From Brother, With Love II

Posted on Sun Jul 23rd, 2023 @ 11:53pm by Princess Royal Giana Orsini & Emperor Antonius VI

Mission: Historiae Terrae Et Imperii
Location: The Pyramid
Timeline: Date 2371-08-14 at 1945
4353 words - 8.7 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

The princess walked swiftly and with purpose back down the hall and to the elevator giving absolutely no indication that she would answer any of CJ’s questions. That rage had subsided, but Giana certainly had a bit of a wild look about her, her eyes were slightly widened and her expression was intense. She marched straight back to the Secretariat room, through the doors, and right up to where her father was working on paperwork.

“I need to speak to you.”

CJ was mortified in her own stoic way. The typical fidgeting she did with her fingers over her stomach had intensified and her eyes were a bit wider than was usuals. She liked to control events and not have them control her; she was not in control now.

Antonius looked at his daughter from his seat, directing his attention from the throng of officials sliding papers to a page who would, in turn, slide them in front of him. His eyes showed curious concern, but it was dulled; numb.

“Right.” He said quietly before standing up from the chair and placing a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. He led her over to the corner of the room nearest them which happened to be vacated. As it was a large room with lots of noises, they would be able to speak unheard. “What’s wrong?”

There was a slight sense of annoyance as the proceedings were interrupted, but no one dared speak of it out loud. Giana motioned for CJ to follow them and only when they were in the corner of the room did she speak in a hushed, urgent way to her father.

“Mario knows about Giuseppe.”

CJ followed very slowly, staying as far back as she reasonably could from the two royals. She watched and listened, trying to put things together before she was addressed.

“How?” Antonius asked clearly, that particular question bubbling up over the others in his list. His face indicated immediate concern, for Mario knowing about a family secret was very bad indeed. It meant his brother was preparing to try and take him for all he was worth.

This time, Giana turned to CJ. “Tell him what you told me he said. All of it.”

It wasn’t a request which was of course quite unusual for her. This was serious, possibly more serious than CJ had ever actually seen Giana. Though it also couldn’t go entirely unnoticed that Giana had positioned herself between CJ and her father, she didn’t stand next to Antonius now to speak to her. Whether that was intentional or not was unclear.

Despite the uncertainty, CJ anchored herself in her pleasant business-like persona, not allowing any feelings to cloud the confidence she normally conveyed. She decided to sell it, like she understood the matter generally well.

“The Prince approached me at an evening even just a few days after Giuseppe’s arrest with an idea for a documentary funded through my department which would shed light on Giuseppe’s character so that the people would understand who were up against and choose the right side in their hearts. At that time he offered himself for an interview and said he knew something about Giuseppe that would ‘stop the presses’. I assumed he was dramatizing his knowledge, something I deal with quite often, but the Princess seems to think there’s more to it than that.”

Antonius listened with a face that communicated very little. When CJ was done, he looked at Giana again.

“How would Mario know about it? The circle was tight on this one, unless you told Elana or some friends outside the family.”

Anger flashed in Giana’s eyes, but she kept it in check. “Father, for four days after that I didn’t leave my apartment. You can ask any of my aides or guards. I wasn’t exactly feeling my best. So yes, that’s the question. How would Mario know about it? I certainly didn’t say anything.”

Antonius looked at his daughter, a cold and restrained annoyance on his face that he didn’t give voice to. Now wasn’t the time or the place for any of that anyway.

“Giuseppe was a boy of questionable character, and it barely got better with age. Mario is his uncle. It’s possible he knows any number of secrets about him that very well may have nothing to do with you.” Antonius said with reasonable calm. “Perhaps someone should ask him what he knows.”

“Forgive my interruption, but…” CJ said, looking from Antonius to Giana. “What exactly does Prince Mario know that I don’t? Because, if it’s serious, we could be in very bad trouble.”

