Total pages in book: 40
Estimated words: 36875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 184(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 123(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36875 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 184(@200wpm)___ 148(@250wpm)___ 123(@300wpm)
She’s acting like she planned this, but I am pretty certain that she didn’t. She has that look I’ve seen before, except last time I saw it, it was in the mirror. She’s been blindsided.
If we’d come with an army, or with any kind of violence, she’d have fought us. Instead, we turned her own tools against her. We Marjoried her. And there is no defense against the Marjorie.
“It’s your turn to stay away now, Enchante,” he tells her. “I think a good fifty-year exile will make up for your crimes.”
Enchante splutters. It’s a glorious sound. “You think you can just walk in here and take over? After all that has happened?”
“I imagine anybody who has suffered under your reign feels as I did by the end of our relationship. More than ready to be rid of you.”
That is a sick burn. I hear a ripple of amusement in the ranks. She’s a tyrant and a monster, a manipulator and a Marjorie. Or wait, actually, I think I am a Marjorie now. It feels good to be Marjorie.
“Take her away,” Manik says with a flick of his wrist.
The guards who betrayed him now have a choice. Do they obey Manik, or do they obey the queen they have been serving in his absence?
They choose Manik.
11
Manik
“We owe you a thousand apologies, sire.”
There is a literal line of officials, nobles, landowners, and courtiers, each of whom is eager to apologize and once more pledge his or her loyalty. I know their loyalty means nothing. But I also know that I have loyalty where it counts, in my bedroom and in my heart. With Lyssa by my side, I can do what needs to be done without fear of loss. She is all I need, and everything else is set dressing.
Enchante has ruined this land. She has turned the castle into a gaudy and debauched den of stolen riches. Every decision she has made since my exile has been to take more from the people. A once proud citizenry now stands in the ruins of their lives and looks to me for justice.
I will give it to them.
“You could all apologize forever and it would mean less than nothing,” I say. “And you know that, so let’s all save our collective breath and time. You know what it is to be ruled over by a power-hungry monster who wastes your resources and taxes you heavily and runs the land to ruin. This is my decree. Ninety percent of the riches will be returned to the people, effective immediately. This applies to the palace coffers and your own personal funds. Pay the farmers, free your slaves, and give up your riches, or I will kill each and every one of you.”
They know better than to splutter and argue, though I can see that they want to do both very badly. I know this decree will hurt them. That is the point. They deserve to be punished. They deserve to know what it is to lose everything.
“Before you leave, the court clerks will oversee the wealth transfer,” I tell them. “Anybody who refuses to sign can join Enchante on her ice planet.”
I sent her to the same place I suffered. Lyssa calls that poetic justice. I call it a lack of imagination. I know I should have killed the woman, but the planet will likely do that for me, and it is better that she suffers first, struggling to survive a harsh world with nobody to exploit but herself.
The damage Enchante has done in a matter of years will take decades to repair. It is an unfortunate law of the universe that the works of a single evil soul take the efforts of hundreds of good spirits.
* * *
Lyssa
“We did it!”
I am very pleased with myself, and Manik. Very, very pleased. There was a time I didn’t think I’d ever achieve anything. I thought I’d metaphorically sit in the remains of a cancelled wedding for the rest of my life. But now I’ve achieved something frankly insane. I helped an exiled king regain his confidence and reclaim his throne. I am the lady with the burned bread — though I’m not sure if she was a motivating factor for King Arthur, but I like to think she was, and that I am.
“Yes,” he agrees, pulling me into a royal embrace. “We did.”
“And now you’re king. And that’s a happily ever after.”
“Well,” he says. “I have to rebuild my world, put down rebellions, ensure Enchante does not return, tend the poor, feed the hungry…”
“I know. But look how happy everybody is that you’re back!”
“They are fickle and spineless. I will have to remove most of them from their positions and send them to far off enclaves, while replacing them with others who have demonstrated their loyalty more completely.”