Chương 33: Chapter Thirty Three

As William stepped into his mother's office, he made sure to shut the door behind him. He wanted this to be a private conversation after all. While he'd likely be denied that by virtue of his invisible watcher's planting an ear to the wood of the door, he'd at least have made it more difficult for them to make out his words. It was a thick door after all. Glancing up, he looked over at the two other occupants of the room; his mother and one of his law-aunts.

"My son," Janet Ashfield said dryly from behind her desk.

"What is it you insist on discussing?" Given the two of them had been carefully dancing around one another for the duration of his visit thus far, it was a fair question. He idly inclined a head towards his aunt Sophia as he thought of his response. A nod the woman declined to reciprocate. Which was only to be expected really. Given she'd more often than not been placed in the role of his disciplinarian, she likely saw his most recent acts of rebellion as a rather personal failing.

For a moment, he was tempted towards glibness, before recognizing it was an impulse borne of habit rather than logic.

"Olivia's set to marry a Blackstone," he said without preamble.

"Why?" His mother eyed him for a few moments before sighing.

"No joke? Instead you move straight to the jugular? You truly have changed, my son. Or perhaps your experiences away from home have revealed a mettle long hidden." The question was a delaying tactic, but he indulged it.

"That was the objective in sending me away, wasn't it? A last ditch effort to get me to straighten up and finally start taking things seriously. So here I am, taking things seriously." And he was. Though it was a lie to say that he'd ever been anything other than serious. He wasn't prepared for that conversation. Not now. Possibly not ever.

"To take your duties as a scion of House Ashfield seriously," Sophina grunted.

"Not to foment betrayal and oathbreaking."

"Oh, an oathbreaker am I? May I ask which oaths?" he asked disinterestedly.

"The ones to the crown? To Lindholm? To my ideals? To this house? To my mother? To my sister?" He glanced about the room.

"I've sworn a lot of oaths in this life, and due to the actions of you and my mother, I found myself with not a road I might take that left one unbroken. So do not grouse at me because I chose to sunder my honor in ways different from your own." His aunt's lips twisted into a thin line as he continued.

"Do not play word games with me, boy-""Then don't try to shame me by surrounding yourself with delusions of selfless duty, oathbreaker!" he shouted, voice echoing across the stone walls of the room. And for the first time ever, he got to see both his aunt and his mother rendered speechless. Not that he blamed them. He was a little surprised himself. He didn't yell. Not ever. He considered the raising of one's voice the last refuge of a poor argument. So where the hell had that come from?

"No… let us continue without deception, of the self or otherwise," he said as he fought to control his suddenly racing heart.

"Why do you refuse to give up on your alliance with the Blackstones?" His mother recovered first, eying him once more like she was seeing him for the first time.

"So be it, William, I'll be frank with you. Why do you continue to speak as if our original arrangement with House Blackstone was a choice?" He frowned.

"Are you trying to claim it wasn't? That House Blackstone threatened you?"

"Directly?" Janet laughed.

"No, they didn't need to. Why would they? When the airship you're on is leaking aether and you're given the option to climb aboard another, is a reminder of the approaching fate of your current vessel a threat?"

"House Ashfield's not a sinking ship. Its finances are fine. The Indomitable is a little outdated but her mithril-core is still in excellent condition."

"Yes, thanks to the efforts of both our ancestors and myself," Janet stated matter-of-factly.

"But House Ashfield isn't the airship in question. It's but a cabin. The airship is either Lindholm or the south depending on your perspective."

"That's-""The truth," Sophina said flatly.

"Queen Yelena gambled and lost. She saw that her northern ladies were growing too powerful as a result of the slave trade and attempted to curtail it by outlawing the practice. A move that saw them both unite against her."

"Which surprised everyone," Janet murmured quietly.

"Some part of me can still scarcely believe it. The pair have been rivals for… ever. Ever since the invasion, when the first Queen of Lindholm granted the Blackstone clans the right of governance over their ancestral lands. Lands the then House of New Haven had spent years trying to conquer."

"And lost many family members in the process," Sophina intoned gravely.

"Between that and House New Haven's stance on elven superiority… well, the idea that they've suddenly decided to take a backseat to the Blackstones regarding the slavery issue is a little out of character."