Giana ignored CJ and turned fully to face her father, looking into his eyes in earnest. “Father, when has Mario ever supported you? Really supported you? He’s always danced around it, he still hasn’t pledged anything to Paolo more than a one like congratulations run through some intern at his office… do you not find it very strange that suddenly he wants to help… to reveal the character of his nephew all in the name of what is ‘right’?” She frowned. “If you are wrong and he does know it will destroy us.”

“Of course I know he isn’t loyal. If he thought it would get him the throne, he would plunge a sword in my back. So would so many people.” Antonius said, shaking his head. “I’ve kept him at arm's length since I sat in the golden chair, and I know he doesn’t want to help also.” He said, sighing gently. He maintained his self control. “Whatever he knows, he almost certainly intends to use it as blackmail to leverage himself into a powerful position I have refused to give him. He does this whenever he can.”

Giana could see she was losing this fight despite everything screaming in her that there was more there and her father refused to consider it. Maybe it was his usual hesitance to believe that the Orsini family - who had been until now the only Imperial family who had not shed each other’s blood - would ever do such a thing. She turned to CJ suddenly then and drew close, speaking very softly to make sure only she would hear.

“Giuseppe raped me when we were children, or more accurately when I was a child.”

CJ nodded. She expected something like that from Giana’s choice of words in her office. She gave a neutral response, knowing Giana wasn’t looking for emotion from her right now, but quickly, her mind was working.

“That would stop the presses.” She said. “And make Giuseppe look like an unspeakable monster.” She looked at Giana. “And ruin your reputation.”

“And make every citizen in the Empire wonder how such an atrocity could happen in the Imperial house with Imperial children right under the Emperor’s nose? Did he know and ignore it? Did he not know? How could he not have known, he is the Emperor.” Giana relayed the rest to her father, this time not accusing him, but giving voice to the fear of what Mario could do and what the public would say.

“I see your point.” CJ said quietly. “Obviously that won’t be in the documentary. Far too…messy.”

“And he knows it won’t make it into a documentary as well.” Antonius said to Giana. “Besides leverage, any other use would destroy him. I would wager he plans to use it as a pretext for promotion. Anything else would be…suicidal.”

“But how did he know? Even if it isn’t this how would he know anything that went on in our household that would ‘stop the presses’ as he claimed?” For just a moment, Giana found herself wishing Edward was there with her and hadn’t gone and gotten himself killed in some half baked attempt at escape. Part of her had been sad of course, but Giana knew she had such a hold on Edward that if she had asked it of him, he would have killed Mario or died trying.

Probably the latter, but still.

“We ask, Giana. We will investigate.” Antonius said, a slight sound of exasperation in his voice. He dealt with this sort of thing regularly and it was less scandalous to him. “You are talking to a man who had killed his fair share of enemies, but there is a time to act and a time to learn. If we panic now and are reactionary, we’ll do more harm than good.”

“I assume he was under the impression he was going to con me into doing his bidding on this.” CJ said. “I could follow up with him and see what he knows.”

Giana fell silent. To her they seemed to both not grasp the severity of the situation, or maybe it was because it was she who would suffer the brunt of it and they didn’t care. Antonius likely wouldn’t have noticed, but CJ would most definitely be able to tell Giana was becoming quite upset, even if it was silent.

“No, I will talk to my brother directly.” Antonius said, looking from CJ to Giana for a moment and then clearing his throat. “Would you like to join me or not?”

“What?” Giana asked, frowning at her father. “Would that help?”

“It’s your great worry, dear. It might be your secret. It’s only right you should be a part of it.” Antonius said with an understanding expression on his face. He then fixed his eye on the corner of the room where his brother was laughing with a female attendant far below his station and his age. He called out to him in a way that disturbed the entire room and would embarrass the man for sure. “MARIO!!”

Room startled to silence as everyone jumped in their seats, and on their feet, turning their attention to the emperor, first, and then to his brother, who stood where he was next to the servant in stone silence. When the girl turned red and hurried away as quickly as she reasonably could, he looked irritated and lowered his head slightly. Walking over at a somewhat glacial pace. At first, he picked up speed until he arrived at the corner of the room.

