Alexandre felt…at a loss. He was notsurprisedthe general had handpicked a group of soldiers to storm the palace and try to enact martial law. What surprised him was how little fury he felt. It wasn’t a detached calm either.
It was a kind of…exhaustion at the games men played when they could simply have a damn discussion. Just like his father. They could never talk, strategize, decide. It always had to be action. Feeling. Emotional outbursts, really.
“It was true bravery on his part,” Gabriel said, “to stand there and do something he knew might cause him harm but was right. For the kingdom.”
Alexandre eyed Gabriel suspiciously. He didn’t know what Gabriel was going for, but it felt…metaphorical. “Are you drawing some kind of parallel, Gabriel?”
“He will make an excellent general someday, with some experience under his belt. I’d keep an eye on that one for possible promotions. No doubt you’ll have to do some reconfiguring of the army once this is all done,” Gabriel returned, not answering Alexandre’s question. As though he wanted Alex tositwith the metaphor and figure it out himself.
Alex grunted.
“Was there some parallel youthinkI was trying to make?” Gabriel asked, settling himself into one of the chairs opposite Alexandre’s desk. He was not relaxed, though he was clearly trying to appear it.
Having Vinyes’s plan was a good start, but now they had to decide what todowith it.
“No.”
“Ah. Perhaps you are just distracted,” Gabriel said. “I admit to missing my wife and my son. You seem to be missing…someone yourself.”
Did he miss Ines? She’d been gone all of a few hours. She should be arriving in Italy soon, and she was with Ines and Gabri andsafe. Missing her would mean admitting…
It hardly mattered. This problem wasn’t about their families. It was about Alis.
“It is no hardship to love your family, Alex. It is not so different from loving your country and wanting to do the right thing by them. It is not so different from being a king.”
Alexandre sighed. Because if all it required was for him to beking, he would know exactly what to do and how to proceed. But to be a person within the title…
All he could seem to see were the shells his parents had turned into, on account oflove.
Ines had called it control, not love, and maybe it was. Who was he to say? He’d been a boy.
Did semantics matter? What did it matter what it was called if the end result was the same?
That poked at him in ways that had nothing to do with revolution and everything to do with Ines. If he didn’t call it love. If he didn’t call it control. If he just accepted these feelings and tried to—
Gabriel’s phone chimed. He looked down at the screen. “They have arrived safely with my parents.” He let out a slow breath, clearly one of relief. “My men are in place to keep an eye on the property. I cannot imagine Vinyes will trouble himself or his men with them, but we’ll keep an eye out just the same.”
Because there was danger. Real danger in front of them, and Alexandre had to determine what to do. About revolutions. About traitorous generals. And brave young soldiers ready to stand against them.
“I know what my father would do with Vinyes and the rest,” Alexandre said. He’d send an army into Vinyes’s hideout and slaughter them all. Without a second thought.
“Have them all killed?”
“Yes.” It would be swift and efficient and end this issue, but Alexandre was aware of what all his father’s violence had wrought—more violence, anger, division and festering distrust Alexandre still hadn’t been able to climb out from under—clearly.
Alex wanted something else. Not just power. Not just might and whateverhewanted. Alex wanted a solid Alis not just for the present day but for the future. For Gabri, the future king. For all who lived here and came after.
For your wife. For your daughter.
“We could go that route,” Gabriel said carefully. So carefully even Alexandre wasn’t sure if that would be his recommended position or not.
So he met his friend’s careful gaze. “You know I cannot.”
“I know. You will want to do the opposite.”
But what was the opposite of violence? Forgiveness? Peace? It couldn’t bethateasy. “Vinyes will no longer have his position. The soldiers that followed him will face some penalty, but heaping violence on violence solves nothing.”
“True. The problem is the opposite of evil and violence isn’t always goodness and peace, Alexandre. We cannot simply give leniency and hope it fixes itself.” Gabriel spread his hands as if to encompass the entirety of the problem. “The safety of our families rests on a stronger response.”
