The Bond - 14. Chapter 14

Adrian Fray faced down the council of thirteen fearlessly, knowing that he was perfectly safe despite being at one of the most dangerous meetings in the history of Nabius. Though three murders had occurred in the camping grounds outside the Di Coteau estate since the arrival of all thirteen generals, no Illjardi had been affected or even close to the scenes of the crimes. In fact, most Nabians were trying to gain favor with the Illjardi folk present in Nabius, and were at their best behavior. This was typically the case when it came to Illjardi trips to the mainland. Adrian suspected that this had something to do with his impending need to marry, but relations between the two countries had typically always been good anyway. The attitudes of the Nabian people were reflected by their generals, and so Adrian did his best to appear relaxed. He told himself that no Nabian had ever been interested in the Illjard, because the tundra was so difficult to conquer. As he looked into their faces, Adrian felt secure that there was no animosity coming from any of the generals. Judging by how insistently Damien Di Coteau had pushed his daughter Jezebel and Fran La Croix had pushed her granddaughter and grandson as marriage candidates, he could be sure that at least neither of them were set against him.

“Let the meeting commence,” said the chairman. “I am chairman Jordan Kramer, presiding over the 123^rd council of the thirteen generals of Nabius.” Chairman Kramer sat down, which signaled Adrian and the thirteen to take their seats as well. Though Kramer was no general, the position of chairmen was held in high esteem. From what Alexandre had told him, Adrian knew that Jordan Kramer was a cousin of Jack Du Vance, and had been chairman since he was in his early twenties. Kramer was now approaching 90, and each general of Nabius gave him complete respect. The chairman stroked his long white beard, and began to read from a lengthy itinerary sheet. He was seated at the direct center of an elaborate round table, which had been moved into Alexandre’s office. In the center was an enormous map of the continent under glass, which Adrian assumed was probably used for talking strategy.

“Firstly, I will thank General Alexandre Di Coteau for the use of his household to host this meeting. Thank you.” Alexandre nodded, silently. “Secondly, I would like to introduce to the council the three new generals that have been instated since our last meeting. Alexandre Di Coteau, our current host,” he said with an indication towards Alex he raised a hand, despite everyone knowing each other beforehand. “General Elsa Torne, heading over the capitol region,” he said with another hand gesture. One of the most beautiful women Adrian had ever seen wiggled her fingers in a greeting of hello, her cherry lips remaining closed. “And, General Ysabel Clarion.” Ysabel lifted her bladed fingers up, and Damien shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“I would also like to introduce Prince Adrian Fray of the Illjard, current head of the Fray Dynasty and only child of Willis and Mave Fray. As most of you know,” said Chairman Kramer, “the Fray family has a tradition of wedding on a rotating basis among the mainland countries. It is Prince Adrian’s duty to his family to select a partner from the Nabian elite, and thus he has asked to be introduced to you all.” Kramer turned in his chair to face Adrian, and Adrian found all eyes on him. He wondered if he was supposed to speak at this point, but opted for what the other generals had done, and was taciturn.

“Hello,” he said with a small wave. This seemed to satisfy the generals, and Kramer returned to his list.

Odd, Adrian thought. Kramer referred to my marriage as a familial duty, rather than a governmental one.

“As such, the Illjardi Prince has also asked to sit in on this particular meeting on the basis of political know-how. If he is to select a mate from one of your factions, he would like to know where each of you stand on a given set of issues that are scheduled to be voted upon at this particular meeting. This will be the first issue that we will address.” Kramer folded down the top of his list, marking the first few lines as complete. He then launched into a spiel that Adrian thought sounded like it was something he had said many many times.

“In accordance with Nabian law, each issue brought up for vote will be explained by myself and then presented to each general to assess his or her opinions on the matter. You each may utter that you accept or reject any given notion, and subsequently give reasoning behind your decision if you so choose. The majority case wins on any given issue. Afterwards, you may each reassess your position, or declare immunity from issues you feel are irrelevant to the particular region that you represent. In the case of a declaration of immunity, all other generals will vote to either accept or reject. Unanimity is required for a legally immune status. All other disagreements are referred to the institute of war. All voting will proceed in order of generalship from north to south.” He took a deep breath, once again folding over the top of the parchment piece that held all of what he was going to say for the rest of the meeting. He cleared his throat, and stroked his beard once again.

“So, on the subject of Prince Adrian Fray being allowed to witness this 123^rd meeting of the council, what say you, generals? General Alexandre Di Coteau.” He looked at Alex expectantly, demanding an answer.”

“Accepted.” Alex turned and looked at Adrian, giving a friendly nod. “You are most welcome in my home.”

“General Damien Di Coteau.”

“Accepted.”

“General Devan Di Coteau.”
“Accepted.”

“General Marie Lafeye.”

