Teiumph of the Crown

And so it begins…

And so it begins…

"Bronwyn?" said Gerald. "You can't be serious?" He was halfway through his breakfast, but the name put him off his meal. "I might remind you she turned on us outside the gates of this very castle. If it hadn't been for Herdwin's quick thinking, it would've been disastrous."

"I know it's a difficult thing," said Anna, "but she's the only candidate both sides will accept."

"You mean that Hollis's nephew is willing to accept. He lost any right to an opinion when his uncle took up arms against us."

"You know as well as I that we can't let only three earls rule over Norland—there's too much bad blood."

"And so instead, we simply let them get back to the way things were?"

"No," said Anna. "We need to amend the rules of succession to allow Bronwyn to be crowned queen."

He saw the spark of mischief in her eyes. "You have something in mind."

"Yes, I do. I aim to restrict how many warriors each earl can maintain."

"And you believe they'll go for that?"

"They will if they want peace with Merceria. I'll not have the Earl of Beaconsgate sending any more raiders over our borders. Either they accept that limitation, or we'll be back on a war footing."

"We can't afford that," said Gerald.

"True, but they don't know that."

"That's a dangerous bluff."

"It's not the only surprise I have in mind for them."

Gerald looked down at his food to see sausages staring back at him. "I'm sensing I'm not going to have the stomach to finish breakfast."

"Nonsense. You're going to like this, although I daresay the earls won't."

"Now you have me intrigued."

"I will demand they recognize the Orcs' claims to Ravensguard."

"They definitely won't like that."