Tyranny of Steel

After spending the night with Honoria, much to the ire of Linde, Berengar had successfully cemented his relationship with the young Princess of the Byzantine Empire; as for his plans for her identity as a privateer, he decided it would be best for her to keep up the ruse of Valeria Zoanara.

Berengar had even helped her create a convincing persona that others would not look into, the days of Lady Valeria of Antioch were long gone. Now Honoria pretended to be Valeria Zonara, an Orphan from Constantinople who grew up as a captive of pirates.

For the next few days, Berengar had spent much time with Honoria. Now that they were a couple, he wanted to show her some love. As such he spent a great deal of time with the girl, going on dates, and taking her to bed.

After a few days, Berengar got back to work; he had more important things to worry about. Thus while Berengar was working on expanding his navy to compete with the arms race that had appeared with the Venetians, Honoria was set to task recruiting an all-female crew.

She had decided to promise wealth and glory to young women and girls who were down on their luck, orphans, prostitutes, bar wenches, any number of ordinary women who dreamed of a better life than what they currently had.

As for Berengar, he was currently sitting in his study once more; while Linde was sitting in front of him with a scowl on her face. She was well aware of what Berengar and Honoria had gotten up to in the past few days, and she was displeased.

Until now, she had Berengar entirely to herself, and though she knew eventually Berengar would marry Adela and sleep with her, she wanted to hold onto the fact that she was Berengar ’s only partner for a bit longer.