Evereon laughed. “I am Baron Bloodstone’s proxy. Old Nikkolas would not come when he ran one province, but withtwo…he needed someone trustworthy to handle the North in his stead.”
Baron Mydina snapped his head toward his son. “There is nothing trustworthy about you—!”
The doors swung open. All six Barons and Evereon stood. Derrick entered the room, keeping his shoulders strong and his head high. He crossed the room and sat on his throne. The Duke himself was sitting at my feet.
I threw out my magic and created a tether between his mind and mine. If anything were to go awry, maybe I could calm him down.
“Hail Alastar XII,” Baron Elvar recited dryly.
“Hail Alastar XII,” the other five Barons grumbled in reply.
Evereon kept silent.
Derrick’s voice was deceptively strong. “First order of business.”
Baron Elvar shifted his shoulders. “You have held the crown for a little more than a week. How do you intend on fixing our failing economy?”
If Baron Elvar had brought up finances at the coronation, surely he had a plan he was just waiting for the blessing to use. I slid the suggestion down the tether: “Ask him what he thinks is best.”
Derrick blinked, accepting it. “You control all of our sea and river mercantile, Baron Elvar. Certainly you have a few ideas.”
Baron Elvar smiled. He turned his shoulders so he addressed the other Barons more than his Duke. “General Hyton gave me intelligence that the surrounding kingdoms and empires are failing.”
Derrick kept his face schooled, but Midnight scoffed and echoed down our tether: “Acting as a mouthpiece for his lover? His poor rich heart is going to crumble when he finds out Uncle Ragnar only fucks the most useful person he can find.”
My heart tugged at the thought, but the Barons listened with intrigue.
“We should take advantage,” Baron Elvar said. “Starting with the Sudrian empire.”
Baron Thornebow leaned on the table. “You want us to invade Sudria? The Southern provinces share a border with them. Any war would be inourlands!”
Baron Mydina nodded in agreement.
Baron Elvar waved his hand. “I am suggestingexpandingThornebow into the territory of a crumbling empire. We can use the spoils of war to restore Thornebow’s economy to what it was before Alastar the Bold executed your father.”
Baron Thornebow narrowed his eyes and smiled. Even Barons Pebblebrooke and Meadowshyre exchanged looks of consideration.
“No,” Derrick’s voice cut through the air like a blade. “I will not wage war against my sister.”
The Barons raised their eyebrows. Evereon smirked.
Alastar’s growl shook the tether. As inflammatory as the suggestion of war was, I could not risk Derrick breaking and letting Alastar wreak havoc in his mind.
I issued a gentle command: “Stay calm, Derrick. Just listen.”
He blinked and his shoulders dropped only enough for me to notice.
Baron Elvar chuckled without a single note of warmth. “I forgot you have relations in every kingdom, but I would hope that our Duke would not let that weakness ruin an important opportunity for us.”
The word “weakness” made Alastar roar from the bottom of his pit.
I quickly sent another whisper into his mind: “You are not weak. Stay calm.”
But Derrick did not accept the command. He tightened his grip on the arms of his throne. “A reluctance to pillage like vultures is not weakness, Tyreon.”
The other Barons shifted, each tossing a look to Baron Elvar.
Baron Elvar stared at Derrick with a hard brow. “Our markets have no output. People are starving in the North. Just think of what the Sudrian rebels would pay for their empress’s head.”
