In the aftermath of Drake’s keenly important and highly diplomatic question, no one spoke, though Lord Proudglade’s mouth tightened in annoyance. So what? They might be on the same side for the moment, but Drake didn’t have to like it.
Prince Lorel frowned. “I am not certain I understand the question.”
“Really?” Drake smiled pleasantly. “I thought it was simple enough. Prince Varnath is your brother, which means you must know him a little. So is he or is he not an idiot?”
“He is not,” Lorel said. “He is a skilled manipulator, a shrewd tactician, and a fervent believer in his cause. That is why I believe we will have a better chance to defeat him together.”
“So we’re going with he’s not an idiot.”
“He is not,” Lorel said firmly.
“Great. Here’s my follow up. If your brother is not an idiot, then why did he order his army to attack this city, slaughter thousands of innocent people, and then flee like a little bitch when we kicked his teeth in? He does realize that by attacking us like this, he has now united a bunch of very powerful manor lords to crush him flat... right?”
“That is a question I can answer,” Lorel said calmly. “He hopes to draw you into a trap.”
Now they were getting somewhere useful. Finally. He looked to the Judge. “Can I ask one more follow up question?”
“Lord Skybreak,” the Judge said calmly. “Ask your question.”
So that was a no, then.
“What is this trap?” Sky asked immediately.
“I do not know,” Lorel said.
So tremendously helpful.
“But I do know that he attacked your capital with the purpose of inciting anger and uniting the nine manors against him. He wants you to launch a reprisal, and he already has a plan to ensure you will fail. Warning you about his trap is why I made this long journey.”
I thought you made it because you needed help to get your throne back, Drake reminded the prince mentally. Make up your mind. Still... he didn’t like how confident Lorel sounded that Prince Varnath had a trap prepared for them. That did make yesterday’s attack make sense.
Emily leaned close and whispered. “What was it you once said, lord? Never underestimate the overconfidence of morons?”
Drake couldn’t help but smile a little. His smile faded when he remembered that after that, Anna had plucked him directly out of his manor and dropped him in the middle of a mob of soldiers with crossbows. His personal saying definitely cut both ways.
“Lord Skybreak?” the Judge asked. “Do you have a follow up?”
“I do,” Sky said. “Prince Lorel, you say your brother is a fervent believer in his cause. What cause is that?”
“The end of rarities and extermination of all those with divine blood,” Lorel said.
That got a reaction from the room, including one from Drake. If Drake was Prince Lorel, he would have led with that. Though... he supposed that the prince so casually dropping that bomb after getting everything else out of the way had gotten their attention. Perhaps the exiled prince wasn’t as clueless and naïve as he wanted them to believe.
Lord Mistvale rose without being called upon by the Judge, but it was his turn to ask a question. “Your brother opposes the Eidolons?”
“He does not see it that way,” Lorel said. “Instead, he believes those with rarities are abominations who dominate those without them. Your blood pacts are of particular disgust.”
“This is blasphemy!” Mistvale declared. “Against the Eidolons and the court!”
“I am simply answering your question, Lord Mistvale, not arguing my brother’s case. Prince Varnath believes no soul should be magically compelled to serve another, and that our world will only have peace when the last blood pact is washed away. Yet the only way blood pacts can be truly destroyed is if everyone with divine blood is washed away with them.”
Drake eased back uncomfortably in his chair. He didn’t like hearing it all laid out like that, because at least when it came to blood pacts... Drake agreed with Prince Varnath. If the guy wasn’t a civilian-murdering asshole, Drake might even be tempted to let him do his thing.
Except in this case, Varnath had gone overboard. Blood pacts were bad. Drake would not shed a tear if they got wiped out tomorrow. But the people who were part of the blood pacts, with the exception of a few dickish manor lords, did not deserve to be wiped out.
It sounded like Varnath’s goal with his new war was to kill everyone with divine blood. While that would ensure all blood pacts ended for good, it would also ensure everyone in Drake’s manor ceased to exist... including his mother. So while Drake might agree with one or two of Varnath’s points, he was still going to murder the fuck out of this guy.
