LOREN
Loren knew that the best defense was a good offense as well as Wessex did. Thankfully, Deimos seemed not to want to take sides in this argument. Unfortunately for the queen, the summoner wasn’t intimidated by her in the slightest, nor was he going to back down from the only line he’d drawn in the sand. ”Ripping children away from their mother is harming them, yes. In this particular case, it’s necessary. Ripping them away from their aunt, however, is cruel, and not necessary, just expedient.” As always, anger chilled the Launceleyn, ice seeping into his core.
And then they stumbled into philosophy and morals and ethics and he sat up a bit straighter, more than happy to have this debate. ”The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few then? And the ends justify the means? That’s one way to look at it, but I always preferred this one: the true measure of a ruler is how they treat the least and weakest of their people.” That meant the children, the sick, the weak, and infirm, all of whom deserved protection.
As the queen started debating in earnest, Loren remained unmoved. She’d wanted this gig, and if she was just now discovering that heavy was the head that wore the crown, that was her problem, not his. Without saying a word, he summoned an adorable puppy and an even more adorable kitten, which he ordered to begin frolicking with one another. ”There will be plenty of magic at the Temple to delight them if that’s what you’re really worried about. And Beatrix and Jace will be with me, and they will behave themselves, never fear.” But not because the summoner would control his relatives, but because they trusted him and he trusted them to do what they needed to survive. The Launceleyns were good at that. ”And an attack on my person is just a sign of a weak argument.” As she turned away to hang up the map, he dismissed his creatures.
Well, she might’ve thought bringing up Remi and Ronin—for the second time in this exchange, no less—would placate him, but she clearly didn’t know what was going on among her own subjects and Loren wasn’t in the mood to enlighten her. ”I don’t trust them.” It came out flatly. ”Moreover, they’re not here, which means they’ve abdicated any right to be involved in this decision-making process.” It would be impossible for the king to rule if he couldn’t be bothered to show up the most important meeting in the Hollowed Grounds; recovering from the blight or not, Ronin should’ve been there.
So he had no choice but to put his trust in Wessex. Or no one, if she kept pushing his boundaries.
However, if she thought she was giving him a punishment by putting him in charge of Roana, well, she was sorely mistaken. First the Launceleyn nodded in acknowledgment of the general’s offer of assistance. ”Thank you.” Granted, Deimos still had the writ of arrest, so Loren would need to grab that at some point, or follow the other man. At that moment, though, the Launceleyn was more worried about the queen. ”I apologize for not making this clear earlier. What Roana is doing is evil. There is no doubt about that.” The fact that it even needed to be spelled out was laughable to him. ”But that doesn’t absolve us of the need to enact justice, not vengeance.” There was a clear line, at least to him. ”And I would be happy to take personal responsibility for keeping Roana imprisoned during LongNight.” Now maybe Wessex would stop this dumb pissing contest and they could move on and get some actual work done.
And then they stumbled into philosophy and morals and ethics and he sat up a bit straighter, more than happy to have this debate. ”The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few then? And the ends justify the means? That’s one way to look at it, but I always preferred this one: the true measure of a ruler is how they treat the least and weakest of their people.” That meant the children, the sick, the weak, and infirm, all of whom deserved protection.
As the queen started debating in earnest, Loren remained unmoved. She’d wanted this gig, and if she was just now discovering that heavy was the head that wore the crown, that was her problem, not his. Without saying a word, he summoned an adorable puppy and an even more adorable kitten, which he ordered to begin frolicking with one another. ”There will be plenty of magic at the Temple to delight them if that’s what you’re really worried about. And Beatrix and Jace will be with me, and they will behave themselves, never fear.” But not because the summoner would control his relatives, but because they trusted him and he trusted them to do what they needed to survive. The Launceleyns were good at that. ”And an attack on my person is just a sign of a weak argument.” As she turned away to hang up the map, he dismissed his creatures.
Well, she might’ve thought bringing up Remi and Ronin—for the second time in this exchange, no less—would placate him, but she clearly didn’t know what was going on among her own subjects and Loren wasn’t in the mood to enlighten her. ”I don’t trust them.” It came out flatly. ”Moreover, they’re not here, which means they’ve abdicated any right to be involved in this decision-making process.” It would be impossible for the king to rule if he couldn’t be bothered to show up the most important meeting in the Hollowed Grounds; recovering from the blight or not, Ronin should’ve been there.
So he had no choice but to put his trust in Wessex. Or no one, if she kept pushing his boundaries.
However, if she thought she was giving him a punishment by putting him in charge of Roana, well, she was sorely mistaken. First the Launceleyn nodded in acknowledgment of the general’s offer of assistance. ”Thank you.” Granted, Deimos still had the writ of arrest, so Loren would need to grab that at some point, or follow the other man. At that moment, though, the Launceleyn was more worried about the queen. ”I apologize for not making this clear earlier. What Roana is doing is evil. There is no doubt about that.” The fact that it even needed to be spelled out was laughable to him. ”But that doesn’t absolve us of the need to enact justice, not vengeance.” There was a clear line, at least to him. ”And I would be happy to take personal responsibility for keeping Roana imprisoned during LongNight.” Now maybe Wessex would stop this dumb pissing contest and they could move on and get some actual work done.
But don’t be weary if it’s broken
Families are like that—
they’re split up and always torn.
