Prompt: "The fires of rebellion must be lit and a new age must begin!"

'Silence,’ He snaps, loud and clear, his voice cutting through the man’s words. His irises cool where the others are such an uncanny, bright flame; as if Xerxes’ eye is a premonition of what he intends to bring upon his nation. He narrows his eyes, full of contempt and suspicion; his judgement comes swift.

‘Hold your tongue, traitor.’ Black or white. With or against. Xerxes has chosen to side against. ‘Even as a child you had foolish, dangerous dreams that would be this nation’s downfall. You are one of them, then.’ It is not a question. He must be involved in the plans to dethrone the queen. Allow her to succumb to her illness -- or, make it appear as if she has. ‘You come here only to sow discord and violence with your wicked tongue. Leave. A country you abandoned is a country you have no right to reclaim.’

‘Traitor?!’ Xerxes laughed, rolling his neck as he marked his distance from Camus, pacing his approach. He had a rolling, playful gait. It was hard to catch how he kept his feet spaced so that it would be easy to fall into a stable fencing pose.

‘My dearest brother, your Queen had every opportunity to take advantage of our need. We sent how many letters proposing that she head an elected government? We sent her how many entreaties that if only she would take our side against the nobles, we would take hers? I may have insane dreams, brother, but it is nothing to the collective royal fantasy that the Silk Palace may continue to ignore the workers outside and their suffering. It’s not a question of my reclamation of the kingdom, but the people’s.’