Chapter 118

"Of course we'll invade Lanzene and Matteau," Bill shouted. We were several cups of tea and a few beers in now, the shadows outside growing longer. "We didn't start this fight, but by the gods, we'll end it!"

"Makes good sense to me." This was Edgar, one of Roan's brothers-in-law. He had the very diminutive Hailey perched on his lap, the youngest of my mate's sisters. "We spend all this time, all this energy keeping them at bay. A man doesn't bargain with rats when they're trying to get into his silo of wheat."

"I'll be a soldier!" Benny cried, and the men all chuckled, one of his uncles reaching down to ruffle his hair, but the men and women, they all reacted very differently. His father, his uncles all seemed well pleased by this display, beaming down at him, but the women?

"You need to clean up your bedroom before you do anything."

Did the others hear the stiffness in Desi's voice, see how pale she had gone at the idea? The women seemed to, some of her sisters searching her face, trying to meet her gaze as Verity, the sister closest to her, took her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Aww, Ma…" Benny said.

"Come on, Benny," Geneva, his sister said, holding out a hand. "I'll help. Anything to get rid of that stink. Did you bring tadpoles home again?"

"Maybe…" Benny admitted as they walked down the hall.

"Did you remember to top up the water or to give them food."

"Tadpoles need food…?"

The women all shook their heads and smiled as the two children disappeared into Benny's room, but the men? They were like a dog with a bone when it came to the topic of war.

"I think I'd look proper smart in uniform," Bern, another one of the husbands said, flicking his hand down his front.

"They'd need some extra cloth for yours," his wife said, patting the swell of his belly. The other men started chuckling at that.

"He'd work off that belly marching to the front," one of them said as he raised his tankard.

"It's a good thing the Bastard"—Bill looked at me—"Prince Arik overthrew that prick of a brother of his."

"Did you hear that King Magnus wasn't even the old king's son?" said another man.

"Arik's a good egg," Bill continued. "He'll lower those bloody taxes that cripple us all and beat those bastards across the border so soundly, it'll be generations before any of them dare stick their heads up again. He'll repair the roads, maybe finally pave the ones in Cheapside."

"Put in proper plumbing," another said.

"Maybe a grant of land, so we can grow our own vegetables rather than be charged a mint at the markets," Edgar said, his gaze fixed not on us but the future. He came back to the room with a snap, shooting us all a sheepish smile. "Better times are coming now that Arik will be king, just you wait."

"But not right away." I looked around, wondering which woman dared to contradict all of this masculine optimism, only to find it was me. Everyone's eyes were upon me, prompting me to explain. "If we're to fight a war, taxes will need to be increased." A small rumble of disapproval came from the crowd. "I realise that that won't be popular. Gods, it might put some people in the poor house." I frowned, staring at the rough wooden floor of the cottage. "Or worse, but…" My eyes were forced up. "A war is expensive. Money must come from somewhere for uniforms, rations, weapons."

"From that big pile of money they're sitting on in the palace!" Bill snapped, red spots forming in his cheeks.

"Now, Bill—" Desi tried to say, but he shook his head.

"That Magnus has been living the high life while we struggle to keep a roof over our fucking heads down here." Silence fell over the entire cottage as we all stared, taking in Bill's stricken expression. He seemed to realise that he had exposed himself more than he intended, swallowing hard and then shaking his head. "I thought we'd lose the lot when I had my accident. Not much use for a fucking cripple, is there?"

"Bill—" one of the women said.

"Then my Desi was forced to work in the bloody palace and we all know what happened to poor Millie." The mumbles now were much quieter, sadder. "Then that bastard took my wife." His hand went to the bare nape of her neck. "Tied her up and shaved her like a sheep and for what? To try and bring the prince and his band down? All of your beautiful hair gone…"

"It will grow back and be twice as beautiful." I felt like I was intruding shamefully by speaking up amidst this family, but if I was to join it, surely I had to learn to? "And, anyway, the way the short hair brings out Desiree's bone structure, it'll have other women shaving their heads just to try and achieve the same perfection."

"There, Desi…" Hailey said. "Didn't we say as much?"

"Don't see you lot promising to shave your heads bald in solidarity, do I?" Desi said, her eyebrow jerking up as she regarded her sisters. She snorted when Verity's hand went to her long braid, then shook her head before turning to me. "But thank you, Pri—" She smiled. "Jess, but to be honest, I'm just glad I survived what happened." Her focus shifted to Selene. "That we all did. But if you're to bring a message back to that brother of ours, tell him this." She straightened up. "The people have been treated too badly for too long. They need us to clean their floors, cook their food, change their sheets and now to fight their wars? Then they need to find a way to do that which doesn't include squeezing the lot of us dry. There's nothing left to squeeze."

"Then an invasion is out of the question," I said. "War is expensive, but that price is beyond what lies in the palace's coffers."

