Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Ladon
I skipped breakfast with my mother, as I had most days since returning to Renoa.
Instead, I had a servant bring something light to eat before I headed out for my morning run.
After I returned, I quickly washed up and got dressed in a pair of dark gray slacks and a black coat embroidered with the golden Castelli crest on the shoulder.
The fabric itched against my neck, and I wished more than anything that I could change into my training gear.
But as regent, I needed to look the part.
I checked the mirror next to my bedroom door and attempted to smooth my white hair back and straighten my jacket. My reflection stared back at me with unimpressed gray-blue eyes. It mocked me and told me I looked ridiculous, so I tousled my hair and undid the top button.
Good enough.
My shoes clicked against the marble stairs as I climbed the tallest tower in the castle—the tower that held the King’s Post. For as long as this castle had stood, all important meetings were held in the King’s Post.
The stairs spiraled five stories high into the sky and ended in a circular room without walls—only a marble railing with six column posts that connected to the dome ceiling.
In the King’s Post, we were seemingly unprotected from the blue skies, but a magical barrier surrounded the tower and kept out rain and birds.
There was only one record of attack against the King’s Post in our history, and the barrier withheld a barrage of javelins, too.
As I made my way up the stairs, I suddenly understood why Cyrus never joined me on my morning runs.
Climbing up and down these steps every day was a workout in itself.
It also made sense why advisors in the King’s Conclave stepped down while they were still fairly young.
I couldn’t imagine climbing these steps once I got to the age when my knees and hips began to ache.
I was the first of the Conclave to reach the top, and I took my seat in the chair that faced south. The other ten seats filled steadily as the other members appeared shortly after my arrival.
The room was quiet, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this was how they behaved when Cyrus was in the room.
Didn’t they engage in small talk? Ask him how his day was?
Or did they save this reserved attitude just for me?
It was clear they didn’t know how to react to me stepping in while Cyrus was bedridden.
To be fair, I didn’t know how to react, either.
I cleared my throat, and the woman to my right gave me a curt nod while several other pairs of eyes met mine. “Shall we begin?”
Liam was the first to speak, passing out sheets of paper to each of us, filled with numbers and words that I didn’t understand. “These are last month’s financial statements. As you can see at the top, we brought in four percent more revenue than last…”
I immediately tuned him out. Listening to profit and percentages made my head spin and my eyes dry out. I understood the importance, but I simply couldn’t make sense of the data. A lot of duties as king made me feel inept, but none as much as finance.
“Liam,” I said, cutting him off as he began to speak about subsidies and vacant housing.
“Yes, Your Highness?” he said, pushing up his glasses.
I squirmed in my chair, and the fabric on my collar scratched my neck again.
I resisted the urge to undo another button and loosen the aggravating material at my nape.
Everyone else in the room sat straight with their attire all prim and proper.
How did they do it? “I told you; you don’t need to call me that. ”
While it was technically my moniker, it didn’t suit me.
“Yes, Your… sir.”
I reached into my pocket and fiddled with a ring—the one I’d kept from the child victim in Murvort. The idle movement helped calm my nerves.
“I think we all know that I’m not great with the numbers stuff,” I said, looking around the circular table.
A few smiles and even a low laugh escaped the man sitting across from me. Liam only nodded. He was less than enthusiastic about my impatience for his area of expertise. Disappointment shone in his beady, dark brown eyes, but he held his tongue.
“I trust you, Liam. Whatever recommendations you have, I will approve them.”
Liam sat up straighter and thrummed his fingers over the stack of papers in front of him. “Sir, I don’t think that’s a wise idea. I’m an advisor, not a king.”
“And I’m not a king either,” I said. My hands twitched and my hand reached to unbutton my coat, but I stopped myself just in time.
A few nervous glances were exchanged around the table, and I took note of every one. For every doubt these advisors had in me, I had twice as many. I knew I was unqualified, that my experience was severely lacking outside of combat. I was not a king. I’d never had any desire to be a king.
The woman next to Liam, Nicola, sucked in a sharp breath.
“Sir, we know it must be hard being thrust into this position. I can’t imagine how difficult it is taking over while King Cyrus is…
away. But…” She looked around at the rest of the advisors, and I had the feeling they’d been talking about me behind my back.
