The Rebel Assassin

Chapter 29: A New Reign

Dell was shocked to find me awake, dressed, and alert, having already eaten breakfast, when she and the others made their way down to the inn's common room the next morning.

They took seats, bleary-eyed and slow. Most of them had probably been up late preparing for another day of meetings. I couldn't help feeling smug as I cheerfully called, "Good morning!" and dropped Dell's bag of notes on the table in front of her.

She stared at it. "You... read them?"

"Yeah. And I reorganized them so the important things are on top, in case you couldn't tell which were the important things." I hurried on when she tried to retort, since it hadn't been meant as an insult — I just wanted to know that she'd seen in her notes what I'd seen. Also, after she'd been so hard on me last night she couldn't expect me to be nice. "I'm ready to go whenever you guys are."

"You're coming?" Cyrus asked with a frown. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. Your personality can be quite... abrasive."

"I would have put it less diplomatically," I admitted.

"Which is why you're not a diplomat, and shouldn't come. Now, I want us all to—"

I rapped the table to cut him off. "I'm not done. First of all, no one here is a diplomat, and Joshua is one of the most abrasive people I know, so you have no grounds to keep just me out. Secondly, we have to move faster on this alliance and having more people will help us do that."

Joshua, as usual, was the first to latch onto bad news. "Why do we have to move faster?"

I tried to keep any nervous habits tamped down — I didn't want to give away how unnerved I really was and give them another reason to argue with me coming — but I felt my fingers begin tapping out a sharp rhythm without meaning to. "I'm pretty sure Magali was crowned Queen yesterday."

"Impossible," Cyrus said. "For so many reasons, not least of all that the news wouldn't reach Emorial for a few days. You couldn't know that."

I scanned the small group until I found Galahad keeping his head down on the fringes. He'd been mostly left out of all that had happened recently, and still seemed uncomfortable around the rebels, as much as he was impressed by them. "Did you feel something yesterday?"

He glanced up and then back down at his steaming mug as if it commanded his whole attention. "Yeah," he said quietly. "I felt this... I don't know. A feeling, almost like this time I collapsed a few months ago, except I didn't feel sick this time. I know it sounds silly, but it was almost like getting tapped on the shoulder by something that wasn't there."

"You see?"

Various people looked vaguely alarmed or confused, except for Nick, who looked asleep.

"Are you sure?" Cyrus asked. "It could have been anything, really."

"It could only have been the Heir's crowning, logically. I'm warning you. You can ignore me if you want, but you'll regret not taking it seriously when the news does come." With a pang, I wondered how Nemia was faring in Maenar. She must have felt the shift as Gal and I had. Had she put together what it meant?

Nobody looked particularly sleepy anymore. With some mumbling among themselves, they started to get ready for the assembly. Cyrus didn't look happy, but he never did.

Joshua joined me when I went outside to wait, his arms crossed and expression placid. "Laerhart. Should we be worried? Feeling any particular urge to run back to Solangia and do the new queen's bidding?"

"No," I said with a sneer.

"Just checking."

"Don't check on me. It's abrasive."

"You're not funny," he said, exasperated, when I smiled to myself. Getting on Joshua's nerves would always be funny.

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The Assembly met in a building on the other side of the square from the library. I doubted Ari enjoyed the proximity to the representatives, and was surprised to see her come out of the library as we entered Freedom Square. Even more surprisingly, she made a line right toward us.

I didn't know where we stood, now that I knew her past and she thought she knew my future. We'd had only one real conversation, but it had struck so deeply I didn't know if we were friends or something less. I settled for saying, "Good morning."

"Bold claim," she said shortly. "It won't be once you've met with the representatives."

Politics could ruin any morning, but her warning seemed particularly bad natured. "It can't be that bad."

"It is. Your friends just haven't realized it yet. The Assembly will hear out your proposal because they wants Emorial to be some great power that other countries turn to for help creating their own democracies, but they have too many problems of their own to actually give that aid."

I thought of the reasons Cyrus and Dell had talked about, as to why Emorial would ally with the Phoenix. "But doesn't helping us help them? They can't enjoy having a strong monarchy right across the border." We had reached the door of the Assembly and the others went in past me, but I hung back to hear Ari's response.

"Sure, if you actually succeed in taking the country. The odds are still stacked in favor of the Solangian throne—"

"That would change if Emorial backed us."

"I'm telling you they won't. They're too concerned about the Protectorate."

I considered that. "Two questions. Why is the Protectorate more important than the alliance?"

Ari sighed. "It's too complicated to explain quickly. The short of it is that the Protectorate has been property of Emorial for decades, but it also has a long history of autonomy. The Assembly doesn't want to fully integrate it into Emorial and give it representatives, but they also don't want to let it go, especially with the pro-monarchial sentiment within the Protectorate. It wouldn't form a new democracy, just a new kingdom. And it would look bad for Emorial to let go of a province only for it to reject Emorial's message. So the Assembly's all tangled up—"

"You're right, it can't be explained quickly, please stop."

"Your second question, then?"

"Why are you trying to make me think this is hopeless?"

The answer came matter-of-factly and without apology. "I want you to answer my questions about Guardians and give your opinion on my research while you're here. The Assembly will just take up your time without achieving anything, and then you'll go back to Solangia and I'll have gotten nothing — not even some agreement about exchanging information as part of the alliance, because the alliance won't happen."

I looked over my shoulder at the narrow hall into the Assembly, which looked startlingly dark compared to the bright sunlight of the square. Did Cyrus know about Emorial's trouble with the Protectorate?

I trusted that Ari was right about the politics and the Assembly's preoccupation. And in that case, the alliance probably was doomed. But that didn't make the situation hopeless.

Already distracted, I asked, "The Protectorate's a big fan of supreme rulers?" That seemed like it could be important.

"They must be, for some reason. Are you coming back to the library?"

"Nah. Thanks for the warning," I told her, and trotted down the hall, mind tumbling around the possibilities. Someone had to come at the Assembly and the alliance from a new angle, and that was my expertise.

"I didn't tell you that to be helpful!" Ari yelled after me.

"I appreciate it!" I called back with a grin.

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I wish I had more substance (and a longer word count ) for this chapter but we can hopefully get to some action soon! In the mean time... you could check out some of the short stories I've been posting in my book Witch Word? Totally friendly and pressure-less advice, just like Ari!