Avalon wriggled her fingers in a wave, and I could see the moment she thought better of it, bowing instead.
My father stood, coming to stand opposite her. “No Halhed bows to a Hanovan.” He bent at the waist. “Avalon, my family owes yours a great debt.”
She looked at me, her eyes wide. I almost laughed when she reached out and patted his shoulder. “Uh, no need.”
I smiled, and Iker choked back a laugh. She’d patted a Baron, like he was an errant child.
My father’s eyes were dancing with mirth, though he kept his own laughter in check. He sat back down, and we all took our seats too.
“She isn’t wrong, Father. The Baron of the Ninth Line needs a dagger to the eye more than the Second Line’s regard,” I said, and Hayle actually growled.
Father raised an eyebrow. “We’ll get to that. Who are the rest of your… friends?” He already knew, of course. We all knew the names and faces of the important people in the First Line.
Steeling my spine, I stared down my father, because Vox didn’t deserve what was about to happen. “This is Vox Vylan, Heir to the First Line, and his trusted confidante, Shay.” My tone was firm. I laid myself proverbially between my father and Vox.
“I see the reason you haven’t been getting the support of the Barons, if you are walking around with the eyes and ears of Feodore Vylan at your side.”
Placing both palms on the table, I met my father’s eyes. “I trust Vox with my life, and much more. He is not his father, nor his father’s father. He has more compelling reasons than an ancestral blood feud to want to see the downfall of Feodore Vylan. I will not accept you casting doubt on his loyalty.”
My father reared back. “Ancestral blood feud? You disregard the murder of our ancestors so cavalierly?”
I sucked in air. “YouknowI don’t. I just want you to be wary of falling down the same slope our enemies did. It will not be a genocide for a genocide.” My father’s jaw tensed, and I knew he was angry at me.
Iker cleared his throat. “I also vouch for the trustworthiness of these two Vylans. There are good people there, and the same boot that is on our necks is on theirs too.”
Father waved a hand, the cutting gesture dismissing the whole topic.
Hayle rose a little in his own seat. “Let me be clear also, Baron Hanovan. My support, as well as Avie’s, is reliant on Vox. He isours,” he said with bared teeth. “We will not take any disrespect, of Vox or of Shay.”
No wonder she loved him, that loyal fucker. He would stand between a whole coup and Vox.
Viktor cleared his throat. “I also have no doubts of Vox’s loyalty. Can we move along to the more pressing matter of Feodore Vylan’s message now?”
My eyes whipped to the Baron of the Third Line. “He’s replied already?”
He inclined his head. He read it aloud to the table, and it was exactly what I’d expected. “It’s mostly threats, the flailing of a man who knows he’s about to meet his maker and knows she will not be impressed. Your little mind speech has definitely riled some of the citizens of Fortaare, and split the Dawn Army.”
“Will they fight against themselves?” I asked. If we had the numbers of half the Dawn Army, this war could be ours. If we had the whole Dawn Army, it could be over before it even began.
Viktor shrugged. “Our informants tell us that the regular rank and file haven’t been approving of some of the ways they’ve been used lately, especially when it came to the sinking of the supply ships to the West. Having the army turn on itself would be the best case scenario for you achieving your coup bloodlessly.”
Vox leaned back in his chair. “We have Fortaare practically surrounded. The Sixth have pledged their support, and after a few more pieces fall, we should have the Fifth.”
“Ingmire is going to cede to his son?” Zier asked incredulously.
Vox raised a brow. “I don’t believe he will have a choice.”
I gave a quick rundown of what had transpired with the Ingmire Heir, though I carefully left out the Underground. There was no need to out Moran Ingmire as Boot just yet.
We went through all the assets, the plan, the pitfalls, and possible outcomes, and how we’d counter any negative consequences. It was nice to offload this burden onto more shoulders; my father might have been slow to act, but he burned with the need for vengeance. At least this way, he was reined in by the cooler heads of the other Barons.
Finally, we had the approximation of a plan, which mostly just relied on closing the trap around Feodore Vylan until he was caught in the noose of his own making. He had inspired fear and not loyalty in most of the First Line, so if we could offer protection and the chance of a better life, most of the citizens of the First Line would abandon ship like rats.
A slow, steady siege of Fortaare was what the Second Line needed.
What I needed was to be pressed between Vox and Avalon and to block out the world. I didn’t know how it would work once this was all over, but we’d figure it out later.
As we all stood to leave, I wasn’t surprised when my father called out to me. “Lierick, if I could have a moment?”
