Like absolute primogeniture.
As succession currently existed, a male child had precedence over a female child. A newborn son would become higher in the line of succession than any of his big sisters. There were plenty of incredible queens who would not have had the opportunity to reign if they'd had a younger brother. Queen Elizabeth II was the first to spring to mind. Though she didn't hold the record for the longest monarchial reign in history, she was the longest in the history of the British Empire and second worldwide. Very few would claim a younger brother would have been a better choice than she had been.
His grandfather had tried to get the Council to change the rules of primogeniture, but he hadn't tried very hard. He already had a son followed by three girls. It wasn't until adulthood that the heir apparent disappeared. He’d never been heard from again. If he’d arrived on the scene after the death of his father, Enzo’s mother would have been removed from the throne. Themore Enzo thought about it, he wasn’t sure what the statute of limitations would be. At what point would his mother have been safe? For that matter, was he? If a heretofore unknown or missing cousin were to arrive on the scene and had DNA proof of his - or her - parentage, would that change things?
Regardless of the thoughts swirling around in his head, Enzo needed to pay attention to his current surroundings.
Victoria still held the Chairman’s gaze, refusing to back down.
The Chairman seemed to grow increasingly uncomfortable until he blinked and his glare hardened further. “See that you are informed from here on out. Those who choose not to vote can be removed from the Council for failure to perform their duties.”
“As can Chairmen who continually overstep their bounds,” the Minority Leader interjected.
Enzo was grateful for the unified front from the leaders of Parliament, something he suspected the Chairman hadn’t counted on.
The Vice Chairman took that moment to insert himself into the conversation. “I believe that is everything on today’s agenda. I motion to adjourn the meeting.”
“Seconded,” came from several Council members at once.
“All in favor?” the Vice Chairman continued.
Almost everyone replied immediately with an aye.
“All opposed?”
No one said anything, though Enzo knew he couldn’t be the only one who noticed the Chairman hadn’t voted at all.
“The ayes have it with three abstentions - the king and queen as well as the Chairman chose not to vote on the adjournment.” The Vice Chairman didn't have the gavel or he would have used it. "This meeting is adjourned."
Thought he knew Victoria didn't need his help, Enzo held her chair for her as she stood. The Chairman also stood but restedhis fingertips on the table as he watched the rest of the Council and others gathered exit the room.
Would he stay until he was alone? Sort of a captain goes down with the ship kind of thing?
Enzo had no desire to find out. Instead, he rested his hand on the small of Victoria's back as they walked with a couple of others from the Council. The topic of conversation didn't go deeper than the weather, but he knew the optics would be good.
He hated worrying about optics.
It was part of the world in which he lived, but he'd never feel comfortable with it.
When they reached the doors to the outside, the Council members went one way as Enzo and Victoria went through doors being held for them. Once they were in their SUV, he could see Victoria's shoulders begin to relax, but not too much.
She knew as well as he did that they could be photographed at any time until they reached the safety of certain portions of the palace. With that in mind, they kept the conversation light, but not overly so - not to where they'd be seen laughing and it could be spun into them not caring about the gravitas of the Council sessions.
Even as they walked through the corridors to their quarters, they both chose to continue as they had been, but as soon as the doors closed behind them, Victoria let her shoulders drop completely.
"I'm so glad that's over."
Enzo wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. "You did fantastic."
"Thank you for supporting me when I needed it but without taking over or speaking for me." She turned into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I hope you didn't expect me to agree with you all of the time. I know we hadn't talkedabout it, and I can't imagine we'll disagree often, but I won't just rubber stamp whatever you want me to."
"I wouldn't think about asking you to do that. I'd hope that if we disagree we could discuss it privately first. My preference wouldn't be to have a public disagreement in the Council Chambers. I'm not saying we can't disagree in chambers, but not fighting." He tightened his hold on her.
The side of her head rested on his chest. "Agreed. If we are on different sides, hopefully we can both present our sides calmly as part of the debate without turning personal or vindictive or publicly contentious."
"Then we're on the same page. I would never ask you to compromise that."
She looked up at him and blew out a breath. "I don't want to talk about that anymore. I just want to enjoy an evening together."