"That bastard, Magnus, spent it all?" someone asked in disgust.

"More than gold." I scanned everyone in the room. "More than wheat and wool and steel for weapons. More than anything anyone can make or grow. You speak of the king as a threat to the people, but what of war? It will chew people up and spit them out far more thoroughly than Magnus ever could. He at least…" My eyes slid to the bruises around Desi's wrists, her headscarf and then to Selene, her sleeves tugged down to cover her bruises. "Confined his violence to just women, mostly noble women. A war with your enemies would brutalise everyone."

They didn't believe me, or didn't want to hear it, I could tell in the rumble that was coming for the men, but somehow that had me moving forward. I plucked cutlery and tankards off the table, no longer caring who they belonged to.

"This is Stormare, where I am from," I explained, putting a tankard closest to me. "And this is Lanzene." I laid out knives and forks to approximate the border of that country to my right. "Matteau is here." I did the same on the left. "And then this big space here is Khean, but that's not what they were always called."

I'd found history terribly boring when I was at school, but it was only now I understood how this information was useful.

"These were all smaller countries." I placed more tankards within the borders of our neighbours. "Each one taken over by the imperial army of either Matteau or Lanzene. They were absorbed, their kings becoming vassals of the emperor or the high king, right up until they met here."

I traced a line up the border.

"The high king pitted his army against the emperor's and vice versa for… a really long time," I said, shaking my head. "There are plenty of towns on the border filled with people that come from both countries because sometimes it becomes Mattenite territory or sometimes it's Lanzenian, but this remains true. Every time either empire breaks through the border and takes a lot more territory, they struggle to keep it. Invading a country is one thing. Integrating the people within into yours to ensure they don't rebel against your rule is another."

"So we kill the lot of them." Bern crossed his chest then, his massive biceps popping.

"At what cost?" I asked. "How much gold is that goal worth? How many men's lives? How many wives left as widows? Children left fatherless?"

"It's something we do for future generations," Bill said in a gentle voice, obviously feeling like I was missing something important. "We make this sacrifice now—"

"And this will be the end result in a hundred years," I said, tapping the table. My back pressed against my chair. "It has for many hundreds before this. Khean keeps out of the situation due to the presence of the wolf shifters. Every hundred years or so your enemies forget about the ferocity of the shifters on the battlefield and think this technology, this strategy will win the day for them." I stared at the table, seeing a map instead of my crude arrangement. "But it doesn't. It never does. They throw themselves at the border and then learn a terribly painful lesson before going back to their own country to lick their wounds. As long as there are veterans alive to tell the tales of what happened, people are dissuaded from attack."

"So we need to teach them that lesson," Bill said, the excitement apparent in his voice.

"We all need a reminder of that lesson." I wasn't talking to him or anyone else in the room right then, able to see this conversation being held in much the same way with people far more powerful. Men who would indulge in grandiose visions of glory claimed on the battlefield only to learn a very harsh lesson about curtailing those ambitions.

But I could soften that blow, couldn't I? Talk to my mates and try to get them to see reason, then have them communicate the same thing to the general and lords baying for blood. When I looked up, Selene was staring at me steadily, but before she could say anything, a young man came running in through the back door.

"Apologies Master Bill, Mistress Desi, but word got around that Sister Selene is in Cheapside. Sister." The lad performed a quick bow. "It's my da. He got messed up real bad during the riots. Got knocked down during the kerfuffle and then one of them guards in plate mail stamped on his leg." He shot Bill a sidelong look. "Ma's worried it's broken. She sent me down here as you've always been a dab hand at healing."

"I'm also the Raven of Khean now." The whole room went quiet at that, Roan's family staring at her as if they'd never seen Selene before. "I tell you this to make clear that no debt will be owed if I look at your father. I have spoken to the Temple already and the good works done by the sisters will receive the full support of The Guild."

"Oh…" The boy blinked. "Oh. Well." His teeth worried his bottom lip. "Then can you come and see to him, please?"

Selene turned to face me.

"Jess—?"

"I'll come with you," I said, getting to my feet. I felt like I'd more than worn out my welcome with my talk of politics. "Desi, Bill, everyone, it's been lovely to meet you all. Next time we'll have to meet at the palace. We'll have dinner and talk of much more pleasant things, particularly embarrassing stories about Roan."

"That we have plenty of," Desi said, taking my hands and giving them a squeeze. "But you… you stay safe now."

"You as well."

Our eyes locked for just a moment, so I caught the moment when the skin creased around them. She smiled at me and suddenly I felt a whole lot better.

"Perhaps I'll have grown some more hair by then."

"I'll send you an invite well before that point," I said and then pulled away.

"You're up on Smith Street, in the cottage on the hill?" Selene asked the boy once we had walked outside. "Your father is a stablehand."

"Right you are, Si…" The boy winced. "Raven. right you are, Lady Raven."