"Only a little though," Janet scoffed.

"I've met Lady New Haven. Her house might be known for their pirate hunting, but we all know they only do it to keep their personal trade lanes safe. Merchants at heart, the lot of them." Sophina frowned, but nodded.

"Just so. Either way, the Queen was clearly gambling on that animosity to keep her two most militaristic duchies from uniting against her reforms. A gamble that didn't pay off." William nodded slowly as he came to a realization.

"Which set the stage for the coming civil war. One that the South has or had, little chance of winning." Janet leaned forward in her seat as she stared at him.

"The Royal Navy might put up a fight, but the Summerfield and South Shore fleets are comprised mostly of second order vessels operated by nearly green crews. They're not ready for an all-out war against the North and a few years won't change that." William couldn't find it in himself to disagree. Indeed, to him it sounded a lot like what happened in the early days of World War Two when French and British Expeditionary forces ran up against veteran germans troops fresh off their conquest of Poland.

Though in this example, the Germans wouldn't be going around the Maginot – they were the Maginot.

"Do you see now William why I joined up with the Blackstones?" Janet asked sincerely, her eyes urging him to understand.

"For the good of the house. For all of us. Yelena lost the war the moment the Blackstones and New Haven united against her. All I could do was try to salvage what I could from the situation."

"You mean profit?"

"Does it make a difference?" Sophina asked.

"By seizing control of the Summerfield duchy and fleet, the outcome of the war would be a foregone conclusion. Southshore would be offered a chance to be 'stalemated' by our fleet. It'd be a bloodless standoff. With that done, the Northern houses could sweep aside the Royal Navy and take the capital practically overnight. The whole thing would be over and done before any of our neighbors on Mantle could get any ideas." Janet smiled.

"You'd be King as Tala's consort. Olivia would be a duchess. And there'd be a minimum of blood spilled. Compared to the alternative, it wasn't even a choice." William took a moment to digest his family's words, looking over their hopeful faces. He could see the logic of it. Lemons and lemonade and all that jazz. It warmed his heart a little that this whole thing hadn't entirely been naked ambition. Oh sure, there was some of that too, but he could hardly hold that against his mother.

There was just one small problem…

"It really is a neat solution," he admitted.

"I'd probably have gone for it myself, truth be told. I mean, if it weren't for one small problem..." He felt a small twitch in his heart and his mother's face fell.

"…That being that slavery would get to continue chugging along, alive and well. Probably for another few hundred years or so." Sophina opened her mouth.

"That's-""Non-negotiable," William said without preamble.

"I said it before, and I'll say it again: I refuse to make common cause with slavers." If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Even as he said the words, he knew they couldn't understand it. It just didn't compute. Oh, certainly, he knew neither of them had any love of slavery – but they had no real animosity towards it either. It was just… a thing to them. Like sweatshops in his own world. Or the homeless.

Or any number of other impersonal societal issues. They'd rather be without it, but they'd hardly beggar themselves to be rid of it. And they saw anyone that would as a fool. Not unlike someone who sneered at a college student for going to Africa to build houses for the poor. Because that person was clearly a soft-hearted moron who was wasting his time – and more to the point was just doing it for the social clout and to fuel their messiah complex. William understood that. Truly.

It wasn't like he'd been some paragon of kindness and societal goodness prior to his rebirth.

"A shame. Annoying as it was, I thought you'd grown up a bit," Sophina scoffed derisively while his mother just looked resigned.

"Instead, I see you're still the same naïve child you were before you left. Just a more competent one." She was more right than she knew. Which was why William was utterly unbothered by the attempted insult.

"Naïve or not, it's nice to know why you're continuing with your alliance with the Blackstones." Janet leaned back.

"Oh?" He sighed.

"I ruined a sure thing for you. As you said, the outcome of the civil war was a foregone conclusion, so you picked the winning side and tried to extract as many advantages from that choice as you could. Except, suddenly the outcome of that fight isn't quite as sure as it was. The Crown unveiled a new Kraken killing weapon and the Royal Navy is suddenly flush with Mithril Cores." His aunt and mother watched him warily as he continued.

"Now what was once a sure thing is a gamble once more. And if you pick poorly, you risk the annihilation of this entire family." He paused.