“Accepted.”

“General Laura Nandra.”

“I accept.”

“General Giovanni Nandra.”

“Accepted.”

“General Elsa Torne.”

“I accept as well. Of course you’re welcome here, darling,” said General Torne with a flirtatious wink.

“General Jack Du Vance.” Du Vance made a grumpy snort, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Accepted. I suppose there’s no going against the tides.”

“General Fran La Croix.”

“I accept.”

“General Pitor Davora.”

“I accept.”

“General Dmitri Orr.”

“I accept as well.”

“General Ysabel Clarion.”

“Welcome, Prince. I accept your notion.”

“Finally, General Yago Clarion. What say you?”

“I accept this notion,” said a man with the coldest voice that Adrian had ever heard. Yago looked directly into his eyes, and Adrian felt shivers run down his back.

That’s one of Alexandre’s uncles… yikes. Yago eventually broke eye contact, and Adrian surveyed the room.

“Excellent,” said chairman Kramer. “By a unanimous vote, let the record show that Prince Adrian Fray has been granted the privilege to sit in on the duration of this meeting.” Kramer turned to Adrian once again, and looked at him through squinted eyes. “As protocol states, you may sit in on this meeting and voice your opinion if one of the generals or myself addresses you directly and asks you to do so. You do not have the right to participate in the vote on any issues brought up henceforth. Do you understand?” Adrian knew that Kramer required verbal confirmation for the scribing.

“I do.” Kramer nodded, and returned once more to the list.

“Now, on to the next item. Brought up by General Fran La Croix, there is a petition for provisional support for the troops she has stationed in the south of Ironia. As you all know, there has been an increase in the tribal activity spewing over from the provinces, and she would request that you all bolster her attempts to stabilize the region. General La Croix, would you like to say a few words on the matter?”

The older woman shook her head no, closing her eyes. “I believe the issue speaks for itself.”

“Very well. Generals, what say you?”

***

Eamon sat at the stone desk that was in Luca’s room across from the bed, as he had almost every day since waking from his incident. Today, he had made it by himself based almost entirely off of memory. He still had to use his hands along the walls and furniture to move around, but was making progress at being mobile on his own. Ordinarily, Luca would have walked him over or gone to Eamon’s room around midday so that they could talk, but he figured that a surprise would do nicely. Luca had been particularly busy today while all of the generals were in the meeting with managing camps and all, and only Barclay, Roark, and Mikhail were there to help organize things. Eamon had heard that a man named Marcus from Ysabel Clarion’s troops had also been helping, but knew that it was a busy time. He wished he could help, but knew he would get in the way. Hence, he wanted to spare Luca one less duty and deliver himself to the room for their daily talks over lunch. So, he sat at the desk and he waited. When Luca entered, he was surprised at how he could hear surprise. Surprise, and exhaustion.

“Oh, Eamon! What are you doing here?” Eamon was taken aback by the notes of exasperation in Luca’s voice, and felt mildly hurt that Luca wasn’t happy to see him or complimenting him for making it to his room on his own. More than that, though, he was amazed to discover that he knew exactly where Luca was in the room, and exactly how he was holding himself. Adrian could feel body language through the minute sounds that Luca was giving off, sounds which Eamon would not have been able to hear before his blindness. Eamon thought this was interesting, and decided to test his new discovery every chance that he got. He heard Luca cross the room towards the desk that he was sitting at, and reach for the tray of food that Alfie had so kindly sent up. Eamon smelled roasted nuts, peas, and a slab of chicken, and affirmed his suspicions when he heard Luca mumble something appreciative about the chicken.

“I just wanted to surprise you,” Eamon said. “I think I’m getting better at this. Moving around and all, I mean.” He heard Luca shift his head to look at him, and felt sad that he couldn’t see what kind of look Luca had been giving him.

“That’s great, Eamon. Soon you’ll be parading through the entire estate like it’s nothing,” said Luca cheerfully.

One day at a time, Eamon thought grumpily.

“Yeah. Maybe.” Eamon said the words sarcastically, and Luca frowned.

“You should be more positive, you know. You’re making great strides. There’s nothing wrong with setting goals.”

“There isn’t, but I’d like to be the one to set them if you don’t mind. I happen to be the one who’s actually blind.” Eamon could feel his mood darkening every second, and heard the impatience in Luca’s voice. He knew it was probably from dealing with innumerable counts and lords and officials at the house, but it still annoyed him.

“Eamon, I wasn’t trying to set your goals for you, I just – “

“Yeah yeah. Spare me. I get that I’m useless to you right now, but I’ll get there, alright?” Eamon crossed his arms, and heard Luca pushing food around on his plate.

