EP45: The House that Titus Builds

The House that Titus Builds after running a grueling emotional and social gauntlet throughout a long and taxing day, Lord Titus and Lady Lucretia Vale at last find time to spend with one another, along with the Lady's cl

The House that Titus Builds after running a grueling emotional and social gauntlet throughout a long and taxing day, Lord Titus and Lady Lucretia Vale at last find time to spend with one another, along with the Lady's closest confidant, Indra. That is, until the final 10 survivors of the Utini campaign arrive at Titus very door. Welded together as a single unit and forged in blood, they cannot yet leave the woman who led them in battle and to whom they hailed as Imperatrix. While surrounded by the corpses of their foes, Titus adroitly navigates the situation, including a potential crisis of faith as he reveals his status and spiritual allegiance as the Goddess of Justice's strong right arm on Terra. Alone again, Lucretia asks Indra to stay, understanding the moment Lady Vale's sword sister sheds her clothes and joins the other two in a night of healing, passion and connection. Come the dawn, Lucretia finally opens a scroll from the Emperor she should have read moons ago, yet had put off as long as possible. The Emperor's orders are as bad as she feared. He has bidden her to render all aid to Leptis region in subduing Juramentum. Undeterred, Titus declares his love for the Lady. For once her ironclad conviction on how history must unfold is shaken. She reveals that she has been desperately seeking a different answer to the one unbending certainty of history. Power Rules Grip and Mithra engage in ritual combat under the watchful eyes of the Beloved Trisli and Justicar Mirza. Although initially taken off guard by the sheer speed of his opponent, Grip proves too potent for the warrior scholar. The Beloved declares clarity achieves sufficient and grants Grip permission to return the next day, after Titus has made his decision on whether or not he will accept military and arcane aid from the Death Tamers despite their unsavory practices. Granted permission by her leader, Mithra accompanies both Grip and Weisa into Juramentum proper, where they discover the very spot that the dragonkind first encountered Trisli and also where Kithgi Waterwood was ambushed and murdered many moons ago. Marcus and Alba encounter one another by chance just after dawn, with neither one having slept at all during that long hard night. Still in agony at the thought of betraying her faith, Marcus Wife nonetheless declares that if she's going to be blaspheming, she'd rather do it by his side. Marcus, in turn, proposes to marry her a second time, with full knowledge of which deity he serves. Alba accepts, and the two appear poised to survive a truly harrowing test of their love. During this, Devran spots a sad figure lurking in the distance, mournfully watching on Marcus's distraught son, Livius. Devran seeks him out, and over the course of a tender conversation, manages to restore some measure of conviction to the other young man. As the day gets into full swing, the trickster from Xahar helps Livius to his feet, offering to show him something that isn't real.