Caillen told himself to keep silent, but as the council began to back her war, he couldn’t. He saw through her plan as easily as he saw through her clothes and he couldn’t stand by and let an innocent nation be victimized by a profiteering bitch. “The Trimutians are on your borders you say?”
She passed him the most scathing glare of his life—an impressive feat, really, considering how many people he managed to piss off on a daily basis. “I don’t like to repeat myself.”
“I can respect that. But I am curious, Your Majesty. Can you tell me how long they’ve been pressing you?”
“Almost a year.”
Really? Caillen scowled as he digested that. Seemed odd and off. Then again, she was lying and he knew it. “How many of their armada would you say have been harassing your borders?”
“The majority of it. Every time we turn around, one of them is attacking. They’ve taken up refuge on one of our colonies and have been holding its inhabitants as hostages, demanding we pay or they’ll kill them.”
Oh yeah… Bull. Shit. It was so thick, they could grow a garden.
Caillen looked around at the faces of the senators whose glares were silently telling him to shut his mouth. But he couldn’t. Nothing she said made sense in his world. A colony of Qills would be armed for war and woe to anyone dumb enough to try and take them hostage. It would have been a bloodbath so severe, they’d still be running news segments on it. “For a year?”
“Is that not what I said?”
Nice tone there and if his father wasn’t sitting to his left, he’d elevate it up a notch. As it was, he kept his tone level, nice and calm. “It is indeed, Your Majesty. However, I find it odd that they’d be on your borders and occupying a foreign colony when the bulk of their armada is in the Brimen sector for training and has been for the last six months. Their borders are manned by a skeleton fleet that has its hands full dealing with runners and pirates. Therefore, I’m baffled by this phantom group holding your people hostage. Have you considered they’re rogues and not backed by the Trimutians?”
Her cheeks flushed as she realized he’d caught her in a lie. “Are you daring to question me?”
The Gondarion governor cleared his throat sharply as he glared at him. “Prince Caillen, we don’t speculate here. We only discuss facts.”
Caillen took offense at the man’s censoring tone that said he thought Caillen was an idiot. He narrowed his gaze and spoke slowly so that the imbecile could follow him. “And I’m giving you facts, Senator. Look it up. The Trimutian territory is the shortest run from Starken to Altaria. Pirates call it the Golden Lightyear because for the last two years, it’s been the easiest payday they’ve seen in decades. It’s why the Trimutians have sent their armada in for training. They’re trying to come up with some way to catch the pirates and rout them out of their system without losing their entire fleet. The major revenue stream for Trimala has always been shipping and their cargoes are easy pickings. Their colonies are rich in resources, so it doesn’t make sense that they’d go after Qillaq territory which only has a pittance of raw materials and open another front to their war while their armada is stretched perilously thin by the thieves plaguing them. However, it makes total sense for the Qillaqs to declare war on them and attack while they’re weak and then claim their resources as their own.”
The queen shot to her feet. “How dare you!”
Desideria pressed her lips together as the Exeterian prince held his cool against her mother. It wasn’t often that anyone got the better of their queen and she was impressed that he’d managed to do so. He was intelligent and courageous to speak his mind when it was obvious the others wanted him to remain silent.
font size="3">Even with her mother’s fury, his eyes held a teasing light in them that said he was used to conflict and found the sparring entertaining. How odd…
“There’s no need to be angry, Your Majesty. We all understand profiteering. Me more than the others. I respect your plan. Good luck getting it past the League.”
“I already have their backing.”
Desideria cringed at her mother tipping her hand. No doubt that was Prince Caillen’s intention.
One corner of his mouth turned up into an evil grin. “Then you better attack quick because the minute I leave here, I’m making a call to a friend. I assure you, the League might back you, but the Trimutians won’t be as weak as they were before and when my friend hears about this, the League won’t be so nice either.”
Sarra’s gaze left Caillen and went to his father. “You allow a child to speak for you?”
To Desideria’s surprise, his father didn’t back down. “My son is far from a child and he has more battle experience than the commander of my armada. I always take his advice… as should you.”
The look of hell wrath on her mother’s face said that they should tighten their borders too. “I’m done here.” Her mother stormed from the room.