“The council wants you to announce the execution. It would be your first royal decree, and it would be the start of a treaty with Ujijain.”
“I would’ve thought they’d try a bloodless alliance first.”
Another lesson of ruling he’d gathered was this: If you cannot win against them, marry them. The Emperor flushed.
“We offered that, but… they’d prefer her dead.”
“That’s one version of mercy, I suppose.”
The words took hold.It would be your first royal decree. His heart sank. Only his father and the council knew he was not the biological son of Pururavas. Everyone else in the kingdom believed that he had been a sickly child, too weak for royal events until he was seven years old. His father believed that blood made no difference. But the council believed otherwise. To them, he would always be an illusion of power, with the real strings held tightly in meetings he was not allowed to attend.
“You wantmeto announce the execution of the Princess as my first royal edict. But what about you?”
“I will take a more advisory role.”
“No. You will be the reinforcement should things sour.”
“Vikram, I—”
“The council is unsure of this decision so they will have a new face announce the plan. And if the plan is not well met, they can formally renounce my claim to the throne and reinstate you as sovereign.”
“That is a worst-case scenario, my child,” he said. To his credit, he did not lie. Still, a light tremor shook his voice.
“Careful, Father. Someone might hear you claim me as your own,” said Vikram coolly. “But how can this play out in a way they want? The council does not want war.”
And then the idea made sense.
Vikram waited for rage to grip his heart, but he felt nothing. For a moment, the world constricted to the menagerie and there was nothing in it but ruined silk, crippled beasts and bird droppings.
“Of course,” he said softly. “The council does not want war. They just seek to rid themselves of two errors at once. Remove Bharata’s folk heroine, and accept the outrage if Bharata falls through on its promises. As a show of goodwill, they will force me out of ‘power’ and probably make me live in an ashram for the rest of my life. And if all goes as planned, Bharata’s folk heroine is still removed and I will remain on the throne as a puppet king. Clever. I am almost tempted to congratulate them.”
Pururavas’s shoulders fell, and Vikram softened. His father could coax a wild leopard to rest its head on his lap, but he could never persuade the council to make Vikram a true king. Decades of complacency had sucked the marrow from the Emperor’s voice. The throne room should have been a seat of power, but in his father’s reign, it had become a playpen of wounded animals.
“I received the council’s word that you would always be well provided for, and that you would receive a pardon within the next year should things sour,” he said, his voice wavering. “You would maintain status, be granted land. And I hoped that perhaps we might take advantage of your role as king to find an advantageous marriage—”
“No.”
Vikram’s hand fell to his side, hitting his pant leg. Something sharp met his palm. The ruby.Play the game and you may yet win your kingdom, not just the husk of its name. He’d stayed here long enough. Fire ran through his veins. He could change this life.
“I will do as you ask, Father.”
Pururavas raised an eyebrow. “What do you want in exchange?”
“Am I so predictable? Do I never give without getting?” asked Vikram, grinning. “Now that you mention what I’d like, that does remind me that I would like to leave for a month before taking the throne. In the empire’s history, it is customary for the heir to spend a month away in meditation. You did the same yourself, Father. Puppet king or no, the council should at least want me to maintain an illusion of decorum.”
His father eyed him shrewdly, and then he sighed.
“For someone so decidedly against tradition, what has brought this on?”
“Patriotism?” tried Vikram.
Pururavas folded his arms. “Patriotism isnotthe reason. Where will you go?”
“I know where to go. I need to figure out how to get there.”
“You speak in riddles.”
“I always did have a way with words.”
