Free Out of the Darkness by Babylon 5 Page B

Centauri Prime. You answer to no woman."
    "You know that. I know that. But they," and he pointed in the nebulous direction of the all-present "they," "they believe differently. And I fear that I must do something about it."
    "I will support whatever actions you decide to take, beloved." She turned in her seat and smiled her most glowing smile.
    He hit her so hard that he knocked her clear out of her chair.
    Mariel fell back, striking her head on the floor. She lay there, stunned, feeling the blood welling up from between her teeth and trickling down from her nose. Her lower lip was already swelling, and her upper lip had gone numb.
    She tried to stammer out something, anything, and then Durla hauled her to her feet. She tried to push him away but he was far too strong, and then he swung his hand around and struck her again. Her face reddened where he slapped her, and then he backhanded her and she went down again. Her lungs seized up with a coughing fit, and she spat out blood.
    "There," Durla said.
    "There? " She couldn't believe it. "Wha-what did I do? How did I displease you..."
    "You haven't. Unfortunately we live in a world that is shaped by perception," he said sadly. "If the others think that I am unmanned by you ... that I let you manipulate me in any way ... then it can have a very negative impact on me and my fortunes. Even though it is not true. Therefore we need to make clear to any and all who are interested that I am my own man."
    He kicked her in the stomach while she lay on the floor. She doubled up, curling almost into a fetal position, and then, with the side of his boot, he struck her in the face. Mariel, sobbing, rolled onto her back, her legs still curled up. She felt something small and hard in her mouth. She rolled it around on her tongue. It was a tooth. She spit it out and it made a faint tik tik noise as it bounced across the floor.
    "Yes," he said with satisfaction. "Now any who see you will know that Durla is no woman's servant. No woman's slave. You may be my inspiration ... but I have no compunction about treating you in the same way that I would treat the lowliest of the low. I do not play favorites. For you see, nothing, and no one, is more important than Centauri Prime. And only if I am strong can I help our beloved world attain its true destiny."
    "Vir," she whispered, very softly, very hoarsely.
    He hadn't quite heard her, because she said it just under her breath, and while he was still talking. "What did you say?" he inquired.
    "Dear ... I said ... dear ... please ... don't hurt me ... any more ..." She didn't even recognize her own voice because it was so choked with pain.
    "I need the full backing of all the ministers for the full military program that we have planned," he continued. He crouched next to her, and he spoke as if from light-years away. "Picture it, Mariel. Picture powerful warships, poised, ready. Needing only the final go-ahead from me to sweep across the galaxy like a black cloud of strength, reordering all the known worlds and uniting them under our rule. But it can only happen if the Centaurum is fully committed. To me. No hesitation, no reservaln no signs of weakness. I can take no chances that anyone think me soft. You understand, don't you?"
    "Yes ... I... I do ... I..."
    "Good."
    Then he really began to hurt her.
    And the thing that kept going through her mind was, Vir... Vir will help me... he will save me... Vir... I love you.

C HAPTER 5
    Vir Cotto felt the world spinning around him, and he sagged to the ground, staring up in disbelief.
    He was just outside the palace. The sun was hanging low in the sky, the rays filtering through the haze as the twilight approached. As a consequence, there wasn't much light with which Vir could make out the head on the pike in the garden. But there was just enough light to see, and the head was just familiar enough to recognize.
    Rem Lanas stared down at him lifelessly. And yet, even in that lifelessness, there was accusation.