Page 130 of Shadows and Roses

"No, they didn't ask me or even talk to me. I overheard them saying that you do this sometimes—sulk and drink when something terrible happens."

Damon laughed. "There wouldn’t be a sober day in my life, then. When is this worldnota terrible place?" He waved away Castien's frown. "They would have told you to leave me be. I'm fine."

"If that's what you want. But I do understand something about how terrible the world can be. If you want to talk, you know how to find me." Castien got to his feet and stepped toward the door.

"Castien."

He turned to find Damon holding out the book.

"Humor me. Read it. Maybe it won't be as ridiculous as you think."

Castien accepted the book.

—

The Queen was gone.

She’d taken a contingent of soldiers to investigate the rogue legions—officially, she was visiting a few nearby estates. Jerome used more words than Castien had ever heard the man speak, grumbling about his injured arm that prevented him from being by her side.

While waiting for her return, Castien trained, gardened, and read the book. It was a dry, dullread. History tended to be a list of facts, and this one did that too, he supposed. If the author was to be believed. Primarily, it expounded repetitively on the virtues of societies in ancient times—the freedom, the lack of want, the total eradication of social class. It portrayed a utopia for the common person that had been crushed by the rise of clawed women.

The author equally emphasized how it was these women's fault for everything thereafter. Multiple passages about claws were underlined. The tiresome writing painted a picture suggesting that the claws themselves were the root of all problems—remove the monstrous bits, and perhaps the female might be salvaged. Like gelding a stallion.

Partway through the book, he set it aside in disgust. Plenty of men ruled their demesnes with the same or worse cruelty to match their female counterparts. Perhaps this was something Octavius would want to see. But it was just a book.

—

He decided to talk to his friend first. Damon’s door was slightly open, and he was digging in his garden again.

"Damon—"

His friend spun, trowel held like a blade, eyes wide. Then he blinked and his shoulders relaxed. "You startled me."

"Apologies." Castien fingered the book. "I wanted to discuss this… history. It seems, perhaps, a bit biased."

Damon brushed off his hands and stood. "Hmm. I need some wine for this sort of talk. Come."

They settled into his chambers. Castien didn’t touch his drink.

With one swallow, Damon half-emptied his glass. "Tell me what you’re thinking, lordling."

"Well, not all noble ladies are so terrible. Surely, you can see that Anais can be trusted, and the women of her Inner Circle."

"She does her best." Damon waved a hand. "But it’s not enough. Her methods are too slow. These plans of hers may take another half a lifetime. And it’s already claimed her mother’s life; who will pick up the pieces if Anais dies?"

"She doesn’t want to do more harm to the people in the process."

Damon leaned forward. "Sometimes the wound needs to be lanced, the limb cut off. There is no saving the nobility, no redemption, no way to convince them of change. There will be chaos now, but change will come so much faster. Is that not better than waiting an indefinite number of years filled with half-compromises at best—change in word but not deed?"

"Drantar is already a better nation than it was fifty years ago. Changes are already happening."

A bitter laugh. "Generations of slow change is exactly the problem, my friend. Change will come—it always does. But why should we wait for it, when we can make it happen now? We have the power to make so many lives betternow. At the small price of—at most—a few years of chaos."

Damon's eyes lit up as he spoke. He sounded just the same as he did eight years ago. He just hadn’t had the power then.

"Have you discussed this with the Queen and the Escorts?"

His friend shrugged. "They won't listen. They're like you. Comfortable, worried, afraid. I don't blame you—you've always lived such an easy life."

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