“Does this belief also extend to kromians?” Mistvale demanded.
“It does,” Prince Lorel said. “Those who agree with my brother, while a minority overall, are highly placed and have strong allies. In the days since Prince Varnath seized power, many warriors and healers of my people have been arrested and executed for the crime of having divine blood. My youngest sister was among those executed. I... failed to save her.”
Drake winced as he heard the pain in the prince’s voice. He felt it to his bones. With one admission, Lorel had gone from just another kromian Drake wanted to shoot to a real person who’d lost not just warriors, but family. A person who, while he was acting strong for his people, was still grappling with the fact that he let his little sister die.
Drake had never had a little sister, but he did have an Anna now. He had no idea how he’d cope if Anna had taken a kromian arrow on the beach yesterday and died from asphyxiation due to paralytic poison. Especially if he had the chance to save her... and failed.
“How long ago did your brother take power?” Lord Proudglade asked.
“A day after my eldest brother, Prince Ossidan, was abducted and murdered,” Prince Lorel said. “He was killed in this very chamber.” Lorel turned to face Drake. “By that man.”
As their eyes met, Drake suffered a second of anger and disbelief at being unfairly implicated before he remembered no one in this world could lie. His stomach sank. Prince Lorel believed this... so was he right?
Drake would never forget the moment when a bunch of fish people landed on top of Lord Blackmane’s manor lord box and began to murder the shit out of the old lord’s thralls. The first kromian to hop over the box had worn some sort of golden tiara.
Drake had shot him in the chest without hesitation. He’d barely noticed the jewelry at the time, given the battle, but... had he truly shot the crown prince of the kromians dead? After he got teleported into the Chamber of Council by Lord Redbow’s sea gate?
If so, he’d had no choice. That prince had been murdering people. Still... the fact that Lord Redbow had not just dropped a bunch of kromians in the council chamber, but dropped their crown prince was too much of a coincidence. Even Drake’s luck wasn’t that bad.
This felt like a set of circumstances Lord Redbow had engineered specifically to fuck him. Or to fuck the other manor lords. Drake and the others had been closing in on his secret deal with Westin, after all. Perhaps Redbow had felt the walls closing in and acted.
Drake already knew what his next question would be.
Lord Proudglade was now watching him with an emotion Drake couldn’t easily identify. It didn’t look like blame, exactly, but it certainly wasn’t sympathy.
“Do you have a follow up?” the Judge asked.
“Not at this time,” Lord Proudglade said.
“Lord Brightwater?”
“I pass.”
She really was uninterested in asking Prince Lorel any questions. Why was that? He had to focus on his own questions now.
“Lord Gloomwood. Do you have a question?”
Drake took a breath as he held Prince Lorel’s gaze. He tried to gauge his intentions and mood. The man had just accused Drake of murdering his elder brother, but his features and his gaze didn’t contain the rage Drake would expect if that were true. He simply looked... resigned.
Had losing his sister taken all the fight out of him? Or did he already recognize that while Drake might have pulled the trigger, his brother had been placed in this situation by someone else? He couldn’t know how the fish prince would answer. But he did know that introducing the idea to the other manor lords would help him make his case.
“What evidence do you have that I killed Prince Ossidan?” Drake asked.
Prince Lorel tapped the tiara he wore. “This crown tiara is part of a set. Ancient artifacts passed down through the royal family longer than anyone remembers. I wear one. My brother wears one, and my sister wore one before she...”
Prince Lorel stopped talking as his big blue eyes went distant. Drake didn’t have the heart to tell him to get on with it. He could see now that the prince really was struggling.
Lorel focused. “When the wearer of any tiara dies, their last moments pass into the minds of all those who also wear the tiaras. So when Prince Ossidan breathed his last, I, my brother, and my sister all saw and experienced his death as it occurred.” Lorel placed a blue hand with webbed fingers against his chest. “The bolt entered his chest here. It was powerful and caused massive bleeding. Though Ossidan fell quickly, it took him some time to die.”
