step down from the council, and we will hold an election for our new head soon, provided Your Majesty is still comfortable with our continued efforts to assist you," Sir Weston concluded with a respectful bow.
My mother only wept harder, and it was several minutes of her crying, of the men at the end of the table waiting for her to swing an axe down on them, before I broke the silence.
"Gentlemen, I don't believe either my mother or I would be able to accomplish our goals in Kimmery without the support of a council of loyal citizens," I said slowly. "It is only great relief to know that words spoken in anger yesterday were a reflection of a smaller voice on the council."
My mother was gathering herself, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, watching me with a slightly puzzled frown, but she didn't try to interrupt me.
"Lord Roderick," I said, watching the man in question stiffen in his seat, head turning slowly to meet my gaze. "You and Lord Thomlinson were great allies."
"I—I believed so, Your Highness. However, I would never—"
"And it was you who first arranged to have my Chosen Daniel Farraque join my service as steward to spy on me," I said, squeezing Daniel's hand and feeling the reassuring answer of his touch.
"Your Highness," Lord Roderick said, but his mouth remained open and empty of anything to add.
"You also expressed great prejudice against Kimmery's two-natured citizens. You called them beasts, if I remember correctly."
"You do," Jack McCallum chimed in, his glare focused on Roderick.
"Your Majesty, I have served Kimmery for decades," Lord Roderick gasped out, turning to my mother, his hands pressing down flat on the tables.
"Bryony?" my mother murmured.
"I have concerns regarding Lord Roderick's leadership in the north," I said softly to my mother, one hand raising up and resting briefly on the bruises on my throat. I'd spoken more just now than I had since being strangled and was starting to regret not letting Aric heal me a little more than he had, but my mother's eyes flashed down to my fingers and her eyes began to well again.
"What should we do?" my mother asked, brow furrowing.
The room was still, and I could feel the pressure of the dozens of eyes on us. It hadn't been intentional on my mother's part, she was used to taking advice. She'd been doing it with the council and my grandmother for the two decades she'd been queen. And now she had just revealed to everyone in the room that she would take mine.
I turned back to Roderick's stare, a strange thrill rushing through me at the power I suddenly possessed. Roderick and I had been butting heads since the moment we met. He'd had Emory at Aric's throat, and regardless of how it had turned out, he'd pressed Daniel into my life as a spy. With any control left in his hand, he would fight me at every opportunity.
But tearing him from the council would leave the other members feeling insecure, and insecurity would breed disloyalty. I had time to eliminate Roderick from their number, but it was possible I wouldn't have to.
"I trust the council to mediate themselves. I only ask that their continued goal is to carry out the crown's interests," I said.
Roderick's eyes narrowed at me, lips pressing together in irritation, and I knew I'd made the right choice. The council had favor to gain from me now that I was named successor. If I balanced myself carefully with them, Roderick would topple in their ranks quickly, especially if he wasn't cooperative.
"Wisely considered, Your Highness," Sir Weston said, lips twitching with a smile, which faded quickly. "Now onto a more unsavory discussion."
Weston nodded to Head Guard Amos, who stepped forward from his post by the door. My mother's tears started up immediately again, and it was my eyes that Amos's met. "Princess Camellia is being kept in a cell in the north wing. We did…we did have to bind her hands. The royal mages have warded the room to prevent the influence of magic, but—"
"It's not a perfect system," Nathan interrupted quickly. "The queen's line power is… It has more influence on magic than magic does on it and—"
"But why is she bound? Why warded?" my mother cried out.
I ducked my head as the men in the room all gaped at her.
"I don't—I don't mean why is she in a cell," my mother said. "I just—Oh, this is all terrible!"
Her sobs broke free, the arms