“He’s thinking of love. They both are.”
“Love?” Lila jabbed at a pancake. “Fools. Both of them are pretty, little fools.”
The two women ate silently for several moments. As the initial shock of her mother’s announcement wore off, Lila felt herself watched with far more intensity than she had in the last decade. Her mother might have been a starved cat eyeing a mouse hole.
And she hadn’t even brought up her blackmailer.
“This isn’t why you called me here so early.”
“No, it’s not. I’m guessing Ms. Wilson told you about Jewel’s theatrics last night? Surely you don’t think an engagement triggered your sister’s hysteria?”
“I never quite know what will set Jewel off. However, I could give you a list of several topics that are sure to cause a meltdown.”
“I think I know that list very well, thank you. Her fits are not her finest attribute. Tell me, Lila. With such a flaw, do you really believe she is fit to lead Wolf Industries? Does she possess the steadiness of character to bear the full responsibility of the company?”
Lila pushed her pancakes away. “With all due respect, Madam Chairwoman, that is no longer my problem. I abdicated my position over a decade ago. I am the chief of your militia, and Jewel is the prime heir of the Randolph family. If you wish to change that, then you would need to declare her unfit under the Inheritance Law and train the next heir in line. I’m sure Aunt Georgina would love the position. If that doesn’t suit you, then choose another heir or try again for another daughter. I’m sure there are a thousand senators in Saxony who would—”
Her mother slapped the table. “This is no time for impertinence. Senator Dubois was tested by a fertility specialist. He received the results yesterday evening. Jewel spent last night calling his doctors because she didn’t want to believe the results. The senator is seedless, Elizabeth. He will never have children, not even from a tube, and Jewel’s far too in love with him to break off the union.”
“That’s impossible. Senators are screened before they begin their internships. If testing had revealed a fertility issue, Senator Dubois would have been directed into another occupation at Bullstow long before he saw the inside of High House.”
Lila, as well as most highborn, had always approved of such a system. No senator had ever achieved a position of political significance without allying himself with multiple highborn families through fatherhood. Ever since Senator Benedict King betrayed the Allied Lands to the Holy Roman Empire over two hundred years ago, the nation was leery of bachelor politicians. It was generally thought that the more children a senator had, the more trustworthy and fair he would be in his deliberations, the more invested he would be with his legislation and the future of the country, the less likely he would be to accept bribes, and the less likely he would turn traitor and scamper away to another country with American or Allied secrets.
At least, that was the theory.
The High House in each city served as the proving ground of the young and the pasture of the old, with only a dozen cities prized among the chaff. Senator Dubois’s brethren had elected him to New Bristol, the capital of Saxony, the most prized city of all. The man’s exceptional charisma, unparalleled fairness, and ties to Jewel had allowed Bullstow to keep nominating him year after year. Since Dubois would soon seed an heir for the Randolph prime, everyone gave him a certain amount of leeway, for if the Randolphs had found him worthy, then Bullstow and New Bristol should as well. But that leeway would not last forever, no matter how much potential he might possess.
Lila drained her wine. “He needs a second—”
“That was the second opinion, Lila. The senator cannot have children, and since your sister is determined to marry him without exercising the right of eyre-cleue, neither will she. Jewel will bear no heirs for the Randolph family. As such, I have had to rethink several prior arrangements about Wolf Industries.”
“We have a contract.”
“A contract I can rescind any time I please,” the chairwoman reminded her. “Regardless of your ill-timed and ill-thought-out foray into BullNet, I can no longer accept your abdication. Starting today, your contract is forfeit. You are once again prime, and you will be my legal and rightful heir, and as my heir you have certain responsibilities, responsibilities that you have dodged for long enough.”
“I’m chief of your militia. I’m the best damn chief you’ve ever had, regardless of my current—”
“Not anymore. I will expect the name of a trustworthy and competent replacement by the end of the year. Commander Sutton can pick up the slack until then.”
“You can’t do this. She can’t do this!” Lila hopped up from the table, quieting every impulse to overturn it. “She promised.”
“This isn’t a game, child. Jewel has never had any real responsibility to remain as prime. For oracle’s sake, she was twelve when she made the vow!”
“How old was I?”
The chairwoman’s fork dropped into her plate with a clink. She abandoned her orange juice and poured herself a glass of Gregorie.
Lila retreated to the corner, her eyes fastening on to the buildings outside the glass. On the drive in, the compound had seemed solid and secure. Her job had always been to protect it, to smooth out the infighting and plotting among the heirs and relations, to ensure that the whole structure did not crumble from within or become vulnerable to infiltration. Now her mother asked her to take on an altogether different responsibility, to war against the other families in Saxony. The compound seemed so much smaller and more fragile.
All except Wolf Tower. It caught her eye in the center of the estate, a shard of glass cutting through flesh, penetrating the sky. Her new office would be at the top, just down the hall from her mother’s, both overlooking the compound.
Every structure on the estate contained members of the Randolph family, and every one of them needed someone competent in Wolf Tower.
But why did it have to be her?
Her mind strayed to the warehouse floor, to the rivers of blood pooling underneath torn necks and broken limbs.
The gods had seen fit to punish her at last.