The King looked at Edric.
There was a restless despair in his face now, something Edric had never seen there before.
"I should have bowed my head to her instead of trying to be clever," the King said quietly. "She would have listened to me. She would have helped my son."
He looked toward the capital.
"But now…"
He didn't finish.
Edric swallowed. The King was right about one thing. He had waited too long.
In many ways, the King was weak. He had spent his reign avoiding problems rather than confronting them, allowing other people to carry out the things he was unwilling to do himself. One could call it cleverness. Strategy.
Edric called it cowardice.
The King possessed enough power to face almost anyone in the kingdom, yet he rarely did so directly. He erased memories. He manipulated people. He used others as his hands and kept his own intentions hidden behind layers of silence and political maneuvering.
