Reinald did not completely trust the mage Sixtus, trapped in the box, and perhaps this was why Six had jokingly referred to him as a friend.
“Friction will persist so long as we all live,” said Reinald, speaking of his family, “and at the end of all the jealousy, suspicion, and paranoia is war. Knowing this, there is only standing down or welcoming the clash of wills.”
“And you don’t mind the lives that might cost, whether it be your own soldiers, the people, or even your own?”
“I don’t. They must stake their lives for me, just as they stake them on victory. You cannot discuss the taking of the throne without some bloodshed, and those who follow me know their role. This is not something that needs saying explicitly.”
“But putting the emperor aside, you can’t speak of Wilhelmina with the same certainty.”
“I’m sorry to dash your hopes, but she will not side with me.”
“You sound very certain of yourself. You’re sure?”
“I am, though it is not a feeling you would easily understand.”
“Which is to say that you’ve been preparing for this far longer than I thought. From the very beginning, you were prepared for war.”
The margrave had taught me that war was not something that started at the drop of a hat. There was always a period of preparation, because victory hinged on who had prepared for the most eventualities. From talking to Reinald now, I could tell that he had spent a good deal of time readying his forces for what loomed ahead. And if my hunch was right, he’d started well before he was even made crown prince.
From the very beginning, he’d expected discord with others on the path he forged. And outside of how he felt about the box, there was another reason pushing him onward. I was about to ask about it when a stray thought hit me. I knew that Reinald wanted to become emperor. It was because I wanted to see his reign that I had put my family’s support behind him. I was a part of it now, and it was why I was allowed to speak with him on equal footing.
But what does he want to do once he seizes the throne?
I had always thought that the throne itself was his goal, but now I wondered—what if the throne was just a step along a greater path? Your ordinary man or woman might be content with the power and authority that came with simply becoming emperor, but would that be enough for a man like Reinald?
“Sir Reinald, what do you wish to do once you become emperor?” I asked.
“Finally, you ask.”
I wondered if he’d expected the question some time ago. His smile was an affectionate one, and yet there was an edge of something devilish in it. It was the first time I truly recognized an evil in him. Perhaps it had been a long time coming. Perhaps it had always been there, and I was only just now seeing it for the first time. I was uncertain if that made me lucky or unlucky.
“Karen,” said Reinald, resting his elbows on the armrests of his chair as his fingers interlaced. “I want the continent.”
“The whole...”
Continent?
I was at a loss for words, but not because I hadn’t understood what Reinald had said. The truth was, in fact, that I understood so clearly I was rendered speechless. The devilish spark in his smile was gone, replaced by a grace that seemed to draw me inexplicably to him.
“By continent, you mean of course Falkrum, and...”
“And the forested lands of Latoria, and the allied nations in the desert. And the tribes and people in the far reaches that are still undiscovered.”
“All of it?”
Reinald’s reply was short, but filled with a quiet, unflappable confidence.
“Of course. All of it.”
Reinald stood from his chair and motioned for me to follow him. He brought me to a garden, and when the people around saw his face, they dispersed like leaves caught in the breeze. In mere moments, we were alone again. That he allowed me to accompany him still told me that I was also allowed further questions, so I went for it.
“Why do you reach for such a goal, Sir Reinald? Is the rank of emperor not enough?”
“Is that how you see my dream, Karen? As something so simply put?”
“It is a thing of such scope, it is difficult to put accurately into words. You must understand that for one as timid as me, it would be difficult to even state such a lofty goal.”
“I find that surprising. I don’t believe someone so timid would throw their lot in with the man who took over Falkrum.”
While the subtle compliment was a nice one to be sure, there was no getting around the fact that I really was timid of heart. Every big decision I’d made in this world was one I’d arrived at after much in the way of worry, confusion, and uncertainty. I was anything but especially confident in myself. Reinald seemed to take my silence as sulking and simply shrugged.
“You ask me why,” he said, “but from where I stand, I can’t help but wonder why you ask. Desiring the throne, desiring the continent—there is little difference between the two. Both require the same effort, so what’s the difference? I do not understand why you wouldn’t turn your gaze to the greater continent.”
“I can only say that you and I see the world in very different ways. But please, do be careful... Your dream is so bold, and one of such scope that I worry about you being blindsided somewhere along the way.”
To be honest, I’m not sure why I offered such a warning. Reinald, too, thought it strange, and he chuckled.
“I am not my father. I cannot be satisfied with Falkrum alone. I cannot understand Wilhelmina, who desires the throne only for the sake of others. You wondered if it might be possible for the two of us to fight side by side, but in truth it is she with whom I am most incompatible. And she knows that just as well as I do.”
Wilhelmina wants the throne for somebody else’s sake?
Just when I thought I was out of questions, new mysteries bubble up to the surface.
All the same, I’d come away with some answers. I knew now that the throne really was just a step along the path Reinald envisioned, and that there was no path to true reconciliation between him and his father or sister.
“I hope you don’t mind me venturing to ask, but assuming you are as serious as you say about your future goals, I feel I must ask—do you still wish to destroy the box?”
“What a strange thing to ask.”
“If your goal lies beyond the throne and in the realm of further conquest, then wouldn’t Six’s abilities make things far quicker and easier?”
The idea that he would throw away safety and security in pursuit of his greater goal confused me, but Reinald only chuckled once more.
“Moritz said the same thing. I see the box as a hindrance. I do not respect any conquest gained by simply issuing orders from afar, in which individual power goes untested. However much it provides in the way of protection, it is nonetheless a useless relic of times passed. I will partner with anybody, no matter who or what they are, if they bring with them a chance to destroy the box.”
“A price that will be paid by many of those close to you. Will you push on when the people criticize you?”
“Do you think a man with his eyes on the throne fears mere talk?”
“And to that end, you make use of the box, incompatible though your ideals may be.”
“Yes. At least while it is necessary.”
Six understood that partnering with Reinald was his way to freedom, or release as it were. Their two goals neatly aligned in that way.
“What you mean to say is that peace was never a possibility,” I said.
“Their paths are already too far removed from my own.”
Reinald was steadfast and seemed too proud to even consider the idea of changing his point of view. I looked down at a flower petal and thought. Reinald was reaching for something that felt almost beyond comprehension, and with such conviction that arguments felt meaningless in the face of it.
“How did you come to aspire to such lofty goals?” I mused. “What drives you to reach them?”
I realized that I was pushing my luck and perhaps asking for too much, and so I did not expect an answer, but...
“In the beginning...I think it was a way to ensure that nothing else would be taken from me...” he said, his voice almost a whisper.
To ensure that nothing else would be taken...?
I turned to Reinald and saw his face in profile. He looked at something of a loss, but there was a quiet calm to him, as if he were thinking tenderly of someone. I was reminded then that I did not know much about Reinald’s past, nor the experiences that had come to shape him, but a sudden urge gripped my heart at the very same time.
I want to know.
“In the past, you told me that you had lived with a merchant family as a child,” I said. “What kind of a life was that?”
“It was very boring. Nothing worth speaking of.”
He offered a smile, and it brought his traipse down memory lane to an end. He pulled a small knife from his chest pocket and cut a flower from the flower bed, its color a delightful white and pale pink.
“For me?” I asked as he held it out to me.
“I just remembered I was told to give you a flower. I heard you wanted one of your own. Perhaps you would have preferred a bouquet?”