Chapter Seventeen
When they had been in the Winter Court for almost a week, Tatiana asked Florian to meet with her privately in his study.
“I wanted to discuss the... contingency plans we have in place, in case things go, well, poorly,” Tatiana said as he sat down across from her. He paused, his heart suddenly hammering.
“Oh,” he replied dumbly, unsure how else to respond. It only made sense to plan for the worst, of course, but everything in him balked at the prospect of having to consider what the kingdom would do if he failed… if he died. “Um, sure.”
Tatiana gave him a tight, sympathetic smile, clearly not relishing the conversation either, but she gestured to the papers on the desk between them.
“I just want to be clear that I don’t think any of these things might actually happen,” she said. “But, well. It is our responsibility to make sure the citizens of the Winter Court are safe, and that means planning for all possibilities, no matter how slight.”
“Yeah,” Florian said, nodding and trying to gulp down his fear. “That makes sense.”
“I made plans for essentially two different outcomes,” she continued. “A plan for if you... if you don’t come back, but the Blight is unchanged, and a plan for if the Blight becomes worse.”
Florian stared down at the two stacks of paper, unsure of which he wanted to look at first. Tatiana was silent for a moment, then let out a soft huff of a sigh, making Florian look back at her in surprise. But she didn’t look annoyed, more distressed—anxious like him, which was a small comfort, at least.
“I don’t like talking about this,” she said. “I don’t even like thinking about this. But having hard conversations is part of the job, and after Jerah...” She trailed off, her eyes becoming pained. “Well, Jerah was an optimist, and I loved that about him. But sometimes it kept him from being as pragmatic as he needed to be. I don’t want us to be caught in a situation that could have been prevented with some prior planning.”
“I understand,” Florian said, nodding. “Really. And I would want to make sure everyone was okay if, you know, things happen.”
Tatiana nodded, then brusquely gestured to one stack, thinner than the other. Her tone matter-of-fact, she continued, “Essentially, if the Blight is unchanged, this will simply ensure that after a certain amount of time without contact from you, the crown passes to me, as the next in line. Nothing would change during that waiting period. I thought six months seemed reasonable, all things considered.”
Florian carefully lifted the paper and read through it. Tatiana’s script was neat and narrow, and it explained essentially what she had told him, but in more formal language. Six months, he thought—six months of waiting, then the Winter Court would go on as if his brief reign had never existed. He hadn’t even beenking for six months yet. But it was a generous amount of time to wait for him, too; the chances that their mission in the Summer Court would take longer than a few days seemed slim to none.
“I think that sounds good, too,” he said. He set the papers down and brought up the next stack. “And these?”
Tatiana paused before replying. “If the Blight were to intensify, our defenses against it could hold, but not for long; and it would depend on how much stronger it becomes. When we detect the Blight is becoming too strong for the ward to hold, we would evacuate the kingdom to Earth.” She hesitated again. “We would attempt to make contact with the other kingdoms to warn them, but this would be limited, depending on how urgently we would need to evacuate. We’d have to trust that they have their own plans in place. Essentially, it would set in motion the dissolution of the Winter Court as its own kingdom and distribute the kingdom’s funds amongst the surviving citizens to establish themselves safely on Earth.”
That was grim, Florian thought, but what else could be done at that point? Evacuating to Earth was really the only option if they wanted to live, and the Winter Court couldn’t exactly take over Catalina Island as its new location. He’d already had thoughts about how unsustainable the whole situation was—how much the population of the Winter Court had dwindled down—that relocating to Earth would have happened eventually if the Blight continued on like this. It was the pragmatic solution, of course, but thinking about it made him feel more understanding toward his father and his optimism.
When he didn’t respond, Tatiana added, “This is a worst-case scenario. I don’t truly believe it will happen—I certainly hope it doesn’t—but considering how the Blight worsened the last time anyone tried to dispel it... You understand, don’t you?”
He nodded, his mouth pressed together in a hard line. “Yes. I understand. It’s... not nice to think about, but it’s probably the best option. Maybe the only option.”
Tatiana nodded, looking at him for a long moment. Her expression looked just as grim as he felt. But when he met her gaze, something in her eyes softened, and she sighed.
“Then I just need you to sign each of the documents,” she said. “To give your approval to enact these plans in your stead, if the criteria are met.”
She would be a good queen, Florian thought. He flipped through the pages, adding his signature where indicated. If anything, she was the Queen in all but name. Maybe he should hand the throne over to her now—to make all this easier. He had never wanted to be king. He hadn’t even known it was a possibility until the prospect of it was staring him in the face. But Tatiana had been managing the Winter Court for decades—had been here her whole life. She was already doing a better job at all this than he ever could.
“Can I just let you take over now?” he blurted out. “You’re already basically the Queen. You’d be much better at all this than me. That way you can just... do whatever needs to be done without worrying about me.”
“Oh, Florian,” Tatiana replied, and he couldn’t tell if it was a laugh or a cry that she stifled. She shook her head, her eyes gleaming with fondness. “I’m flattered. And I appreciate that, truly, but you’re the King. I’ll always be here to support you, but I don’t want your crown. You’re going to do a great job once all this is over, and I’m going to do my best to help you for as long as you need. So don’t worry about that, alright?”
He wanted to protest, toinsist—but the words died in his throat. If she said she was happy with how things were, then he would just have to believe her. She trusted him and believed in him, so for now, he would oblige.
“Okay,” he said, his voice coming out shaky. “Alright. If that’s really what you want... what you think is best.”
She smiled. “This is all just a precaution. I know you can do it, Florian.”
His chest squeezed at the thought of letting her down if he failed. “I’ll do my best.”
Florian felt entirely off-kilter for the rest of the day, so much so that even Koji and Rune seemed to notice when they all came together for dinner.
“Jeez, Florian, is the food that bad today?” Rune teased, and he forced himself to laugh.
“Sorry,” he said, shaking his head. “Just thinking about a lot.”