“What the hell are was that?” he asked under his breath, his eyes wide.

“I didn’t want to call you twice. We are a busy man.” Antonius said, his expression unamused and unapologetic.

“Oh, yes. Well you would be.” Mario said, keeping his face neutral for the benefit of his brother. Sibling or not, life and death power had to be respected. “Now what do you want?”

CJ slinked back subtly, but didn’t leave completely. She would let the royals for a circle, but she had every intention of staying right where she was asked to be.

Giana noticed CJ moving back and while she would have preferred her ally with her, she understood why it couldn’t be that way. She looked at Mario and then at her father and then back. She started to speak and then thought better of it; she was good at leading people with the rope they’d use to hang themselves with, but her father was better and this was important.

“Camila Joyce, get back over here.” The Emperor said, looking at CJ with a warning glance. He was difficult to read at this point, but one could easily infer that she wasn’t going to be dismissed anytime soon.

CJ cursed in her mind and then approached obediently, the awkwardness of the moment not lost on her. But, if she wa anything, She was tough, and not at all afraid to look the prince down. She stood there and looked directly at Mario, her expression stone. Antonius did the same, except the question was on his face.

“Tell me, little brother. How is it that you intend to stop my presses with news of my son?” He asked, a growl in his dramatic voice. There was no friendliness or humor there.

“Oh, that?” Mario asked with obvious anxiety. “Is that what this is about? It’s nothing. He was just a little shit when he was a boy and I wanted everyone to hear about the time he visited me and shattered some of my fine China over one of my servants’ heads because the pasta was too hard.”

Giana took a slow breath. She knew her uncle didn’t like her, and maybe that fact could get him to falter. “Is that the quality of story I was to expect about my own father, uncle? That would make me think twice about him?”

“What are you talking about, girl?” He asked, his eyes wide and warning. He would have her keep her mouth shut on that. “Please, let the men talk.”

CJ lifted her head slightly higher at that and her fist clenched in her other hand. She said nothing however. Her time would come, she was sure.

“Of course I will always defer to my father… who else are you talking about?” She looked around dramatically and then her blue eyes settled on Mario. “He’s the only one here, and he’s not speaking.”

“Why you little..” Mario said through gritted teeth, but his older brother took a step forward, boxing Giana out slightly, but making it physically clear that he wouldn’t have the man speak to her in whatever way he was about to.

“Mario, We have ways of learning the truth of things.” He said, his voice low and menacing. He was fed up with betrayal, and his love of gentleness with his family was quickly waning. “Who told you, brother?”

As intimidating as Tambora wise, it was difficult to intimidate someone who have known you your whole life. Through a slight gulp, Mario smiled.

“I’m very easy to talk to, you know.” Mario said with a forced shrug. “Tell me, did you ever visit your son in prison?”

“Of course not.” Antonius said, scowling now. “And why would I?”

“Prisoners get very lonely. He needed someone to talk to.” Mario said, and then grinned slyly. “And I went to see my nephew when no one else cared to.”

Maybe he would dig his own hole, Giana thought, and maybe she wouldn’t have to do anything foolish.

“When?” She prompted. Such a thing would be easy to check, recordings easily reviewed… unless they magically went missing as they always seemed to. Even that might be damning.

“Once a week on Tuesdays after my tee time.” Mario answered without a worry in the world. “Don’t worry, I had no idea about this ridiculous plan of his. I thought he was going to his grave soon enough. And a good thing too. What a little evil fuck he was, really Antonius. Bang-up job there.”

Giana fought to keep her feelings from showing too much, but she was having trouble. He knew. She had no doubt about it now and she looked at her father. Had he turned a blind eye to this? Surely he would have been informed if Mario was constantly visiting Giuseppe.

