“We are allies, yet your people seem to openly despise us. People tend to take direction from their leaders. What is it you’re feeding them?”
“Tend,” he emphasized, dropping his arms. “That is the pivotal word here. As much as I pride myself on my leadership, I will say that this sentiment has come entirely from the man beside you, not from me.”
“He has a fearsome reputation.”
“I’m not speaking of his reputation. I’m speaking of what he did.”
I glanced at Harthon, whose face revealed nothing. But the subtle stillness of his body spoke volumes.
“Before he was Princeps,” Aric started, though I feared I already knew where this was going, “when Harthon here was son to a father who enjoyed hunting and maiming even more than my own, he spent time in these lands.” Harthon remained a statue beside me, fingers clenched tightly around his goblet. “His clan terrorized our people. The young ones don’t remember, but the old ones will never forget his mark here.”
I knew of Harthon’s ugly childhood. This was only more evidence of it. “It wasn’thismark. It was his father’s,” I defended.
“They see it as one in the same.”
“And what about you? Your father didn’t seem like the best of men.”
“I suffered similarly. It took me a long time to earn my people’s trust.” He flashed an arrogant grin. “But I now have it.You do not. And my people trust me enough to protect them from Harthon’sterrible wraththat they’ll spite him to his face.”
My mind shifted from Aric’s people to his second-in-command, who’d been all but ready to kill Harthon. “And Torr?”
“His parents were victims of Harthon’s father,” he revealed. “I have explicitly told him not to kill you, but his hatred runs deep.”
Recovering his typical apathy, Harthon deadpanned, “I’m terribly wounded.”
While the words dripped sarcasm, it was a façade. I knew of the guilt he carried for all he’d participated in as a child. He would never hold himself blameless.
Shifting the topic away from him, I asked, “Why bother to earn their trust? Ruling through fear seems to be an effective strategy.”
“You say it like fear and trust are mutually exclusive.”
Were they not?
“My people fear me. But they can trust in the consistency of where that fear lies,” he clarified. “I spent a long time exterminating the looters, lawless bands, and criminals my father allowed here. I did so brutally, to make a point. And I’ve spent an equally long time improving the infrastructure in my Territory, rather than focusing my efforts outward. The result is trust that I will provide for my people, and fear of acting against me.”
“And what is your purpose?”
“I need some clarification on your question, love.”
“Your aim as Princeps. To do good? To gain power? To indulge?”
Aric revealed a fourth option. “To survive.” His chipped tooth showed through a wry grin. “Our current predicament transcends men. It is us versus extinction, and that situation will grow more and more apparent as time moves forward and theDomus continues to kill our land. I would not like to be among the first to die.”
He was not a good or bad man, then, but a selfish one.
He waved a hand toward me. “And what isyouraim,magvis?”
Well, this one would be no lie. “To helpothersto survive.”
“If only you could take down those shimmering walls that your kind put up,” he mused.
If only.
Harthon cleared his throat. “Her more immediate goal is to aid me with my aims in First. My man leaves today to scout our route. He’ll need provisions.”
“Consider it done,” Aric acquiesced. He drained the rest of his goblet before adding, “Though there is no point. He’ll die with or without them.”
* * *
