Page 81 of The First Spark
I will not be intimidated. I will make him pay.
“I’ll speak to him,” Kalie managed to say. The words sounded like they belonged to someone else, someone far away. She forced herself to rise.
“Speak to him here,” Hewlett said, “so all of us can support you.”
Support, or control? Sighing, she sank into her chair. She barely stopped herself from looking at Uncle Jerran for permission. “Yes, of course. Have the transmission patched through to this room.”
The attendant bowed deeply and hurried off.
“If you want advice, Your Majesty…”
Kalie gritted her teeth. “Of course.”
“Stay calm. All of us know how it feels to face those responsible for the deaths of our loved ones.” Hewlett left unsaid the names of her father and grandmother. “Lashing out with anger only risks further losses. I mean no offense, but the Prime Minister is vastly more experienced than you are, and we lack the strength to oppose?—”
Kalie held up a hand. “Thank you, Count.”
Eerie silence hung in the room as she glanced at Aunt Calida’s serene portrait, looming on the wall beside her. The regal painting had been added days ago, joining the ranks of duchissas and duxes spanning the walls of the limitless chamber. As the moving portrait’s lips shifted into a smile, a lump swelled in Kalie’s throat. Aunt Calida’s portrait should’ve shown an aged, withered monarch, like the ones before her. Carik had taken her too soon.
I will make him pay.
With a murmured warning, an attendant handed her a remote, and a holoprojector crackled to life.
There, floating above the center of the mahogany table, lounged a projection of Carik.
Kalie’s blood burned. Her heart raged. She tightened her fingers around her armrest to keep from lunging at the projection.
“Princessa Hannover. I do hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Why are you here?”
Nobles bristled and whispered amongst themselves, but she didn’tcare. Carik’s smile ignited a roaring fire in her chest, but it also shot a shiver down her spine. If he was able to get to Aunt Calida a few miles from the palace, in the heart of her capital, he could get to her here.
“I’m here because I received your offer for peace.” Frowning, Carik held up a holopad. “I admit I’m baffled by your demands and accusations, Princessa. If this is some convenient scheme to shift the blame away from you and your uncle?—”
“Whatever evidence you planted is false. You can lie all you want, but no one is going to believe it.”
“Betrayal runs in the Dalian royal blood, does it not?” Carik smirked at Uncle Jerran. “I suppose I owe you my congratulations. You’ve found another pawn to manipulate. When this one destroys herself, will you finally make a claim to the throne you’ve been lusting after for so long?”
Kalie’s noisy breaths rattled in her ears, but Uncle Jerran just raised an eyebrow. “Delightful as ever, Zed.”
Carik’s smirk broadened. “Perhaps you have your sights set on something greater than the throne. Perhaps you want my position. After all, you were Pool’s predecessor in the Senate, were you not? With him dead, and the blame shifted to me, you’re in a prime position to claim his place. Is that what your little conspiracy is all about? She gets a throne, and you get my title?”
Uncle Jerran didn’t rise to the bait.
Whispers swept around the table, rising in their intensity. Hewlett stayed silent, but his extended family’s murmurs were the loudest and harshest of them all.
“I know you’re behind it,” Kalie spat, “so the only question is?—”
“Consider this from my perspective. This ghastly tragedy casts a shadow over the legitimacy of my reign.” Flashing a winning smile, Carik spread his hands. “Why would I bring that upon myself? I don’t need to resort to murdering my opponents to win my elections.”
“But you wouldn’t have?—”
“At any rate,” Carik powered on, cutting her off, “we’re getting off topic. I called to discuss this travesty of a peace treaty you sent me. Of course, bringing the murderer to justice is imperative, and there mustbe cooperation between Dali and the Federation. But you’re casting blame in the wrong direction.”
“Let me make myself clear,” Kalie snapped, forging her voice into a weapon of steel. “You received my terms for peace. The only way there will ever be cooperation between Dali and the Federation is if you resign your post. Allow a neutral investigative team to do an uninhibited investigation into the murders. If they corroborate your innocence, I’ll accept their verdict, but if not?—”
“And waste more time, during which you’ll arrange to make the real assassins disappear?” Carik pressed his lips into a thin line. “No, I’m afraid I can’t do that, Princessa.”
