Crowning of an Emperor Part II

Berengar stood by the bedside of the frail and aging Byzantine Emperor. The man was on the brink of death, and only his stubborn heart had kept the reaper's embrace away from him for so long. Vetranis voice was cold and raspy, as if his words were spoken by death himself, while he welcomed his son-in-law into his home. 

"And here I thought you were going to wait until I entered the grave before finally visiting my home... Well, I suppose that you have some tact after all." 

The relationship between Berengar and Vetranis was a complicated one, during the past twenty years there were multiple instances where Berengar had manipulated the Byzantine Emperor into doing his bidding, and as a result, there were definitely some old wounds that had never quite healed properly.