Reckoning by Gail Z. Martin

Author:Gail Z. Martin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: SOL Publishing

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“I’ve come to believe the monsters are more of a problem than the hunters.” Rellan tossed the theory out to his blood mage to gauge the other man’s reaction. For a second, before Berus Marlies composed his expression, anger and impatience blazed in his eyes. Then all emotion smoothed over to the placid, condescending certainty that Marlies wore like a mask.

“I’m not sure I understand, my king. The monsters perform a needed service. By killing the monsters, the hunters pose a direct risk to the kingdom,” Marlies replied.

Back when he was younger, Rellan had thought the mage’s calm voice to be soothing. Now it skirted an unctuousness that grated on Rellan, though he dared not show it.

“I’ve ordered the lesser nobles to forbid their blood mages from using more power than they can personally pay the cost of. That reduces the Cull to be taken of the citizens, and thus the need for as many monsters,” Rellan explained as if his plan was entirely obvious. “Without as many monsters, there’s less demand for hunters. The citizens are happier because fewer of them are dying. The hunters become less important.”

“I understand the elegance of your plan,” Marlies said carefully. “But have you considered that by restricting the lesser nobility’s blood mages, the nobles will be unable to fulfill their responsibilities?”

Rellan turned away, filling his glass with another slug of whiskey and making it look like he took a long sip, although he’d had far too little to affect him. “That’s not what they’re using the magic for. They enrich themselves at the expense of one another, compel the affection of lovers, and erase the wrinkles from their faces. None of which serves the kingdom. So there is no reason for the citizens to bear the blood cost of that magic.”

Rellan hadn’t entirely figured out Marlies’s endgame, but he had finally realized that the kingdom itself wasn’t the beneficiary of the mage’s plans. He needed to move carefully, and for now that meant allowing Marlies to continue to think him a sot and a fool.

“A bold move.” Marlies’s tone suggested the opposite. “But my king, does it not concern you that such a retreat might appear to be capitulating to the demands of the rabble? Some might think the hunters have forced you to retreat.”

Gods, had Marlies always played him like a cheap fiddle? Rellan knew that when he was young—hot-tempered and insecure, desperate for approval and resentful of censure—he would have immediately reconsidered to save his pride. Now, the hurt feelings of the mostly useless lesser nobles were the least of the king’s worries.

“Will they welcome a higher tax to pay for raising an army to keep the commoners from staging a revolt?” Rellan challenged in a believable facsimile of a slightly tipsy rant. “Of course not. They’ll forget all about the things they wanted blood magic to acquire for them and shriek about the money they’d be forced to turn over to the tax collectors. Fucking parasites.” While the rest of his diatribe was just a performance, he meant the last comment with all his heart.

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