Chapter 150 - The Situation in Valleroy

Chapter 150: 150 - The Situation in Valleroy

By the time an attendant came for him, dusk had drawn itself across Sylvarin, the rivers below carrying the last of the light. Adrien had spent the few hours Laurent granted him unpacking and resting, and Amelia had gone to her parents for the evening, so he followed the attendant alone into a quieter wing above the second river.

They went nowhere near the throne room. Adrien was shown instead into a private study, walls hung with maps, documents stacked across a long table beneath the windows.

Laurent sat behind a smaller desk with Maeriel beside him, reading a report she lowered the moment Adrien entered. Adrien stopped a few paces inside and inclined his head.

"Your Majesty."

"Adrien. Sit."

Laurent gestured at the chair opposite. Adrien took it with his back straight and his hands on his knees while the attendant drew the doors shut. Laurent gathered two papers from the desk, squared them together and looked up.

"You can relax in here. Nobody’s listening but us."

Adrien did not shift his posture.

"That’s generous of you, Your Majesty. I’d rather keep my manners where someone can see them."

A faint, dry humour crossed Maeriel’s face before she masked it. Laurent laid his hand flat over the squared papers.

"I wanted to speak before tomorrow because the situation in Valleroy has changed faster than I expected."

He had guessed the conversation would turn toward his kingdom, but hearing it put so plainly sharpened his attention.

"A great deal has happened recently, Your Majesty."

"More than a great deal. House Arquenay has been dismantled. Its main branch is finished, its lands have been redistributed, and the people who survived its collapse are being watched closely."

Adrien inclined his head. None of it was news, and Laurent pressed on.

"Montferrand followed shortly afterward. The main branch was removed, Edmond Montferrand now controls what remains of the house, and he does so under conditions imposed by the Crown."

Adrien looked at him closely. Montferrand’s restructuring was only days old, and a foreign king knowing who held the house and on what terms revealed plenty by itself.

"May I ask how much information reaches Sylvamir?"

"Enough to know when the balance of power in a neighboring kingdom starts moving."

Laurent leaned back.

"Great Houses do not disappear quietly, Adrien. When Arquenay falls, trade changes. Soldiers move. Land changes hands. Families begin contacting people they ignored a month earlier. When Montferrand follows, every government watching Valleroy starts asking whether those events are connected."

Adrien took the point. Inside Valleroy the two collapses had felt like separate crises, while from outside they drew a single line.

Laurent glanced at the maps on the wall.

"Kings survive by knowing what happens outside their borders. Merchants talk, nobles talk a great deal more, and diplomats are paid to listen to both."

Adrien let his gaze cross the documents on the desk, then weighed the question twice before asking it.

"And what does Sylvamir believe is happening in Valleroy, Your Majesty?"

Laurent was quiet a moment.

"Osric still wears the crown. But I doubt anyone seriously watching your kingdom believes he controls everything beneath it anymore."

Adrien kept his face unreadable, aware that every word he chose here would travel past this room.

"Prince Aurelian has taken a greater role of late."

"A diplomatic answer."

Laurent did not sound amused. If anything, the remark carried a trace of approval.

"And a correct one."

He rose and crossed to the map of the western kingdoms, halting beside Valleroy while Adrien remained seated.

"Aurelian led much of the negotiation after Elowen was taken. He has been involved in the investigations against your Great Houses. Officials who once answered through Osric increasingly deal with his son instead. Even the recent restructuring of Montferrand carries his hand."

Adrien could hardly dispute a word of it. Aurelian had told him outright that he meant to take the throne, yet hearing another monarch trace the same process aloud gave it new weight.

"I don’t know whether Aurelian will be a good king," Laurent said. "I do know Osric has stopped being an effective one."

That was blunter than Adrien had braced for, particularly from one crowned head about another, and he took his time answering.

"It wouldn’t be my place to judge His Majesty in another king’s court."

Maeriel looked toward him, measuring him briefly before turning back to Laurent. The elven king gave a small nod.

"No. It wouldn’t. I’m not asking you to. I’m telling you how the situation looks from outside your borders."

Laurent returned to his chair and folded his hands over the desk.

"If things continue as they are, the next time I speak to Valleroy’s ruler, I’m not certain Osric will still be sitting in that chair."

Adrien had known Aurelian wanted precisely that. What struck him was how ordinary Laurent made the prospect sound, an event another kingdom had already begun accounting for. ’They’re preparing for him.’ Aurelian was no longer merely preparing to replace his father; other rulers were preparing for his success.

Adrien looked back at the king, with the deference he would have used before a full court.

"May I ask why you’re telling me this, Your Majesty?"

"Because House Clairmont is no longer in a position where it can afford not to understand it. You agreed to act as one of the links between Sylvamir, Edevane and Valleroy regarding the border investigation. That arrangement becomes more important if the Crown changes hands."

Maeriel spoke for the first time.

"And your house is recovering faster than most people expected. That makes you useful to some people and inconvenient to others."

Adrien understood that well enough, and Laurent continued before he could reply.

"Whatever happens between Osric and Aurelian is Valleroy’s business until it begins affecting everyone around Valleroy. I have no intention of choosing your king for you. But if that king changes, Sylvamir has to be ready for whoever comes next."

Adrien nodded slowly.

"I understand, Your Majesty."

Laurent studied him before reaching for a different folder.

"That’s good. Because Valleroy is only one of the subjects I wanted you to understand before tomorrow."

Adrien’s attention moved to the folder.

"There’s more, Your Majesty?"

"There is. Several rulers have begun discussing a meeting."

Laurent opened it, and whatever ease had lingered in his face thinned away.

"It has been a long time since the crowns of this continent had enough reason to sit at the same table."