Someone Else's Kingdom, BOOK II - Scene XXX

Prince Reach delved into the inner pocket of his tunic and took out a folded note. On it was listed the constituents of black powder. He handed it to Queen Aglaia. She gave the appearance of studying it intently before handing it on to her assistant with a nod. The assistant without needing further instruction quickly headed out of the room to put the information to good use, leaving the two royals alone. The guards that had accompanied Reach now standing vigil outside the door.

"So who killed him?" asked Aglaia, instantly moving on.

It took Prince Reach a few seconds to realise that she was asking about Prince Aralak, the arrow-slain son of their now mutual antagonist, King Mizmeam.

"We don't know."

"Has the circle been broken? Someone must have done it."

Queen Aglaia then looked down at Price Reach like an inspecting school mistress: "I don't think your lot did it, but I have to ask."

Reach looked sheepish, though he felt somewhat put out by the suggestion. His innocent look immediately exonerating him in the eyes of the queen; confirming what she had already suspected of the situation. The put-out look tallying well with information she'd garnered by other means.

"So, there must be someone outside then - at least one person, if not more. No ships were spotted?"

"We have no information."

Prince Reach once again looked sheepish as he said this, only this time his look convicted him. A slight glare now reached out from Aglaia's eyes.

"There was fighting in the channel. A few Brynnyfirdian ships, we think," he confessed.

Queen Aglaia paused seriously at this new information, then stood up and began to pace the room calmly, but with intent. The three little dogs stirred into animation by her bout of movement.

"Did you raise this with them?" she asked.

"No."

She looked at him, inquiring as to why.

"They don't know. If it was their ships they haven't returned. So even if it was their men who breeched the gap - somehow - assuming it has been breached, they can't have knowledge of it. So it was needless to raise it."

Prince Reach inwardly congratulated himself as he gave this answer. The logic in the response rebalancing the power in the discussion a little. Queen Aglaia was satisfied - yet she wasn't finished.

"Y'know, when you brought his body back from beneath the desert you should have just disposed of it." A deadpan look now heavy upon her powdered face. "..Then, you could have just feigned that he had died at sea, in some shipwreck or other."

"But his men - the men that accompanied him to the Three Deserts, they would've given the game away."

"You should have just executed them," she blasély replied, "It would've been much the wiser."

Once more the innocent face of Prince Reach revealed a lack of stomach for such things.

"What?" replied the queen, noting his reaction, "It's better than this wholesale slaughter."

She then paused and reflected a little. Looking around the room as if to wonder at the passing years.

"I'm older, wiser ..and crueller than you and your two brothers," she stated, with a lament. She then touched Prince Reach gently on the shoulder. "I can be your foil. You can play to your noble character and I can play to mine."