They came in small groups. Parents. Wives. Children.

  Godwin’s company, split into five lances, kept the roads clear of highwaymen. Still, it took days for everyone to arrive; peasants, minor nobility and the claimants to baronies. Days during which we hammered out the framework for establishing stewardship councils. Days during which every new face made my pulse spike.

  Luckily, I had someone to keep me calm. Where she had been simmering with anger before, now Reshma had become downright clingy. She pulled me into bed at every opportunity, as if it would anchor us both.

  One day, I was lying on the bed, in the middle of the day, chest heaving. Reshma was sprawled on top of me, naked and resplendent, her skin glowing under beams of sunlight.

  “Oh no,” I muttered in realization.

  Her head snapped up. “What?”

  “Another one,” I said grimly. “Now there’s another thief after my .”

  Her face soured. “You seem eager enough to give them to me.”

  “Oh, if I could only explain the reference to you, mein Fr?ulein,” I chuckled, squeezing her cheeks.

  I knew why she was constantly pulling me into the bedroom with such desperation. It was to both assuage her feelings of self-loathing, and worry that I would leave her. But she was also looking out for me and distracting me from what I had to face.

  “Another joke from your world that you won’t explain?” she asked sternly.

  “Words can never do justice to such magnificence.”

  She pulled herself up to lay her head right below mine and tilted it cutely. “Tell me about your world. Do you really not have kings?”

  “Some countries do, but their positions are mostly ceremonial, as custodians of the country’s heritage. Mind you, they are still filthy rich and very influential, but restrained in power. As for the countries that still have monarchs with absolute power; not the best places to live in. ”

  “It must be a strange world,” her voice filled with wonder. “What are your plans for Nanon?” she asked nervously.

  I exhaled slowly. “I’m not a crazy revolutionary who wants to go ‘off with their heads.’” Unless they give me a good reason. “What we first need is concentration of military power under the Crown, eliminating the nobles’ ability to wage war against each other. A house divided against itself won’t stand against outsiders.”

  Her breath hitched. She lifted her head up to look at me, brows furrowed. “I thought you wanted to weaken such concentration of power.”

  “Not when it comes to defense. There, you want one command structure, not fragmented loyalties.”

  “Who will they be loyal to?”

  “The nation. Nanon itself.”

  “So, you,” she said flatly.

  “Yes,” I rolled my eyes. “The Crown for now. It’s not the time to establish assemblies. Not when the current system is working and there are fires everywhere.”

  Heat returned to her voice, her eyes narrowing. “So you plan to replace Laira with a council eventually?”

  “No,” I said, pulling her into my chest.

  She tried to flee, but her attempts were futile against my strength. I held her there until the tension left her muscles.

  “As I said,” I looked into her eyes, “I’m not a crazy revolutionary. I don’t plan on dismantling the Crown, just putting safeguards in place so no single idiot sitting on the throne can destroy an entire realm. Can you imagine what our fate would have been had Leofric been slightly stupid? What if Linus was King right now?”

  Her face blanched at that.

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  “I know the evils of this system very well. I’m only… worried for Laira,” she whispered weakly.

  “I haven’t known her for long, but trust me, I care about her as much as you,” I said, kissing her hair. “She’s a smart and responsible woman, but monarchs like her are the exception, not the rule. Institutions must be ready for worst-case scenarios, not the best.”

  She clung to me, arms tight around my ribs. “You are a hurricane,” she murmured, “who will turn everything upside down. I suppose I will have to manage the side-effects as much as I can.”

  “Thanks,” I whispered, pressing her close.

  It was going to be a shit-show before it got better.

  Later that day, Elric and my mother confronted me in the solar.

  “Jack,” my mother said, arms folded, “our vassal houses have already arrived. They’re asking for an audience. Why have you kept them waiting?”

  “Reasons, mother. I want to give them a demonstration of our power before meeting them.”

  “Are the royal troops manning the castle walls not enough of a statement?”

  “Oh, they are impressive enough, but they are not frightening.”

  “You intend... to frighten them?” she asked slowly.

  “Yes. It’s much safer to be feared than to be loved, if one cannot be both. I doubt I have their love after what happened at the Bog, and I would rather not be stabbed again.”

  She studied me for some time, then reluctantly nodded.

