies and publicly pledge my loyalty to both you and your new empress wife. But as a good merchant, my dear husband, you realize that there will be a steep price to pay for this unique gift I am prepared to give you.” She smiled at him but he saw no warmth in her amber eyes.

“What do you want?” He finally gained the courage to ask her.

“Half of all you own, Gaius. That is my price for your happiness and for the privilege of allowing your beautiful Shifra to have what should have rightfully been mine several years ago-had you not been such a fat coward,” Vilia said in an icy voice.

The emperor grew red in the face. “You are mad!” he shouted. “Totally and completely mad to believe that I would give you half of what is mine!”

Vilia shrugged. “Then enjoy your Pleasure Woman, Gaius, for unless you give me what I desire, I will not give you what you desire and Shifra will remain nothing more than that.” She smiled at him again. “I thought you were enjoying your wine, Husband.”

“You play a dangerous game, you bitch!” he snarled.

“Had I not stood by your side all these years, had I not curried favor with the magnates’ wives and given the lavish parties and entertainments that brought you to prominence, Gaius. Had I not given you children and an air of respectability. Had my respected family not allowed you to marry me, the daughter of a prestigious Hetarian house when you were not truly worthy enough of my bloodlines, where would you be today? My support and my wisdom guided you, Gaius. And now you wish to cast me off as if I was an old slipper? Well, you shall not. You shall give me half of all you possess and in return you will gain all I have previously promised to you. Is your Shifra not deserving enough of half your wealth, Gaius? Does the gold mean more to you than the woman you claim to love?”

“I must think on it,” he said putting the goblet down, for his hand was shaking.

“I have sent faerie posts to our children telling them you seek to divorce me,” Vilia said. “They will, of course, be extremely upset.”

“You would turn them against me!” he shouted at her.

Vilia smiled. “If you treat me properly and with respect,” she said, “that will not happen. Have you considered that Shifra might give you a child? You are not too old to sire another child and Shifra will do naught to prevent it if she believes it will please you. And if you would put this girl in my rightful place, Gaius, what is to prevent you from disinheriting my children in favor of hers? No, this is not just for me, it is for our children, too. I must protect them and see to their inheritance.”

The emperor stumbled to his feet. “I need to think,” he said and he headed for the door to her apartments on visibly unsteady feet.

“Think well, my lord,” she warned him. “Shifra might even now be breeding.”