“Eamon,” Luca said softly, “I don’t think you’re useless at all. I rather – “

“It’s okay, Luca,” Eamon said while holding up a hand to silence his friend. “I’d rather not talk about it.” Eamon was downright frustrated now, and felt nothing but pitiable looks coming down from Luca.

“Alright then. Suit yourself.” Luca went on eating, his mind clearly preoccupied. There was a long silence between the two, punctuated only by the scraping of silverware on Luca’s plate.

He’s lost all interest in me. He doesn’t even… fuck this. I’m done. Eamon felt his rage and self-hatred boil over, and stood up moodily from the desk. The chair’s legs made an obnoxious scraping sound against the stone floor, and Luca was startled briefly.

“You don’t have to go.”
“Yeah well. I am. I put every effort into just getting out of bed for you, and I don’t even see the point anymore. Everyone either coddles me or pities me for being worthless in my current state, and I especially don’t need that from you.”

Luca stood up too, and Eamon heard the door to the room open. The sounds of footfall meant that someone was in the room with them, but from what Eamon could tell Luca seemed not to notice that they weren’t alone.

“I don’t coddle you, and I don’t think you’re worthless. But pitying yourself isn’t going to do anyone favors.” Eamon snorted at that, annoyed that Luca was presuming to tell him how to go about dealing with his blindness.

“Like you would know anything about it? You have no idea what it’s like to have all of your life ripped out from under you.”

“Actually I do, asshole,” Luca said. He was growing angry too, and that only fueled Eamon all the more.

“Yeah? You think because you got fucked for a living you know what I’m going through?” He could feel the anger pulsing off of Luca, but it just made him want to keep going. How dare he thinks he understands?

“You know what, Eamon, all you are is a self-centered jerk who wallows in his own pity the second anything bad happens. The man standing in front of me now isn’t the man I thought you were. Anyone could see that.”

“And the man standing in front of me is nothing but a slut and an uncompassionate social climber. Anyone could see that. Well, anyone but me, because I can’t fucking see!” Eamon had yelled the last sentence, and could sense tears welling up in Luca’s eyes. He imagined what the beautiful boy must look like now. It only made him feel worse.

“Get out,” said Luca quietly, and sadly. The last remark had clearly hit a nerve. Eamon turned, and bumped directly into someone, who had been holding their breath.

“Oh my gods, Adrian,” said Luca while wiping the tears from his face. “I’m so sorry.” He had definitely just witnessed the fight, and Luca just now realized that he was in the room.

“No, no…” said Adrian, clearly uncomfortable. “I just wanted to check in, its lunch break for the council meeting...” he paused for a bit, assessing the situation and looking back and forth between Eamon and Luca. “I can come back later. Sorry if it’s a bad time, I guess I shouldn’t just barge in like that.” Eamon heard Luca compose himself and smooth out his shirt, and then look directly at him.

“Actually, it’s a perfect time,” said Luca with a bit of venom in his voice. “I was just thinking of your marriage offer. I would be honored to accept.” Eamon’s eyes went wide, realizing what had just happened. He knew Luca had said the sentence while looking directly at him, letting those words inflict the biggest wound of all.

Adrian asked him… Adrian asked Luca. Eamon had known why Prince Adrian was in Nabius, but hadn’t realized that a choice had already been made. He said yes.

Eamon stormed past Adrian, knocking shoulders with the prince as he went by. He knew this was a grievous offence against royalty, but he didn’t care. His eyes burned where tear ducts had once been intact, and he felt the blood rush to the face that crying had always caused.

I’m so fucking stupid. Eamon went as quickly as he could back to his room, gripping the walls and hearing Adrian talk to Luca with an uncertain joy in his voice. The sound of their conversation grew fainter and fainter, and Eamon felt weaker and weaker as he approached his bed.

***

Alexandre grew impatient after his return from lunch, coming to realize just why his father had hated council meetings so much. It had taken hours to go through nominal issues brought up by the other generals, delaying the vote on what was ultimately the most important issue of the day. Alex thought of Carlisle, wondering if decisions in the high courts of Tomacia took nearly as long to even mention. He voted to reject a notion put in place by Jack Du Vance, which every other general had also rejected.

“Very well. Let the record state that on the issue of Jack Du Vance’s proposed tributary tax for defense against the Tomacian line, the majority has rejected approval,” said Chairman Kramer. Alex was getting tired of hearing the old man use the same phrases over and over, and could tell that his mother was also irritated. The generals were gathered for one real reason, and that had to do with an impending peace treaty with Tomacia. “On to the next item.” Kramer folded over his parchment to a point that indicated they were reaching the bottom of the list, which meant the vote on Alexandre’s marriage would be soon. Alex perked up interested to see if this was the next topic to be discussed, as did a few of the other generals. They had all been doing this for a while, eager to get on with ending this meeting.

