Page 146 of Obsidian Throne
Yuriy jumped up from his seat. I settled into it, glaring at Mikhail until he vacated his own chair in favor of one further down so my wife could sit next to me.
I knew something was wrong when all eight sets of eyes settled on me warily. Nine, if I was counting Yuriy’s hesitant glances. My eyebrow raised of its own accord as I met each of their stares in turn.
“We’ve been discussing the next steps,” Korhonan said, hesitation clear in his tone. “Technically, by succession, the crown would fall to me…”
Now both of my eyebrows shot up. He had told Rowan and me in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t be taking the throne.
If I was being honest with myself, Korhonan wouldn’t make the worst ruler, but I wasn’t convinced he had the discernment or the strategy necessary to unite Socair.
Nor was there any world in which I wanted to be in subjection to him.
“But I don’t want it,” he finished up before I could say any of those things.
“All right,” I said evenly, “so we go back to the way it was, as we discussed.”
Arès cleared his throat. “We believe that Socair would benefit from a more united front.”
Rowan shot him a look, but I didn’t think that was in response to his words as much as her general lack of forgiveness. I bit back a smile at her characteristic ruthlessness before returning my attention to the matter at hand.
“You have made it abundantly clear on more than one occasion that you don’t believe the monarchy should be reinstated,” I reminded the Lynx duke.
“Under Iiro,” he agreed. “But if someone else were to take up that mantle…”
“Someone like…?” I asked, waiting for him to supply his own name.
“Someone like you,” Korhonan answered. “You are the one who defeated the king, after all.”
I blinked several times rapidly, sure I had misheard him. Once again, I surveyed the dukes at the table. Mikhail and Nils looked decidedly disgruntled, but everyone else appeared…thoughtful. Hopeful, even.
“You’re the logical choice,” Arès said. “I’ve observed your strategy myself, the way you form alliances, securing trade and food for the first time in a generation.”
“In spite of your father’s rule, those under your command consider your decisions to be fair, and you have been a loyal ally,” the duke of Crane added.
“And you are already peacefully tied to our only potential enemy,” Andreyev from Viper chimed in.
It was clear they had discussed this at length already.
Korhonan pushed a crisp sheet of parchment in front of me. I briefly scanned the contents of what appeared to be a contract to rule, written in elegantly lettered script…with eight signatures already on the bottom.
“It’s only missing yours,” Arès pointed out, nudging a quill and ink across the table toward me.
My mind reeled with the possibilities. Was this even something I wanted? I certainly didn’t want anyone else doing it, not when I didn’t trust their interests, but was a monarchy even necessary?
And what about Rowan?
I met her eyes solidly. They were wide with surprise, but also affirmation.
Her hand came over mine. “Think of your plans for resources. Think of everything you could accomplish.”
In spite of myself, I contemplated what they were asking. Socair would continue to suffer if the clans couldn’t band together. Hadn’t I thought that more than once?
Then I considered Rowan, how she had already changed things with the Unclanned and the women tending the injured, just in the short time she had been here.
How the balance of power had been off between us from the first day we met, and how many problems that had caused.
How she couldn’t even sit in on council meetings in my stead.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to decline to sign this document,” I said, shoving it back toward Korhonan.