Fantasy | Webnovel | Romance

Chapter 38 — The Weight of Ruling

Touched by Spirits Book 1 — Shelter in a New World

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Kayden was about to button his shirt when someone knocked. He opened the door and stepped aside when he saw it was Lyn.

“That was quick,” he said. “I hope everything went well.”

Lyn smiled. “My conversation went well. He told me I could ask you for him to be my guard on this train trip. Would you mind if Kieran was my guard for this trip?”

“Consider it done.” He buttoned his shirt and sat. “This train trip is pretty boring.” He sighed. “You can talk all day long, tell me something. Anything.”

“Actually, I was hoping you could tell me something. I realized during my conversation with Kieran that I really don’t know how a monarchy works. Would you tell me?” After a moment, she added, “Or would you prefer to leave that to your grandfather? We could talk about something else.”

Kayden rubbed the back of his neck. “My monarchy?”

It was a subject he’d never had to explain to anyone. Where did he even begin?

“You get the throne by inheriting it. In some rare cases in a duel for the position, but then the crown prince has the right to challenge the new king for two weeks.” He looked at Lyn. “I challenged my father for the throne.”

What that meant was obvious. He’d killed dear old dad to become king. Well, to protect Phoebe, but the result was the same.

“I have regional leaders under me, along with admirals, generals. They report to me every two weeks, and I decide how to use our resources. Once a month, I have two days to listen to the plebs.” He opened the window to get some fresh air. “Peasants travel from all over the country and I listen to their whining.” Lyn chuckled, and he glanced at her, but continued, “It’s good feedback, but annoying. I decide about investment, international trades, research, education. Only the warlocks are somewhat independent, but their leader is also a subordinate.”

What else could he say on the subject? There was much more, but he didn’t want to bore her. Since they were in Ascor, he added, “King Grayriver rules differently. He inherited the throne from his father. And he works with his people. The house of lords is a delegation of nobles, and the house of commons is the delegation of rich farmers and merchants. The nobles have more say in politics, but Nolan makes decisions at the end. Of course he can’t ignore his parliament. Estrary has democracy with a president, but that’s not a monarchy and that country is in pieces right now.”

“The government I’m used to has elected leaders of the village who meet at the capital annually to report to the elders council there. The elders council members are elected every ten years by the leaders of the villages.

“Each village has their own way of running things. My village had elections for the leader every four years and we had six member councils who were elected every two years. If a consensus couldn’t be reached, then the majority would rule.

“We had general rules set by the elder’s council and then village rules set by each village. The general rules have precedence over the village rules.”

Kayden leaned back and smiled at Lyn. The way she could start chattering was cute and amazing. He didn’t really care about her world, but it was interesting enough, and maybe he could learn a few things.

She smiled knowingly. “The different political structures are intriguing. I always wonder how they all came about. What makes one family or group decide they should rule over another group of people and create a monarchy?”

“Traditions. A family was powerful enough to rise above the others. The tribe needed a strong leader, and he used his power to stay above them.” Kayden shrugged. “There are many ways. It didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen with large countries. It’s from tribal times.”

Lyn smiled. “It’s interesting to me how things develop differently in different places. There are so many worlds out there with such different ideas of things.”

There was a look in her eyes, and Kayden couldn’t decide if she wanted to tell another story of one of the millions of her relatives or have sex, so he waited to see what she was about to say.

“Would you like me to keep talking or would you like some quiet? I know you said you were bored, but I don’t want to annoy you either. I could ask questions or I could pick a topic and talk about it. I could get the book you loaned me and sit in here with you and quietly read. Or if you have something else in mind? What would you prefer to do?”

He had something else in mind, and that something was sex, but she’d made it clear she wasn’t his sex toy, so he stood.

“We should eat something.”

Lyn smiled. “Yes, that’s a good idea and I won’t be inviting anyone to join us. I’d like to have a nice day with you, if you don’t mind?”

Kayden rolled his eyes and opened the door. “I just invited you to lunch. What do you think that meant?”

He walked to the dining wagon and sat at his favorite table. After ordering wine and food, he watched Lyn.

She had been through so much, she had been abused, hurt, and ripped from her life, and still, even after all the suffering, she remained a kind and innocent person. With a beautiful body and an optimistic attitude. And he couldn’t fathom why she was here instead of at home with her family.