“Besides Jessica, you were his only visitor.” Antonius said.

“Was I really?” Mario said, looking more disinterested than unsurprised. “I would have Thought he would have had countless friends based on his behavior.”

Mario then turned to Giana and lifted a brow.

“I’m surprised you didn’t pay him a visit. After all, he was quite pitiful in there. You should have seen it first hand. Emotionally drained. I’d say the man had no idea whatsoever he was going to be rescued from that place. No idea. He was hopeless. And that means that, wherever he is, he’s someone’s puppet. Isn’t that a more interesting conversation than this stupid suspicious nonsense you’re angling for?”

As Mario finished, Giana took a beat and then moved up into his personal space despite her father’s blocking her. “It’s quite alright that I didn’t go see him, uncle. I have the perfect picture of a weak, pitiful, and ineffectual man too useless to do anything for himself right in front of me. Thank you for being such a prime example.”

She was close to him, her eyes intense, a smug and condescending look written all over her beautiful face.

Mario blinked at her. Being insulted was rare for him, but he knew she spoke from pain. He understood her now, and so he smiled.

“Well, maybe. But I must say, the things he told me in there, when he thought he was going to die, tell white a story about why you are..the way you are.”

“Mario.” Antonius warned. “What’s your game here? What are you after?”

Mario chuckled at the question.

“What do I want? It’s simple, dear big brother. I want a lordship, a seat on the Council of Lords and…to be Prince Regent when you die. How does that sound?”

“No.” Giana denied him herself immediately. There was something more to all of this, but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

“Are you crazy, Mario?” Antonius said, his fists beginning to ball at his side. He had been pushed far, and if his brighter thought this was the time to pull something like this, he was wrong. The next thing he said, he said quietly and angrily through gritted teeth. “You should be careful, brother, just recently, princes are dropping like flies.”

“Oh, I don’t know, Antonius. It seems to me we’re getting what we want.” Mario retorted with a snort. “If I wanted to side with that lunatic, that’s where I’d be. But I’m not. Just think about it logically, will you? A brother as an ally is a good thing, and I had to twist your arm on this or you’d have ignored me again like you have the past seven damn years. I wasn’t going to use it.”

Whether that was true or not was immaterial, of course. Mario backed up.

“Will you just think about it?”

“Get out of my sight.” Antonius said without giving him an answer. His brother willingly obliged.

“Absolutely not.” Giana all but growled after her uncle’s retreating form and then looked to her father. Of course she wasn’t commanding him or even giving a suggestion of it, but she was simply giving voice to a fact they both knew. There was absolutely no way that Mario could have all of that, especially not Prince Regent. Paolo would be dead not ten minutes after Antonius and his daughters would likely follow if they didn’t submit.

“I will go out and announce it myself and implicate him in blackmail if he doesn’t choose to be reasonable.”

“Well, hang on.” Antonius said, watching his brother walk away. “Before you came back to talk to me about this, Elana came over and told me she wanted out of our little arrangement. Apparently standing too close to the throne is a bit too dangerous for her.”

He looked at her, knowing she would be upset, but refusing to dismiss and option off hand without thinking about it.

“We need a third.”

“You can’t be serious.” Giana’s face reflected the incredulity in her voice. “You’d put your brother who has just stood there and blackmailed you and threatened to ruin your entire family… in charge of your Empire were something to happen to you? How do you even know he is telling the truth about the entire thing? Giuseppe never loved Mario, why would he have told him a damn thing if Giuseppe didn’t think doing so would be some sort of benefit to him? I know you all think he’s stupid, he’s really not.”

“A good thing to consider.” Antonius said dryly. He looked at Giana, having ignored but still been aware of CJ’s presence. “What would you do if you were in my position, Giana?”



The question caught her off guard. She was certain he wasn’ asking for advice, so why was he asking what she would do at all? What did that matter? A flash of frustration went across her face, but she worked through it. “I’d placate him and while doing so I’d have intelligence tearing every aspect of his life apart to find the answers. There’s more to this. I know it.”

