I’m not one to get stage fright, but this is nuts, Calvin thought, sliding out of his seat and shuffling to the left.

“Other way,” The marquis Surrak said under his breath.

Calvin glanced up and saw that left was indeed a dead end.

Son of a bitch. I guess I do get stage fright.

Calvin reversed course and slipped by half a dozen old men until he got to the aisle, walking down the steps until he got to the round bench.

“Where do I go?” Calvin asked, not interested in guessing and making an ass of himself.

The Hash’Maje pointed to the podium at the center of the bench.

Yeah, that makes sense.

Calvin took a deep breath and walked through the gap in the semi-circle and took a stand at the center of the room, resting his weight on the podium.

Here we go. We practiced for this.

“Just to avoid any error, I’ll use a truth-detecting Ability.” Jonathon Ilestar said. Most of the leaders nodded, following suit. Calvin felt gentle waves of Bent ricochet around the room as they set up their respective Abilities.

Seems a little extreme, but okay.

“Calvin Gadsint,” the plainslander woman said. “You are the lord of the land abutting both Juntai to the east and Uleis to the north?”

“I am,” Calvin said, feeling the nets of Bent around him tremor.

“Were you aware of the rumors of an aberration taking root in Juntai? Jonathon Ilestar asked.”

And now, to take control of this interrogation, and lie by omission.

You’re playing with fire, dude, and I love it.

“’Course I know about the rumors. I killed the guy.” Calvin said.

Jonathon blinked, and Kala’s dad raised a brow.

“The first time,” Calvin said, implying he hadn’t done it this time.

“Care to explain?”

“I was visiting Allast to negotiate a trade arrangement with the diocese of trade when my aides began being brain-sucked.” Calvin said, tapping his skull. “This particular mutant named Carem Sageva had the ability to make roots grow from his fingers that turned people’s brains into soup. I tracked him down and killed him. After that I was confident that I’d taken care of the problem. It wasn’t until recently that I learned he’d jumped bodies and the Diocese had kept the monster under their own control with the intention of using him to pry secrets out of the heads of their enemies.”

Dez, the twelve year old genosian chieftan stiffened. “You didn’t feel the need to inform anyone of this?”

“As I said, I only discovered this recently,” Calvin said. Recent being used in a relative context. Now to bring another point forward to shift their attention from it. “The reports from Uleis match the descriptions of this fellow, so it’s my belief that he escaped Juntai custody during the riots over a month ago, before hitching a ride on my train between the two countries, otherwise he would still be walking.”

“So you helped this aberration escape its country?” Jonathan ilestar asked.

“Where the Abyss did you get that?” Calvin asked, glancing over at the king of ilestar. “Do you operate every business personally? The aberration was powerful. It was well within his power to either get a free ride, or steal money for the fare. I wouldn’t have, and couldn’t have helped him escape Juntai.”

“Truth,” the ancient genosian standing behind his representative said, nodding.

“It seems to me as though the young man’s train represents a serious security risk,” Jonathon Ilestar said with a shrug. “If any individual with malign intent can put whoever or whatever they want on the rails.”

“We need stronger oversight on the rail system,” Jonathon continued, waving a dismissive hand at Calvin. “We’ve already lost Uleis because of this child’s gross incompetence. I believe my son could do a better job managing it.”

Ah, that’s the play. The king of Iletha wanted to tax and control the rail system more tightly, putting more of the profits in his pockets.

“Your majesty, if you don’t like how my rail system operates, your son is perfectly welcome to try and make one.” Calvin said. “But my expectations are low.”

Murak burst into giggles and the Hash’Maje smirked.

“You can’t speak of my family like that.” Jonathon growled, voice low and dangerous.

Mud puddle Alert!

“I made your daughter kiss my feet before serving me.” Calvin blurted before his brain caught up with his mouth. “Can’t imagine the rest of your inbred spawn would fare much better. Oh, look at that. I can.”

The steady murmur of conversation among the risers came to a complete standstill, plunging the entire auditorium into complete silence.

“Truth.” The genosian ancient spoke, brows skyrocketing.

A snake of Bent emerged from the podium under Calvin’s feet and connected to his foot.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Suddenly, Calvin felt like his head was under an intense amount of pressure, an angry white noise that…seemed to be…telling him to kill himself after the summit was over? Pbbbt.

That seems petty.

“Inciting suicide demonstrates poor breeding,” Calvin said, waving it off.

Yeah, eat shit, dad! Nadia shouted, her voice echoing through his mind. From her tone, Calvin got the impression she was giving the king a two-fisted ‘fuck you’.

Jonathan’s eyes widened, and he motioned for one of his retainers to step forward. He whispered into the liveried man’s ear while Kala’s father clenched his jaw as hard as possible in order to avoid laughing out loud.

Murak’s head was buried in the crook of his arm, his body shaking.

You realize this meeting is going straight to the Abyss, right? Kala asked.

You gotta enjoy the little things when you can. Nadia replied.

“I feel like we’ve gotten off topic,” The plainslander woman said, eyeing Calvin sidelong. “The purpose of today’s summit was to address the potential threat, and our unified response to these events, not a scramble to pry advantages out of the hands of others.”

“Indeed, it feels as though we’ve only gotten half the story. That of the aberrant. We would still like an explanation as to how Uleis came to be smote.” Dez spoke.

“Agreed,” Kala’s father said, nodding, having regained control over his expression. “Marquis Gadsint, do you know who did that?”

You godsdamn well know I know who did it, Calvin thought, eyeing the Hash’maje, whose gaze radiated restrained humor and a certain amount of vindictive satisfaction. Likely on account of his daughter being dead.

I’ll give him a pass on that one.