"But what if you had a means to make it not a gamble again? Sure, you can't make the Crown win the coming war, but you have a means to ensure it loses." He glanced out the window.

"Switch sides. Bring the Summerfield fleet around to the North. And just like that, the gamble isn't a gamble anymore. Even with the Crown's new surplus of Mithril Cores, they can't build enough hulls to make up for having an entire duchy fleet switch sides." Neither woman said anything. It was clear they weren't going to confirm his hypothetical. And that was important. Because that was all this theory was at the minute, a hypothetical. One the Crown couldn't act on. Openly, at least, he thought.

Because openly moving on an otherwise loyal house that just happened to have its heir betrothed to their political enemies would kick off the war early – and a lot of otherwise neutral houses would side with the Blackstones as a result. Which was why the Crown wouldn't do that. It would choose a much more clandestine way to ensure that the marriage alliance never happened and thus the Blackstones had no legal reason to aid House Ashfield in laying claim to Olivia's hereditary claim to the Summerfield duchy… …

By removing Olivia. And Yelena would do it too. In a heartbeat. Because it would be infinitely easier to strike at William's sister than this hypothetical Blackstone male sequestered away in the North. Something his mother knew full well.

"You'll breathe not a word of this to anyone." He shrugged.

"Sure, as soon as you break off this betrothal."

"That's not going to happen."

"Are you truly so blinded by greed," he asked. Janet scoffed.

"There is no risk. You said it yourself. I either gamble the fate of our house on this coming war – or I do not by fixing the outcome. I choose the latter."

"You're gambling that I will say nothing of this scheme to my patron," he pointed out, eyes moving warily to the blade at his aunt's side. His mother just smiled though.

"That's no gamble at all. While I know others might doubt it, I know you love your sister. Whatever else might have changed about you since we last met, that remains the same. You won't say a word to endanger to her." It was irrelevant. His invisible watchers already knew. And through them, so would the queen. Would saying as much convince his mother? No, she'd just cloister Olivia away as best she could. Or, more likely, send her to 'foster' with the Blackstones.

At which point the situation would be entirely out of William's hands as well. He sighed.

"It's funny mother, all throughout the many slights you levied against me, I never took them personally. Not being passed over as heir. Not the many lashes to my person. Nor even when you tried to lay claim to spells I developed. This though? My sister? I do believe something akin to hatred is beginning to flare to life in my heart, for you and your schemes." His mother remained stony faced.

"Everything I do, I do for the family. The entire family." William ran a hand through his hair as he glared at her.

"Just not any one member of it."

"Now you're beginning to understand." He turned to leave, though not before casting a few final words over his shoulder.

"Four years. That's how long I have to change your mind regarding this madness. You'll see. One way or another, House Blackstone will lose this war." With that he shoved open the door to his mother's chambers and stormed into the hall. This vacation was being cut short. He had work to do. Too much. Before that though, he needed to convince his patron not to have his sister murdered… And that kind of concession… it wouldn't be cheap.

Indeed, he knew exactly what Yelena would demand in return for overlooking the very real treason occurring right under her nose. Treason that could well end up losing her the war, no matter how many cores he supplied her. No, there would only be one thing Yelena would accept in return for that kind of concession.

Privately, Yelena could respect the foresightedness of the move. It really was something of a masterstroke. A hidden Summerfield heir. She'd honestly been completely ignorant of it. Which was hardly strange. She was the queen of an entire nation. The internal politics of one minor house amongst the dozens that made up her homeland was hardly something that she could be expected to keep up with. Suddenly the Ashfield's planned alliance with House Blackstone made a lot more sense.

Through it the Blackstone's would have a legitimate reason to intervene in the duchy's looming succession crisis. And with the Blackstone fleet backing their claimant, the Ashfield's bid would be all but guaranteed. More to the point, Yelena herself would have no legal reason to intervene. Even as one of her duchies slipped through her fingers and into the waiting hands of her enemies. Everything that occurred after that would be a foregone conclusion.

And it was prevented completely without my knowledge, she thought with some complicated emotions. The climactic duel of six months ago. It hadn't just been about keeping a talented young mind out of the hands of her enemies, nor even about damaging their credibility on the national stage. It had also been about keeping an entire duchy from falling to a conspiracy she had been completely ignorant of. It was a discomfiting feeling, to realize just how much she owed William Ashfield.