He watched her as she spoke, nodding when she was done, and then waving CJ closer.

“A premise to explain the loyal prince’s demise if it doesn’t work.”

CJ didn’t need time to think; things like this rolled through her head on a near constant basis. She was the spin doctor, and she could also set up a spinnable story.

“The Emperor’s loyal brother is rushed to the hospital tonight for a lifesaving procedure. He had a heart attack after learning of his nephew’s treason. Photos are presented of the Emperor and his remaining children visiting him at his bedside and it’s made known that the Orsini family is still strong, despite Giuseppe’s betrayal. While there, you tell him in private you’re giving him what he wants.”

“And, while he’s having his stay, I will send a visitor to him. To let him know he isn’t as untouched as he thinks.” Antonius said, frowning. He took no joy in this kind of work.

While she hadn’t necessarily been thinking about taking all of these steps to set up some sort of story, she supposed it made sense even if the thought of painting Mario in a remotely positive light was currently making her skin crawl. She remained quiet, but she was paying close attention to the exchange between her father and CJ. When they paused, she spoke.

“I meant what I said too.” Though her voice was resolute, it was clear she didn’t really want to go through with it. “If he doesn’t back down, I will speak out against Giuseppe and Mario both. If we truly live in a society where my reputation would be ruined because I was raped by my own brother when I was a child then frankly we don’t deserve to exist as we are.”

“It’s all about angles, your Highness. It’s all about who has control over the story.” CJ said with a tone of certainty. “If you were to go public with your family and fiance at your side and the entire scene were perfectly framed, you would be a hero and Giuseppe, a monster. But, if we allow someone else to air the news..”

“He’ll die first.” Antonius said, his own tone resolute and serious. He never spoke that way if he didn’t mean it. “But, if you want to go forward and control the story, Giana, I support you.”

“I don’t want to - not yet. Even if it is perfect, it will still be damaging to a degree. To all of us.” Giana said and looked at CJ. “Not unless it is necessary, but I trust you to know if and when that would be, CJ.”

“I’ll monitor the situation carefully, ma’am.” CJ said, reaching into a pocket in her white suit for her Sonus. She typed something out on it quickly and prepared to make a call.

“In the meantime, I’ll handle Mario.” He said. The Emperor carried no devices, but all he had to do was turn to the right person and everything would be arranged.

Giana reached out and placed a hand on her father’s arm. Wordlessly, she looked into his eyes, her own vulnerable and pleading for him to fix it. Pleading for him to not fail her again. She said nothing and let her hand fall away.

“I guess I’ll just… wait.”

Antonius smiled gently; tired. It was rare for him to smile. He reached up and touched her chin. He could only imagine how she felt about it all.

“You’re strong enough to take whatever he throws at you.” He said simply. “But I won’t let him do that. You’ve been through quite enough, I think.”

Giana closed her eyes, enjoying the gentle touch from her father that was so very rare. “Thank you, Papa.”

Continuing the touch for a few more seconds, the Emperor finally released her chin and turned to speak to someone who could get the ball rolling on his end.

Giana took one more look at her father and then finally moved away from him. At this point, she could only hope that he would be able to do something about all of this and show Mario his place. Otherwise she would have to do something… she wasn’t sure what, but she would have to figure something out. She began to walk away but stopped by CJ, touching the woman on her upper arm to get her attention from her Sonus.

“CJ… please keep me in the loop. I’m going to go back to my room for a little while now.”

CJ gave the princess an affirmative nod at her request.

“I will, ma’am. And I suspect the next part of this will be rather dramatic. I’ll send you updates.”

Giana didn’t like the sound of that at all, but it would be as it had to be. She gave a nod to CJ and then finally moved to exit the secretariat room. Whatever her uncle had done, she hoped her father would make him pay dearly for it.

It was a bad day to have brothers.

END