“He never gave me his name, but I have seen the fellow. He was about five-eight, a hundred and sixty pounds, big teeth, kinda gangly.”

Calvin had never given himself his own name, so that was totally true.

Unfortunately, the king of Iletha was onto his half-truths.

“Do you know the culprit’s name?” Jonathan asked, the corners of his mouth tilting up.

“Yes…” Calvin gritted.

“Why would you hide his name from this summit?” Jonathan asked, smile growing wider. “Concealing information from us seems fairly treasonous, given the circumstances.”

“Because it was me, you shitstain!” Calvin shouted. “Every single soul in Uleis was already dead, and blowing up the city was the only way to stop the cancer from spreading further! If the godsdamned Juntai didn’t have their heads so far up their asses, it wouldn’t have come to that, and tens of thousands of people would still be alive!”

“Truth,” the wizened man behind Dez spoke.

Oh, gods, that felt good. Every night he’d been wondering what would have happened if he’d just plowed through the Diocese and killed the monster while he was helpless. Not making that mistake again.

Calvin… Kala said, her voice exasperated.

“Alright, we know what happened and who was responsible, now we must decide what to do about it,” the Hash’Maje spoke into the resulting silence. “Marquis Gadsint, given the nature of the circumstances, I’d like to ask you to retire to your room for now.”

“Yeah, okay.” Calvin shot a glance toward the king of Iletha. “Try and kill me again, and I will literally bend you over my knee and spank you in front of all these people and the gods themselves.”

“Truth.”

“Now, please, Mr. Gadsint.” The Hash’Maje said, motioning to the door.

Calvin turned and left the hall, a thousand eyes following him as he closed the doors behind him.

I feel like that went well, Calvin thought with a sigh.

In what world are you living where that went well? Kala demanded.

I don’t know. Their gazes didn’t feel particularly surprised when I admitted it was me. I think I was always the focus of the Summit. We have to assume that the various kingdoms have the resources to find out it was me, whether it be by divination or excellent detective work.

Rather than an interrogation…I think that might have been an audition.

As Calvin was walking back to his room, he noticed a brother passionately protecting his sister from an angry child of similar age. He stopped long enough to defuse the situation before sitting the brother down and explaining how protecting his sister was actually stunting her development and harmful to her in the long run. If he really wanted what was best for her, he should let her get beat up a little while the opponents were still harmless children.

By the gods, I almost believed that.

I hate to say this, but we need to have you spend more time with bad people, Kala said.

****The Hash’Maje of Gadvera, Bragos Entredez****

Once the rest of the assembly had been removed, it was just the men and women around the bench, minus Murak. The moneylender was rich, and represented the interests of the remaining Uleisans fairly well, but he was not a Royal.

“So, what do we think about him?” Bragos asked. The young man had singlehandedly stopped an Aberration in the peak of its power, a job normally relegated to a King. The only people who had a chance to stand against malignant mutations were the royal families.

“I think he’s an arrogant little shit that needs to be put down,” Jonathan said with a scowl.

“You’re just saying that ‘cuz you don’t like him,” Bragos replied.

“His attitude is fairly typical for his age and sex,” The plainslander said. “The fact that he hasn’t perpetrated widespread misery despite having the means is always a good sign in my book.”

“Creating new wealth by creating new industry rather than stealing it is also welcome,” The Bolesian prince said. “The railway has been a great boon to our family.”

“Did you really try to kill the boy?” The descendant asked, peering at Jonathan.

Jonathan grunted.

“We see the ability to resist the Ilethan’s control as a good thing.” The Descendant said. “A Royal must have an inviolable Will. We feel his tempestuous attitude will be tempered by age.”

“I can’t believe you’re considering making him one of us,” Jonathan said. “The boy is obviously an aberrant. He’s got no heartbeat. No godsdamned heartbeat!” He tapped his chest for emphasis. “its our responsibility to cull him before the world suffers even further.”

“It’s a fine line,” The plainslander said. “And while the boy bears physical hallmarks of aberration, there was no frothing madness, no megalomania, no sign of him completely disconnecting from his humanity.”

“No frothing madness? No megalomania? Did you hear what he said to me?”

“Yes, he asserted that he is better than you. A sentiment I think most of us can relate to.” Bragos said. “As far as I can tell, Calvin did our jobs for us.” Bragos crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat.

Jonathan stared at him, and for an uncomfortable moment, Bragos thought he might need to draw on the Time of his people and tear the ruler of Iletha’s meat puppet to shreds.

Bragos always felt guilty using his subject’s Time like it was his own. Despite the negligible amount he stole, he could never escape the feeling of being just as bad as Jonathan as he shaved away at his people’s lives. The stunt with Calvin the night before had left him feeling hollow afterward.

Finally the mind-mage dropped the subject, turning back to the rest of the representatives. “How much damage could this boy inflict if you give him free reign? He stole your magic,” The king of Iletha pointed at The Descendant. “And you’re going to give him a pass?”

“The ability to summon your licentious daughter does not concern us.” The Descendant said. “We believe –“

Jonathan slammed his hand down on the table. “That…thing was not my daughter.”

The Descendant’s bored expression remained unchanged.

“At this point the damage the Marquis could cause if he were cornered would far be greater than if we simply gave him responsibilities. He was, by all accounts, a rational actor, and while he has a few traits that cannot be explained by anything less than mutation, he does not display the unchecked consumption and expansion of a cancerous aberration.”

“Would anyone else like to contribute?” Bragos asked. Around the table, silence and head-shaking greeted his question.

“Very well then, we’ll vote on the proposal to induct Gadsint as a Royal and give him the responsibility to safeguard the South against Aberrations. Those who say yes?”

Over half of the men and women present raised their hands.