Sou snorted. “They honestly think the country would be better off with a bunch of street-sweepers and librarians running the place, rather than with the guidance of men and women who’ve been trained to understand politics from the very moment they were born? The nerve of these people…”
“It’s not a totally crazy idea, you know.” Ryu spoke up, for the first time since he’d arrived back. “I mean, not the whole kidnapping bit, obviously, but more and more people are starting to push for democracy in Galandeen. Thirteen years ago, Arctesia was going through the same problem. The king refused to listen, so they ended up having a revolution. For all that I don’t agree with the Green Flag’s methods, there might be some wisdom in listening to the point they’re trying to make.”
“Well, I hardly think there’s a great deal of comparison between Arctesia and Galandeen,” Elise said, surprising Kentario. She rarely had much to say on the topic of international politics. “King Lucas was hardly abenevolentruler, after all. He was over-taxing the citizens, charging exorbitant fees for medical services and cutting back on education left, right and centre. And then the crown prince was found to be hoarding wealth from the treasury and spending it on wild parties and prostitutes, while an outbreak of measles went completely unchecked across the south of the country. I’m certainly not saying I support the idea of a revolution,” she added, with a stray glance in Sou’s direction, “but King Lucas had made quite a few mistakes before he lost his throne. By comparison, Galandeen has just opened two new hospitals, we’re building a new university in Almark and we’ve lowered retirement age to sixty-four. The population can hardly complain we’re treating them badly.”
Well, this was turning out to be a most unexpected day. When had Queen Elise started taking an interest in Arctesian politics? The sudden – and strangely accurate – analysis seemed to come straight out of left field.
But Ryu was not to be placated. “That’s not the point,” he said. “Regardless of how well a monarchy is performing, the people want the right to choose their own path.” It might have sounded incongruous, given that some of those very pro-democracy activists had just tried to kidnap him, but Kentario had known Ryu for long enough to realise he was veryable to look at the bigger picture, without being mired down in his own experience.
“Democracy is not the solution to all the world’s ills,” Sou said. “Just look at Biermarg. They’ve been a democracy for decades, but last year, the government was exposed for widespread corruption, and now they’re embroiled in a civil war. And I dare say half the people fighting to overthrow the government don’t even understand the most basic political processes. It’s impossible to please every civilian in a country, so no matter the ruling structure, there are always going to be detractors, and in more extreme cases, rebels willing to make their point with violence. But that’s beside the point.” He stood up, ending the conversation. “Ryu, until these miscreants are caught, you’re confined to palace grounds. Felix is waiting in the library for a tutoring session before your maths exam, and please inform him that alternative arrangements will need to be made for Thursday. Maro, I want an update the moment the situation changes. And if you’ll all excuse me, I have a meeting with Lord Nae. I think I’ve kept him waiting for quite long enough.”
King Sou strode out of the room, everyone except the queen standing up respectfully as he passed. Ryu headed obediently out the door to go to the library, shooting a pointed look Kentario’s way as he went, but before Kentario could go after him, Danag’s voice pulled him up.
“Kentario? Don’t rush off. I’d like to have a word. I just need to speak to Captain Landis for a moment first. Would you mind waiting in the hallway?”
“Yeah, sure,” Kentario agreed, knowing he didn’t have much choice. Well, that destroyed any chance of talking to Ryu before his tutoring session. And afterwards, the prince would likely have to go straight to dinner with his parents, which meant Kentario would have to try to catch him on his way back to the royal apartment after that. He stepped out of the room, pausing a moment in the doorway. He expected Queen Elise to follow him, now that the crisis was over, and he knew it would be polite to hold the door for her… but Elise was still sitting on the sofa, displaying no intention at all to leave the room.
That was odd. He closed the door and took up a post on the opposite side of the hallway, standing at ease with his back to the wall. It was unusual for the queen to want to speak to either Maro or Danag, with Sou taking charge of issues of palace security. If she had questions for Maro about the whole incident, why hadn’t she asked them in the meeting, instead of waiting until afterwards?
And why was she suddenly participating in discussions about democracy and revolution?
The whole palace seemed to be in a constant state of flux these days, with the Festival of the Goddess coming up on the weekend, then Ryu’seighteenth birthday, and then his high school graduation. And after today’s debacle, Kentario dreaded to think what other changes might be in the works.
