Alex glanced between his brothers and the expectant looks on their faces. Here was another life change—Alex would now be head of the Council. His father was still technically the leader until he abdicated but, for all intents and purposes, Alex was in charge now.
Alex could imagine how his father would handle this situation, and it would probably be with more diplomacy and tact than he would do. Then again, his father had fought with the Council nearly his entire life and was tired of it. Alex had been doing it for several years now, and he was tired of it too, but in a different way.
Alex took a seat and leaned towards them. “I want to make the Council more transparent. I thought about even making them elected positions, but I don’t want either of you to leave your positions or have to campaign for them. Legally, I don’t know that you could do that as royals.”
Marcello and Nate glanced at each other, then at Alex. “You could remove those positions from the Council, make them something more permanent under the royal umbrella.”
“I’ve thought of that too, but the optics of that aren’t great. It assumes that these two positions—held by royals—are more important than other Council roles. How do we tell people that the Ministers of the People or Justice or Labor or Education or Health, for example, are less important than the Ministers of Finance or Security? No, we’ll need to create two new positions that make those Council positions obsolete.”
Alex took a deep breath before continuing. “I’d also like to make Council member tax histories publicly available, and make the royal budget publicly available too, to a certain extent anyway.”
Nate whistled. “That’s the same as revealing dirty secrets. We all have a lot to hide.”
“I know, and I would be included in that too. But we’re going into an age where people are opposing the existence of monarchies because they’re not modern or efficient. They’re full of wasteful spending and lack real input from the public. I want to shift some of that mindset, for our Vallerian monarchy at least. Otherwise, what will the next generation inherit? I mean, Nate, if your and Charlie’s child turns out to be the next heir, do you want them to inherit the problems we’re dealing with now?”
It was the first time Alex had spoken so plainly to anyone about who would inherit the throne. No one spoke about it around him, and he doubted anyone would speak about it around Rebecca either.
But he was about to become king, and he couldn’t tiptoe around the issue anymore. The truth was that Charlie could be giving birth to the next heir to the throne, and they all had to face that reality.
Nate’s eyes widened and his mouth dropped. He glanced at Marcello, then back to Alex and cleared his throat. “Yes, I, uh,we, Charlie and I that is, have considered your point already, and you’re right. Whether it’s my child or someone else’s, we don’t want them to inherit these problems just because we didn’t want to deal with them.”
Marcello’s voice sounded a little rough when he spoke, but then he and his wife, Grace, had dealt with their own fertility issues. Talk of children and babies wouldn’t be easy for him either. “So, what’s your long game?”
“Step one is to create new positions for your roles. Even if you decide to leave at some point, I’d still prefer those positions managed outside the Council, particularly yours, Marcello. Details of our intelligence agencies and operations can’t be revealed.
“Once that’s complete, we move on to step two, which is torelease the financial and tax records and do an audit of government expenses, actions, and rules. This will help weed out the troublemakers and help us figure out where to streamline things and which rules and laws no longer serve us.
“Step three would be to change the Council appointment process, so the public is involved. It wouldn’t be an election, because we want to make sure qualified people are in those positions, but we could do some part of the process publicly, and close the existing loopholes that allow unqualified and inexperienced people into those positions on a technicality. Once those steps are done, or at least in process, we can figure out what’s next.”
Marcello rubbed his mustache. “It’s not a bad plan. It’s not how Papa would handle it, but I can see how it might play out. Have you talked to him about this?”
Alex shook his head. “Not yet. I wanted to speak with you first. I think step one—to transition your roles—should be completed before he steps down. It would mean a lot of political maneuvering on both your parts.”
“It would also mean that you wouldn’t have us on the Council once you officially took over, or even now while you’re dealing with their latest stunt,” Nate said. “Are you sure you’re ready to take on the Council as they are on your own?”
Alex nodded. “I think I’ll have a window, a small one but one nonetheless. Once I ascend the throne, they’ll want to show support for me, at least publicly. Since most Council meetings are streamed live now, they won’t want to appear as their true selves. I can use that to my advantage. Once things settle down, it will be different, but I’m hoping I can push some things through in the meantime. And, if they do push back sooner than expected, I’ve still got Royal Decrees I can issue.”
Marcello grinned. “They really hate when we issue those.”
“I’m counting on it,” Alex said with a devious smile back. “The more they protest me, the better it will work into my plan.”
Alex was all for a system of checks and balances as the Councilwanted. However, the Council wanted that balance for everyone but themselves. He would no longer allow them to go unchecked and pander to their ridiculous ideas that would put Vallerians at risk.
“Now that we’ve talked about dealing with them long-term, let’s discuss how to deal with their latest ploy.”
eleven
REBECCA
Six days post-surgery
Astrong, bare arm snaked around Rebecca’s waist and tugged her closer against him. Alex didn’t go to bed completely nude anymore, but he may as well have been. She felt his entire body against hers, including his morning erection.
She tried to wiggle away, but he tugged her right back. It was an unconscious movement on his part, as he was still mostly asleep, and she hated to wake him, but she needed to get up.
“Alex?” She tried unsuccessfully to move his arm. “Alex?”
He mumbled but didn’t budge further.
