When Aurie followed Enya into the council room, no one stood and she didn’t expect them to. She moved around them to the chair that Enya indicated at the head of the table next to her own. Their eyes followed, all men except her, Enya, and one nun, the Abbess, or Mother Superior. She wondered which the woman preferred.

  She recognized the Chamberlain. He was the first to speak, turning to the priest beside him, “That’s the woman I told you about. Says she’s the Regent now. She smells like fish and is prouder than Soloman.”

  “And I might even be better at counting than him,” Aurie said as she took her seat to a cacophony of gasps. “What?”

  “You can speak Latin?” Enya gaped at her.

  “Soloman is the wisest King to ever live! No one can count better than him!” the Chamberlain scoffed.

  “That’s my Gift,” Aurie tucked her chin, heat filling her cheeks.

  “You have the Gift of Tongues?” Enya said it less as a question and more as a statement of shock. “We’ll speak later about this. For now, the table is yours.” To the rest, “If you are finished with comparing Bible sizes, Chamberlain, I believe our Regent called this council to meet.”

  “You’re in support of this…usurper?” He growled.

  “You will either address her as Paladin or Regent, or not at all. She has full command of the Paladinate in the Bastion, therefore you and all others within Alcalia until the Prince is fully recovered. Any other questions unanswered on the subject?”

  “You are a Paladin?” The…Mother Superior asked softly.

  “Yes,” Aurie knew better than to add how long ago it was. She could already see that it would only make things harder. With more confidence in her tone, “I arrived earlier today. There is much to be done, so we’ll get straight to the point. First, thank you for meeting with me and thank you for whatever support you have shown the Prince before and while he’s been…knocked out.”

  There was a snicker and an underhanded, “Uneducated as well.”

  “Yes,” Aurie gritted her teeth. “I am uneducated. I didn’t have books to read and letters to memorize in pretty little rooms. I was out there! Scraping my hands raw to feed my little sister and later to birth my children, make their clothes and fill their bellies. I’ve stitched the wounds of a soldier, tended birthing mothers, tilled fields, managed stocks and laborers, and I sure as the rivers don’t need a book to know that what I have done isn’t in whatever you’ve been reading!”

  Backs leaned into their chairs and necks stiffened.

  “You have to—what?—Worry about having enough food and budget for a month? I have to track from harvest to harvest. A year. A full year. On pennies. Feeding a family, preparing to pay laborers because I have five kilometers of fields and, until three months ago, only a husband and son to work them. Now, you tell me how you’re better.” Aurie leaned back and crossed her arms. “I’m waiting.”

  Eyes widened, all aimed at the table in front of them.

  Aurie looked over them, fuming. “Nothing? Good,” she drew in a breath. “The canals are jammed with boats. Why?”

  “I told you, we have to inventory…” The Chamberlain began.

  “Not. You.” Aurie growled. She pointed at Enya. “You. Why?”

  Enya blinked. “Plow me, what did I do?”

  “You’re a soldier. Why are boats not moving through the canals faster?”

  “I—I don’t know, he was…”

  Aurie hit the table, “Are you in command or not?”

  Enya stiffened. “I’ll fix it.”

  Faces of shying terror rounded the table.

  Aurie nodded. “The whole city is full of canals. Use them. They’re faster than using the roads, that’s why we’re using them from the villages. Dra—The Prince knew that, that’s why he commanded the villages to do that. And he’s a plowing barbarian! You’re supposed to be the educated ones! Start. Reading. Better. Books. Or learning different lessons from the ones you’re already reading. Low and behold, my daughter, who only just started learning to read, already understands from this one,” she swiped a bible from in front of one of the priests and held it up for all of them to see, “how to properly rotate crops and why our toilet-house isn’t next to the KITCHEN!” She tossed the bible to slide across the table.

  All heads followed it.

  “Next. The battlefield and all that. I have more hands coming. Some are skilled laborers. They will be wanting pay, so which one of you is in charge of money?”

  One of the Priests at the opposite end of the table raised his hand. “I am Father Eduard Gall. The treasurer.”

  “How much is left in the treasury?”

  Seats shifted. Breaths whistled.

  “For the Bastion or the Kingdom, Regent?”

  “Which one does the Prince have access to?”

  “Again, for the Bastion or the Kingdom?”

  Aurie tucked her lower lip into her teeth with a glare. “I don’t like repeating myself. You remind me of little children. A bunch of little children whose father went away for a few days and think that they can make mommy do whatever they want. I’m not your mommy. If he has access to both, then what is the To-Tal of both?”

  Father Eduard gulped loudly. “I will have to look through the books and get back to you.”

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  “I will know before you eat your next meal. I suggest you get to it.” Aurie eyed him. Her threatening tone made Enya shiver enough that she felt it through the chair. He didn’t move. “NOW!” Everyone jumped in their seats.

  Father Eduard leapt for the door and sprinted out it.

  Once the door shut behind him, Aurie looked at the remaining faces. “My father was a soldier. He said that the best way to tell if an army was any good was by how they handled their wounded. By the looks of it, you’re well organized and have a handle on things.”

  She looked to see if any expressions changed. She couldn’t remember who was the Infirmarian. She found him when a hint of pride showed in a subtle smirk.

  Aurie lifted her chin to him, “What are you in need of? Anything you’re falling short of? Supplies? Help? Anything we can do?”

  His ears perked. “You brought us some much needed help already, if I’m completely honest. We can always use more.”

  “Anything in particular?”

  “Regular supply of clean linens, alcohol is always in short supply, blood donations, vinegar,” he blinked with furrowed brows. “Come to think of it, we could use a place for our recovering disabled to commune and eat closer to the tents. More tents, if possible. We’ve run out of room and, well, it’s unfortunate, but we’ve been leaving the ones that God has refused to heal out of them so the beds can be given to those He Wills to live.”

