Page 313 of Sky’s Edge

“Okay,” I said slowly. “So what is this legislation?”

“Any attempt on any royal’s life will be punished as in ancient times, according to their realm.”

By Beelzebub.

I stared.

“That would be burned alive in Sky’s Edge. Flayed and eagled in Night’s Fall. Drawn and quartered in Land’s End. Pegged for live carrion in Dawn’s Break. And hung from the neck in the Center,” Tanyn clarified what I’d learned way back in history class.

“I can see this would be controversial,” I forced out through my shock.

“He has support,” Tanyn shocked me further. “After the troll attack, the news Mom and Dad were murdered. And they don’t even know of the incidents here or at Berg. You know it hasn’t been missed that Mac and Gayle are always together. Everyone thinks they’re a couple, they just haven’t announced it officially yet. And there are murmurings about Aleece and Bain. They’ve tried to be surreptitious, but since they’re together all the time, and not simply around those in our inner circle, they were bound to be found out and beings would talk.”

“Well, those couples are together, so that’s no big thing.”

His lips hitched before he kept going.

“Beings are putting together there are further links, specifically you three being longtime friends and ending up with a king or future kings, and Aleece’s relation to Aleksei drawing her into the quartet.”

With the dizzying amount of chatter and theorizing on social tapes, and this escalating after the curse fell from Berg and Tanyn sharing the news of royal murder, this was unavoidable.

Even so.

“But I don’t get why Climbright would have support for such an arcane bill. Capital punishment was outlawed by the Center over a century ago, when all signed the InterRealm Accord.”

“The curse on Berg collapsed, claiming you as my queen during troubled times. Aleksei is True Heir and Laura his True Bride, and the Fall hasn’t had a True Heir in nearly two centuries. Dinyn is connecting the dots that something big is up. And I’ll admit to being taken by surprise he’s making moves to make it less attractive to those who might be planning something extreme.”

I’d only met the male once, but from Tanyn’s response to him, I was surprised too.

“When it comes up for a vote, I’ll be voting yea,” Tanyn proclaimed.

And more surprise.

I was not political, as such.

But I could say I was anti-capital punishment, because that was the realm of savages.

We were not savages any longer.

We were living in a civilized world that had long since learned that the punishment of death did not deter crime.

“Tanyn—”

“I don’t think this will stop Tatra. But it’d stop Arnaud.”

With their shenanigans, one out of two was one too few.

“She murdered my parents, baby,” he said quietly.

Well.

Crap.

It was easy for me to have my opinion when no one I’d loved had been murdered.

As such, I had to give him that.

“And she tried to murder you,” he kept at me.