“You loved your third husband.” He had no idea why he had to say that. “Why aren’t you with him? I know you said you’ve changed. But I don’t understand why you aren’t with a man who can love you and give you comfort.”

Lyn smiled at him, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “The period of mourning is three years after a spouse dies. My third husband would have remarried by now.” She smiled slightly. “Reese could adapt to anything anywhere and with his charm he would have his pick of women and, as I said, women are in limited supply in my country.”

She looked down at this part before she said, “I’m not really sure if he ever loved me. When we met, he sought me out,” she smirked when she looked back at Kayden, “not because of my looks or my body but my position.”

Kayden frowned, wondering if Lyn realized how lonely her life sounded to him. Even with all the people around her, she’d been alone. Three men, children, and the extended family, and yet, she’d been on her own.

She talked more about how her third husband had ended up with her, and Kayden let her talk and listened. It was a sad story. He wondered if there was anything in this woman’s life that wasn’t tainted with sorrow.

“Don’t worry, darling I know you’re with me because of my looks and body and not because of my position.” He winked. “Or my charming personality.”

She smiled shortly, but it still wasn’t the smile he wanted to see. He paused as their food was served.

“I can’t tell you if he loved you or not, but I think he did. I think men either want to choke you to death or love you.” He smiled. “I haven’t made that decision yet.”

Now she laughed, playfully she said, “Well, please warn me if it comes down to wanting to choke me.” After eating for a few moments, she said, “There is another reason I didn’t return home if you’d like to hear me talking more.” She gave him a wink, she knew she’d said more than he expected.

“And what is the other reason?” Why he set himself up for another monologue from her was beyond his understanding, but there was something in her voice he liked.

After a moment, she said, “Portal magic is not easily done in my world, I don’t know about here, but it takes someone very skilled. As far as I know, out of half a million people, only about three dozen of us could do it on the southern continent. Relskald found one person who could do it on the northern continent by accident, from what I heard.” She swallowed. “I don’t think he’ll be able to follow me here. It was difficult enough for me to open the portal, and the man he had with was older. I thought it best to make it difficult to find me so he wouldn’t try it. I burned the library when I left, it was a travesty, but I couldn’t take the chance of him using the books there to track me.”

Kayden nodded as he took a bite. “You’ve mentioned this before.” He sighed. “I really don’t want to fight another war, Lyn. I’m…” he glanced around and lowered his voice. “I’m tired of fighting. Do you know how it feels when your decisions, a single sentence, can send hundreds of people into their deaths?” He shook his head. “My country has the best soldiers. All of them are highly trained. To save as much life as we could, we took the hardest blows. My people were in the front lines everywhere, and my main army was always the first, always in the middle. I was in the front line too.”

Kayden closed his eyes. His decisions had saved many people, but cost almost as much.

“In a battle, when you’re fighting for your life, when everyone is fighting to survive… the lines fall apart easily. After a few hours, you don’t know where your men are. You don’t know if one of your soldiers was hit by a fireball you shot, you don’t know if you accidentally stabbed one of yours in the chest. There is nothing but the instinct to live. And we were facing demons, not just men. Arrows flew from both directions every now and then. Earth wielders shook the land, water wielders flooded everything, fire burned on the battlefields. Men were screaming, trapped in illusions, living their worst fears over and over again until their heart gave up.”

His voice hardened, and he looked at Lyn, not really seeing her. “Screams from humans, demons, and horses. Metal on metal creaking, guns firing. And you see the face of the person you just killed, injured, or crippled. Sometimes it’s an old man, but sometimes it’s just a boy.”

He knew he was talking too much, but he wanted her to understand why he couldn’t risk a war for her. His men wouldn’t take it well if he sacrificed more of them out of lust for a foreign woman.

“And even after that, when the sun set and you returned to the camp, you could hear the screams of the injured. Healers, warlocks, doctors were working without stopping just to save lives. Even in the camp, where soldiers should have found rest, all we saw was more blood and more suffering. And I had to make another decision. Every night I had to look at the maps, calculate the numbers, choose a strategy for the next day, hoping I wasn’t walking into a trap.”

He shook his head again and swallowed. “I’m sorry.” He focused his vision back on her. “I don’t want another war.” He tried with a smile. “You asked about how monarchy works. It works like this. The leader makes the decisions. And people follow, hoping that their king isn’t sending them to a certain death.”

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