Well, personally, I would have loved to see them tear each other apart like mad dogs, even if it was unlikely. Still, I wasn’t about to let them rip my land to pieces. That wasn’t why the heart of Alethar had acknowledged me as the king.
***
I ordered the guards not to let Carlie into my chambers—ever. I was fed up with that.
Maybe I really was at fault, like Tommy was saying. I had left her alone, didn’t warn her, didn’t protect her...or maybe I wasn’t to blame?
It’s not like I could spend the rest of my life holding her hand. I couldn’t clear all the rocks from her path; couldn’t wipe her nose, guard her and take care of her. I had left her for a short time, but that had been enough for her to give in to a love potion. And really, those charms couldn’t affect you if you were in love.
That’s what so many mages and witches slipped on—love. If a person really loved someone, they could never be charmed, no matter how many potions they drank. It could only work until you saw or just remembered your beloved.
So what had Carlie loved the most? Me? My title? The glamour of the court? Whatever. She wouldn’t get anything from me, even a wedding invitation.
She attended it anyway, though, clearly arranged by Abigail. But I was trying not to look at her red curls. I was looking at the bride.
What a gorgeous sight, really. I knew she was a vampire; I could see her real appearance, yet despite that, she took my breath away. A white veil, lacy flowers on her golden hair...she was radiating temptation with her every move, and nobody could escape. Even the holy thrall was affected, judging by how much time he spent trying to pull his robe forward. And she knew that, the bitch.
“Do you, Daughter of Light, take this man...”
“Do you, Son of Light, take this woman...”
It sounded especially saucy when a half-demon was marrying a half-vampire.
Later, we feasted and got escorted to the bedroom, finally being left alone after numerous dirty jokes.
Lavinia looked at me, a question in her eyes.
“What now?”
“Personally, I’m going to sleep. Suit yourself.”
“But what about—”
I shrugged, pulled out a flask of chicken blood from my pocket, and poured some of it on the sheets.
“There you go. You were a chaste girl.”
“B-but—”
I ignored the vampire. I removed all my clothes except for my underwear and laid down on the sheets. Awesome.
I went to sleep to the sound of Lavinia’s hissing and grumbling. I was sure she wouldn’t make her move that night. Not when the whole palace was celebrating, with tons of people right behind the door, and not when we still had to present a bloody bedsheet in the morning. Assassinations would have to wait.
Getting enough sleep was already a challenge.
***
I woke up to a hand touching my...private parts.
Lavinia clearly wanted to consummate the marriage. I had to tear her wandering hand away from me and give her a brief clarification.
“I’ll rip your fangs out.”
The vampire hissed viciously, but I was as unrelenting as a righteous man.
“For now, I’m putting you on short ration. Later, we’ll see.”
“What about children?”
“From you!?”
Don’t get me wrong. I had been willing to have children with Carlie, and if I married any ordinary girl, I wouldn’t be against them. But mixing my blood with a half-vampire? Vampires were the lowest of demons, the dung farmers and scavengers of the demon world. Sleazebags. Filth.
I was Argadon’s blood! You wouldn’t breed a trotter with a mule, would you? Especially to get a bloodsucking horse? Why would I want a child who would bleed the populace dry, literally?
But that was not even the main issue here. I couldn’t afford to have a child yet. They could be used to blackmail me, set me up, and then, Alex wouldn’t really be necessary if he had an heir, with a loving mother to boot! Yay!
Count me out, please. Now after I sat on the throne, established myself, secured my rule, I could think about having children—with a human.
“Naturally.” Lavinia was the embodiment of innocence. Only her eyes gave her away, sparkling maliciously. “Or do you want to...”
“I don’t. But we won’t have any children yet.”
“Why not?”
“Because that would be too much of a temptation for you and your masters,” I replied.
Lavinia pursed her lips.
“Keep in mind that if the husband doesn’t pay attention to his wife, she might be inclined to look for it elsewhere...”
