“Three days away. The rebels are two days out at best.”
“How did they escape our attention?”
“They likely traveled separately and only came together overnight. We spotted them as soon as they moved.”
“Bastards,” I said.
“Your Highness, we can leave,” Max said.
“Run?” Hardcourt asked.
“Yes,” Max said. “Run and live another day.”
“No,” I said. “We don’t run. We fight.” I looked at Hardcourt. “How many men do we have here?”
A smile toyed at his lips. The old general could see where I was going, and he liked it, the violent old dog.
“Around four hundred or so. We’d need to leave at least one hundred behind in case this fails.”
“Very well. Get them ready.”
“Your Highness, you can’t be serious. You’re outnumbered.”
“And they’re out classed. We have superior firepower. We have drones and high-powered rifles. They’re a bunch of untrained assholes who want to kill us all. We’re going.”
“I’ll start preparations,” Hardcourt said, and then he bowed and left.
“I’m going too,” I said to Max.
“No,” he said. “You can’t.”
“I’m sick of sitting on the sidelines. Leo rode into war as the king, and so will I.”
“Look at what happened to Leo. He got himself killed, and that only made the country less stable. Your Highness, we can’t survive your death.”
“Starkland can survive anything. We’ve survived worse.”
“No. This is different. There’s no direct heir. This hasn’t happened in hundreds of years. Listen to me, Trip. You cannot go.”
I furrowed my brow. I wanted the feeling of rolling down a rutted road, gutted with bombs, crackling gunshots in the distance. I wanted the rush as I tried to kill my enemy before they tried to kill me. I wanted to be in the trenches again, so to speak.
But Max was right. If I died, there was nobody to take control of the country. There would be total chaos, and the ministers would fight amongst themselves. The democrats would win, without a doubt.
That was what they’d wanted when they sent the assassin. And maybe it was what they wanted in this situation. Maybe they wanted to get me into the open and give killing me another try.
“Very well,” I said to him. “I won’t go.”
“Good,” he said, visibly relieved. “I’ll go assist Hardcourt, make sure he doesn’t completely strip the estate of defenses.”
“Give him what he needs,” I said.
“As you wish,” he said. “One last thing before I go. We followed up the leads on Nicolai Corvin but found nothing. He petitioned to be allowed into the estate.”
“Grant his petition,” I said. “As much as I dislike the man, he’s still a minister. If he was cleared, he can join us.”
“Very good.” Max bowed and left.
I looked out the window, annoyed and frustrated. I wanted to get out there, but I knew my duty to the country was to stay here and to survive in order to lead them to victory.
My damn country was going to always come first, even if it was getting in the way of what I really wanted.
What I really wanted was Bryce. I’d give up war for her in a second.
But none of that mattered. I had a duty, and I was going to follow through with it. I finished my coffee, stood, and headed out to my morning briefings.
29
BRYCE
It was a day after the picnic with Trip, and I still hadn’t heard a word from him.
Which was fine. I was reading the news, and I could tell that he was clearly incredibly busy. The rebels were making moves and the people in the capital city were very restless.
At least that was what I could find out in the English language news. I found a ton of press in Starklandian, but I couldn’t get reliable translations. I even asked a servant, but he just shook his head and looked terrified.
I stretched out on my couch, tired and bored. It was around three in the afternoon, and I had no plans for the rest of the day. I figured I was going to watch some TV, maybe go for a walk on the grounds, or maybe even go for a swim. As it turned out, hanging out with nothing to do was boring, regardless of whether you were in a beautiful estate or just at home.
As I sat there, I heard a strange sound. I looked up and noticed something odd: a white envelope on the floor.
I walked over and picked it up. I tore it open and realized that it was an invitation to some kind of dinner tonight in the formal dining room. Apparently it wanted formal dress, too, though I didn’t know what that meant.
And I didn’t have any fancy clothes. I’d had just enough time to grab the bare necessities.