A few minutes later, Danag came out of the lounge, and Kentario could immediately tell from the look on his face that he wasn’t in a good mood. Well, that was fine. Kentario was feeling none too cheerful himself.
“Captain Landis said you made quite a fuss about being dismissed from your post.” Despite the even tone of his voice, it was clear that his father was deeply unimpressed.
“Ryu was in danger,” Kentario tried to explain. “My job is to protect him. That’s all I was trying to do.” Surely his father could respect his commitment to his duty, even if it meant disobeying Maro?
Danag’s mouth tightened into a thin line. “Captain Landis has served the palace for-”
“I am Ryu’s bodyguard!” Kentario interrupted. “Maro has no right to-”
“Captain Landis,” Danag repeated, louder this time, “has served the palace for over thirty years. He served under King Arata before Sou took the throne, and such displays of disrespect for his position and his experience are juvenile and unprofessional. You have a duty, and over and above your commitment to Ryu, that duty is to obey the orders of the Crown.”
Had everybody lost all sense of reason today? “Maro gave me no information about the threat to Ryu and no clear reason why I was to step away from my post.” Kentario was all but growling at his father, just barely managing to keep control of his temper. “You taught me that Ryu’s safety comes first, even above any concerns for my own life. How would you feel if you were ordered to abandon the king?”
That, finally, seemed to get through to Danag, and he sighed, his shoulders drooping ever so slightly. “Your commitment to Ryu is commendable,” he admitted, his tone softening a fraction. “No one has any issue with your ability to protect him.”
“Then why was I removed from my post?”
“There were valid reasons,” Danag said. “But you are currently not privy to that information. You will be given a full briefing at a point in the future when certain…issueshave been resolved. Until then, I consider this discussion to be closed.”
He strode away, leaving Kentario feeling more off balance and more resentful than when they’d begun.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Ah, Ryu, you look gorgeous.” Queen Elise held out her arms wide as Ryu came into the dining room later that evening for the familiar ritual of their formal dinner. “This is a new suit, isn’t it? I’ll have to thank Helbert. He does such a wonderful job as your steward.” She made a production of kissing Ryu on the top of his head – careful not to smear her lipstick, of course – then returned to her seat, leaving Ryu drowning in a cloud of expensive perfume. Omegas, particularly those who hadn’t yet been matched to their soulmate, often wore perfume to avoid attracting unwanted attention from alphas. But as the queen, keeping her moods to herself was of paramount importance, hence the dozen or so bottles of perfume lined up on Elise’s dressing table. Trying to subtly clear his nose, Ryu headed for the table, where a butler held his chair out for him.
“Actually, Kentario chose this one for me,” he told his mother. He hadn’t seen Kentario since the end of that bizarre meeting after he’d got back from the school. Instead of talking about Kentario’s dismissal from his post as bodyguard and how Maro intended to capture the rest of the group of would-be kidnappers, they’d had a fruitless discussion on democracy, and any questions on Ryu’s safety during the incident had been firmly swept under the rug. Felix had kept him occupied all afternoon with an endless flood of maths equations, and then he’d had to dress in a hurry, ever wary of being late for dinner.
But despite his ongoing unease at the afternoon’s events, Ryu still found himself fidgeting self-consciously with the pale grey suit. He’d been reluctant to wear it, not really sure why Kentario had insisted on him buying it when they’d made the visit to the tailor two weeks ago. His bodyguard had got an odd look of consternation on his face when Ryu had emerged from the changing room, stating simply, “Yeah, that’s a good one,” whenRyu had asked what he’d thought. But he’d refused to leave the shop without the suit, and Ryu hadn’t been in the mood to argue.
“Kentario? Really?” his father asked, from the other side of the table. “I wouldn’t have thought he’d know the first thing about fashion.”
“Oh, ignore your father.” Elise said, beaming at Ryu. “It looks fantastic. It brings out the colour of your eyes.”
The vast majority of the Galandanish population had dark brown eyes, along with dark brown-to-black hair. While Ryu had inherited his father’s jet-black hair, his bright blue eyes were an anomaly, though one he was frequently complimented on. A handful of times over the past few hundred years, the soulmates of the various crown princes of Galandeen had been Arctesian – ninety per cent of whom were blond – and Ryu supposed there must have been a few recessive genes lurking around in their gene pool.
