Page 4 of The Queens and the Kings (The Isles #2)

Ingemar had been a faithful servant at His Glory’s side for years. He was calm, wise, quiet. According to reports from soldat headquarters, Ingemar tended to support soldats when the navy Captains tried to hoard Elestran monies.

“Do you know Ingemar well?” Arvid asked.

“Only that he’s very close to His Glory.”

“Yes, and he’s fair. Ingemar warned me that His Glory was displeased I wouldn’t participate in the slave trade. Without that warning, I’d be dead.”

Einar snorted into his coffee mug.

“Bastid.”

“Whenever Einar hears the words His Glory now,” Agnes said after a casual sip of coffee, “he curses him a bastid.”

Arvid chortled.

“What shifted His Glory into a willingness to kill you?” Henrik asked. “It’s one thing to be unsupportive, and another to earn a murder sentence.”

“I pushed back when His Glory violated contracts with smaller, outlying island chains and pulled in enslaved islanders.”

“Why did he need them?”

“I never found out, though we tried. Unfortunately, no one could stop Oliver from fulfilling His Glory’s commands. He fulfilled all of them and became the favorite. The enslaved went somewhere.”

“Bastid,” Einar said again.

Arvid threaded his hands together. “Once Ingemar warned me, I had two choices: Rebel, or die. I’m tired of the tyranny, the command, the ownership of life. I have been for years. Until that moment, I hadn’t found the courage to do something about it.”

“Then you did,” Henrik said.

“Finally.”

Henrik reached for the coffee. The bitter taste swallowed like ash. A headache thudded against his skull, and he wanted out of the close room. Hints of the surging storm hadn’t slowed in the intervening minutes, and he longed for the fresh gale.

His lack of desire to return to Stenberg or have anything to do with the rebellion pressed like cold iron. After weeks at sea, he wanted out of this mess, not deeper in.

A silence filled the room, allowing Henrik to think. Henrik focused on the low table and sank into his observations. Agnes watched Henrik over the rim of her coffee mug. Einar lounged against the chair, his hand splayed across her spine, his fingers toying with ends of her hair.

Aligned with what other soldats told him on the way here, Arvid’s story fit. No fissure of insecurity weakened the retelling. No uncovering of lies or half truths. Henrik broke the silence.

“What’s your plan, Arvid?”

Arvid’s cheeks puffed out in a breath. “I’m glad you asked. Though tempted to stay dead and build a life elsewhere, I couldn’t do it. There are soldats still loyal to each other. To Stenberg. There are innocent citizens on Stenberg that need safety. It would be cowardly and selfish to forget them.”

True.

Oh, how true. That exact tether kept him in this room.

“There won’t be many soldats loyal to His Glory after the Unseen Island,” Einar said without a hint of arrogance. Six soldats and Oliver died there after Oliver sprung an attack on Malcolm, Henrik, and Britt.

“I mourn them as well,” Arvid said. Henrik detected no falsity in the tone. “My plan is to remove the problem: His Glory.”

Henrik blinked. “Say that again?”

Without a hint of wavering, Arvid repeated, “My plan is to remove His Glory.”

Deep inside, Henrik expected this result. What other consideration would drive Arvid to such actions? Yet hearing it stated sent him into mild shock. Their training didn’t allow soldats to disapprove of leadership, or speak against His Glory.

He shoved through the discomfort.

“While here,” Arvid continued with the same steely tone, “General Helsing and I discussed government structure across The Isles. She has an interesting view on diplomacy between the islands, as well as ways to improve Stenberg’s reputation and relationship with other islands.

The last week or so with her has been illuminating while I waited for your arrival. ”

“To what end?”

“Replacing the government on Stenberg with a new one. We’ll take what is good from all the islands and make a new system work for us. The power structure will be more spread out. Instead of one central authority, it maps wider.”

“That has its own problems,” Einar countered.

Arvid’s immediate reply eased Henrik. “I agree. Perfection is an unreal standard. There will also be competition. With Oliver dead, and me presumed dead for now, there are two other Captains from the navy to contend against. What we cannot allow is a power vacuum. The replacement of a new leadership must immediately follow His Glory’s death. ”

Einar scowled. “Navy Captains. Bastids.” Agnes patted his arm.

Arvid nodded sagely. “We must assume all Captains will be hostile to change. They are wholly in His Glory’s loyalty.”

“What about Ingemar?”

