Page 60 of The Promised Prince
“Besides,” Alba Folly added, “according to the marriage treaty, New Hope has pledged their military backing for defense purposes only. Taking this step makes us the aggressors.”
“Thisisdefense,” Levi Karda insisted. “It’s a justified reaction to Tolsten’s aggression. They crossed our borders and took our people hostage. Hitting them back now will deter future harassment.”
“A full-on military engagement is not deterrence, Levi,” Alba said, his face red. “That’s called war, and we need New Hope’s consent to even think of declaring it. Without their support, Tolsten will crush us.”
“And, if our spies are correct, Tolsten could simply use their cache of illegal weapons to blow us off the map,” another high ruler, Joss Oviatt, inserted. “Even with New Hope’s support, declaring outright war would be suicide.”
King Carver gave a short, frustrated sigh and glanced around the table. “Do we have any better ideas?”
Suddenly, a voice said simply, “Kill King Adler.”
The room went silent as each high ruler turned to stare at Maxwell Doman, who stared back with serene calmness.
Trev broke the stunned silence first, enunciating slowly. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Assassination!” Alba choked. “And just how do you expect us to do that?”
“Impossible!” Niles huffed across the room.
“Do you want to start another Desolation?” Sebban Challis spoke up. He was the one high ruler that usually kept to himself.
Maxwell answered plainly. “We can stage it to look like an assassination from agitators within Tolsten—an inside job that can’t be traced back to Albion.”
The hungry gleam in his father’s eyes knotted Trev’s stomach.
King Carver sat back down in his chair and gestured to the commander. “Fenton? What do you think? Could we pull this off?”
Trev had to shut this down immediately. “We can’t just kill the leader of another kingdom. It doesn’t reflect what our country believes in. Whatwebelieve in.”
“Albion believes what I tell them to believe,” the king snapped back.
Trev shook his head. It wasn’t the first time he doubted whether his father had the people of Albion’s best interests at heart. Increasingly, it seemed like winning this twisted game against the king of Tolsten was all his father cared about. Trev tried again. “Father, this could set a terrifying precedent. If we assassinate a world leader, what’s to stop others from doing the same thing to us?”
“To Maxwell’s point, though,” Commander Pryer interrupted, his eyes thoughtful, “no one will see our hand in it if we can frame local insurgents. Albion will be safe.”
Trev’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Commander, are youhonestlysuggesting that we commit a murder and then allow innocent men and women to take the fall for it?”
“They’re hardly innocent if they’re rebelling against their king.” Pryer sniffed. He turned to King Carver and continued. “To answer your question, Your Majesty, I believe it could be done with careful planning.”
“You’re wrong if you believe no one will ever find out,” Niles Ticking scoffed.
“Father, this is madness.” Trev looked around the table at the other high rulers, hoping to find other allies. “Do you all agree with this?”
“No,” Alba said firmly, taking off his glasses and setting them on the papers in front of him. “Prince Ezra is right. This is not a can of worms we want to open. Even if we assassinate Adler, it solves nothing concerning the illegal weapons. There is still the possibility that the assassination starts a war.”
“You act like we’re the ones starting a war. Have you forgotten Tolsten’s attacks on us year after year?” The king’s anger was starting to rise again. “Tolsten’s attack on Axville! I will no longer stand by and watch Adler have his way with our country. This war between us has been ongoing, and we will finish it.”
“Perhaps I spoke too hastily,” Maxwell said, back-peddling. “My anger got the better of me. Of course, we all want justice for Axville, but this isn’t the way.” He looked at Trev. “I think the boy is right; there are consequences to this plan that I didn’t think about.”
King Carver couldn’t do anything unless he had the majority vote in the room, and he clearly wasn’t going to get that.
“Fine. We’ll pretend this idea never existed. King Adler is not to be touched,” his father said to the group of men, but Trev didn’t miss the intense look his father gave Fenton Pryer. “For now, we have sent a large number of men to Axville to assess the situation. We have also sent an official statement to King Adler demanding the hostages be returned.”
“We will wait for Adler’s response before we make any further moves,” Commander Pryer said as he looked at the men around the table.
* * *
The meeting wasfinished. Trev cursed under his breath when he saw Joniss coming down the hall. He was the last person he wanted to speak to right now.
