The silence was promising, or so I thought. At least it meant everyone was too scared to shout the insults I could see hovering on their red faces.
Eventually, Countess Lealonie said, “As if you aren’t going to run my lands into the ground with your reckless spending anyway.”
Something about how she said it got to me. Not even angry, just bitterly resigned. At this point, I was supposed to threaten to hang them all upside down by their heels and extract all their blood. I glanced down at the script on my hand, where I was pretty sure I’d misspelled “exsanguination.”
Then I sighed, and said, “I don’t need more jewels and dresses. I need the money to pay off the former king’s debt. I have no qualms about kicking out the Guild of Indentured Servitude without paying them, but I need to at least pay all the workers who built the World Games stadium.”
Maybe I was making a huge mistake. I probably shouldn’t show any weakness in front of enemies. But I couldn’t help trying.
Countess Lealonie snorted. “The last time King Uctor said we needed to accept a tribute hike for the good of the nation, it turned out he had to offer up compensation because he’d groped a foreign queen. Given that you seduced and abducted the dwarven ambassador’s secretary, it looks like you’re following in his footsteps.”
By the Sun God, how had that rumor made it all the way to the dungeon already? Guards could be such gossips. I winced. “I’m not giving the Dwarven Caves a single aracoin. I booted them out after forcing them to renounce their claim on our kingdom. You may not like me, but right now, you need me to save your country.”
Countess Lealonie crossed her arms. “Arahasnor is going to hell. That’s why I need to keep every last coin in my own lands, to look after my own people.”
It was selfish but in an understandable way. Probably my extravagant and reckless behavior of late hadn’t inspired any trust. Heaving a huge sigh, I plopped down on the ground. The damn heels were killing me. “What would you want the crown to do with your money?”
Countess Lealonie eyed me warily. After a long moment, she said, “My county needs a new bridge. We share a border with Conollia, and the bridge was destroyed during the fighting. It’s impacting our trade routes. I’ve got the money to fix it, but I need agreement from the Conollians, and I lack the authority to negotiate that.”
“I can do that! Kaine is my—I mean, I took his wife hostage, so he’ll have to listen to me. Deal.” I spat on my hand, then held it out for a shake.
Countess Lealonie gave me a very funny look. Belatedly, I remembered that nobles didn’t do that. But before I could wipe my hand off, the countess grabbed it and shook. “Deal.”
I was immediately swamped by nobles shouting out their own requests.
By the time I gave orders to the guards to release everyone, I felt satisfied. They had probably only negotiated with me because I’d forced them. But there had also been some good ideas for improving the kingdom among their demands. It got me thinking. So far, I’d been strictly on the defensive—fighting for my survival and hopefully stopping my country from going down in flames. It would be wonderful to do something productive for a change.
“How did it go?” Ysabel asked, falling in alongside me as we walked up the stairs. “You’ve got a dirt stain on your dress! Did anyone throw dirt at you? Just say the word, and I’ll have Alzira put a sack over their heads and beat them anonymously.”
“No, no, I got tired and sat down.” I hesitated, then admitted to everything I’d done. I waited for my sister to scold me.
“Sweet Ava, you did brilliantly! I’m impressed. Those are even some good ideas for improving the kingdom. Except that one landgrave who wanted the self-portrait of Jdalj hanging in the throne room, but we can let him have that ugly thing. It will give me an excuse to redecorate.” She patted me on the shoulder. “When did my baby sister grow up and get so smart? I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you.” I tried not to blush. Her words meant more to me than she would ever know. I’d melt into a puddle before ever admitting to her how much I admired her. “Now that I have a breatherbefore the next crisis, I think I should do more for the kingdom. I have all this power. It seems like a waste not to use it. But I’m not a politician or scholar. What would you do?”
Ysabel hesitated, twirling a curl with her finger. “We have to be practical. There’s a limit to how many changes the nobility will accept in a row.”
“No, we don’t.” I spun my sister around and grabbed her by the shoulders. “We’ve already threatened the nobility into submission. I’m a tyrant!”
“If one of my ideas goes wrong …”
“Then blame it all on the Blood Duchess. Yzzy, that’s the beauty of this crazy situation! We don’t have to take responsibility for anything. This is the perfect chance for a social experiment. We can try out whatever we like, and if it doesn’t work, then we scapegoat the Blood Duchess.”
Ysabel bit her lip. “Now that you mention it … I’ve always wanted to make medical treatments free for the poor.”
“Free? How would the doctors make a living?”
“The royal treasury would pay the doctors. As a healer, I always set aside a certain portion of my time for people who can’t afford to pay, but I can’t help the whole city. I know doctors who can barely keep their practices going because their principles compel them to help those who can’t pay. I also know doctors who will turn a patient out onto the streets if their clothes aren’t nice enough. People become prey to scammers because they can’t afford legitimate treatment. If medical expenses were the responsibility of the crown, then no one would have to die because they couldn’t afford treatment.” Ysabel became increasingly animated as she spoke. “We could work with existing charity programs run by the Church. Honestly, I’d love to make it so that no one ever had to go bankrupt from medical expenses, but our treasury is too empty and our populace struggling too much to raise taxes. We need someone else to fund this particular experiment. Fortunately, I have a lot of Church contacts.”
I grinned. “That’s a wonderful idea. Head Cardinal Augustin seems like a good person. I bet he’d help.”
“I’d also like to devote funds to training more doctors. We don’t have enough, currently. I’d written up a plan, but I could never get it past the last Council of Cardinals. The new one owes me their positions.”
As we reached the duchess’s office, I gestured her inside. “Sit down, and we’ll plan out who we’d need to talk to first. If anyone gives you trouble, then I’ll threaten them for you. I’m getting better at that.”
Ysabel sat down in the chair across from my desk. “Speaking of which, I’d love to educate certain nobles who have been difficult for me to work with in the past. We could make them take classes about sexism and other forms of discrimination.”
I thought of some of the difficulties I’d had in communication when even a handshake turned into a tripwire. “Throw class differences in there, too. It would be wonderful if we could all come to understand each other better.”