“Ingemar walks a delicate line.” Arvid left it there. His stare turned piercing, a remnant of the soldat Henrik understood better.

“You’re the new leader?”

Arvid shrugged. “I am one option. There are others we’re speaking with. It’s about who can lead the best, not who wants it the most.”

Henrik leaned his elbows onto his knees. “Do you want it?”

“Not necessarily.”

“Will you take it?”

“If it’s best for Stenberg.”

Henrik filed that away for later. Oliver would have said the same.

“While myself and others decide on the final government structure to implement when His Glory is dethroned, we’re alerting the Stenberg citizens.

They are the other defining factor of success.

First, we plan to reveal the truth of what happened at the Unseen Island.

We awaited your story. I have it, and will share it.

Old Man and others plan to copy it and distribute it amongst Stenbergs residents.

Secretly, if we must. Overtly, if we can. ”

Einar nodded his approval.

Henrik, too.

“It’ll be dangerous when the population finds out,” Agnes said. She held her coffee mug with both hands, elbows tucked into her sides. “What if they tell His Glory?”

“They will.” He softly added, “Such is their right.”

“His followers won’t believe it,” Einar said, an arm slung around Agnes’s shoulders. “They’ll resist.”

Arvid held up his two index fingers, pressed together. “But some will believe it, and that’s what we want to know. Who believes the facts about His Glory’s villainous nature? Who is loyal, and who isn’t? It’ll be our first informative campaign. A definite blow against His Glory either way.”

“The rise of any rebellion would bring some willing bodies out of hiding,” Henrik said, “and the rise of soldats will bring far more. But that doesn’t make it enough.”

“Exactly,” Arvid said, snapping two fingers.

“After we distribute information about the Unseen Island and Captain Oliver, Old Man will assess if there are enough residents to save, or if we should pull the few who want out and find somewhere else to live. It gives us a broad picture of whether an overthrow is required, or just a soldat rebellion. We’ll decide whether we take this rebellion to all of Stenberg, or remove those who want out. ”

Henrik ardently hoped for the latter.

“It’s a good plan,” he said.

The slowing rainfall drew Henrik’s attention higher. He thought of Britt. Did her aunt berate her? He itched to find her again.

Arvid followed his gaze. “The lack of rain is my sign.” He stretched his arms. “I need to leave. The ship Captain to Narpurra said he’d clear out when the storm thinned, and I don’t trust them not to leave me.

After a week in Kapurnick, I risk overstaying my welcome.

” A quick smile graced his lips. “General Helsing told me to leave before midnight, and she’s not a leader to perturb. ”

“She’s a welcoming woman,” Henrik muttered.

Arvid laughed outright. While Einar and Arvid exchanged pleasant farewells, and Agnes received another embrace, Henrik stood. Arvid extended a hand. “Do I have your support, Henrik?”

Henrik accepted the handshake.

“I’ll let you know.”

Arvid replied with a blithe nod. “Einar tells me that you’re looking for Selma.”

Henrik’s eyes snapped up.

“What?”

“Your mother.”

“Yes . . . I am. How did you know her name?”

“Did you find her?”

“We found her name. My father’s name, too, but not what happened to either of them.” Something in Arvid’s eyes compelled him to ask, “Did you know them?”

Arvid sighed, his expression inscrutable. “He sent Selma to the mainland.”

“Oliver said that.”

“Klipporno.”

A rock crashed into Henrik’s stomach. “Klipporno?” he whispered.

“It’s a bustling port town set into cliffs. A lot of imports arrive there from The Isles. The Lordlady tends to visit there frequently this time of year. When they banished Selma from Stenberg for making a scene, a merchant ship took her to Klipporno.”

“How do you know?”

“I asked.”

“Why?”

Arvid drew in a deep breath, then let it out.

“I don’t know. Curiosity, perhaps. Horror.

Even then, I knew the way His Glory treated Stenberg islanders and the soldats wasn’t right, but .

. .” He swallowed hard. “I lacked the courage to do anything about it until now. I didn’t know her,” he added.

“I’m sorry I can’t tell you more, and I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to act against the tyrant.

I wish I had chosen differently all these years. ”

Henrik could barely speak when he said, “Thank you, Ca—Arvid. That helps. A lot. I didn’t know where to start.”

Arvid clapped him on the shoulder.

“With me or not, Henrik, I want the best for you.”