Shocked to my core that she knew the reason—or more accurately one of the reasons— for my anger, I started to clean up, when a shout rang out behind me.
“Your highness!”
I was still not used to being called that. Not sure I ever would be.
A guard, his navy uniform pressed formally, strode up to me. “The regent requests you in the council chamber.”
Shit. What had I done now?
He led me to a room I never would have found on my own, with tall windows that let in the natural light. There were maybe a dozen individuals, all richly dressed, milling around the room, some standing in small groups, some already seated at the large oval table. I halfway remembered meeting a few of them at various times, but for the life of me, I couldn’t recall anyone’s name. Finn nodded in greeting but didn’t break away from his conversation. I looked around for Griff but didn’t see him.
I gently knocked on Finn’s mind.“Where’s Griff?”
“Out dealing with the Veil.”
“How long will he be out there?”
I felt Finn’s mental shrug.“As long as it takes.”
Very helpful, Finn.
As Zachariah stormed in, everyone found their seats. I stood still for a moment, seeing how things would shake out, then moved to an empty chair. Finn gave me a slight shake of his head, and I shifted to a different one, but not before I saw Zachariah’s glare.
Figured I would have tried to take his chair. I sighed. This was off to a great start.
As he took his chair, Zachariah turned to me. “Ah,Granddaughter.” It was amazing how he could make a simple word sound demeaning. “How generous of you to grace us with your presence.”
“Always happy to be where you tell me,Grandfather.”
“We are discussing the evacuation of the border towns near the Veil, due to the continued holes appearing and hufen attacks. Do try to keep up.”
I listened in silence as they listed the various places the holes had appeared, plotting them on a map. There was no rhyme or reason that I could discern. And no one had any answers. Was this what every council meeting had been like since the Veil started to fail or only recently? No plan, nothing to try, just an insane hope in the prophecy that said someone would come along who could fix it? Shouldn’t these be the wisest individuals in the realm? And shouldn’t they have some sort of backup plan?
The more I listened, the more I became convinced they had nothing—nothing beyond blind faith that the prophecy would provide. Which was great for them, but I was the one who was going to have to enact all those grand plans from the prophecy.
Our asshole regent began talking about the refugee camps that had been established to assist those who had left their homes. And yet for the people who weren’t willing to leave everything and pack up their lives, it sounded like he was planning to just abandon them.
“Your plan is to just leave the rest of the people out there to die?” I asked incredulously.
Every head swiveled toward me in shock. Finn winced. I must have once again broken some unwritten rule or made some etiquette faux pas, but it wasn’t my first today and definitely wouldn’t be my last. I refused to feel remorse.
Especially since it wasn’t in my nature to sit in silence and observe.
“Your highness,” started one of the council members, “perhaps you don’t fully understand?—”
“Are you telling me I’m incorrect? You’renotplanning on just abandoning people? Then I think I understand fully. Ifeltthe darkness searching out there! We can’t just abandon people to that!”
“You question things you know nothing about and you interrupt those who know better than you,” Zachariah said with his usual sneer. “What wouldyoudo about it?”
“We have an army! A massive one, from what I can see. Send them in to help!”
Zachariah laughed lightly. “And tell me,Granddaughter, what happens when a soldier fights a hufen and loses?”
Several of the council members exchanged glances, and I caught a hint of a smirk on one face.
My hands clenched tightly in my lap as heat crept up my neck. I reached out to Finn in mute appeal, but his shields must have been up and I couldn’t get through. “They… they die?”
He laughed that cruel laugh again. “Only if they are lucky, mydear. If they are unlucky, they join the ranks of hufen. Every soldier we send against them who falls has the potential to be turned into another weapon to be used against us. All it takes is a single touch for the darkness to spread. Would you like to explain to the kingdom why you risked their sons and daughters and created an army of darkness?”
