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“I was told that you were looking for an educational gift. Your sons have scholar’s blood, I’m sure, for what blood is worth in making a man.” Cesare extended his hand, with the exact book you were looking for. “We need to talk.”
You looked down, skeptically took the book and paged through it. All as it should be. “Who told you?”
“The future.” From anybody else it would be a cryptic metaphor of some sort. From Cesare…he claimed, at least, to have seen it. Parts of it. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to announce my miraculous recovery, nor come to any parties. It is not yet time.” The Cesare of the past was more lighthearted. Easier to play verbal games with, be witty and sarcastic with. This new one was ever on the move, in some way. Looking into his eyes was like looking into a storm in fog. “Have you considered your answer, regarding...?”
<span class="mu-i">Giovanno Leone must die</span>. “I have not seen what you have, not even a bit of it.”
Cesare looked on coolly, as though he expected this answer. Why would he not, if there was any truth in his claims of foresight? Why would he not, even if he was delusional. “It will not be tomorrow, nor the year, Bonetto. The time will come, though, and you will either reconsider, or you will not. I hope you make the right choice.”
The right choice? This man would not be standing before you if you and Leo had not rescued him from the despair of a Fealinnese prison. He would not have been there if you had failed to rescue him. You would not be here if he had not sacrificed years of his life to save you. He would not have walked with a limp if he had not supported Leo and you in vengeance for Yena. None of you would be where you were if you had not met, had not gone to war. You were all interconnected, you were closer than many family were. How could he ask you to betray Leo ever, let alone kill him? Yet how could you deny him?
You did not speak your thoughts, but somehow, he seemed to know them.
>Leo was the godfather of your children. Your comrade in the Revolution. A hero to you both and Vitelia as well. All you could hope was that, someday, Cesare would abandon the delusional dream that had followed him from Fealinn.
>Most men would assume him mad. Yet he did not seem to be. Cesare was always a man of logic and facts, and for him to be otherwise, speaking as clearly and calmly as he once did, was no sign of madness. Perhaps he spoke a necessary truth…but could you accept that?
>It did not matter whether Cesare was mad, or if Leo would become mad as he said. You were your own man. Nobody and nothing would stand in the way of the Dawn and the Future. You would side with neither if both were corrupted.
>Other?
Cesare spoke on, uncaring of a response to a question not asked. “Leo’s given you quite a bit of power. You’ve won quite a bit more for yourself. You’ve done well.”
“Thank you. Though parts of it have been a rocky road.”