“Like at the stake? If your illusion stops working somewhere in public, like a ball, that’s where you’ll end up. And I’ll be grieving your tragic ending.”
“I hate you!”
“Oh, as you wish. I’m at your service.”
“You scum!”
Lavinia was going to claw into my face with her nails. As if! I effortlessly pushed her onto the floor away from me, and then, pulled her by the hair and raised her to my face.
“Remember, if you bare your fangs at me, you’ll get lashed. If you dare to say even a word too many, you’ll get lashed. If you don’t obey me, you’ll also get lashed. And I’m talking silver lashes. Oh, and sometimes you’ll get lashed for no special reason, just so you remember who the mage is here, and who’s the monster. Did you really think you could seduce me with your charms?”
Our meaningful talk was interrupted by a knock at the door. They came for the sheet.
Morons.
***
I got just three days to enjoy my newfound domestic bliss. After that, Uncle declared war on Riolon and summoned me.
“So, Alex, if you couldn’t protect my son...”
I raised a deep sigh that I had prepared in advance. I really couldn’t, because I wasn’t trying to. But I’m grieving it so much!
“I entrust you with the army. I hope you won’t fail me.”
Yeah, right. Make Lavinia pregnant and die soon? Don’t count on that. Still, I accepted the army. On the first troop review, I swore like a sailor when I saw the holes in a soldier’s boots. And that was the first row. Those standing behind had something closer to leather patches on holes than holey boots. The general tried to counter it, saying that they weren’t going to fight with their boots, and got into my cross-hairs, just as expected. I ordered the men to find a rope, bend a tree... And welcome to heaven, sir.
On the first day, I had to hang four generals and fifteen colonels, on the second, sixteen lieutenants.
On the third day, I was happy to discover that soldiers started wearing new boots, which meant the lesson had been learned. I pondered which courtiers I needed to hang then. By all estimations, almost all of them.
Abigail was furious. Two of the hung generals were her relatives.
How could I do that! The nerve! Why didn’t I ask anyone for advice? And why did I seize property for the army instead of the national treasury?
I was fighting off the blows as well as I could. What else could I do? The army had a hard war ahead of them. They would have to work hard and struggle to survive. Would they march barefoot? Attack the Riolonians with their hats? Or would you take away their hats as well? Force them to throw rations at the enemy? Good thing the army biscuits were impossible to chew anyway!
My main argument was the very same biscuit shoved under my uncle’s nose. Rudolph emptied his stomach so quickly that one could even think he had toxicosis. And really, it was no biggie. Just some white maggots crawling over the surface...
And the soldiers had to eat it. I didn’t even offer Your Majesty to smell it!
That shut him up, as if I had turned him off. Now you know!
I suggested we show the biscuit to Auntie, but Uncle didn’t agree to that. Impossible. Abigail is pregnant! Yeah, right. Just in case, I asked Lavinia about it again, but nothing changed. The vampire knew for sure t
hat Abigail wasn’t with child. How? Vampires could smell blood even through any perfume, and in certain periods, women...proved they weren’t pregnant.
The conclusion was clear: Abigail had really been plotting to take another’s baby. She would order her people to bring her the child and pass it as her own.
I wouldn’t be able to interfere with that. But I wasn’t going to give her enough time, either.
***
“Return here the victor, Alex.”
“I believe in you!”
“All hail Alexander Radenor!”
Cries, flowers, horn sounds, and a fanfare of trumpets. The army was marching toward Riolon’s borders, and the Tevarrians were headed there as well. And I...
I would have to walk the very edge.
Uncle had already sent a letter to the king of Riolon. He hadn’t responded yet, but I had no doubts about the result. Rudolph’s letter was an ultimatum, a rant full of accusations and reprimands. He hadn’t doubted the Tevarrians’ claims. Although I was at fault for that as well.
