* * * * *
Sespian leaned against the wall outside his office, feigning nonchalance as he chatted with Dunn and a couple of soldiers. Sespian kept catching himself tugging at his collar or wiping moist hands on his trousers, so the casual facade probably wasn’t fooling anyone.
Inside the office, Lord General Lakecrest waited, as he had for the last twenty minutes. Sespian wanted Hollowcrest’s loyal officer to have time to feel nervous. Unfortunately, Sespian probably felt more nervous than the experienced general.
“I suppose it’s been long enough.” He reached for the doorknob.
“Are you sure you don’t want to start with one of the lower ranking traitors, Sire?” Dunn asked.
No, he wasn’t sure. Sespian hated the idea of confronting a man thirty years his senior, but he’d make more headway starting at the top. If he could get one of Hollowcrest’s generals on his side, maybe he could win over other men from that list. Better a bit of politicking than dozens of hangings.
“I’m sure,” Sespian said. “Get your men ready. You’ll need to take Lakecrest into custody after this. He can’t be allowed to speak with Hollowcrest before we lay our tiles.”
“Yes, Sire,” Dunn said.
Sespian set his jaw, pushed back his shoulders, and strode into the office.
General Lakecrest rose from a wingback chair beside the low cider table. His concave frown mirrored the curve of his bald head, though the expression looked natural on him, rather than an indicator of nerves or concern. Enough medals and badges armored his uniform jacket to deflect arrows.
Sespian’s instinct was to wave the general back into his seat, but he waited for the salute and seated himself first. This man was not a friend, not someone for whom rituals should be relaxed.
“Did you know about the poison?” Sespian asked abruptly, wanting to unsettle his guest.
Lakecrest blanched. His expression, filled not with surprise but dread, answered Sespian’s question as surely as words: yes.
“Because,” Sespian continued, “if you didn’t know, I could forgive your unwavering devotion to Hollowcrest, who is theoretically supposed to be serving me. But if you did know he was drugging me and didn’t do anything to warn me—well, that’s treason, isn’t it? Punishable by death. And of course you’d be stripped of your warrior caste status, title, and holdings. Your family would lose everything. Your daughters, I understand, haven’t much of an aptitude for business or snaring husbands. I suppose it would be hard for them to support themselves, and without that warrior caste title, they’d be even less appealing as marriage candidates.”
Sespian forced himself to stare into Lakecrest’s eyes as he spoke, all the while hating himself for the threats coming out of his mouth. If this was what it took to get his power back from Hollowcrest, he would do it. Later, he could wonder if he had done the right thing.
“I see.” Lakecrest leaned back in his chair and considered Sespian through new eyes. “The real question is not of what I know or don’t know. It’s whether you have the gumption and the wiles to challenge Hollowcrest.”
Sespian withdrew a folded paper from his pocket. He opened it and placed it on the table before his guest. Lakecrest leaned forward. It was Dunn’s now-complete list of men working in Fort Urgot and the Imperial Barracks who were loyal to Hollowcrest. When Lakecrest’s frown gave way to a slack-jawed gape, Sespian felt a thrum of satisfaction in his breast.
“I’ve discovered that Hollowcrest has an appointment that will take him out of the Barracks tonight.” Sespian didn’t know where or with whom, but he could find that out later. “While he’s gone, I’m having all these men arrested. Without their support, Hollowcrest will be easy to oust.” Unless, of course, Hollowcrest already knew what Sespian was doing and had some plan in place to outmaneuver him. The old warthog had seemed distracted the last couple days, but that could be an act. Sespian cleared his throat and forced his mind back to Lakecrest. “If I arrested you, it would leave Urgot without a commander, and it seems a shame to dethrone a man of your experience. If you willingly choose to come to my side, perhaps some of the soldiers in your command could be spared.”
“Spared?” Lakecrest’s frown deepened. “You’re planning on killing the men you arrest?”
Here was where the acting came in. Sespian could not imagine killing anyone in cold blood, whether they were Hollowcrest’s lackeys or not, but... “That is the law, is it not? Traitors are always put to death.”
Lakecrest slumped in the wingback and massaged his jaw. All the while, he stared at Sespian, who did his best to look determined and righteous.
It either fooled Lakecrest, or he was feeling magnanimous, for he said, “It seems the boy has become a man.”
Something that tended to happen naturally when drugs weren’t involved. All Sespian said out loud was, “You’ll join me, then?”
“I shall not impede your plans.”
It was not exactly an endorsement, but it was as much as Sespian had dared hope for.
The Emperor's Edge (a high fantasy mystery in an era of steam) Page 41