They took her into her room and laid her down on the bed, one of the servants cooling her face with a large fan of peacock feathers. In the corner, arms folded, Sclerus looked on, a vacant expression on his face, concealing the turmoil of emotion within. Around the grounds of the villa, the guards sent by Maniakes were dead, throats slit. Inside, they found Phillip, the head servant, in the kitchens, trussed up like something ready for the pot, feet and hands lashed together behind his back, an apple in his mouth, and a note pinned to his forehead, "See how easy it is?" Sclerus clutched the paper in his fist. This was not what he had wanted. Not to harm her. Sending a message was one thing, perhaps even the killing of the guards another, but to frighten Helen half to death and murder her f
