The Unhandsome Prince by John Moore

Author:John Moore
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Penguin Group USA, Inc.

“It’s good to be King,” King Jerald of Melinower said once. He was younger then. He hadn’t thought anything like that in many years. Now he thought it would be good to be retired.

The Council of Lords had been hinting at it for some while. At first the King had resisted. But lately it was beginning to seem like a better and better idea. He would try to concentrate on the papers in front of him, but in his mind’s eye he could see the cool green woods that surrounded the family estates in Losshire, and the trickling streams, and the spacious hunting lodge. He hadn’t been there in years. There had been no chance to get away.

Money! That was the problem. No. Actually, it was the Council of Lords that was the problem. Smart men, most of them, but they had no idea what it cost to run a monarchy. A king had to live like a king, after all, to command the people’s respect. There had been those wagers, but his run of bad luck would have ended eventually. If they’d just let him raise taxes again . . .

He pushed the thought away. That wasn’t going to happen, and dwelling on it just gave him heartburn.

Retirement. It sounded so much better than abdication. Let Kenny take over while he was still around to give advice. Kenny and the King saw eye to eye on most things. Kenny would make a good king. But there was still the question of money.

He looked at the papers on his desk. They were the orders for the expulsion of the Jews and the confiscation of their assets. The orders were waiting for his signature and seal. Of course, not all the Jews were wealthy moneylenders. Most of them were not. And not all the bankers were Jews. So it was unfair, but that’s the way these things were done. It didn’t have to be violent, either. As long as the Jews didn’t resist, it was possible the whole thing could be done without injury.

And it had to be done. He couldn’t turn the crown over to Kenny with a mountain of debt loaded onto it. Jeff, yes. Jeff was good with accounts and budgets. The Council of Lords liked Jeff. The truth was, if he gave the kingdom to Jeff, there wouldn’t need to be an expulsion.

Except it wasn’t that easy. There were certain of the nobility that had to be accommodated. Those who were as heavily in debt as he was. They wanted this expulsion.

It was a question of national security, they told the King. There was too much money owed to too few people. What if the moneylenders were to suddenly call in their loans? A lot of businesses would go bankrupt. Trade would suffer. Melinower would be weakened.

King Jerald wasn’t sure he bought into this argument. The others had charts and numbers to support their positions, but the King hadn’t really followed them. Jeff could have explained it

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