XVII
POISONED WORDS
That evening, panic began spread through the company like blood in the water when a ship wrecks itself upon the rocks, and the sharks begin to circle and feed. To have gone from such elation and excitement, to view the world that could have been theirs after performing before the emperor, empress, and all of Rome, but then to have that vision blown away…well… It is a sad thing when dreams perceived are so suddenly dashed.
However, what concerned the members of the company, first and foremost, was not the fact that they had to put on the play without the frowning visage of their Peniculus but, rather, what Silas had revealed about Felix’s funding sources for the production. In a terrible way, it all began to make sense to them - the lavish set pieces and materials, th
