She met Althorn’s eyes. “Why did you kill the king?”
Althorn looked regretful. “In days gone by, it was believed that the king was the father of his nation. That he would always rule wisely and justly... as long as he was not influenced by evil advisors. Many of us believed it to be true, to our shame. We would remove the advisors, and yet things did not get better. It was the king himself, and the monarchy, that was the true source of our woes. We could not progress unless we removed the entire system, root and branch.”
He met her eyes. “King Jorlem was not a good monarch. He cared nothing for his people. He passed laws that made our lives worse, while granting his cronies rights and monopolies that made them rich while others starved. He cared little for anything beyond his children, and even they were suspect to him. He killed those who tried to argue for reform... and yet, he was the king! As long as he was regarded as above us, how could there be reform? And so we made the decision to kill him.
“It was not an easy choice. We debated it for hours. We know the king’s sons will not take it calmly. We know the rest of the monarchs will not take it calmly, either. And yet, in the end, his body will serve as a warning to the rest of the world that monarchy is not unbeatable, that a people can hold their king to account and execute him if he is found wanting. Would that not, Emily, encourage them to reform?”
“They might also crack down harder,” Emily said. “They’ll want to protect themselves.”
“And that will encourage their people to rise up against them,” Aiden said. “And to take the thrones themselves.”
“To be free to research what one likes,” Storm said.
“To live without the guilds,” Bajingan added.
“To be free,” Althorn said. “Can you not understand the desire to be free?”
He waved a hand towards the wall, indicating the city beyond. “I don’t pretend we have all the answers,” he admitted. “There is an awful lot of theory on a society without a monarchy. It’s never been tried, outside the city-states, and they often have an aristocracy of their own, even if” - he smiled - “they deny it. But we cannot go back to serving at the whim of an all-powerful monarch. Even if King Jorlem had been a good man, could you say the same about his youngest son?”
Emily said nothing, but she knew the answer.
“He wanted me to ask you,” she said. “What happened to the queen?”
“The whore?” Jair’s face darkened. “She has been put on trial and found guilty of treason, abusing her serving girls and incest with the king’s sons. She will be executed and her body...”
“Please don’t,” Emily said. “It will be a great deal harder to come to any sort of terms if you execute the queen as well as the king. It will harden their hearts against you.”
“They already hate us,” Althorn pointed out, mildly. “They intend to wipe us out, root and branch. We intend to do the same to them. What is there to talk about?”
Emily frowned. His words suggested there could be no compromise, but his tone hinted he might be open to persuasion. Perhaps...
“The royalists still have a formidable military force, under a formidable commander,” she said, carefully. “I know Crown Prince Dater. He is not... unreasonable. You may be able to come to terms with him and his supporters, perhaps by agreeing to accept a constitutional monarchy or simply surrendering their lands, titles, and going into exile. He is smart enough to accept that he might lose the war and concede defeat if he is allowed to salvage something from the wreckage. And if you make it clear that you intend to wage war to the knife, that you intend to wipe them out root and branch” - she echoed their words deliberately - “they will fight to the death.”
“We will win,” Oskar said.
“Are you sure?” Emily looked at him, evenly, and then back at Althorn. “If they feel they have no choice, but to hang together or hang separately, they will fight. If they win, you’ll be crushed. A prolonged war will give them time to recruit help from the other kingdoms. And if you win, which - yes - might happen, you’ll inherit a ruined kingdom. They could burn the crops, poison wells, uproot or slaughter entire communities... your kingdom might wind up looking like the Blighted Lands.”
“Burning a field will not render it completely useless,” Oskar pointed out. “It might even be advantageous.”
“Perhaps,” Emily agreed. “But you’re already short of food. Do you really want to provoke a war to the knife?”
She pushed her advantage. “Right now, you have cards you can play to convince Dater to come to terms with you,” she said. “And even if he isn’t interested, you can worm away at his support. But if you kill the queen, if you make it clear that death is all his supporters can expect, you’ll harden their hearts against you. Do you really want a war that no one will win?”
Althorn glanced at his fellows, then nodded. “She was tried,” he said. “But we will suspend her sentence, pending the outcome of the talks. If they attack us, of course, we will take whatever measures we see fit.”
“Of course,” Emily echoed.
She sighed, inwardly. The hell of it was that she understood perfectly. The urge to just lash out at one’s enemies, to destroy them completely, was almost overwhelming. She’d never actually met the queen. She was just a name, one of many. And yet, she’d come to symbolize everything that was wrong with the kingdom.
But at least they’re going to keep her alive, for the moment, she thought. Perhaps that’s
