In a confident, strong-voiced Latin, Ballista began: 'For the safety of the Res Publica, the soldiers demanded that I take power. Having killed the usurper, I now lay down all my power at the feet of my rightful emperor Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus Augustus. I give myself to his clementia in the person of his Corrector totius Orientis, Odenathus of Palmyra.'
At long last, the Lion of the Sun spoke. 'How slowly and painfully should I kill a man who has the arrogance to assume the trappings of imperial power?'
Ballista stood where he was.
'Or there again, no.' Odenathus smiled. 'By the maius imperium over the eastern provinces entrusted in me by Gallienus Augustus, I declare Marcus Clodius Ballista innocent of any and all charges of maiestas.'
The two men stepped forward, and formally embraced.
'Let them come out,' Odenathus called over his shoulder.
Isangrim, Dernhelm — his darling boys — Julia, and Maximus, Calgacus; all here, all safe.
'The throne of the Caesars is too high an eminence for weaklings like Quietus, or even for men like us,' said the Lion of the Sun.
Safe back in the arms of his familia, Ballista agreed.
And all unnoticed at the back, Zenobia scowled and whispered to Maeonius Astyanax.
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Lion of the Sun wor-3 Page 33