“We feel it would be best if you performed as if you are king. Just in case… you know, just in case King Cyrus doesn’t… ”
Nicola’s words trailed off, and her face went unnaturally pale. I could see it in her eyes—she was calculating if she had said too much.
“Finish that sentence,” I said, clenching my jaw. “Finish it.”
Her mouth opened slightly, but nothing came out. In fact, she looked as though she’d lost the ability to speak altogether.
I had no intention of harming her, of course, but there was an unmistakable threat in my tone.
The entire room went silent—so quiet I could hear my throat working to swallow. As my eyes swept around the table, each person suddenly looked at their hands or out the windows or at their neighbor. None could hold my gaze for more than half a second.
Leaning forward, I rested my elbows on the table and touched my fingertips together. “Let me be crystal clear. I am not king, nor will I ever be.”
After an uncomfortable pause and another round of exchanged glances, the members of the Conclave nodded in understanding. I hoped it was the last time we had to have that conversation, but something in me nagged that I’d have to hear it again soon.
“Now,” I said with a sigh, leaning back in my chair. These meetings were exhausting. I was only interested in one subject… maybe two. “Can we talk about Murvort and any updates on Reyna?”
Xavier, my second in command, shifted in his seat. He pushed up the sleeves of his olive-green shirt, showing off his tattooed skin. Instinctively, I pulled at the cuffs of my jacket, making sure the scars from my former tattoos were hidden.
“Since Reyna and her immediate circle of supporters have fled, there has been a struggle for power within Murvort. There’s been a lot of infighting, and various factions are all doing their best to kill one another to reach the throne.
It wouldn’t surprise me if a tenth of the population has been depleted.
“Our latest reports suggest that Jesse Holden and his sister Jade have seized rulership. This is good news for us because they are a young sibling duo and have been critics of Reyna for years. They’d been lying low since Reyna had their father beheaded, but with her disappearance, they’ve quickly gained popularity with the younger demographic who are hopeful for a change of pace. ”
I nodded. “Have we set up a meeting with them?”
The best thing we could do was to form an agreement quickly before Reyna made a return. We could help them keep power in exchange for their loyalty and peace.
“Not yet, but I can send a message if you’d like.”
“Yes, thank you. And what about Reyna? Has she been found yet?”
Xavier’s lips turned into a frown. “I’m sorry, sir, but no. We have spies scouring every town within a one-hundred-mile radius, but so far, she hasn’t popped up. It seems she has left the continent.”
“In that case—”
“You’ll need to write to King Marsden,” Nicola interrupted. “If she’s gone to Wyland, then you’ll need his permission to extradite her. I can do that, if you’d like. I’ve had years of correspondence with him.”
Yes, as Osavian’s advisor of foreign affairs, Nicola would have the best relationship with Wyland’s royal leader. I didn’t know him, but my brother did. And from what I’d heard, he didn’t work well with others unless there was something in it for him.
“Please send a message to him as soon as possible. Thank you, Nicola.”
After tuning out a few more sleep-inducing topics, the Conclave was dismissed.
Chairs scraped the floor as members stood and the room emptied within a couple minutes.
Xavier was the last to leave and took an unreasonable amount of time collecting his belongings, glancing around the room like he’d lost something.
“Is there something you’d like to talk about?” I asked. I wasn’t in the mood for games and ambiguity.
“That obvious, huh?”
“As obvious as a beached whale, yes.”
“Subtlety was never my strong suit, I guess. Sir, I wanted to speak to you about our guests…”
“Guests?”
“The ones in the dungeons…”
Ah, those guests. I’d almost forgotten about the monsters we kept below us—the handful of enemy soldiers taken after the battle in Murvort.
Xavier kept a blank face as he waited for me to catch up.
“What about them?” I asked.
“I don’t think we’re going to get any more information out of them. We’ve tried everything we can think of, but if they know anything else, they aren’t breaking.”
How was that possible? The only piece of information they’d given us was that Reyna had some important connections in Sage Harbor, but so far, our spies hadn’t seen her in the town or anywhere in the vicinity.