Constantinople
The guards came to attention as Empress Zoe rushed past them, flung open the doors to her private apartment, and hurled her golden tiara into the far corner. She went over to the balcony and closed her eyes, taking deep breaths, attempting to extinguish the many images playing out around inside her head.
From far beyond the orange and lime groves, the sound of the multitude filled the air. Citizens, rejoicing in yet another royal marriage, singing and dancing, many of them already drunk. Secure, at peace, an emperor who promised stability, not wild excess. The days of violence and debauchery were at an end. His marriage to the glorious Zoe proved it.
Or so he said.
Right now Constantine Monomachus, Emperor of New Rome, was in a stately apartment not so very far from wher
