Chapter 32 #2
But these weren’t the kinds of mistakes she was talking about.
These were probably papers she’d signed off from the advisors without a second thought.
Because in her mind, what Vendaran family wouldn’t be grateful enough to pay back the royal family’s protection in the form of taxes?
What man should be governing his own land if he couldn’t produce enough to pay those same taxes?
And what progeny wouldn’t want to train among the nobility?
He’d thought his sister was still moldable, but maybe he’d been even more blind than he’d realized. He was the one who had been open to change. It wasn’t just that Larkos had infected him with Recreant ideals. Gaeren had been open to them.
And Enla never had.
As much as he hated the idea of his sister’s philosophies being so different from his, he still longed for a way to make things right, not just with her and not just with these people, but between her and the people.
“I’m so sorry.” He held the man’s gaze even though it physically pained him to sit under the harsh judgment his family rightly deserved. “I can’t promise I can reverse any of that. I can’t even promise I can change their minds for the future.”
Whispers started in the back of the room, the faces that had begun showing warmth and acceptance now closed off with furrowed brows.
“When my ideas differ from theirs,” he admitted, “they remind me I’m trained as a throne warden, not as a king.
My parents are too far gone to reconsider the way their actions are harming Vendaras instead of healing it.
There might not even be hope for my sister.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t hope for all of you.
I don’t deny that I would be eager to see my parents step down from the throne, but that would only lead to my sister taking their place, with me as her throne warden. Something I have no interest in.”
He watched that same man’s reaction, and his knuckles grew predictably white.
“And what if that’s the exact place you should be in?” It was the first time Larkos had spoken since they’d arrived, his words quiet, as if he feared they were disrespectful even though he’d spoken them before.
This time the question stirred up Gaeren’s own fear and regrets.
Had he made the wrong decision in leaving Enla?
Not just for the sake of the Recreants like Larkos had suggested, but also to protect his sister?
By widening the divide between them, he might have sentenced her to the fate he’d sworn to protect her from.
He’d much rather work alongside Aeliana and the others to find peace in Vendaras.
To help Orra find the starbridges. To maybe even be rid of his useless bond and sever the last of the ties to his family.
But after hearing these people question his views on taxes and feudal servitude and knowing the trials they experienced that led to their frustrations, he understood Larkos’ suggestion on a deep and painful level.
What if he could do more good for these people by staying in his role of power?
By placing himself in the right place at the right time so he could defend and support them when they made their final move to take Enla off the throne?
And what if that was the move that would put him in place to protect Enla when she needed him most?
He almost laughed, thinking of Orra and all her talk about throwing stones and moving things in the paths of ripples.
Perhaps when they found the starbridge, he should return home and make amends, both for the sake of the people and for Enla.
The image warred with his desire to defend the people and help them find freedom on his own terms, as a treasonous vagrant.
The longer Larkos waited for an answer, the less Gaeren felt prepared to give one.
“I hope I’m not meant to remain on as throne warden, but…
maybe. It’s something I’ll have to consider.
Either way, I will do everything in my power to sway her.
I want you all to have the opportunity to build the democracy you crave, whether it only takes in the south or whether it spreads to all of Vendaras. ”
“And what if you can’t sway her?” the bitter man sitting before him asked. “Will you join us in fighting against her?”
The entire room held their breath as Gaeren weighed the question that had plagued him for moons. He couldn’t fight against his family. He didn’t even think it was fair for the other man to ask him that when that same man wanted his son returned.
“Just like you would never take up arms against the son she sent to the schools, I won’t help you harm her.”
Grumbles started throughout the room, and Larkos’ hand went straight to his sword.
Gaeren raised his hands in defense, his voice as well. “I won’t help you harm her, but I will help you remove her from the throne.”
A few guffaws replaced the disgruntled murmurs. “She’ll find her way back,” one man called out. “The royal family always will.”
Gaeren patted his pocket, reassured by the presence of the golden arrow but uncertain if it was his secret to reveal.
In some ways it felt like it belonged to Aeliana.
In others it was clearly Orra’s. But for now, it was his pocket the arrow rested in.
He wouldn’t be telling the Recreants Aeliana still sought the other starbridges.
He would just be making sure they knew he could follow through on his promise.
Decision made, he pulled out the arrow, unwrapping it from its protective cloth and holding it up for everyone to see.
“If my parents and Enla won’t see reason, I promise to take them all across the barrier and leave them in Lorvandas.”