Be careful,Krew sent to me.
I smiled at the king like I adored him. “But why should I answer a question you already know the answer to?”
The king squinted and looked off in the distance. “I just do not understand how they knew to look for an object of mine.” More to himself he mumbled, “I’m not mad they want it. If I had learned such a thing existed, I’d do the same.”
I didn’t dare look for his sword. I knew it wasn’t there today. It’d been one of the first things I checked upon entering the room. “Rather I think the thing you are not understanding here is the power of the love of a mother.”
The king gave his head a shake and then shocked me by snorting a laugh. “That woman. Still a pain in my ass even now. Yet I miss her.”
I didn’t dare say a word, just clenched my teeth together. He likely wouldn’t have had to miss her if he wouldn’t have siphoned her magic and slowly killed her in doing it. His own greed was to blame for her death.
Parliament was asking the king a question, so fortunately our conversation died. To Krew, I promised,I wish to drive a stake into his miniscule heart.
Welcome to parliament sessions, love.
CHAPTER29
The final vote and parliament session ended up taking every modicum of patience I had. I was able to vote against a raise in taxes, which stopped it from getting approved. For this round. In another month, they would try again.
I wasn’t ever voting in favor of something that I knew for a fact would crush Nerede. I hoped they knew that. I might have made an enemy of half of parliament in making my vote, but I’d done it anyway.
Peer pressure would not work on me.
The final votes were all cast, only one issue passing this round. It was a vote on if there should be more patrols in Rallis and Nerede to help curb disloyal unrest. I had voted for it. For no other reason than I felt it didn’t matter. The disloyal were out in force, more patrols and guards on the walls were not going to make them disappear, but maybe an influx of patrols would prevent them from making more poor decisions.
Krew had three people from Nerede arriving today to work the stables. One was Theodore Jones, much to my surprise. I truly hoped he hadn’t done it in an attempt to get closer to me. I was married now. And also still property of the crown, according to the king.
The other two men arriving were men I did not know personally. Ethan Brogan I had heard of but hadn’t met. The same with Roquan Arquise, Jeremy Arquise’s brother. Ivy’s brother-in-law. Jeremy had died in the showdown with Krew in Nerede. Krew hadn’t killed him, the guards who rushed in to help had. But it made me worry. Was Roquan here to avenge his brother? And if he was, did he blame Krew that the plan had gone awry? Or did he blame the guard who’d actually killed his brother? Either way it seemed a little like a disaster waiting to happen.
I was also selfishly thankful Will had not decided to come. I supposed if Beau Jones had told them all I was Enchanted, Will knew I was now forever out of reach. But I still hoped he found happiness back in Nerede. He had helped get me through a dark time in my life. Or maybe just helped numb me to a dark time in my life. Whichever.
“You have done well for the first session as the queen’s proxy,” the king told me as he stood to dismiss parliament, the rest of the room being forced to stand with him. The king flicked his wrist, and while some people chatted and stayed around, others were ready to be done and seemed to flee from the room.
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” I paused. “Unless this is another backhanded compliment.”
He let out a laugh. “Not this time.”
Sometimes when I said things like that, I thought the king would anger, but I was finding quite often the opposite happened. It appeared the king liked the fight. He liked to see that someone understood his messed-up motives. If no one could see his power plays as such, were they even really power plays at all?
“No, but there is one thing about life in Kavan Keep that you will need to learn,” the king offered gently.
“Which is?”
“Only one language has kept peace in this realm for the past twenty years. And it was not the language of fairness. Fairness does not keep peace. Believe me, I tried that. For years. And my efforts fell on deaf ears.” He paused. “While your compassion will help you lead and relate to your people, I fear you too will have to learn that fairness doesn’t help. It does not keep the peace.”
“And what does, Your Majesty?”
“Fear.”
I thought about his words. Peace in the realm for the past twenty years. He was not just referring to peace within Wylan herself, he was referring to a time when there were interactions with the other countries. The queen had feared war. Now no one spoke of it because the countries didn’t communicate much after the disease which attacked magic almost ten years ago. The disease I believed the king was responsible for.Fear.The king had made sure all the countries were living in so much fear, that they had no room to interfere with one another.
I gave my head a shake, trying to make my face not show the disgust, not show the suspicions I held about the king. “That is not the language of peace, that is the language of oppression.”
“It is one and the same, dear. Packaged differently, but one and the same.”
Careful, Krew warned as he stood talking with Keir, waiting for me to finish with the king.
I squinted at the king. “Fine, so make the other countries in the realm fear Wylan. That is a form of protection, I suppose. What about Wylan’s own though? Don’t they matter more? Are they not ours?”