On the other hand, what was I supposed to do? Win him over to my side? So I would get set up, too?
Tommy was itching to go with me, and for once, I agreed. I needed somebody to guard my back. I had to leave Rene at home, to take care of the household. I asked him to keep a close look out for Lavinia.
I was more than sure that spared from her master’s whip, the vampire would definitely get into trouble. No point in finding out the details by myself. I would simply ask Rene when I got back. And then, I also needed an eye on Abigail.
I wasn’t an expert on the court. Tommy knew even less about its life. But Rene, a son of the Morinars, a family that had fallen out of favor, took to intrigue like a duck to water. Otherwise, he would never survive. Increasingly, I thought that he would become a great chancellor eventually. He was still too young, of course, but so was I. Together, we would get a handle on everything.
The army marched along Radenor’s roads. One village gave way to another, one town to another...
I was saving up my strength, charging charms and amulets, repeating the incantations. Something told me that necromancy would be of use during the war.
The meeting point had a great location: not far from the intersection of the three borders, on Riolon’s territory, close to Toadstool Village. Who would get there first?
Not me, definitely. Mikael would be the first to invade Riolon, and I would learn about it. How? There is no life without death. I am a necromancer, and ghosts whisper to me, the wind bringing me their voices. And the dead said that the Tevarrian army had marched out and was slowly moving to the meeting point.
I was in no hurry, earning the army’s praise. I did all I could to provide the soldiers with the necessities, didn’t permit them to rob the peasants or rape their wives, tried to keep in check the nobles that Uncle had imposed on me.
I also never stopped overnight in castles and villages, even if the owners invited me to. I didn’t need that. And after Count Chartreuse, who had dared to defy my order, ended up in a hangman’s noose, people started to fear me.
That was a good way to show people that everything could be written off during wartime. Who would check when exactly that particular count had perished? He shouldn’t have stayed in a castle for the night and forced himself on the lord’s daughter. Maybe the lord was a simple poor baron, maybe the count was the queen’s youngest brother—I cared not. Law was law.
And in the name of it...
But why was there so much fear in the looks thrown my way?
***
“Alexander! Glad to see you, my boy!”
Holy crap! Mikael himself! Wonderful!
Did the king of Tevarr have enough gall and belief in my stupidity to lead the army himself? But no. His next words explained his coming.
“I hoped that my son would head the army, but alas, Kristof broke his leg!”
I nodded, sympathetic. That’s right, his eldest son was a bit older than me, twenty or twenty-two. The youngest wasn’t even fifteen yet, a snotnose.
Would Mikael really entrust a duke with his army? What would keep that duke from using it later, at home, thinking that the crown became him...
No way.
The army was something that a smart king couldn’t lose hold of. A prince, on the other hand, could very well sit on the throne while the father was at war. It wasn’t that complicated, and he would have to gain experience and independence.
I chuckled, thinking that I even felt some pity for that Kristof. What if he wasn’t that bad of a guy?
I ordered my men to place our army apart from the Tevarrians. Close enough, but not too close. Just in case anybody tried to show off. There always was an abundance of hotheads.
Is everything all right?
Yes, practically everything, although the army is stretched a bit. I need to make sure everything is in order, and that will take some time. Everybody knows the meeting point.
And not just our armies.
Before leaving, I had sent a letter to the king of Riolon, telling him the location of the meeting spot and the time of the meeting.
State secret? Confidential information? Ha! Go on, try to keep an army’s march secret, I dare you!
We were being watched, of course. And as soon as that night...
“Your Highness...”
A plain-looking fellow all but prostrated himself before me.
“His Highness Prince Darius of Riolon asks you to present yourself before him to parley.”
“When and where?”
“Your Highness, if it’s no bother...”
Got it. Right now.
“In secret?”
“Yes, Your Highness. My prince can swear on his honor that this is not a trap.”
“Is his army far from here?”
“Two days’ journey, Your Highness. But His Highness will wait for you closer.”
