“Let them plot all they want,” said Sittas, shrugging. The heavyset general smiled cheerfully.
“I’m a Greek nobleman, myself, mind you. So I’m not about to dispute Justinian’s words. If anything, he’s being charitable. By my own estimate, two-thirds of the Greek aristocracy is plotting our overthrow. This very night, just as he says.”
Sittas yawned. “So are the rats in my cellar, I imagine. I’m more concerned about the rats.”
Chrysopolis shook his head vigorously. “You are much too complacent, Sittas,” he argued. “I myself share Justinian’s concerns.”
Chrysopolis had replaced the executed traitor John of Cappadocia as the empire’s praetorian prefect. He was the one other member of the inner circle, who, like Germanicus, was not personally well-known to Belisarius. But the general himself had proposed his inclusion. Among the highest Roman officials who survived the purge after the failed coup d’etat which had been suppressed by Belisarius and Antonina a few months before, Chrysopolis had a reputation for ability and—a far rarer characteristic among those circles—scrupulous honesty.
“Do you really think this alliance would have that good an effect?” he asked.
“Of course,” stated Justinian. He held up a thumb. “First. The Army will be ecstatic. Persia’s the enemy they fear, not Malwa. Anything that prevents another war with Persia will meet their approval. Even after Belisarius’ great victory at Mindouos, the Army still has no desire to match Persian lancers on the field of battle.”
“The Malwa will be worse,” pointed out Antonina. “Their numbers are much larger, and they have the new gunpowder weapons.”
Justinian shrugged. “So? Roman soldiers have no experience with the Malwa, so they’re not worried about them. Over time, that will probably change. But it’s the present I’m concerned with. And, right now, I can think of no better way to cement the Army’s allegiance to the dynasty than for Photius to forge a Hundred Years’ Peace with Persia.”
Justinian held up his forefinger alongside his thumb. “Two. It’ll please the populace at large, especially in the borderlands.” His head turned, the sightless sockets fixing on Anthony Cassian. “The peasants of the region are already delighted with Cassian’s succession to the Patriarchate. They’re Monophysite heretics, the lot of them, and they know Cassian will rein in the persecution.”
“I have no formal authority over Patriarch Ephraim of Antioch,” demurred Anthony. “The border regions fall under his jurisdiction.”
“The hell with Ephraim,” hissed Justinian. “If the dynasty’s hold on the throne stabilizes, we’ll crush that bastard soon enough. I know it, you know it, Ephraim knows it—and so do the peasants of the borderlands.”
Belisarius saw that Germanicus was still scowling. The Illyrian general, quite obviously, was unmoved by Justinian and Chrysopolis’ concerns. Belisarius decided it was time to intervene.
“We can live with Persia, Germanicus,” he stated. “We have, after all, for a millennium. We cannot live with Malwa. The Malwa seek to rule the world. Their invasion of Persia is simply the first step toward their intended conquest of Rome. I say we fight them now, on Persian soil, with Persia’s lancers as our allies. Or else we will fight them later, on Roman soil, with the Persian lancers shackled into the ranks of Malwa’s gigantic army alongside their Rajput and Kushan vassals.”
Germanicus eyed him skeptically. Belisarius repressed a sigh. He was aggravated by the man’s stubbornness, but he could not in good conscience condemn him for it. The commander of the Army of Illyria had only been made privy to the great secret a month before. Germanicus, like Chrysopolis, had no longstanding personal relationship with Belisarius. But he was a close kinsman of Justinian and an excellent general in his own right. Theodora had urged his inclusion in the inner circle—this was the one subject where she never issued commands to Belisarius—and Belisarius had agreed.
Abstractly, he knew, the Illyrian general accepted the truth of Aide’s nature, and the crystal’s warning of the future. But, like most generals, Germanicus was conservative by temperament. Persia, not India, was the traditional rival of the Roman Empire.
No, he could not condemn Germanicus for his prejudiced blindness. He simply returned the man’s glare with a serene, confident gaze.
After a moment, Germanicus stopped glaring.