Not least of all because of what she had to do next. And she did have to do it. No matter how much it tore at her conscience to do so. … There were days she really did hate being Queen.

"The Kraken Slayer," she said with feigned dispassion.

"Not the trickle of devices you've provided me thus far, I want the means behind it. That's my price." Inside the orb through which she was communicating with his distant ship, she watched William Ashfield's expression twist. He was alone in the captain's cabin of the sloop she'd provided for his 'journey home'. A trip she'd been very much against, though now she was glad for it given it had provided her this… leverage. William Ashfield cared for his sister.

Something that was both surprising and wasn't, given that the girl had replaced him as heir. It seemed even that wasn't enough to completely sever their familial bond. Indeed, it was strong enough that even now William was trying to shield the girl from the consequences of her family's ambition. And she was exploiting that.

"Has my service thus far not granted me leeway enough for this to be… temporarily overlooked?" the boy asked.

"There are limits." Yelena scoffed.

"Even if I were to completely disregard my feelings on the matter of my subject's scheming treason, there's the fact that I would be failing in my duties as sovereign to leave this… problem to fester." And that was the hard truth. Ignoring everything else, this conspiracy couldn't be ignored. The loss of an entire duchy to the enemy would be a death knell to her cause. She continued.

"With that said, given Olivia's legal age, it is a problem with a guaranteed timetable. An early marriage would be a scandal to be sure, but there are certain limits on how much of a scandal one might commit before it becomes illegitimate. Two years, I'd say. That is the very most the betrothal could be brought forward before it would be considered moot." William perked up, some genuine hope sparking in his otherwise deadpan expression.

"Then give me two years. Two years to convince my family of the folly of this course." Oh, she really did feel bad now.

"I could." Yelena leaned back in her chair.

"But, in return for allowing such a risk to my rule to be left floating in the wind, I would require certain guarantees. Advantages in the coming conflict that would make the momentary risk of an entire duchy declaring for my enemy seem less vital."

"The Kraken Slayer," William said.

"Just so." She smiled. He sighed.

"Given that my new territory has been set up, I can increase production from there, supply you with more of the d-""No." She interrupted.

"That's not enough." Rising, she tapped the desk in front of her.

"If I am to take on this risk on your behalf, I refuse to allow the future of my nation to be tied to a single point of failure. The fact that you've managed to sustain that position for as long as you have despite my antipathy towards it is a credit to your skills as a schemer… but that state of affairs ends now." She glared into the orb.

"The secrets to the production of the Kraken Slayer. That's my price."

'To allow your sister to keep breathing,' went unsaid. He argued. Long and hard. Presented her with alternative magics and technologies that frankly boggled the mind. So much so that part of her suspected he was simply making them up. And she couldn't have that. Not as a ruler. She worked with what was, not what could be.

"The Kraken Slayer," she said finally as he slowly started to run out of steam. He sagged, the fight going out of him.

"I'll write up the method once I land in my new territory," he muttered.

"And present it to one of your palace guard." The victory felt somewhat hollow given how she'd achieved it, but it was a victory all the same.

"This is for the good of Lindholm, William." She made some small attempt at commiseration.

"And you have my word on this. Two years. More than enough time to convince your family of this folly."

"I'm sure," he said dryly, more resigned than anything else. Pausing, she continued.

"More to the point, even if it was provided under duress, I will reward you for this. What you've done deserves nothing less." He perked up a bit at that, curiosity pervading his expression. Yes, hopefully that would lessen the sting. Ignoring her feelings as a person, well, she didn't want William Ashfield as an enemy. A mind like his… Well, sometimes that was many times more dangerous than even a fleet of airships. No, he would be well rewarded for this. Indeed, an idea was already coming to her.

Better yet, it would be an excellent chance for him to show off some of those other ideas he'd presented. Because if even half of them worked… Well, it would be interesting to see.

"Enjoy the rest of your trip, William. As promised, your new territory is primed and ready to receive you when you land. The alchemist guild in particular are most enthusiastic to repay your interest in their organization." Almost as interested as she was to see what use William had for them.