“How much closer?”
“A day’s journey, Your Highness.”
I nodded. “Wait here.”
Inside my tent, I told everything to Tommy.
“Tom, could you cover my back?”
“Of course.”
I didn’t doubt my friend.
“Tell them I went to find a cart that fell behind, check everything out.”
“As you wish. Good luck.”
Weapon, armor, a cloak, and I’m ready.
“What about guards?”
“No need. When it comes to such things, I don’t need witnesses.”
The man’s eyes widened with surprise when I exited the tent, but he wasn’t keen on arguing. He bowed and invited me to follow him. A horse? No need. We’ll give you one, yours won’t do. Oh no, you’ll understand later... The escort, five men in total, was waiting for us in a grove not far from there. I greeted them, climbed into the saddle...
Yeah, that wasn’t my horse at all. I rode a stallion, big and brightly-colored, a bolter. The horse they had given me was clearly a very different breed. It was rather small, plain, short-rumped, with almost no mane or tail to speak of. But five hours later, I grew to appreciate it. It was hardy, steady, and sharp. Those horses were bred for messengers. I made a mental note to use them as well.
We spent the night in the saddle, and at dawn, rode into a small village.
***
Darius, Prince of Riolon, was waiting for us. For a moment, I felt a pang of pity. He didn’t look like a bad guy at all. Maybe he’d make it? I won’t go out of my way to kill him.
He was tall, dark-haired, with a short beard, a spark of laughter in his eyes. He offered me his hand.
“Alexander, glad to meet you.”
“So am I.”
I wasn’t lying. There was something...sincere about Darius. He seemed honest. That man could slap you or even kill you and wouldn’t even turn a hair. But he would never backstab you. Or is it just a mask? Then it made him dangerous. But I will figure it out later. Royal children were taught to wear masks and hide th
eir true faces from an early age. I was only learning that craft.
“Be my guest, help yourself. You’re probably hungry after the trip.”
I really was hungry, and the food looked delicious. All dishes were expressly simple. Grilled meat, vegetables, bread, plain water for drinking. Something that could easily be checked for poison. I thanked him and proposed we eat while discussing things. We didn’t have much time and soon enough, I would have to go back. Sleep? I’ll sleep when I’m dead.
Yes, I truly did talk to your ambassador. Yes, it was a Tevarrian frame job. Yes, Rudolph believes everything he hears. Why haven’t I persuaded him? I didn’t want to take the fall. It may sound cynical, but at court, everyone is for himself, and I care more about my own skin than Riolon’s honor.
The wedding? Would you like to get hitched to a whore? Well, that was the truth. My wife’s chastity was a joke. Not to mention...well, that’s beside the point. Of course, I didn’t need either such marriage or the allies who would pit us against each other and quietly get rid of us both, first me, and then you. But we aren’t going to walk like lambs to the slaughter, we will fight!
Before, there had been a certain balance between us all, but if you took just one plummet off the Radenor-Tevarr-Riolon scales, chaos and unrest would start. All kings were always prepared to capture or annex something. But only when it was to their advantage. Not when it would pull their countries into a long and bloody war.
Could I prove my words about the frame-up? Exactly, here’s a document. I also had the assassin himself, at home, in the capital, but I could present him. So, are you with us or against us?
Darius didn’t think long.
“We can make a preliminary agreement. And after the war...”
I nodded.
What did Riolon need? Access to the sea, which Tevarr had in plenty. We, meanwhile, needed mines, and we could get them. The Tevarrians would have to eat dust, as they had provoked everything themselves. I mean, take Lavinia alone!
So that’s how it would all happen. The Riolonians would lock horns with the Tevarrians, and we would strike into the back of our “allies”. We just had to plan it out carefully on a map: who approached from where, which squad...all so we wouldn’t have to clash. No need to fight when you can simply negotiate.
Half-Demon's Revenge Page 29
