Page 15 of Never the Roses

“Good for her,” Stearanos replied, not without considerable envy for his—he supposed now former—nemesis.

“Apparently she disappeared quite some time ago and shows no sign of returning. Perhaps she’s even dead! This means the Southern Lands are undefended,” the king said, excitement lighting his face.

Stearanos never met the sorceress Oneira, as they’d been kept carefully apart by their handlers. He knew her only by reputation, which was formidable, so he seriously doubted she was dead. Only another sorcerer could kill a person of her reputed skill and power, and Stearanos—along with every other magically sensitive individual in all the realms—would’ve felt the echoes of a magical battle that immense and potent.

Thus, logic dictated that she had somehow managed to pay off her contract and had indeed retired. How had she managedthat when the best he’d been able to negotiate was a sabbatical imperiously cut short? That jealousy-fueled bafflement on top of the growing irritation thatthiswas His Majesty’s “emergency” consumed him. No impending peril had prompted the king to summon Stearanos, only rapacious greed. And Stearanos, with all the power at his command, could do nothing about it. Though that didn’t mean he had to be enthusiastic.

“The Southern Lands are hardly undefended, Your Majesty,” Stearanos objected, inclining his head to add a flavor of obsequiousness he didn’t feel to the contradiction. Was there no end to the man’s desire for more and more? He was barely able to govern the lands he’d already conquered, let alone attempt to acquire distant and foreign cultures across the sea. “The Southern Lands field armies at least half again the size of yours.”

King Uhtric gazed at him with considerable irritation. Very few people told His Majesty no to anything, even obliquely.

“Magically unguarded,” the king clarified, enunciating as if the sorcerer might somehow fail to understand the words themselves. “Everyone has always advised me against conquering the Southern Lands in the past on the grounds that pitting you against the sorceress Oneira was considered to be too extreme a risk to the valuable resources we hoped to acquire. You know this, so don’t play the fool with me. With the sorceress removed from the equation, there is no reason not to take action.”

“I can think of a few,” Stearanos replied mildly.

The king’s face grew taut, reddening. “You work for me, Eminence,” His Majesty reminded him. “I shouldn’t need to remind you that the ability to contradict me is not in your contract.”

Stearanos braced his hands on the rim of the map table, pretending to study it so the king wouldn’t see him gnashing his teeth. For thenth time, he cursed that bloody contract. He’d curse the bloody geas that trapped him and every magic-workeralive from early childhood, but he might as well shake his fist at the clouds in the sky.

“How much is it worth to you, Your Majesty?” he asked the map table, grinding out the question wearily. This was what they’d made him: a man willing to decimate innocent people for a paycheck, eternally eroding the rock of his debt, drop by drop.

“Hmm…” The king hummed happily. “Well, it won’t be much of a challenge for you, with no opposition to speak of.”

“The queen of the Southern Lands will have hired someone to take Oneira’s place,” Stearanos pointed out, his gaze moving to those verdant southern lands he’d only read about.

“As if that harridan could find another magic-worker anywhere near your caliber. No, if anyone else in all the world could defeatmysorcerer, I’d have heard about it. At last, my considerable investment in you will pay off. This should be an easy conquest, so I want you to work with my son on the war strategy. You’ll report to him for this project and obey him as you would me.”

“Crown Prince Mirza?” Stearanos said, raising his head in his surprise, feeling foolish to have asked such an obvious question, as though the king had more than one son. He did have plenty of daughters, though the princesses seldom garnered His Majesty’s attention, unless one of them looked to be useful as a trading piece in a negotiation. Several had been married off and now decorated the courts of subsidiary kingdoms under their father’s imperial rule. It was fortunate that the crown prince was the clear heir to the throne, as the jostling among the also-rans, such as the husbands of the king’s daughters, would likely result in internecine strife and even more war.

The king did not notice the foolishness of the question, nodding in satisfaction. “My heir, yes. You don’t have children, Stormbreaker, so you don’t know. A father wants to pass on hiswisdom to his son. It’s only natural.” He smiled wryly, as if he and Stearanos enjoyed a long friendship.

“Mirza is restless,” the king continued. “I’ve raised him to be a monarch and he chafes to realize his destiny. I need to give him another throne, lest he become too interested in mine.” The king winked. “In exchange for conquering the Southern Lands, Mirza will rule them in my stead. This project will absorb his youthful energies and he can learn from you at the same time, where he might not listen to his old father. And it will be good for you to work together. Who knows, you’ll likely be his sorcerer someday,” he added with a chortle.

“If I’m teaching the crown prince, then I should be paid double the price of every magical attack we agree upon,” Stearanos pointed out with careful neutrality, then studiously did not hold his breath.

Say what you would about His Majesty, the man had not gotten where he was by being unobservant or a lax negotiator. Fortunately, paternal affection and the prospect of the riches of the Southern Lands had the king in a generous mood. “Fine, fine,” he replied, waving that off as negligible. In truth, it was. Even at double rate, the fees wouldn’t do much against Stearanos’s debt. “Do your research, Eminence. I want your strategic plan in a month.”

Stearanos bit down on an incredulous repetition of the king’s words.A month?To plan the conquest of an entire country none of them had been to?

“I’m confident you’re up to the challenge.” The king, never a fool, pinned Stearanos with a sharp stare. “I know you wouldn’t want to displease me,” he added, stopping just short of making it a threat.

“Of course not, Your Majesty,” Stearanos managed to reply, bowing to hide his expression.Anything else? Perhaps I should pull the moon from the sky and hang it upon a chain around your neck?

“You’ll set sail as soon as the war council approves your strategy,” the king continued, “so include constructing a sufficient armada in your plans.”

Better and better. “Anything else, Your Majesty?” he inquired, hoping no sarcasm leaked into his tone.

The king frowned at him, suspicious, but not quite enough to dampen his great, good mood. “When I think of it, I shall summon you, Eminence.”

“I’d work best from home, Your Majesty,” Stearanos said firmly, hoping the courteous use of Uhtric’s title would soften him. “I’ll need access to the books on the Southern Lands in my library.”

“Yes, yes, whatever you need to do,” the king replied, already losing interest in the minutiae. “Just see that it gets done. I shall be remembered for this,” he added, with a beatific glow. “My greatest achievement.”

Stearanos agreed, taking his opportunity to flee, not pointing out that the king had already forgotten about this war ostensibly being his son’s achievement. It mattered not.

All things belonged to His Majesty, including Stearanos.

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