The power of these tiaras was freaky enough, but what was even more horrifying was what his mind quickly intuited from what Lorel had just said. The tiaras showed whoever was wearing them the last moments of anyone who died wearing one. Prince Lorel had experienced the death of his brother and sister like he would experience his own.
“That is how I know it was you, Lord Gloomwood, who fired the bolt that killed my eldest brother,” Lorel finished softly.
Drake examined Lorel’s sad eyes for rage or a desire for vengeance. He found only calm. And for the first time since the kromians had walked into this chamber, he felt himself struggling to hate this fish man as much as he wanted to. These assholes had ruthlessly murdered his people on a perfect day on the beach... but Lorel hadn’t done that personally.
“Lord Gloomwood,” the Judge said quietly. “Do you have a follow up?”
It seemed the Judge didn’t blame him for killing the crown prince of the entire godsdamned kromian empire. The other manor lords might try to pin this on him, but everyone had seen what happened when those kromians dropped into the Chamber of Council. They had started killing people first, and there had been no time for introductions or negotiations.
Which might have been exactly what Lord Redbow intended.
“I have a follow up,” Drake said calmly. “But first, I want to make it clear I do not believe your crown prince was summoned here at random. A random sea gate sucking Prince Ossidan into our council chamber in the middle of the cabal is about as likely as lightning striking the same spot ten different times. I believe that sea gate was opened by Lord Redbow.”
Drake did not claim he had proof. He also didn’t say he knew for certain. He said what he believed, which he hoped was acceptable in this cabal. The Judge didn’t correct him.
“So my question is this. Did Prince Ossidan, or Prince Varnath, or anyone in your family ever have any dealings with Lord Redbow before the death of your crown prince?”
“Yes,” Lorel said quietly. “As part of his yearly tributes to ensure safe passage for his cargos, Lord Redbow gave my eldest brother a wonderful gift. A medallion of pure gold with inset gemstones of azurestone. My brother was wearing it the day he died.”
Author's Note: Next week, Drake worries about demon squirrels but dresses nice anyway.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Read Ahead on the Patreon
Chat on the Discord
In the aftermath of Drake’s keenly important and highly diplomatic question, no one spoke, though Lord Proudglade’s mouth tightened in annoyance. So what? They might be on the same side for the moment, but Drake didn’t have to like it.
Prince Lorel frowned. “I am not certain I understand the question.”
“Really?” Drake smiled pleasantly. “I thought it was simple enough. Prince Varnath is your brother, which means you must know him a little. So is he or is he not an idiot?”
“He is not,” Lorel said. “He is a skilled manipulator, a shrewd tactician, and a fervent believer in his cause. That is why I believe we will have a better chance to defeat him together.”
“So we’re going with he’s not an idiot.”
“He is not,” Lorel said firmly.
“Great. Here’s my follow up. If your brother is not an idiot, then why did he order his army to attack this city, slaughter thousands of innocent people, and then flee like a little bitch when we kicked his teeth in? He does realize that by attacking us like this, he has now united a bunch of very powerful manor lords to crush him flat... right?”
“That is a question I can answer,” Lorel said calmly. “He hopes to draw you into a trap.”
Now they were getting somewhere useful. Finally. He looked to the Judge. “Can I ask one more follow up question?”
“Lord Skybreak,” the Judge said calmly. “Ask your question.”
So that was a no, then.
“What is this trap?” Sky asked immediately.
“I do not know,” Lorel said.
So tremendously helpful.
“But I do know that he attacked your capital with the purpose of inciting anger and uniting the nine manors against him. He wants you to launch a reprisal, and he already has a plan to ensure you will fail. Warning you about his trap is why I made this long journey.”
I thought you made it because you needed help to get your throne back, Drake reminded the prince mentally. Make up your mind. Still... he didn’t like how confident Lorel sounded that Prince Varnath had a trap prepared for them. That did make yesterday’s attack make sense.
Emily leaned close and whispered. “What was it you once said, lord? Never underestimate the overconfidence of morons?”
Drake couldn’t help but smile a little. His smile faded when he remembered that after that, Anna had plucked him directly out of his manor and dropped him in the middle of a mob of soldiers with crossbows. His personal saying definitely cut both ways.
