King Eornost stood with his hands clasped behind his back, staring at the monotonous view offered by his window.

“Father, you have been staring at the drapes since dawn, can I not draw them for you?” Talah was sitting at the private dining table she and Eornost shared. It was currently dominated by a large freehand map of the kingdom and surrounding domains.

Eornost smiled a sad smile he knew his daughter could not see, “If the curtains were drawn I would see the gentle green of trees budding. I would see Martin the huntmaster walking his horses. I’d see my people smiling and waving at me as they walked past the window on their way to the well. My kingdom is a place of such beauty I fear to look at it. I can’t stand to be reminded of all I will lose.”

“You will lose nothing,” Talah said firmly. “King Otto’s diplomat was offering an alliance. He spoke of nothing else. No threats. No bribes. No blackmail.”

“Yet Ganter continues to grow.”

“Is it his armies you fear? Look,” Talah pointed at her map, “I’ve marked the last known locations of Otto’s armies in green. What do you see?”

Eornost looked at his daughter’s sketch. She had placed little coloured discs of wood all over its surface. Most of them were green.

“I see you’ve had a very busy morning. You’ve also been reading my private reports.”

Talah rolled her eyes, “I don’t spend all day in lessons, Father. I have my own spies. Now please, your thoughts?”

Talah had her own spies and she was making maps before breakfast. He’d have to have a word with her teacher. Ricktor wasn’t giving her enough to do. He laughed gently through his nose and kissed the top of Talah’s head. The girl was obsessed with politics. He studied her discs through the fringe of her hair.

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“We are outnumbered. If Derkdom sides with Otto we will be surrounded. Fortunately King Derk was amiable to my suggestion of a secret truce,” he rubbed the top of Talah’s head, “A truce even your spies won’t have known about.”

She smiled sweetly up at him, “They didn’t need to. You just told me,” She became serious again, “What you were supposed to see is the arrangement of his armies. His troops are scattered and no two armies are equal to our one. They couldn’t attack us if they wanted to.”

Eornost pointed to a chip right by their border, “What about this one here? They could be on us in days.”

Talah held it up to his eyes, “If you opened the curtains maybe you could tell it is grey, not green. This means the reports are inconclusive. Otto is said to have elite shock troops there, but I couldn’t confirm the rumours.”

A horrible suspicion entered Eornost’s mind, “Who rules the lorddom?”

“Lord Glove.”

Eornost paled, causing his daughter to hesitate, “do you know of him?”

King Eornost went back to the curtain, “Aye, he is a hero of old. Served when I was a girl. Known as a general without rival since the time of Stalwart. He’s also rumoured to be Otto’s personal assassin.”

Talah moved to her father’s side. She put an arm around him and pulled him close, “He’d be an old man by now. An old man without an army. You need not fear for your kingdom.”

“Draw the curtain, I would see it once more, as it is now.”

“Why do you still fear?”

Eornost pulled the cord at the window and light flooded in. He let out a sigh and began to smile, even as a tear traced its way down his cheek, “After I am dead, you must cede to Otto. If you resist his assassins will return.”

“I am not afraid.”

“Promise me you’ll surrender. Otherwise the next to take the crown will die, and the next. The pattern will repeat itself until Ganter is content our monarch will lead the dom to ruin.”

“I’ll promise to surrender if you promise to have hope about our future. There is no cause for despair.”

Eornost kissed her cheek, “I promise to have hope. I hope they will accept my refusal. I hope my beloved daughter may inherit a dom as wondrous as the one I had the honour to rule. I promise not to give into despair, nor into anger. Eornostdom is the land of a free people, not conquerors. For you, I will never give up hope. For this land, I will never stand down. This I promise.”

“Then I promise as well,” said Talah and hugged him.