Chapter 125: For the Best Reasons

Chapter 125: For the Best Reasons

Hed done them the kindness of meeting with them before his meeting with the Dukes and Earls later that evening. Princess Trianna should have been grateful for that, but she knew that hed already made up his mind and that the decision was the wrong one.

There was nothing that said he had to meet with his wife and daughters to explain the grave news to them. Oh, he tried to put a brave face on it. This will avoid the war weve been building toward for some time, he assured them as he gestured to the scroll hed just explained to them. She wouldnt have the chance to read it, of course, but she didnt want to. She might not have the sight, but she could feel the evil radiating from that hateful treaty. Tens of thousands of lives will be saved, and

And thousands of souls will be damned! her mother blurted out, unable to suppress the outrage anymore. Honestly, Henry, if you try to round up the beggars, theyll burn the whole city down beneath us! Are you sure youve thought this through?

Her father, King Borum, was used to these sorts of interruptions and only sighed. Though her mother never said anything to embarrass the King in public, in private, they argued frequently about a whole range of issues. Sometimes, she would even succeed in changing his mind, but the Princess could see by the twitching muscles of his clenched jaw that today would not be one of those days.

Theres an army of death marching toward us, Glorena, he sighed. At first, I didnt believe it, either. Not when my best spies reported it. Not even after the sun shattered, but its true. The dead are marching, the Gods have turned their backs on us, and there are precious few fortresses between here and the enemy. What would you have me do?

Well, at least youre being honest about it now, her mother growled. She hated being lied to, and the King had lied to all of them for months. The first rumors had begun to circulate more than half a year ago, but in each instance, her father had downplayed them.

No, theres not a war coming.

Yes, theres a war in the west, but theres no need to raise an army.

Yes, Im raising an army, but it's only a small one, and we shouldnt need to field it.

War is unavoidable, but its against flesh and blood. Well be fighting the men of Harrow and Kellor, not fiends from the pit.

At every step, hed lied to them and to the people, admitting as little as he could reasonably expect to get away with while he and his generals had whispered and planned: the dead had risen and were marching across the world, scourging whole kingdoms in their path.

There were some disputes about where this started. Some said they come from a backwater county in the South and that Siddrimar had been the first casualty. Others insisted they came from the West in the low kingdoms. Both options were equally nonsensical, of course; nothing ever happened in the South, and the West was full of fractious feuding lords that warred with each other.

If we do as they say, and we send them those men, father, Princess Trianna said finally in a lul in the conversation. Whats to stop them from asking for more and more after that?

The steel of our blades and the strength of our walls, he said firmly. She knew that was a lie, though. Everyone did. Constantinal had fallen. The Undefeated City had been defeated.

Just as she struggled with her own terrible deeds, she considered wryly. More than anything, Trianna wanted to put this off for another day or another year, but she couldnt. Realistically, she only had an hour or two left to act. After that, the die would be cast, and they would find themselves in alliance with the devils of the pit.

This is what the Gods would want, she whispered herself. Siddrim taught us this. All who seek to ally with evil or placate them are evil themselves.

It was with those words that she finally forced herself to move. The Princess made no attempt to sneak or skulk; that would have only attracted more attention. Instead, she secreted the bottle in a handbag and then began to wander around the castle, saying hello to every guard and servant she came across and asking them about their day.

During all that time, no one noticed her little side trip into her fathers study, and no one was there to see it when she placed that bottle in the top drawer of his desk. She would pray that her brothers were spared the terrible fate shed just created, but if they were not, she knew they would be casualties in a righteous cause.

The light is worth dying for, she whispered to herself that night like a mantra as she lay sleeplessly in bed until the screams started just before dinner.

Any rumors that my husband planned to ally with these fiends is nothing but pure slander, her mother said at the funeral. Her face was tear-streaked, but her voice was stronger than it had any right to be. The evil that we fight knew that he would never bend, and they wormed some agent of darkness into the very heart of our Kingdom, but we shall root it out!

There was a cheer at that, forcing Queen Borum to stop speaking for a moment as she addressed the masses from the balcony.

My husband didnt deserve this end, she said finally when the crowd died down before she went on to name a long list of honors and achievements that he did.

Her mother went on to lionize her father at length, calling him A hero who would never bend the knee to the dark, even though they both knew he wasnt and that the army would bring them all the vengeance they craved soon.

Princess Trianna stood there at her right hand but said nothing. Her mother would never find the culprit because she wasnt even looking at her daughter. They were questioning the maids and torturing likely suspects, but not one person had so much as asked Trianna if shed done this terrible thing.

If they had, she might have confessed on the spot. Despite the fact that she was certain it was the right thing to do, the whole ordeal ate at her. Fourteen people were dead, and though the healers had been called swiftly, there was little theyd been able to do. The King, his Lord General, both of her brothers and ten different Dukes and Earls. It had been a horrific discovery, and the entire Kingdom was in mourning.

It was only once all that was done that she announced that she would be assuming the throne and was already searching amongst the nobility for the right man to be the new Lord General. There had been Queens who ruled before, but they knew that would not be a popular move. In time, she would be forced by the gentry to remarry, but for now, during the mourning period, everyone would give her a free hand where vengeance and defense were concerned.

Tears cascaded silently down Princess Triannas cheeks as she looked at the blue-skinned bodies that had been laid in state beneath them, just inside the gates of the castle so that the people could see what had become of their King. It was terrible, and she couldnt stop the tears from coming, even as she reminded herself that it was better than the alternative. Fourteen souls would be interred in peace instead of hundreds that would have been devoured and made to serve the dark.

She would just have to find some way to deal with it because as awful as all this was, it was still better than the deal theyd been offered.