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“It’s concerning,” Lissa says quietly, her voice at complete odds with Allisander’s, “that your guards were unable to complete their duties in time.”
“Those guards should be tried for treason,” Allisander snaps.
“Those guards kept your king alive,” says Harristan, and there’s enough of a chill in his voice to remind them who’s in charge here. It draws some of the tension out of the room, though displeasure still hums in the air around us.
At the end of the table, Roydan clears his throat. “Consul Sallister. You wish to punish a dozen guards for failing to stop a thousand people from rushing the stage?”
Arella Cherry adds, “Should we assume you punish your own guards when your supply runs are attacked?”
Allisander turns his glare on her. “My sector is no business of yours.” He pauses for a rage-filled breath. “I understand that you asked for these smugglers to be pardoned.”
She doesn’t flinch, and her eyes are ice-cold as she regards him. “People in these sectors are dying, Consul Sallister. They’re not criminals. They’re desperate.”
“We can’t keep them alive if outlaws keep raiding our supplies,” says Jasper Gold, Consul of Mosswell. “I’ve heard reports of missing dosages from within the Royal Sector. Escaped prisoners always embolden others. Especially if they’re being funded by someone with means.”
His words drop like a rock. Most of the people with means in Kandala are sitting at this table—or they’re close to someone who is.
“Are you implying someone here knows about these raids?” says Roydan. He sounds truly concerned, as if insurrection from within our own circle only just occurred to him.
Arella makes an exasperated noise. “You think these rebels are well funded? They were barely more than children!”
Jonas Beeching clears his throat. “Those children were old enough to commit a crime.” He glances at Allisander. Jonas is still smarting from his bridge proposal being rejected, and he very obviously wants to keep friends at this table. “They should be stopped at all costs.”
Allisander turns a glare his way. “You were just seeking twice as much silver as you needed, were you not? Perhaps we should investigate your finances, Consul.”
I want to roll my eyes.
“Enough,” says Harristan. “We’ve doubled the number of patrols in the Wilds. We’ve mandated searches of the forges in Steel City, and we’ve offered a significant reward to anyone who can provide the identity of the three smugglers—or anyone else involved in the trade of stealing Moonflower petals.”
Quint’s eyes almost bugged out of his head when he took down the orders. It’s a reward large enough to provide medicine for a family for an entire year.
“Are you still offering them refuge in Sunkeep?” Allisander snaps at Arella. “Maybe we should start there.”
“Go ahead,” she says evenly. “I am not harboring criminals.”
“We need swift action,” says Lissa. “Do you not agree, Your Majesty?”
“I agree,” says Harristan. His gaze shifts to me.
My thoughts have been spinning with shock and anger since the moment we lost control of the crowd, but now that I realize what is expected of me, a cool certainty takes over my thoughts. “Swift action?” I say. “Or swift justice?”
Allisander looks across the table at me, and I can tell he’s remembering the moment in the Hold, when Lochlan jerked his face into the bars and I broke the man’s wrist with my bare hands.
I wonder how much of Allisander’s fury is rooted in the fact that Lochlan is one of the prisoners who escaped.
“Both,” he says, and his tone is vicious.
I’ve never backed away from brutality, and I don’t now. I hold Allisander’s eyes and nod. “Consider it done.”
