“They deserve a break,” Zawne said.
I agreed with him, yet internally I was panicked. I thought, Who’s going to give me advice for the first few months if I can’t talk to Zawne or Roki?
At least Zawne was confident. He swaggered through the lavish halls beside Torio as if he had been born for the role of king. I guessed, in a way, he had been. But then again, hadn’t I been raised for the role of queen?
“You’ll have ten councillors,” Torio said. “You may review the short list of names tonight and pick fifteen suitable candidates for interviews, then choose your final eight tomorrow afternoon. They are all eagerly waiting on standby. As for the other two councillors, you each get an independent pick. I’m sure each of you has a trusted friend you would like to make an adviser.”
“I do,” I said right away, thinking about Nnati. But then I remembered the foundation. It was my tribute to Mama’s memory, and Lordin’s dying gift to me. Who would look after it if Nnati was living in VondRust and advising me?
Torio stopped. We had been walking for five minutes through a labyrinth of hallways, and I was utterly lost. We were in a honeycomb of golden trim and red carpets. “These are your quarters,” he said, gesturing to a huge open doorway. “There will be Protectors outside at all times.” The Protectors who had been following us branched off and stood on either side of the doorway, silently menacing in their robotic armor. “There will also be Protectors below your windows outside. In total, there are about a hundred Protectors on the estate. They work through a hive-mind synapse system. Any sign of danger will be registered by the whole company. You’ve never been safer.”
Except from Min, I thought.
Then Torio was bowing. “I will collect you in the morning. Get some rest, check over the files, and once more, congratulations. You are the new rulers of Geniverd. I bid you good night, Your Most Supreme Majesties.”
Torio scampered off down the hall. Zawne looked at me, extended his hand, and said, “Shall we, my queen?”
I took his hand and let him pull me into the bedroom. This was it, my new life as a queen. Zawne shut the doors and carried me to the royal bed.
“Surrvul isn’t happy,” Nnati said. “They’re saying the crown shouldn’t stay in the same family, meaning Zawne. But really they’re just peeved because they have to wait another forty years for another shot at it. People are saying they might inflate visin prices or even restrict their distribution. They could even shut them down altogether. Oh, then there are the Gurnots. They’ve made encrypted messages available for the public to let them know that they are watching. People are scared of what they might do.”
“They won’t do anything,” I told Nnati. I was in the main sitting room of our royal mansion. Zawne was snoozing in the bedroom while I chatted with Nnati on my visin.
“They already have,” Nnati said. “Didn’t you see? There was another fire today, this time in Shondur. The authorities are saying it was the Dragon, the rogue Gurnot who keeps lighting wealthy people’s estates on fire. This time it was the local retreat the ex-queen and ex-king were supposed to be staying in. Before their flyrarc could land, the entire place went up in flames, even melting the Protectors that had been stationed there, melting them into nothing but metallic jelly. Nobody has a clue how the Dragon—or Dragons for all we know—are getting away with it. Some say secret Gurnot weapons technology.”
“But the Gurnots are a minor threat to the kingdom,” I said. “There aren’t even that many of them. Where did all this damage come from?” I stopped to think, then said, “Maybe if I make it clear to the Gurnots that I have the interest of the people in mind, they will stop the fires. I’ve been thinking about bringing them into the fold. Maybe I can give them an official seat of power to stop their violent activities and their burning.”
An idea was percolating in Nnati’s head. He stared at me on the projected screen, gears turning behind his eyeballs. “Interesting …” he said. “I’d like to see how that turns out. Maybe if you make a statement to that effect, you can alleviate some of the fear. Maybe the fires will stop. However, to side with Gurnots would mean public outcry. Be careful, my queen. Tread lightly.”
“I will,” I said. “You always give me such good advice. It’s actually the reason I called you. I need you, Nnati. I have one free seat on the council, and I want you in it. Could you do that for me? Could you join me in VondRust as my loyal adviser?”
Nnati gaped. He had been doing a lot of that lately. Funny how much can change in three weeks. “Is that not a title held only by royalty?” he asked. “I’m only a commoner. I have no royal blood. And what about GMAF?”
I bit my lip, smiled at Nnati, and said, “I’m going to shake things up a bit. This won’t be like the last administration. I’m really going to push for change. Noble blood or not, I want you as my adviser. In fact, I want to start bringing a lot more so-called commoner blood into positions of power. This government is going to be run by the people, for the people, just like it should be. As for GMAF, we’ve already doubled the staff. I trust
