Ryper had never taken that chance. Dash’s was the one court where no one played political games or vied for power. They knew better. It wouldn’t get them anywhere except a shallow grave. He didn’t play favorites.
Well, except for Ryper. But he wasn’t a favorite. He was family. More than than, Ryper had proven himself loyal when no one else had.
His advisors were competent and when they weren’t, they were replaced or killed.
Hmmm...
Maybe Halla had been right. Maybe fear had been the wrong way to lead.
“What are you thinking?” Tanis asked.
“That they were all so afraid of my killing them that the moment I left, they pulled together to get rid of me.”
Tanis’s jaw dropped.
Ambrose laughed. “When was the last time you gutted an advisor?”
“I don’t know. One... maybe two years ago.”
“And tell the princess why.”
“He annoyed me.”
“Dash,” Ambrose said, chidingly.
He let out an irritated sigh. “He was embezzling funds and trafficking.”
“Trafficking?” she asked. “What’s that?”
Ambrose cleared his throat. “Kidnapping and selling children for untoward things.”
And it still infuriated Dash. He wished he could dig him up and stab his corpse again. And again, just for good measure. “I slit him wide open the moment I found out and dragged his carcass to the high wall by his entrails for the buzzards to feast on. In retrospect, I should have prolonged his death by a few more days. Wish I’d impaled him. Maybe gelded him first.”
She sucked her breath in sharply. “Little more detail than I needed... or wanted, beast.”
Ambrose nodded in agreement. “But it made a powerful statement to others, and it cut down on anyone else thinking of doing it. Basically, stopped it cold.”
Dash glanced at Tanis. “Someone has to stand up for those who can’t fight for themselves.”
Ambrose nodded. “That is why you are High King. And why those of us with a brain and who are not corrupt, support you and will always do so.” He patted him on the arm. “In spite of what you think, Dash, we know you’re a fair king. You don’t ride into our kingdoms and demand tribute. You don’t tell us how to run our kingdoms so long as we treat our citizens well and they’re thriving. The only ones who are unhappy with your reign are the ones who want to abuse others, those who want to be in charge of everyone else, and those who are afraid of what will happen if the day comes when you are no longer in charge. We’re aware of the power vacuum your death will cause and the wars that will follow. No one else has the ability to rule the Thirteen Kingdoms. You’re the only one in history who has ever held your title for more than a few months without major wars striking up between kingdoms.”
True.
And Dash knew which kingdoms wanted to rule in his stead. Dythnal where the humans congregated and where Auderleywas located. The centaurs in Thassalia. Elves in Alarium. Indara with her dragons, wyverns and gryphons. Kernan, Vaskalia, Umara, Sagaria, and lastly Cosaria where the Marauders made their home. All powerful. All technically capable of overthrowing him.
If they could only get their shit together.
But none of them would ever tolerate the other kingdoms to exist, unless they fell under their rule.
And those kingdoms included Pagos, Ningyo, and Tenmaru. Tenmaru would never, ever submit to anyone other than Dash as the High King. Makkuro Naomi who led the Tenmaruns had a vast army that was made up of oni, yokai, and renegade demons... and other species the rest of the kingdoms didn’t even know existed. She had almost wiped out his father.
Until they made a truce that stood to this day.
Naomi would never make the same truce with anyone else, and Dash knew that for an absolute fact. If anyone overthrew him, Naomi wouldn’t rest until she’d enslaved or annihilated all the other kingdoms.
She would fight them to the bitter end.
The same went for Meara.
