The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [61] Unavoidable

Tanisha waited until Thorfinn left the tent to finally drop her shoulders. She let out a long, frustrated groan and ran a hand through her hair. Her mind raced with possibilities, trying to piece together what had just happened. She didn't know how the First Princess found out. The truth of her being a greater wendigo was known to so few—Joha, Bjorn, and Svan, the latter of which had died in Lavi. Not even Tyr really knew that she was actually a greater wendigo and like most people that knew who she was thought she changed her appearance with maya. The resources of the royal family were not to be underestimated.

She glanced over to her familiar who looked confused at the entire interaction that just transpired. He wouldn't know, she had just been dragged into a political mess. She was trying to figure out from which angle First Princess Sigrun was coming from. She had to rely on her training as a noble and knowledge of royal politics to guide her next moves carefully.

"I know, I know," she muttered, pacing in front of him. "You're wondering what all that was about, right?" Tanisha sighed and turned back toward him. "It's not that I didn't want to meet with her, Bjorn. But you have to understand... wendigo politics are all plays for power. Sigrun was testing me. Giving me the honorary title of Fourteenth Princess wasn't just a gift. It was a trap."

Bjorn used his claw to write, "How is a trap?"

She corrected his grammar, spelling out the correct words for him before she continued her explanation, pacing back and forth.

"I mean once you think about it doesn't make a lot of sense," Tanisha said, rubbing her temple. "The moment I was given that title, she was elevating me, putting me on the same level as the other royals. That means I'm now a threat to the succession. Even if I have no intention of challenging for the throne, others will see me as a contender."

She heard Bjorn writing again and waited for him to finish. "Why give it to you?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Tanisha said. "On the surface, it seems like a gesture of goodwill, right? Giving me the title, showing me Thorfinn's face—since Royal Hands don't reveal their faces to just anyone. But...but I have to be missing something. Ugh... let's see. By showing me his face, she was acknowledging my new status, but also testing how I'd react. If I had just accepted it all without thinking, she would've seen me as weak. Someone she could control."

Tanisha nodded to herself in realization. "By making me a princess, she's not just giving me power—she's pulling me into everything whether I want it or not. If I'd let her, she would've made demands, and I'd have no choice but to obey. But I didn't play along. I refused the audience, and that changes everything."

Bjorn wrote, "That is why you refused?"

"Yeah, refusing was very-very important," Tanisha said. "You see, as royalty—even honorary—I'm now in a position where I can oppose her. It's called the 'position of opposition.' Without the Fourteenth Princess title, if I had refused to meet her, I'd have been forced into a duel or worse, executed for defying her authority. But now? I'm in a place where I can say no, and that means she can't just push me around." She groaned in contemplation. "But that's where it doesn't make sense. Why give me that power in the first place? It's not like she wants me to be independent. If anything, she probably wants to bind me to her side. That's what I can't figure out yet.

"What's the endgame? Is she trying to draw me into her faction? I already am kind of a part of it after she gave me this." Tanisha lifted her arm to show Bjorn the bracelet that served as her second storage item. "Or maybe... she's setting me up as bait for the others. If I become a threat, the other royals might target me, thinking I'm trying to challenge for the throne. That could destabilize things—throw the entire succession into chaos. Or maybe she's using me as a counterweight against someone else.