“Lord Skybreak?” the Judge asked. “Do you have a follow up?”
“I do,” Sky said. “Prince Lorel, you say your brother is a fervent believer in his cause. What cause is that?”
“The end of rarities and extermination of all those with divine blood,” Lorel said.
That got a reaction from the room, including one from Drake. If Drake was Prince Lorel, he would have led with that. Though... he supposed that the prince so casually dropping that bomb after getting everything else out of the way had gotten their attention. Perhaps the exiled prince wasn’t as clueless and naïve as he wanted them to believe.
Lord Mistvale rose without being called upon by the Judge, but it was his turn to ask a question. “Your brother opposes the Eidolons?”
“He does not see it that way,” Lorel said. “Instead, he believes those with rarities are abominations who dominate those without them. Your blood pacts are of particular disgust.”
“This is blasphemy!” Mistvale declared. “Against the Eidolons and the court!”
“I am simply answering your question, Lord Mistvale, not arguing my brother’s case. Prince Varnath believes no soul should be magically compelled to serve another, and that our world will only have peace when the last blood pact is washed away. Yet the only way blood pacts can be truly destroyed is if everyone with divine blood is washed away with them.”
Drake eased back uncomfortably in his chair. He didn’t like hearing it all laid out like that, because at least when it came to blood pacts... Drake agreed with Prince Varnath. If the guy wasn’t a civilian-murdering asshole, Drake might even be tempted to let him do his thing.
Except in this case, Varnath had gone overboard. Blood pacts were bad. Drake would not shed a tear if they got wiped out tomorrow. But the people who were part of the blood pacts, with the exception of a few dickish manor lords, did not deserve to be wiped out.
It sounded like Varnath’s goal with his new war was to kill everyone with divine blood. While that would ensure all blood pacts ended for good, it would also ensure everyone in Drake’s manor ceased to exist... including his mother. So while Drake might agree with one or two of Varnath’s points, he was still going to murder the fuck out of this guy.
“Does this belief also extend to kromians?” Mistvale demanded.
“It does,” Prince Lorel said. “Those who agree with my brother, while a minority overall, are highly placed and have strong allies. In the days since Prince Varnath seized power, many warriors and healers of my people have been arrested and executed for the crime of having divine blood. My youngest sister was among those executed. I... failed to save her.”
Drake winced as he heard the pain in the prince’s voice. He felt it to his bones. With one admission, Lorel had gone from just another kromian Drake wanted to shoot to a real person who’d lost not just warriors, but family. A person who, while he was acting strong for his people, was still grappling with the fact that he let his little sister die.
Drake had never had a little sister, but he did have an Anna now. He had no idea how he’d cope if Anna had taken a kromian arrow on the beach yesterday and died from asphyxiation due to paralytic poison. Especially if he had the chance to save her... and failed.
“How long ago did your brother take power?” Lord Proudglade asked.
“A day after my eldest brother, Prince Ossidan, was abducted and murdered,” Prince Lorel said. “He was killed in this very chamber.” Lorel turned to face Drake. “By that man.”
As their eyes met, Drake suffered a second of anger and disbelief at being unfairly implicated before he remembered no one in this world could lie. His stomach sank. Prince Lorel believed this... so was he right?
Drake would never forget the moment when a bunch of fish people landed on top of Lord Blackmane’s manor lord box and began to murder the shit out of the old lord’s thralls. The first kromian to hop over the box had worn some sort of golden tiara.
Drake had shot him in the chest without hesitation. He’d barely noticed the jewelry at the time, given the battle, but... had he truly shot the crown prince of the kromians dead? After he got teleported into the Chamber of Council by Lord Redbow’s sea gate?
If so, he’d had no choice. That prince had been murdering people. Still... the fact that Lord Redbow had not just dropped a bunch of kromians in the council chamber, but dropped their crown prince was too much of a coincidence. Even Drake’s luck wasn’t that bad.