  The next day, I came out into the castle courtyard, heart hammering in my chest. Sunlight bathed the assembly of hundreds of men and women packed in the space. A small cluster of well-dressed people stood aside from the rest.

  The eyes of the commoners were still haunted by the loss of their loved ones, while calculation and anger flared in the nobles’ eyes. On the ramparts, the falcon of House Nobart and the eagle of the Crown snapped in the morning wind, held by soldiers in royal livery.

  “Apologies for not meeting you all sooner,” I said out loud. “As some of you may have heard, an attempt was made on my life the very day I arrived from the capital.”

  I pointed to my left, where gallows had been set up.

  A young man, disheveled and haggard, his hands tied behind his back, was marched by soldiers to them. The very same moron who had stabbed me.

  “I have been recovering from it the past three weeks.” I looked over the crowd. “Many of you have gone through immense pain and suffering lately, but let us not drown ourselves in them so much that we lose our humanity.”

  As I spoke, a hood was place over the perpetrator’s head. The noose followed. The men tightened it and left the platform.

  “Revenge only begets revenge,” I said, raising my arm, and let it fall.

  My five guards from Chadom, standing a dozen meters away from the gallows, took aim.

  The crossbows spoke as one.

  A barrage of bolts flew into the poor fool’s body.

  The courtyard echoed with the whistles of flying bolts, slamming into flesh with a wet finality, while everyone watched transfixed. They did not stop until their magazines ran dry. All forty bolts were embedded deep in the dead man, his body resembling a porcupine.

  Silence reigned in the aftermath, until men came to lower the body and take it away. The nobles’ eyes flitted between the corpse and the weapons in my guard’s hands.

  “Yet, do not think that there won’t be justice in our land,” I said, as another man was escorted to the gallows.

  “This traitor here,” I pointed to the man. “Helped my foolish cousins flee from the consequences of their crimes. His greed led him to betray his lord and people.”

  As we watched in silence, his head was covered, noose tightened around it and he was swiftly hung.

  Some of the nobles stood rigid, eyes fixed on the dying man, as if looking away would mark them. I scanned their faces, slow enough that each noble could imagine my gaze lingering on them. Let them wonder whether I already knew their loyalties. Let them assume I did.

  I waited to speak until the twitching stopped.

  “Soldiers of the Nobart county,” I focused on the men in the larger crowd. “You showed exceptional bravery at the Battle of the Bog. I myself witnessed your valor and sacrifice, but you were led on a fool's errand by a traitor to our country. My father, the late Count Zock, gave crucial information to the enemies of our kingdom, which led to the demise of our dear King and Prince. I happened to get my hands on the proof of his treachery and he attacked me in an attempt to destroy it. You know the results.”

  Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

  “Know this, that even though we fought on the battlefield on opposing sides, I consider each and every one of you my brothers. You believed you were fighting for the sake of our realm and county, but were betrayed.”

  I changed my focus to the nobles. “Some of you might have heard that I am to wed our Queen, Laira Nanon. That is indeed true. As your Prince Consort, I will dedicate myself to protecting our people from threats, external and internal.”

  I looked at the commoners. “I cannot bring back those who died at the battle, but I can provide some solace to those they left behind. The House of Nobart will pay the fallen’s salary for the next five years to their family. If any of their relatives wish to join our forces, they will be given preference in recruitment.”

  The commoners exhaled in relief while those words received a lukewarm response from the nobles. They probably wanted permanent positions, but this was a golden chance for me. With most of the knights gone, I could build Nobart’s forces from ground up, elevating the worthy over the well connected.

  My address done, I went back to the meeting chamber.

  “My lord. That is a lot of coin! Hundreds of gold coins. More than a thousand!” Elric whined, walking beside me.

  I raised a hand. “I know, Elric. It is also necessary to placate those people. I have the money for it.”

  Suddenly, my guards stopped in their tracks, forcing the rest of us to follow.

  A woman stepped forward to face me.

  Tall. Beautiful. Composed.

  My heart skipped a beat.

  The very same woman who had called my name in Wolfwatch.

  Eirica.

  The name came to me, and something else. The widow of Baron Mondgrove, and Jack’s ex-lover.

  “My lord,” she bowed low.

  I sighed. Great.

  Now even Jack’s past was catching up to me.

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