Tiberius watched his wife carefully as she laid out more detail than he would probably ever have asked for. "You've thought this through," he observed. That much was obvious; what was less so was why. Why was she invested, suddenly, in him acquiring an offspring? It couldn't have anything to do with the actual child, he thought, or else she would have taken an interest sooner — but this timing didn't really make sense in any context he could think of.

It also seemed almost needlessly harmful to her sister. She'd just casually tossed out that she would have no qualms murdering her, which didn't seem necessary. Neither of the schemes Tiberius had concocted to solve this same problem involved killing random women after acquiring an heir from them.

"Did your sister do something to you?" he asked, eyebrow raised.