The Primogenitor

"True Motives"

"Not only is this the dumbest plan anyone's pitched to me in a very, very long time, but it's also a dumb plan that you bungled. Royally bungled." Apollo's ears went red. They blended into his hair that way.

Maisie sighed. She shouldn't be so hard on him. He was half a kid still, and unlike her at that age, hadn't poisoned anyone before. "You realize what happens if Mandon's little present is poison, and this scheme 'works', right?"

He didn't answer. "Speaking to the one where you kill Chief Barrelhead. He picks up your poison dice without question, and coughs up blood. Splendid. Everyone realizes he's been poisoned, and whoever investigates the death takes a blood sample and realizes what he's dealing with. From there, it's not hard to get a list of things he touched."

She let that sink in for a second. The Snake Prince looked so ashamed of himself she almost let him go, but she didn't like the idea of a poor planner juggling her fate. "Then someone points out that you dropped your dice after hanging onto them for a while under the table. Anybody with half a brain then questions your Primogenitors, all of whom met you yesterday and have zero personal loyalty to you. Mandon flips, they check your pretty little snake cape, and find traces of the poison. You are flayed. The end."

He stared at his lap. "I guess I—"

"Ah, and then you confess to me, who you also just met yesterday, that you tried to murder a Primogenitor, the Barrel that was Chosen, and your wife."

"We're not married yet."

"Maybe she'll knock some sense into you." Maisie wondered if a motherly slap on the cheek would do the job.

"Why are you doing this?"

She pressed her hands to the sides of her head. "You don't get it, man. I'm tied to your sinking ship. You cannot mess this up, and I'm gonna do everything I can to help you." his queer eyes, with black pupils like little pebbles in a white ocean, widened at that. "See, you're doing it again! You just met me. Repeat after me: I am Nobody, and you don't know my true motives."

"This is silly."

"Do you see what I'm saying?"

"You are Nobody, and I don't know your true motives."

"Good; so long as you get it."

Apollo yawned. Has he been up this whole time? Maisie knew better than anyone that it was tough to make a plan when you dozed off whenever you closed your eyes. "Why don't we talk in the morning? You should sleep. You'll feel better afterwards."

His eyes widened. "Here? But—"

"No, idiot, wherever you sleep normally. Is this you being tired, or you being an idiot Chiefling who has had everything fed to you on a gold-tinted spoon?"

For a second, he looked like he might say something back. He's taken slights his whole life, this one. Married against his will... even in the poorest fringes in the Iron State, everyone had the right to choose in that matter. He doesn't know how to not be a pawn at this point. Maisie conjured to mind the succinct powerlessness that had coursed through her when her mother kicked her in the chest, took her first book out of her hand and burned it, warning her that only the Ascendants should dabble in such matters. Maisie tried to smile. Why should I have to coddle him? It's not like he's my little brother. "I'm sorry. It's been a long day. We'll talk tomorrow."

As he slipped out, she considered asking him to bring her back some spice. She might as well die comfortably.

The boy isn't that hopeless. He'd shown inklings of cleverness here and there. If you didn't squint too hard, the plan with Mandon made sense. All of them. Maisie and crew were liabilities, that much was true. She could hardly blame the Snake Prince for trying to kill Shig. No doubt Shig's famously pleasant, happy-go-lucky attitude at the little dice game hadn't helped him.