Was Lorens illiterate? It was obvious. “It’s a wanted poster.”
The prince shoved it back toward him. “This isn’t what I wanted. I wanted a unicorn alliance with soldiers!”
“This is better.”
Lorens looked at him as if he were daft. “How so?”
“This is a bigger alliance. One that will help you to overthrow your sister with the backing of six other kingdoms.”
“Why would they help me overthrow my sister?”
“To rid themselves of the High King they hate so much.”
Tapping his finger on the desk, Lorens considered the matter for several minutes.
Too long actually. It became rather tedious and uncomfortable as that finger tapping became like a second, drumming heartbeat. Had he broken the prince with his new plan?
Carefully, Bink cleared his throat to get the prince’s attention. “Highness?”
“Are you sure about this alliance?” Lorens asked. “They’ll send me the forces I need when I need them?”
Sort of. Those kingdoms hated Dash and had said they’d pay anything to be rid of him. He was relatively sure they’d reward him for helping them get rid of their nuisance, and with that money they could hire an army. But he knew better than to let his uncertainty show. “Yes, Highness.”
He nodded slowly. “Get me those backers. I have a revolt to lead. I need soldiers and coin!”
Bink bowed low and walked backwards from the room, making sure to grab Fort on his way out and haul him with him.
He didn’t dare speak again until they were outside the manor hall. “Collect your skull, Fort.”
“Are we going to auction it off now, like you said?”
Bink shook his head. “We have to cover our tracks.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think I might have miscalculated.” He needed to get back to his partner, Keryna, in Licordia, and find out just how entrenched she was with Lorens and his rebellion. He knew those two had been plotting together for months now. And that Keryna had been using her influence with Renata to make promises with the centaur rebels to back them with Dash’s army.
What he didn’t know was exactly everything Keryna had promised the rebels. But he was grateful Keryna had put one thing in his hands...
He opened his pouch to touch the golden horn he’d sliced off the princess’s head. Stupid, trusting bitch. The princess had thought Bink was going to take her to rendezvous with Lorens so they could negotiate for her to provide unicorn soldiers for his rebellion.
That would have been all kinds of stupid. The last thing Bink had wanted was to fight in a war of any kind. Better to let the lot of them tear each other down.
Last creature standing would be the one to wear the crown. Rule of survival.
Everyone hated the High King. He would be easy to remove, given all his enemies. Lorens would take care of Queen Meara. The dragons would take care of themselves.
With his wiles, he’d be able to stir dissension and mistrust among the other kingdoms so that they’d never turn their eyes toward Licordia. They would be too busy fighting amongst themselves to mount a war with him.
All he had to do was take care of Keryna.
Simple.
She’d already delivered Princess Renata to him. Only one more task, and Bink would have what he wanted.
While he wasn’t a unicorn, he had the magick to control the unicorn race. To rule over their kingdom and unleash his homeless brethren who were currently enslaved to the Sagarians.
It hadn’t been that long ago that the unicorns had been on the brink of extinction. With a little whispering here and there, they would tear each other apart again.
