Anastasia looked at him for a long moment. She was not quite moved, but not entirely unmoved either. She gave a light, almost reluctant nod. "If there is ever a day when I am proved wrong," she said, "I will walk personally into your office and offer the exchange myself."
Aurelius heard that, and he nodded once, slowly. "Take care of yourself; I will be waiting for that day," he said simply, and then he turned and left.
Anastasia watched his departing figure until the door had closed behind him, and then she exhaled deeply. Her mind, almost against her will, drifted back to the meeting that had taken place a few days before.
Aurelius's first wife, the Empress Gloria, had come to see her. She had arrived quietly and without ceremony, and she had made one request: that Anasthsia refuse Aurelius's proposal for the return of the territory of Aurelia.