  That made Aurie tilt her head. “You don’t treat them if a miracle is refused?”

  “No,” Enya chimed in with a hand covering hers. “We don’t treat them if they’re going to die without God giving us permission to heal them, regardless of what we do. It’s a waste of what can be used to help someone who will survive.”

  “Oh,” Aurie’s heart ached at the thought. “I see. I’ll need a scribe…” She pointed to the Mother Superior, “I know you have many duties, but I think a woman’s hand might be a needed touch these days. If you would take time from your duties to write letters for me.”

  Mother Felicia regarded her with a curious grin. “I would be honored, Paladin.”

  “I know there are textile mills in Alcer, we can get plenty of linens and tents from there in a matter of days. Talkro has vinegar. Put out a command to all pubs, taverns—even brothels—that they hand over their strongest spirits to a man named Tuck from Talkro.” A thought passed over her. “Make sure that it is your most sober priest who goes to him and with someone who is willing to thump him if he drinks a drop of any of it—he knows how to get the alcohol out of the liquor. Believe you me, he knows. It’s all he does is drink and sing.” She shook her head at that. Now she understood what they mean by ‘God works in mysterious ways.’

  Finally, Aurie looked up to the rest of the table. “Before the Prince left from Talkro, there was a war against someone across the Rhine. Who was it?”

  “Lord von Mueller of Neuse-Baden,” Enya answered. “We’ve had skirmishes a few times after last summer, when the Baron seized control of the mines by order of Cleric King Lord Taggerty.”

  “Lord Taggerty invaded him? That’s why he’s going to attack us? But this isn’t Lord Taggerty’s anymore. This is Draka’s land.”

  The table filled with gasps. Enya’s eyes drifted to them with a slight hook of a grin at the edge of her mouth before she answered, “But it was the Baron’s army that did it and, technically, his men, which now are thereby your men until Prince Dietrich wakes up.” After a pause that was obviously stifling a laugh. “Sorry, I meant to say, Draka wakes up.”

  Aurie narrowed her eyes. “Thank you, Paladin.” She leaned back and said with a bit too much excitement, “Recall them and I will have a letter ready to be sent on his behalf.”

  “Those mines are integral for the fight against the Enemy in the Holy Lands! They must be held!”

  Aurie didn’t see which priest said it. She didn’t care, really.

  “Are we the Holy Lands? Are we fighting the Enemy in the Holy Lands? Are those mines filling the bellies of hungry children in the streets out there? Should I go on, or have I made my point?” She waited. No one moved. “If the Holy Lands needs them, then the Holy Lands, and King Cleric whatever Taggerty, who barely set foot in his own plowing domain, can negotiate with its proper owner for the rocks. The last thing we need is another army thinking that what just happened is an opportunity. I’m not the Prince, I don’t want you all thinking that I intend on doing this forever because, trust me, I want to go home, back to my farm, as soon as possible. But while that man is asleep, I’m not letting his house fall apart from within or without.”

  “I may have suggestions on what we can say in that letter to make von Mueller understand,” Mother Felicia grinned at her. With a flick of her eyebrows, “We do have a coronation to plan, do we not?”

  “Oh, he’s barely alive and you’re still thinking that’s a plausibility? We should wait to see if it is even God’s will that he survives the sabbath,” the Chamberlain crossed himself.

  “God wills it, trust me,” Enya glowered at him.

  “He wasn’t coronated?” Aurie gaped.

  “No.” Mother Felicia stiffened.

  “Who was planning it? Do we have a date? And, how do you coronate a Prince?”

  “King,” Father Bruno, who had been silent the entire time said through a long sigh. He stared at the bible he had his arms wrapped around on the table. “He’s requested that the College of Cardinals approve him to be coronated as Sanctioned and Chartered by Holy Decree.”

  Aurie looked to Enya for help with what that meant.

  “Means he asked them to force King Charles to let go of his Vassalage and recognize him not only as a King, but also as a Paladinate Chancelor. To put it in layman’s terms, basically saying that if Paladin Dietrich walks into a room full of Cathol Kings, they become his vassals so long as it does not take away their own holdings. Like, he can’t make them give away lands or anything like that. But he can force them to make peace and he can make a declaration of war that would turn all of Christendom into an enemy for whoever he declares on. If he calls, they must answer it or answer to God. That’s what he requested.”

  “Who in their right mind would ask for that?”

  “My sentiments, honestly,” Enya shrugged.

  “His reasoning is sound,” Father Bruno finally looked up from the bible. “No one would declare war on a kingdom with a Paladinate Chancelor Throne. That was the reason written in his letter. To prevent the invasion and also, to allow him to fulfill his oath when this was done.”

  “He’s been doing pretty good with the vow of silence thing,” Aurie shrugged.

  “His oath is to go into the depths of hell to retrieve his wife’s unjustly stolen soul and return it to be judged by God properly. He can’t do that and be a Prince or a King if he must defend a kingdom from invasion. Once he has an heir and a spare, he will be free to fulfill his oath which he has borne for the Lord for twenty-two years.”

  Enya’s breathing stilled so suddenly that Aurie’s nearly restarted because of it. The faces in the room paled.

  “Who…that’s…but…” Aurie bit down on her trembling lips.

  “They gave him these lands in the hopes of slowing his descent into those depths for as long as we could, but God had accepted his oath and circumstances were presented,” Father Bruno shrugged. “It was Cardinal Thomas who brought it to my attention when his letter arrived this morning. I was given leave to inform all of you in an effort to soothe any confusion or dissention to the idea. Our support for his ascendence is imperative.”

  “Heir and a spare,” Enya blinked for a moment. Her head perked upright with a hand up, “Any far away places we might need to send a redhead who happens to be about yay high?”