Part 30 (1/2)

”Possibly,” Leah allowed. ”Grandmaster Lirial may know some tricks I do not. But if she hasn't discovered the exact location of the crystal, any block she creates will be temporary. It will be all but impossible to maintain as the moons s.h.i.+ft.”

”Keep me apprised,” her father said.

Leah bowed her head a fraction and turned to leave.

”You've never tried to have me killed,” King Zakareth said suddenly.

Leah froze with her back to the King, afraid to move. Her father never spoke idly. His every word had a purpose. Was this a trap? Had she walked into an ambush?

”Nor have you ever attempted to secure your succession by eliminating your compet.i.tion,” he continued. ”At first, I a.s.sumed that was because you lacked the stomach to do what was necessary. But I know longer believe that to be the case. So, why?”

Warily, she turned to face her father. Never, in her entire life, had her father asked her such an...intimate question. He had asked her to provide him with information, had questioned her about her decisions or her motivations, but he had never asked about her.

So she had no choice but to a.s.sume this was a trap.

”An attack on you would have destabilized the realm,” she said carefully. ”And an attack on my brothers or sisters would have jeopardized the succession, which could result in panic, or a lack of confidence in the royal family. As the Cynaran law code states, *no n.o.ble may take actions that advance personal gains at the risk of national stability, on pain of*'”

King Zakareth laughed. It was a short, bitter, bark of a laugh, but it startled his daughter so much that she stopped, her mouth practically gaping open. She couldn't recall ever having heard her father laugh. He didn't even laugh sarcastically, mockingly, or for emphasis; it just wasn't something he did.

”I don't want the law code's answer,” he said. ”I want yours.”

It took Leah a moment to answer. ”I wasn't sure the prize was worth the cost,” she said at last.

Zakareth nodded, as though he understood. Maybe he did.

”I had intended your sister Cynara to take the throne, before her...accident...in Asphodel. She had your intelligence, but she had the spirit, as well. The drive to do whatever it took.”

”She was ruthless,” Leah said. ”Cruel.”

”Yes.”

Zakareth stood for a moment, ruminating. ”Once, I thought those things virtues. Even after Cynara became unsuitable for the throne, I had Talos in mind. He hates me, but that means little. The day my father died was the last moment of true joy I have known.”

How should she respond to that?

”But Talos is twisted inside. Broken. He and Lysander have been planning against me for years now.”

Leah tried to cover up her surprise, but she was afraid she only partially succeeded. Had he known the entire time?

The King saw her reaction and gave her what could, on another man's face, have almost been a smile.

”Like so many others, Talos underestimates me. Very little goes on that I do not see. You would think he would remember that, since I have a bright red glowing eye.”

He paused, as though waiting for her to laugh. She wasn't even sure if she was breathing. Had he just tried to tell a joke?

This meeting with her father was becoming so surreal that part of her wondered if this was even the same man. Maybe she had died, and this was some bizarre afterlife reserved for Travelers who had trespa.s.sed against their parents.

As the silence became uncomfortable, she opened her mouth to change the subject, but he forestalled her.

”In any event, I am running out of options. Adessa is not wise, but she has a shrewd strategic mind and a keen grasp of politics. She's almost as charismatic as Talos, in some ways. With her around, I had still hoped to foster a sense of healthy compet.i.tion among you, but I was unable to tolerate this last of her little...pranks.”

Highly public attempted a.s.sa.s.sinations were pranks, now. The standards of her family fell ever lower.

”Surely you have considered it,” Zakareth said, running a hand across his short beard. ”I now only have two options for my Successor: Talos, or you.”

When Leah was a little girl, her mother had taken her to Lirial for the first time. They sat, together, on a smooth cliff made of crystal, and watched the moons spin and glide overhead. Her mother had spent that time filling Leah's head with visions of someday ruling Damasca as Queen, of all the things that Leah could someday do for the people, of all the privileges she could enjoy.

As a little girl, Leah's mind had burned with the possibilities. They had seemed fresh and enticing, like a piece of candy or a new toy. But what she had really enjoyed, even then, was not the far-off possibility of inheriting a kingdom. It was the time spent sitting next to her mother, watching the moons dance.

When her mother died, Indirial had been one of the few to offer her any form of sympathy. Even her father had barely mentioned her mother's death, only referring to it again when he sent Leah off to live with her mother's family.

She had given up any dreams of the throne then. Not only did it seem like an unlikely possibility*she was, after all, fourth in line for the throne, and her father could technically have picked anyone he liked to succeed him*but the cruel necessity of politics seemed overwhelming.

Leah had committed herself to doing everything she could to help the Kingdom as a Traveler and as an Heiress. After all, she would never attain a higher rank.

”You can name your own Successor freely,” Leah all but whispered. ”It need not be one of your own children.”

”Do not bandy technicalities with me,” the King snapped. ”No one exercises that right. The bloodline of Ragnarus must continue, and it must remain in power. Besides, who else has been trained for rule?”

”Adessa is still in full command of her faculties. She would make an able Queen.”

King Zakareth strode up to her, towering over her even more than usual in his imposing crown. ”You pretend to be a fool, but I know who you are. What are you afraid of?”

Leah looked him in his one human eye, looking for some trace of fatherly compa.s.sion, but she saw only blue ice. She met his red eye instead.

”You,” she said honestly. ”Us. This family. We use our power for the greater good, I know that, but I also know what that power does to me. I start to calculate and manipulate, treating people like pieces on a game board. I know what it does to you.”

Because she was feeling reckless, she met him with complete honesty. At this point, what did she have to lose? ”You are pitiless and cold. You provide for your citizens because that is your function, and you do not hesitate to make decisions that should, by rights, rob you of your sleep for years. It is like living in a country ruled by a clockwork machine.”

There. She felt like she had cast herself off a cliff without checking to see if there was water beneath her.

But she couldn't say she regretted it.

Zakareth stared at her so long that she started to sweat. He would not execute her; as a Ragnarus Traveler, her blood was too valuable. He may need her to breed more Travelers someday, so he would lock her up in a foreign Territory, to be called upon when he found a suitable consort. The same fate he had in mind for Adessa.

The thought made her inexplicably angry. How long had she lived with that threat hanging over her head? Why should she tolerate it now?

The anger gave her the boldness to continue, though she reined her tone back a notch. There was no sense in pus.h.i.+ng too far, after all.

”Let us go further in our discussion. Take the Valinhall Incarnation, for example. Look at what power has done to him. He has given into his ambition, and it has consumed him. Warped him. All the Incarnations, in fact, are nothing if not a Traveler's power gone rampant. Who would I be if*”

”I have made my decision,” Zakareth said abruptly.

That caught Leah off guard. ”What?”

Abruptly, she panicked. Had she landed in the water, or on solid rock?