Stronger.What was strength in this situation? Alexandre found he didn’t have an easy answer. That might have concerned him, but his father always found the easy answer. The violent, reactive answer.
So taking his time wasn’twrong. Reasoning this out, looking at different angles could only be right.
The problem was, one of the angleshadto be chosen. He could not simply refuse to act. Gabriel was right. The safety of too many people rested on action.
“What do you want to do, Alex?” Gabriel asked.
Alex.
Yes, Alex the man. Not the king. A man who wanted what was best for the future. For his kingdom, his family…and maybe even himself.
Alex. When this was akinglyduty. Except he was also protecting his family. And thinking of his kingdom. His past, his father’s legacy, his own. The soldiers who would stand for him and stand against him.
Maybe there was notonlyroom for a king in this situation. Maybe there had to be room for…all the roles he played, all the versions of himself he inhabited. Maybe he finally had to be one and be unafraid that it might crumble everything.
“We know where they are now,” Alex said, thinking it through. If this had happened a few months ago, his actions would have been clear and precise.
But he was starting to understand middle ground. Complex ideas of duty and goodness. He could not be his father, but the opposite of his father, as Gabriel had stated, was not automaticallygoodness.
Ines had pointed that out to him as well.
Alex wanted to begood. He wanted to becorrect. A king had to be. A man made mistakes.
Except his father had only ever been a king—only cared about money and power and military might. Not his children. Not his legacy. He had been a crown—a cruel, violent, controlling one.
The opposite of that was a kind, peaceful, compassionate crown…which was not necessarilygood. Better, but not…good.
So what was the answer? It seemed he had to come up with his own view of what that meant. That he had to be not the opposite of this father, but his ownman.
Ines believed he was a good man. Not because he was a king or the opposite of his father, but because of how he’d treated her before they’d married. And after. Up to this rather conflicted point of a few months.
And still she loved him. How did it make sense?
“We could send soldiers in,” Gabriel said. “Not to attack, but to arrest. But we would need to determine how to get a message to the soldiers who would support you and see if they are willing to storm in and arrest Vinyes and his men. This is almost certain to lead to violence, a fight.”
Alex didn’t want violence or a fight, but he also could not let this stand, so where did it leave him?
“No.” The plan took shape in a strange way. Gabriel’s words about the opposite of evil. Ines’s words about love and standing true. “We cannot avoid violence atallcosts, but we can mitigate it. I want a special team to arrest Vinyes—as quickly, quietly, and without violence as possible. Then I want the soldiers supporting him brought here. I would like to address them.”
Gabriel’s expression was unreadable. “That could be…dangerous. Even without a leader they might not feel beholden to our laws if they don’t now.”
“It could be dangerous, yes, but I need to know. What is it they’re against? What does Vinyes offer them? This isn’t about right and wrong. We all think we’re right. It’s about finding the best way forward, and we can only do that by discussing it.”
Gabriel still didn’t seem entirely sure, but Alex knew this was the right way forward. Not might. Not kingly disassociation.
Connection.
Just like Ines had given him.
Chapter Fourteen
WHENINES WOKEthe next morning, there was very little news. Evelyne had passed along Gabriel’s assurances that everything was okay, a plan was in place, and ideally Vinyes would be arrested by nightfall.
Gabriel’s parents were kind and attentive and did their best to take Evelyne’s and Ines’s minds off things. They arranged a picnic in their pretty vineyard while they took care of Gabri, and Jonet joined the two women and attempted to chatter about all matter of things that had nothing to do with Alis or revolutions.
Ines tried very hard to set aside her trepidation and enjoy the sunny day, the pleasant company. To think of it as a holiday instead of running away fromrevolution. Instead of worrying if she wouldn’t even get thechanceto stand by Alexandre. To get under all his walls, all his traumas.
The day passed with no news. Ines grew more tense, but she thought she hid it well. Evelyne on the other hand… Well, there was nothing hidden about her nerves, her worry, her anger.
