Page 41 of Poisoned Empire
“You mean aside from the fact that going to one puts a damn target on your back for every predator in town? Pimps, loan sharks, traffickers, cultists, you name it—they’re watching the line and picking out the weakest and most desperate.”
Had he hoped for an enlightening conversation? Gods below, sometimes he wished he were a little more circumspect in his wishes. This was the first he’d heard of such a thing. He would have to figure out a better method. Perhaps he’d been looking at this whole situation wrong. Who better to interrogate about the circumstances of his people than one used to living amongst them? He was not so proud he couldn’t admit to having a blind spot or two.
“And if you were in a position to change Lethe for the better, what would you do?”
“Raze it to the ground,” Selene muttered between bites of her bread.
“I’m asking seriously.”
He hated this woman’s tendency to spit in his face. She paused, looked up at him and tilted her head.
“Do you actually care what I think?” She sounded doubtful.
“I’ll certainly take it under advisement. As you can imagine, I don’t often have an opportunity to discuss the state of my empire with anyone but noble-born advisers.”
“Well, except Marduk. Any noble beast mage is killed the moment they’re born,” Selene replied matter-of-factly.
Something dark wriggled in his gut. He wondered if her mage gift was actually the ability to magnify every area of society he felt powerless to change fast enough. He didn’t trust himself not to argue with her, so he just nodded. She seemed satisfied, closing her eyes and wrinkling her brow in concentration.
“I’d probably start with women being able to own property. Can’t tell you how many dogs I had to defend myself from who hoped I might be desperate enough to pay rent with sex. Then education for commoners—all of them. Iliana wouldn’t be a master metals mage if her stepfather hadn’t decided to teach her everything he knew. And when this is all over, you should put a woman and a beast mage in charge of Sapphire and Amethyst. Be nice if you could punish elementalists for being scum, but that might be too much for a fire mage like you.” She grinned, daring him to say differently.
“Oh, well, if that’s all,” he huffed, sitting back in his seat. “Do you know how much push-back I’d receive from the magistri and other nobles over such radical proposals?”
Just the sheer number of objections he would need to overcome to even suggest such things made his head ache. He’d have to cash in every favour ever owed to his family to get a single idea realised. Not to mention, allowing every noblewoman to own property would throw the succession of every major household into question and upend the social fabric of the empire.
Selene slammed her hand on the table, scowling.
“Oh, excuse me for being aradical! Live long enough on the fringes and you’re bound to pick up a few vulgar ideas! That aside, two of the magistri are already plotting against you. What do you care if the rest get theirfeelingshurt at this point? You have an entire bureaucracy of hostages from every snooty family in Lethe nestled securely in Nadioch. If they don’t like it, you can always dispossess them of their ranks and lands. Then they’ll be damn grateful for my ideas.” Selene harrumphed, her arms crossed, cheeks tinged pink. “Do what you want, or not, as the case might be. I’m leaving this shit place soon enough anyway.”
He’d hurt her feelings. And he felt… bad about it, which was an odd thing given she never seemed to care about offending anyone else. It wasn’t as if the ideas weren’t worthy of consideration. In fact, they had merit. He’d asked her opinion and then insulted her for it. It was incumbent on him to be a gentleman about it, however belated.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have belittled the advice I asked of you. It was not well done on my part.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Selene grumbled, pushing food about her plate. “If you’re not careful I’ll spread awful rumours just to teach you a lesson. Perhaps I’ll start calling you Prince Two-Pump as punishment.”
“That’s hardly necessary.” He gritted his teeth, regretting his apology already. Damn it! What more did she want from him?
“Didn’t anyone teach you how to play dirty? The first rule is however hard someone hits you, hit them back worse. Darius must have taught you something.” She raised a brow.
“I regret to disabuse you of the notion, but it was my mother who attended to most of my education. The rest was in Marduk’s hands,” he replied lightly.
“Maybe that’s your problem. No one’s afraid of you because you didn’t learn to be scary enough. Have you considered doing a couple public executions?” she asked, swirling the wine in her glass.
“I have no desire to rule as my father did, Selene. My enemies will be dealt with harshly but justly.” He narrowed his eyes.
“Sure, until that isn’t an option anymore. What I don’t get is why you don’t just march on the magistri. Their armies are nothing compared to yours. Or just send a couple assassins,” she scoffed, leaning back in her seat, arm flung over the top.
“And then how many people become collateral because of a few criminals? There is no need for widespread suffering if the problem lies with a select few. As for assassins, the risk of failure igniting a war is too great.” Belisarius shook his head.
“If you say so.” She sipped, appearing unconvinced.
Thankfully a polite knock on the door to their suite prevented an awkward impasse in their conversation.
“You may enter,” Belisarius called out.
Several servants began clearing off plates and cutlery, replacing them with lightning speed and setting down the dessert course. They bowed, leaving the room in a swirl of dull, monochromatic clothing. Selene’s eyes glittered at the sweets on display. If she’d wiped away drool he wouldn’t have been surprised. It was almost cute.
“Looks delicious, but are you sure you should be eating that? I heard it’ll go right to your thighs, and let’s just say, you don’t need it.” Her fork slowly, unerringly, reached for his portion.
