“Princess, if I may have a word.”
Still standing, I waited a mont, just to be annoying, a long mont, long after the door had slowly closed after the last of the n had departed, except for good earl Hafthon here, and waited a bit longer, then for fun counted backwards from kappa in Greek, which was really, really tough as it had been years and years, and honestly, I couldn’t do it until I counted forwards from alpha, and finally, finally after all that ti, said, “My lord.”
He didn’t skip a beat, with no hint of impatience in his tone, “I am curious what you are going to do with the duchy. I’ve made my position clear on it.”
“You believe you’re the only one who can hold it, yes.”
“You intend to keep it then?”
I sat down across from him, put my hands in my lap, spun my ring. Just in case. He’d never been violent, nor volatile, but I trusted him about as much as the table separating us was wide. After all, we never learned who sent that assassin after . “I’ll be honest with you, Hafthon, I don’t see any reason to give you more power. You already work against my interests.”
If he was upset I called him by his last na and no title, he didn’t show it. “I told you before. You win the spring campaign and I’ll sing your praises. But right now, you’re an untested girl with a lot of youthful dreams.”
Yeah, I thought, wait till I introduce separating sewer systems from drinking water. “You’re one of the obstacles in my path. You rallied the earls and church to block my ascension to queen. If I survive the spring campaign, it’ll be despite you.”
“You are bold, I’ll give you that. But,” he put his hands behind his head and sat back, “why should I support you? So far, you’ve been nothing but disruptive. Your family lost the kingdom. No, it’s true. You have this one last holdout and even then, you’re outnumbered on all sides. Supporting you is the fool’s path.”
“I’m not my father. Or my brother.”
“Bah, it’s all been said. Let’s say you keep the duchy. That divides your troops in half.”
“Are you threatening the kingdom, my lord?”
“And Laemacia – we both know you’re not going to marry their emperor – they could march down with just 50 000 n, take each earldom as they go and then the duchy. Or Ketzle could march right up here and simply take this castle, leaving us earls to fend for ourselves. We won’t last long.”
“Alright. I’m listening.”
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“You need to reinforce this duchy. It needs to be under a strong leader. Unified, all the earls. Or no matter your intentions and how well you do this spring, the duchy and then the kingdom will fall.”
“I could leave it with a chamberlain.”
“Ha! And who’d follow a chamberlain’s rule? You just made all your soldiers outrank any chamberlain. And, yes, you could exalt him to duke and all you’d do is anger every last noble, true noble, not these new knights as you call them. You’ll just be further dividing what remains of your kingdom.”
“Yes, yes, all these problems and you’re the only solution. Gosh, that’s a new trick. Listen,” I bent forward, “you’re going to have to give sothing if you want the dukedom.”
He narrowed his eyes.
“I won’t take your son or wife. But I want a third of your troops.”
“And will you be leaving any of Bechalle’s behind?”
“And your full support for the knighthood. That or nothing.”
“I will have to think on this.”
I knew saying the next thing was a mistake, but the words left my mouth anyways, “If we found ourselves in agreent, my lord, we’d secure the kingdom. You’d make a powerful duke.”
“Your kingdom. I’d be saving your kingdom.”
These words, this is what my gut was telling . I had nothing to lose. “Do you want the kingdom?”
“From Carlisele’s behavior, it seems as if you promised him the duchy.”
“That’s not what I asked you.”
He nodded, took a draught of whatever was in front of him. Ale, I think. Looked up. Straight on, into my eyes. “You’re playing a ga. But this is no ga. The stakes are real. And you are making the mistakes of a child. You might think you’re helping the soldiers, centing your power, maybe even helping the commoners. Out of so girlish notion of romance. Let be clear, Princess Cayce. Laemacia is a threat. A real power, greater than Ketzle and on our doorstep. Ketzle itself now controls most of the kingdom and they are not going to stop. Their number of mages are greater than our combined total. The kingdom will collapse with your missteps. It will. You are on the verge of losing everything and you play at these gas instead of shoring up our power. You are doing the commoners no favors here, none.”
I sat there, not knowing how to answer him. To hell with it. I went with honesty. “Yeah, when I arrived, it really was a ga to . But little by little, well, it’s becoming all too real. Rapist soldiers, pedophile priests, assassins in my bedchambers.” I looked at him, “Endless torture in these very walls.”
“Assassins?”
“I’m not a girl, sir. You think I am what you see, but my body makes invisible to you. And for all I know,” I was about to say, ‘You’re an NPC,’ and my mind took a hold of my speech, thankfully, so I scrambled for anything else to say and settled on, “Well, who sent the assassin? All of you benefit from my death.”
“Princess,” he looked at the table, tilted his head, then back up at , “you’re in over your head. Why I’ve been pushing marriage. It’s not giving up power, it’s gaining it. A man with experience could retain and protect the kingdom.”
As I looked into his eyes, I can’t believe that it was Hafthon I almost spilled my secrets to. Him! I was going to confess to this . . . annoyance, this aloof man always against my goals, my deepest secrets. He’d use them against .
I was losing it. I needed soone on my side. To talk to, bounce ideas off. Complain even! God damn this world! But I had no one.
I stood. “Alright. A third of your army co spring, if you please, my lord.” I curtsied. It had been a while, a long while since I’d properly done that. And then I left.
The guards later inford he sat in that room for so ti.
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