Chapter XXVII #3
“All right,” he said. “Orden is dead. Honoria’s throne is empty. And that’s not a state of affairs that can last long. Unless we all want to bend the knee to Afon as a new province of Caervallion, we’d best settle the succession.”
Well then, thought the Priest with grim satisfaction at Hadrian’s words. Perhaps my gods do exist and favor me after all.
Lucian forced a laugh. “Never a province of Caervallion. Honoria will always stand independent, as a nation of conquerors. But if a conqueror ruled both lands, there’d be no shame in allying with the north.”
“We had enough of alliances while Orden was alive,” Hadrian said sternly. “Look where that got him. What we need now is a strong Honoria, with an iron ruler, who can hold the throne and prove to the world that we are still Inver, and still burn.”
The words came out pointed, and the Priest knew they were meant for him. Hadrian had grave doubts, and it was up to the Priest to assuage them.
“My thoughts exactly,” Lucian replied, the words silken.
“And I’m more than happy to support the strongest bid for the throne, whatever corner it arises from.
Even now, Ariana Lyrien, who’s claimed Orden’s downfall, is secure in the castle dungeons.
Her death will legitimize Orden’s successor as our true Inver heir and avenger of the king. ”
Hadrian made a disparaging noise. “In my day, the execution of your rivals came first, then the claim to a new title. We knew the natural order of things—conquest before politicking and currying of favor.”
“Then I look forward to the restoration of Inver power your rise will surely usher in,” Lucian said wickedly, and the Priest sat back in his chair, letting out a slow breath.
Good. Let him taunt Hadrian. The old man had no patience whatsoever for such behavior.
“Should you wish to dispose of the queen now, I can have her brought up. Her body on the walls will serve as the prelude to your claim on the throne.”
“Bring her up.” Hadrian bridled. “That’s exactly the sort of white-gloved, clean-handed nonsense this court has devolved into and that would never have been acceptable in Darias’s day, or gods forbid, his father Tobin’s.
They were men of action. They overthrew their rivals personally, not via some slithering sycophant. ”
“Perhaps the queen had accomplices, whom Orden’s successor could rout out and dispatch himself,” the Priest interjected with a calm he did not feel.
“Ariana worked all manner of mischief during her time on the throne—undermining Orden’s policy, bringing Afon across our borders for summer council, and smuggling Corrinian refugees through the sanctuary under my very nose, though I’m ashamed to admit it.
It stands to reason that one lapsed soria couldn’t manage that much on her own.
She’d have had help, from someone highly placed.
Someone more interested in self-enrichment than loyalty to king or country or Inver virtues.
We’ve had foreign powers tampering with our governance for far too long, in my opinion.
It’s time we closed ranks and put Honoria first.”
Hadrian’s full and prodigious attention turned to the Priest. He knew nothing of the details of the Priest’s succession plans—better he be left to watch them unfold, knowing only that his arrival in Inverlyn would provide opportunities for personal advancement.
“Oh? And do you have a suspicion as to who the queen’s overseer might be? ”
Lucian was wary now, and not to be underestimated, even when the Priest was slowly backing him into a corner.
“Perhaps Lucian knows who might have been colluding with the queen,” the Priest said. “It seems she put the interests of every nation on the Hand before those of Honoria. Corrin. Song Royale. Caervallion.”
“I would say only that the heart of the mountain is your domain,” Lucian answered sharply. “If the queen was shunting her disaffected countrymen through the sanctuary, any and all blame lies with you.”
“I’m willing to take my share of it,” the Priest said, “and to make amends for that unfortunate oversight. But I’m a clever man.
It could only have been a wily and formidable ally to Ariana who was able to move Corrinians through my own sanctuary without my knowledge.
However, I’m less concerned with the travels of a people sworn to peace than I am with the machinations of Caervallion.
It seems someone close to the throne had been systematically meddling with the queen’s health for years, attempting to prevent her from getting an Inver heir.
Crispus was the blunt instrument used for that, and though he was paid in Vesperin coin, I did manage to learn that it was Caervallion that provided it.
The physician was a pompous fool, though, and never could have devised such a devious way of tampering with the queen.
It would have taken someone craftier, who hated her a great deal, but who had intimate access to my brother and his family.
Someone with the talents of a spymaster, perhaps? ”
Lucian rose to his feet with a scrape of his chair against stone and protested hotly. “If you mean to level accusations, you’d best have irrefutable evidence of my so-called collusion. In fact, I have always worked on behalf of Inver interests.”