There was silence as the men picked up the rice paper sheets and read. Only Logan didn’t read as the officers shared the notes back and forth. He stared at Kylar quizzically, obviously wondering what he was trying to accomplish.
“How did you get these, Wolfhound?” an officer asked, using the nickname the soldiers had given Kylar.
“I fetched.” Kylar gave him a toothy smile.
“Enough,” Agon said, throwing his papers down on the table. “It’s worse than we feared.”
“Worse?” the officer said. “It’s a disaster.”
“General,” Kylar said to Logan, “can I have a word with you? Alone?”
Logan nodded and other men filed from the tent, carrying the notes for further study. “What are you playing at, Kylar?”
“Just making you look good.”
“An impending slaughter makes me look good?”
“A disaster diverted makes you look good.”
“And you have a plan.”
“Garuwashi wants food and a victory. I propose we give them to him.”
“Why hadn’t I thought of that?” Logan said, uncharacteristically sarcastic. He was really worried, then. Good.
“It doesn’t have to be a victory over us,” Kylar said. Then he explained.
When he finished, Logan didn’t look surprised. He looked profoundly sad. “That would make me look good, wouldn’t it?”
“And save thousands of lives and the city,” Kylar said.
“Kylar, it’s time for us to finish that conversation.”
“What conversation?”
“The one about king-making and queen unmaking.”
“I don’t have any more to say.”
“Good, then you can listen,” Logan said. He rubbed his unshaven face and his sleeve fell to show the edge of the dully glowing green tattoo etched in his forearm. “People commonly misquote the old Sacrinomicon and say that money is the root of all evil, which is moronic if you think about it. The real quote is that the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. Not as pithy, but a lot truer. In the same way, what I am capable of doing in the pursuit of power and sex, the man I choose for Logan Gyre to be will not allow. My hunger for food couldn’t make me a monster in my own eyes. Not even when I ate human flesh. I was driven to that by necessity, not perversion. I suppose the same could be said for you, for killing. I saw it on your face when you killed my gaoler Gorkhy. You do it, but you don’t love it. If you loved it, you’d turn into Hu Gibbet.”
“There is a foul pleasure in it,” Kylar said quietly.
“There’s pleasure in having a full belly too, but for some it’s dangerous pleasure. When I ordered you to kill Gorkhy, you didn’t feel that.” Logan saw his tattoo was uncovered and covered it. “I did. I gave an order and he died. I killed with a word. And I loved it. And I wanted more.”
“So now what? You going to become a hermit, move to a cottage in the woods?”
“I’m not that selfish.” Logan scrubbed a hand through his hair. “If I asked you, would you kill Terah Graesin?”
“Absolutely.”
Logan closed his eyes. He’d obviously expected it. “If I didn’t ask you, would you do it anyway?”
“Yes.”
“Have you been planning it?”
“Yes.”
“Dammit, Kylar! Now I know.”
“So why’d you ask?” Kylar asked.
“To remove the excuse. Can you rule justly after you take the throne unjustly?”
“Good question to ask the woman who stole yours.”
“How, Kylar?”
“Schedule a meeting with her and drink a lot before-hand.”
“Dammit, man, how were you going to kill her?”
“A botched abortion. I’d poison whatever abortifacient she uses. Many of those potions are dangerous. If it appeared she’d taken double what her apothecary recommended, it would look like a tragic and shameful accident for a single, wanton young queen. If the nobles tried to cover up the details, the rumors would swirl around what a whore Terah was, rather than speculations that she was assassinated. And it would make the virtuous new king look even better.”
“Gods,” Logan breathed. “How long did it take you to come up with that?”
Kylar shrugged. “Couple minutes.”
There was pain in Logan’s eyes, as if he had to struggle to speak. “It’s brilliant, Kylar. It’s brilliant—and I forbid it.”
“You forbid it?”
“Yes.”
“And how do you propose to forbid me anything?” Kylar asked.
Logan looked astonished.
“Despite allÛ3">div my efforts, you’re not my king. You can’t forbid me a damn thing.”
Logan’s face darkened and all his usual conviviality drained away. It made Kylar conscious of just how tall Logan was. His lean seven-foot