Chapter 413: The Strength to Stand

Chapter 412: The Strength to Stand

Lyria’s POV

I regarded him for a moment before I spoke, at last.

"What d-did you t-think of it?" I asked.

He did not answer at once.

Instead, he moved towards the chair near the reading table and lowered himself into it.

"I found it both commendable and condemnable, Your Highness," he said.

I frowned.

"T-truly?"

"Indeed."

His answer came with such calm that I very nearly doubted I had heard him aright.

Except a few, no one had pronounced my conduct condemnable. Duke Thorncrest had thought it perfectly acceptable, as had Earl Hawthorne. Both had regarded it, if anything, as admirable.

"First," he said, "I admire that you stood up on behalf of the common people. I admire that you perceived a wrong and endeavoured to set it right. That, Your Highness, I liked a great deal."

His expression softened, if only for a moment.

"I knew you possessed a fiery temperament. But I must confess you employed it unwisely. You are wiser than that, Your Highness, considerably so."

His voice remained even, and yet there was no mistaking the edge beneath it.

"You permitted sentiment to govern you, and therein lay the whole of the difficulty. You were so entirely absorbed by what you felt in that moment that you failed to consider how gravely your decision might affect those you sought to defend."

He allowed the silence to settle a while before continuing.

"What manner of ruler is one who can only speak, yet cannot address the very root of a matter?" he asked. "What manner of ruler supposes that what stands before them is the whole of the difficulty, when far greater intricacies lie woven beneath the surface than they have yet troubled themselves to consider?"

He paused.

"My apologies. I have employed a word you may not—"

"Baron R-Redwick has already t-taught me its meaning, Your Grace," I said. "You need n-not trouble yourself."

He inclined his head in understanding.

"Very well."

His gaze did not waver from mine.

"Should I employ any word beyond your understanding, Your Highness, you have every liberty to halt me."

I frowned.

"If y-you persist in t-treating me s-so delicately," I said, "how a-am I ever t-to learn? You o-ought to continue, Your Grace. And r-rather than halting you, I s-should wish to learn a g-great deal more. P-perhaps you s-shall become my t-teacher."

One of his eyebrows lifted at that.

"A teacher, Your Highness?"

"Indeed. F-for I have t-three already, and y-you s-shall be the f-fourth. Pray c-continue. I should be glad t-to hear more."

Duke Valenridge gave a soft, low laugh.

"Very well, Your Highness."

He shifted somewhat in his chair, settling himself as though preparing for a lecture of considerable length.

"The difficulty concerning the commoners," he said, "and the injustices under which they labour, run a great deal deeper than any single incident at an arena. That was no proper occasion for you to speak. In doing so, you revealed precisely how vulnerable you remain, and you made of yourself a target."

"Rather than your enemies coming against you directly, they shall now turn upon those you sought to shelter. They understand full well that such people hold greater sway over you than any direct assault could ever command. They may, with equal ease, turn those same people into instruments against you."

His expression grew stern.

"And before you have taken proper notice of it, Your Highness, you shall find yourself dancing at the pleasure of those who wish it so. You shall be the one governed, rather than the one who governs. And I daresay that is not what you desire."

I was quiet a moment, then I shook my head.

"N-no, Your Grace. It i-is not."

"Then what is it you desire?"

I met his gaze steadily.

"I w-wish to be s-stronger."

He studied me at length.

"Are you certain of this, Your Highness?" he asked. "For if I am to speak plainly, you remain indecisive. You are neither wholly one thing nor the other, and you have yet to take any firm stance upon the matter. Only once you do so may you become what you wish to be."

His words were blunt, and yet, curiously, they did not wound.

Perhaps it was because he addressed me as one who believed I was equal to hearing the truth of things.

"I w-wish to be s-stronger," I repeated.

He said nothing for a time.

For several moments he merely regarded me, as though in search of some uncertainty I had failed to conceal.

Then he shook his head, and a small smile crept upon his face.

"I have been a fool, it would seem. You have already arrived at this understanding, have you not?"

I smiled.

"I have," I said. "Though it w-was only r-recently that I came t-to it. And your words have shown me, q-quite plainly, that I m-made the right d-decision in t-taking such a stance."

He laughed softly.

There was something almost like relief in the sound of it.

The cat gave a meow, as though to remind us both that it remained present and had not yet received its proper due of attention.

I glanced down at it and then set it gently upon the floor.

The creature stretched, its tail rising, before it padded towards a quiet corner of the chamber.

I turned back to Duke Valenridge.

"Teach m-me," I said.

"I beg your pardon, Your Highness?"

"T-teach me, Your Grace. B-be my fourth t-teacher."

He was silent a moment, plainly not having anticipated such a request.

"Why?"

"B-because I have n-need of you. I m-must learn to be as s-strong as you a-are."

His expression altered slightly.

"Why myself, Your Highness?" he asked. "Why not Alistair, or Benedict, or Julian, or Lucian? Each is perfectly capable of instructing you in his own right."

"Because y-you are s-strong," I said.

"The others are strong also, Your Highness, each in his own measure, and you are well aware of it. I am rather more inclined to suppose you ask this of me because it is convenient. I am, after all, presently at your disposal, am I not?"

I laughed at that.

"Quite t-the contrary, Your Grace. This w-was decided b-before ever you a-arrived."

"I know that n-no matter how m-much they have t-tried to bring you low, you s-still rise. You s-still stand. Even the n-nobles of this court f-fear you. You m-move always with your h-head held high."

Duke Valenridge regarded me in silence.

"I confess I still fail to perceive the precise reason for your choosing me," he said. "I am not the only one under attack, and, as I have said, the others are strong also."

"But n-none of them are m-my anchor," I told him.

His expression grew unreadable.

He had not spoken falsely in saying the others were strong. But it was not their strength I required.

"You a-are my a-anchor. And I... I n-need you to teach me to b-be brave, as y-you are. To u-use, rather than b-be used. To be always o-one step a-ahead. T-teach m-me to be s-strong, as y-you are. T-to such a d-degree that, should the n-need arise, I too m-might serve as a-an anchor to y-you."