Of Kings and Killers (Elder Empire Sea #3) - WIll Wight Page 0,17
to Teach. “That’s a volatile room full of powerful people. We can’t avoid inviting any of them because we need their support, but with all three Regents in one room, they have us outnumbered and outgunned. It’s a security nightmare. We announce that I’ll be going, but it’s only for the public. We send a double instead, which they will allow because they don’t care about meeting the real me, and which we can afford because we don’t actually need my input. Is that correct?”
“Believe it or not, my primary concern is your security,” Teach said, and she sounded surprisingly honest. “Even meeting in a prepared, reinforced room in our own territory, there are no measures we could take to protect a single individual from so many powerful Soulbound.”
“If that room blows up, my survival will mean nothing.”
If every Guild Head who supported him died at once, even if none of the enemy survived, he would have no backing. He certainly would rule no longer, and probably wouldn’t live out the afternoon.
“We’re working on that. We suspect Bareius of the alchemists will send a proxy anyway, and we can argue that Cheska is away on a delivery or Bliss is hiding in a closet somewhere. Your mother can represent the Blackwatch, and the other Navigators will trip over each other for a chance to speak for their Guild.”
Calder wouldn’t be able to represent the crown. He wouldn’t even be allowed to represent his own Guild.
He would sit on the sidelines, waiting for decisions to be made without him.
Kern watched him, gazing his reaction. Calder sensed no malice in him, only a steady practicality; if he didn’t like Calder’s decisions, he would stop following. Simple as that.
And while Kern claimed to only represent himself and half a dozen other Champions who had decided personally to join their Guild Head, Calder knew there was more to it.
For one thing, Calder couldn’t afford to lose even the few Champions he actually had. Even one walking away would be a grievous loss.
But he also knew that half the value of having the Champion’s Guild behind him was that the public saw the Champions behind him. So long as Kern stood with him, he would still have that.
What kind of decision would Baldezar Kern respect?
A bold one. And one that he made wholeheartedly, with the good of the Empire in the front of his thoughts.
“You’re right,” Calder said, and Teach looked at him suspiciously.
As well she should, because Calder followed up with, “So why protect me at all?”
Teach reacted as though he’d asked her why the ocean was blue. “That is my job.”
“If the Regents attack us, we lose,” Calder said. “That’s the end of it. Whether I’m there or not, whether we can fight them off or not, we’re done. The best-case scenario is that you all defeat them, but we will lose people even in that case. We would move forward severely weakened and unable to trust half the Guilds.”
Kern spoke quietly. “We would be fighting to survive and retreat, not to win.”
“Even so, we have to extend them some trust. What better trust than me, there, in person, with no armor or weapons?”
Estyr Six could find and kill him even if he hid in a bunker halfway through the earth, so why hide?
Teach gritted her teeth. “That seems needlessly foolish.”
“You all wouldn’t have had this conversation if you needed me. Let’s use the fact that I’m useless.” He gestured to himself. “What are we risking here?”
The meeting itself was a powder-keg, but there was no alternative if they wanted peace. They would have to take every precaution. But his presence shouldn’t increase the risk at all.
Teach let out such a long, slow breath that Calder hesitated to call it a sigh. “Cheska said you would do this.”
Calder raised his eyebrows. Had he become so predictable? “She said I would do what?”
“Get involved.”
Calder smiled with as much charm as he could muster. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
“We can insist on weapons and Vessels being left outside,” Kern said. “Though that’s dependent on the Regents allowing it. They may consider it rude. And even without her Vessel, Estyr is—”
The rocking-horse under his arm snapped in two.
Kern’s shoulders slumped.
“I’ll have a courier deliver another horse to your home,” Calder said. “General, thank you for keeping me informed. You have two weeks to make attacking us as unappealing as possible. I have every faith in you.”