“Regarding the status of General Alexandre Di Coteau and Carlisle Cathcart’s marriage, its recognition, and the resulting peace treaty between Nabius and Tomacia, the council calls upon you generals to accept or reject. General Di Coteau, would you like to say anything before voting commences?” All generals were now fully attentive, the tension in the room mounting.

Oh boy. Here it is. Alexandre rose from his chair, looking confidently into the eyes of those before him. He knew not to make it long and drag the meeting out further, but all plans of what to say and rehearsed speech went from his mind as he faced down his fellows.

“Only that I once made a promise in the midst of the capitol to bring about a more glorious time for our nation. The time is now. No matter how you vote today, you must all recognize that there is a problem here in Nabius. We celebrate strength, not cruelty. Our creed speaks nothing of blatant murder, the prostitution of children, or the brutalization of the citizenry. I ask you to vote to help me solve our problem, and restore Nabius to greatness.” Only Laura Nandra gave an encouraging nod, and Alex was grateful for that.

“Very well then,” said the chairman. Generals, what say you? General Alexandre Di Coteau.”

“Accepted.” That one’s not much of a shock.

“General Damien Di Coteau.”

“I accept,” said Damien with a sideways glance towards Ysabel. He said the words grudgingly, Alex thought, but this was a good start. Hopefully, so long as the Di Coteau family appeared solid as a unit, most other generals will follow their lead. It’s just hard to know… war affects us all so deeply.

“General Devan Di Coteau.”
“Accepted.” Devan looked directly at Alex, and gave a nod of respect. Alex hadn’t talked to him much about the notion, but he figured that his uncle would stick with the family as Ysabel had predicted. He was glad to see that his mother was correct.

“General Marie Lafeye.”

“I reject this notion, said Lafeye.” Alexandre didn’t know her well, but he was unsurprised by this vote. Marie Lafeye had made her claim to power through war, and was among the best of the military commanders Nabius had. So long as everyone votes as expected, though, the vote should be won 7 – 6.

“General Laura Nandra.”

I can count on her. She’s been with me from the start.

“I accept.” She gave an open smile to Alexandre, and turned to face the others. “I would encourage you all to do the same. I am on the Tomacian front, closer than any of you. What General Di Coteau proposes is correct, and only will help our nation to grow and prosper.”

“Thank you, General Nandra,” said the chairman. “Next, General Giovanni Nandra.” Alex looked at Laura’s brother, counting him as another vote towards the majority. It was said that he always followed his sister’s lead, so Alex felt confident in him.

“I must reject.”

Oh no. Oh, saints, no. Alexandre’s heart dropped into his stomach, and he looked at the two Nandra Generals with his best neutral face.

“However, I would like to offer that I support your notion and what you stand for. I simply cannot in good conscience vote for the demolition of what this country stands for. Additionally,” he said, looking uncomfortable, “my people are on the brink of starvation and revolt. For the majority of your treaty, I am glad to accept. But I must reject it on the whole because of certain clauses barring enslavement and prostitution. This is how my people survive, and I cannot abandon them now.”

“Thank you, general,” said the chairman.

Shit.

“General Elsa Torne.”

“I accept,” she said with a smile. Alexandre’s spirits soared back up – he did not expect this vote. That meant that he would still be in the majority, if all other votes played out correctly. He wanted to tell General Torne thank you, and he knew he would later. He was puzzled at this decision, but he supposed he really didn’t know much about Elsa Torne’s motivations. Expecting her to explain, even Chairman Kramer waited for her to go on. When she said nothing more and clearly wasn’t going to, Kramer moved on.

“General Jack Du Vance.” Alexandre knew what the answer from Du Vance would be, and the general grouchily supplied his answer.

“I reject, fully.” The old man crossed his arms, and gave Alexandre a glare.

“General Fran La Croix.”

“I reject as well.”

Not a big surprise there either.

“General Pitor Davora.”

“I reject,” said the devourer. “I do not see this as beneficial to us in any way.” Alex did his best to remain calm.

Three votes left.

“General Dmitri Orr.”

“The notion is rejected.”

Two left. My mother and uncle.

“General Ysabel Clarion.”

“I accept,” said Ysabel. “I am proud to be a part of such monumental progress.” She clicked her claws together, and looked towards his son. He was not fully relaxed yet, but knew that the tides were in his favor. Alex counted and recounted the votes in his head, making sure all had gone according to plan. Despite the unexpected vote swaps of Torne and Giovanni Nandra, Alex counted the current vote to be tied, 6 – 6.

Only Uncle Yago is left.

“General Yago Clarion. What say you?” Yago Clarion looked his nephew in the eyes, and gave a merciless, white smile. He had been playing with one of his throwing needles incessantly throughout the meeting, and dug the point of it into the ceremonial table before speaking, so that it stood up on end.

“I reject this notion, nephew.”