This felt like a set of circumstances Lord Redbow had engineered specifically to fuck him. Or to fuck the other manor lords. Drake and the others had been closing in on his secret deal with Westin, after all. Perhaps Redbow had felt the walls closing in and acted.
Drake already knew what his next question would be.
Lord Proudglade was now watching him with an emotion Drake couldn’t easily identify. It didn’t look like blame, exactly, but it certainly wasn’t sympathy.
“Do you have a follow up?” the Judge asked.
“Not at this time,” Lord Proudglade said.
“Lord Brightwater?”
“I pass.”
She really was uninterested in asking Prince Lorel any questions. Why was that? He had to focus on his own questions now.
“Lord Gloomwood. Do you have a question?”
Drake took a breath as he held Prince Lorel’s gaze. He tried to gauge his intentions and mood. The man had just accused Drake of murdering his elder brother, but his features and his gaze didn’t contain the rage Drake would expect if that were true. He simply looked... resigned.
Had losing his sister taken all the fight out of him? Or did he already recognize that while Drake might have pulled the trigger, his brother had been placed in this situation by someone else? He couldn’t know how the fish prince would answer. But he did know that introducing the idea to the other manor lords would help him make his case.
“What evidence do you have that I killed Prince Ossidan?” Drake asked.
Prince Lorel tapped the tiara he wore. “This crown tiara is part of a set. Ancient artifacts passed down through the royal family longer than anyone remembers. I wear one. My brother wears one, and my sister wore one before she...”
Prince Lorel stopped talking as his big blue eyes went distant. Drake didn’t have the heart to tell him to get on with it. He could see now that the prince really was struggling.
Lorel focused. “When the wearer of any tiara dies, their last moments pass into the minds of all those who also wear the tiaras. So when Prince Ossidan breathed his last, I, my brother, and my sister all saw and experienced his death as it occurred.” Lorel placed a blue hand with webbed fingers against his chest. “The bolt entered his chest here. It was powerful and caused massive bleeding. Though Ossidan fell quickly, it took him some time to die.”
The power of these tiaras was freaky enough, but what was even more horrifying was what his mind quickly intuited from what Lorel had just said. The tiaras showed whoever was wearing them the last moments of anyone who died wearing one. Prince Lorel had experienced the death of his brother and sister like he would experience his own.
“That is how I know it was you, Lord Gloomwood, who fired the bolt that killed my eldest brother,” Lorel finished softly.
Drake examined Lorel’s sad eyes for rage or a desire for vengeance. He found only calm. And for the first time since the kromians had walked into this chamber, he felt himself struggling to hate this fish man as much as he wanted to. These assholes had ruthlessly murdered his people on a perfect day on the beach... but Lorel hadn’t done that personally.
“Lord Gloomwood,” the Judge said quietly. “Do you have a follow up?”
It seemed the Judge didn’t blame him for killing the crown prince of the entire godsdamned kromian empire. The other manor lords might try to pin this on him, but everyone had seen what happened when those kromians dropped into the Chamber of Council. They had started killing people first, and there had been no time for introductions or negotiations.
Which might have been exactly what Lord Redbow intended.
“I have a follow up,” Drake said calmly. “But first, I want to make it clear I do not believe your crown prince was summoned here at random. A random sea gate sucking Prince Ossidan into our council chamber in the middle of the cabal is about as likely as lightning striking the same spot ten different times. I believe that sea gate was opened by Lord Redbow.”
Drake did not claim he had proof. He also didn’t say he knew for certain. He said what he believed, which he hoped was acceptable in this cabal. The Judge didn’t correct him.
“So my question is this. Did Prince Ossidan, or Prince Varnath, or anyone in your family ever have any dealings with Lord Redbow before the death of your crown prince?”
“Yes,” Lorel said quietly. “As part of his yearly tributes to ensure safe passage for his cargos, Lord Redbow gave my eldest brother a wonderful gift. A medallion of pure gold with inset gemstones of azurestone. My brother was wearing it the day he died.”
Author's Note: Next week, Drake worries about demon squirrels but dresses nice anyway.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Read Ahead on the Patreon
Chat on the Discord
