Page 62 of Her Dark Reflection

‘We shouldn’t be too hasty to broker an engagement without considering all options,’ Boccius interjected.

I drummed my fingers against the tabletop. ‘I would support an engagement between my stepdaughter and the Oceatold prince, but that doesn’t preclude her from casting her vote. She ought to be offered the right she is entitled to. It is, after all, the law.’

A wave of grumbling broke around the table, but I could see some were nodding their heads, and Dovegni was casting speculative glances at me while he muttered into the ear of the man to his left. The public declaration of my support for the marriage was a risky play. With Leela’s help, I had been carefully collecting information on every man on the Council, and I had some idea of the agendas at the table and who would vote with who. Thanks to the stroke of luck that let me overhear Dovegni speaking with Tallius, I knew the Grand Weaver was already courting the idea of the prince becoming king, so this declaration might help bring Dovegni on side, but I chanced alienating other members, and I wasn’t sure where Paptich Milton, with the hefty stake of the sanctum in the votes, sat on the issue. But I needed them both, and I would find a way to have them both.

‘An official vote,’ Sherman said with a nod, settling the room into silence again. ‘A week should be time to prepare the princess.’

Prepare, indeed. Influence more likely, but I could play that game just as well as the rest of them.

‘If we are to include the princess in this decision, I move to hold all other business and reschedule for two days hence, so that we can invite her to attend. She should have some idea of the pressing issues facing the kingdom so she knows the effect of her choice.’ This was Boccius’s suggestion, and I narrowed my eyes. What was he expecting that would achieve?

Several murmured their agreement, but most seemed hardly interested in whether the princess was in attendance or not, then Sherman closed the meeting.

I rose, and they all rose with me. ‘Until our next meeting, then,’ I declared, before leaving the room. As soon as I had passed into the hall I massaged my temples, trying to stave off the fierce headache that was beginning to grip my skull. It felt as though there hadn’t been enough air in that room. Tension cramped my shoulders and neck, but I refrained from rubbing them as the lords of the Council began to pour out of the room behind me.

Leela eyed me with concern as she joined me. ‘Shall I send for tea in your rooms, ma’am?’

‘Not yet. To the infirmary first,’ I said with a sigh. ‘Could you send a page to fetch the book I picked out for the princess? And get me a copy of the agenda for that council meeting.’

She darted off to do as I asked, and I began the long walk to the infirmary.

Gwinellyn looked as ashen and gaunt as she had when I visited her the day before. The physicians had informed me that she rarely slept, taking to pacing her room or the halls in the night, no matter how often they ordered her to bed, and she’d had several fits in the days following her father’s death. I pursed my lips in a frown at the sight of her and perched on the chair by the bed, my spine ramrod straight, my eyes already flicking to the door.

‘How are you?’ I asked, but the words came out stiff and mechanical. I cleared my throat, trying to summon some of the charm I’d always been able to call on freely. ‘I brought you something to read.’ I thrust the book onto her bedside.

Her eyes were far away when she turned them on me, but as she took me in, they tightened with something that looked like… pity. What didshehave to pitymefor?

I clenched my hands together, cursing that I couldn’t seem to shake this damnable tension when I was in her presence now. My mouth was dry as I tried to decide how to word what I’d come to ask her, but she saved me the trouble by speaking first.

‘You don’t need to visit me so often,’ she said quietly. ‘I know you must have a lot taking up your time.’

‘I do.’ The words came out louder and more forceful than I’d intended, but I ploughed on. ‘Not only am I acting as regent, but I have to fight to keep doing so. Lord Boccius is trying to oust me and take the position himself.’

She seemed, if possible, to blanch paler. ‘Oh,’ she exhaled softly. ‘Well, I guess if that is what the council believes is for the best—’

‘It’s the best for Boccius and no one else,’ I snapped. ‘Aether’s teeth, don’t you have an opinion? This is your kingdom I’m speaking of.’

She shrank into herself, her shoulders curling forward, and that twisting feeling I felt in my stomach whenever I was around her intensified.

‘I’m useless,’ she whispered. ‘I should be stronger. I don’t know how to be.’

‘The first thing you can do is help me. You’re the heir, so you do get a vote, and your vote is worth more than any councillor’s.’

‘You can have my vote.’ She seemed to be drawing deeper into her bed, sinking into her pillows as though she was hoping they might swallow her up. ‘Tell them I want you as my regent.’

I sighed in frustration. ‘I can’t just tell them that’s what you want, Gwinellyn. You’ll need to attend the vote. And they want you at the meeting tomorrow so you are informed on the decisions your regent will be managing.’

Her eyes widened. ‘I can’t attend a council meeting.’

‘Why thefallnot?’

She chewed her bottom lip, which was already red and peeling. ‘I just can’t.’

I leaned forward. ‘Can’t or won’t? Are you just going to let this pack of idiots make all the decisions for you? If it’s up to them, they’ll have you married off within the year and they’ll put some fat husband on the throne to rule for you. You are Brimordia’s heir! Does that mean nothing to you? Has all that privilege come so easily that you don’t even worry to see it go?’

She wasn’t meeting my eyes anymore, her face blotchy as she stared down at her sheets. ‘I have… fits when I attend council meetings.’

Ah. So that was why Boccius wanted her there. He was hoping she’d fall in a twitching heap on the floor and the council would deem her unfit to cast her vote, unsound of mind. I grabbed her hand and she looked back up at me.

---