I furrow my brow. “How could something so strong break that easily?”
“Because the Covenant depended on belief,” he says. “The original Covenant only endured because the Houses trusted one another to honour it. Once fear replaced belief, replaced trust … it eroded from the inside. Somehow, Solric – the Sun King – knew that fear is the strongest solvent in political structures.”
My stomach clenches. “Fear of what, exactly?”
He closes the book with careful admiration. “The outer rim threat. The shadow armies. The first attack struck the Sun Kingdom 35 years ago,” His Grace says gently. “It did not destroy it outright, but it left it broken and vulnerable. Those who survived believed Solric could save them. Then others in the system started to believe that too, once the fear and the rumours spread.”
I let the words settle, piecing together the pattern:fear as a weapon. Survival as currency. My father hadn’t just seized power – he’d made himself indispensable.
“So my father convinced people that onlyhecould protect them against this threat?”
“Yes,” Lord Evander says. “Because he was one of the only survivors who witnessed the attack on the Sun Kingdom, and lived to tell the tale. The other leaders were willing to do anything to make sure their kingdoms wouldn’t be destroyed next.”
I absorb that. The Covenant that lasted six centuries undone by fear and a ruler who saw every threat as an opportunity to seize power and control.
“Do you think the Conclave can work again?” I ask. “The way it was meant to.”
Lord Evander’s gaze drifts across the towering shelves, then returns to me. “Possibly. The idea was sound. The structure endured longer than any empire.”
“What stands in its way now?”
“People forget why it mattered,” he says. “Or they stop believing anyone else remembers.”
I hesitate, then ask the question that has been forming since we started this conversation. “Is there someoneyoubelieve should lead?”
He gives a low chuckle of amusement, returning the book to its shelf.
“I’ll have you know – I do not wish to take the throne myself,” he says. “Saturn serves best as counsel. We see the patterns, but lack the hunger to change them.”
“Then who?” I ask.
His Grace considers the question.
“Some contenders come armed with ambition. They wield it like a blade and expect it to cut a path for them.” He pauses, choosing his next words with care. “Others carry duty. Not proudly, not loudly … simply because someone must. It weighs on them, but the system has always endured better under those who feel that weight.”
His gaze moves over the shelves once more. “Lord Zevran has known duty better than anyone. He would not be the worst outcome. Although … we have all noticed his declining health. The other House leaders and I share the same concerns on how that might impact him in the future…”
The words settle with unexpected weight … Zevran, steady despite his scars. Zevran, who bears duty the way others wear armour … his illness the only thing in his way.
I rise and incline my head as Lord Evander turns back to the table. “Thank you, Your Grace, for entertaining this conversation, answering my questions … and the enlightening history lesson.”
A faint, genuine smile touches his lips.
I leave the library with the quiet still lingering in my ears. The corridor beyond is brighter, warmer, a return to movement and voices.
Isolde waits just outside the archway, her expression a careful blend of curiosity and satisfaction.
“Well,” she says. “You spoke with Saturn’s most stoic relic and returned intact. That’s promising.” Her eyes twinkle, humour behind her tone. “How did it go?”
“It went well,” I affirm. “I learned more about history than I expected.”
She tilts her head in approval. “Saturn never wastes breath. If he spoke at length, he judged you worth the effort.”
We pass a tall window where the arena lights flicker, casting shifting reflections across the glass. Isolde studies me through them.
“What did you learn?” she asks.
“That the Conclave was meant to find a just ruler to unite, not control,” I consider my words. “That the system fell apart long before the Cardinals called us here.”
