[Lauchenoiria]

“How dare you!” the King of Zongongia shouted at his eldest son and heir. “No, don’t interrupt – I am speaking! I gave you direct orders to refrain from this course of action and you lied and told Intelligence that I approved this mission!”

Prince Kristofer sat sullenly across from his father, glaring every so often at the Zongongian intelligence agent who was standing at the side of the desk.

“Look at me while I am talking to you!” the King yelled, slamming his hand on the desk, hard. The pair of royal guards posted at the door flinched. Normally, they would have been ordered to leave before such an outburst. This time, King Osvald wanted an audience.

“DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!?” Osvald screamed at his son, picking up a stack of paperwork and throwing it at his heir. “Do you understand the position we are in after the election? After this damn scandal in the first place? To think I supported you!”

“She has my son,” Kristofer responded, sounding much calmer than his father. “I will get him back.”

“She has… rocks of BALANCE, son! The kid’s a bastard! Do you have any idea how many bastards my own father had kicking around that nobody’s ever heard of? Gods, son, half the damn country is my half-sibling! Nobody would even KNOW if you hadn’t made such a big deal of it! You gonna take a kid from a Kerlian woman? Really?”

“She’s an exile, it’s not like Kerlile will care…”

“Are you STUPID, boy!? Rocks, the Kerlians will threaten war for their mortal enemy if someone claims she was called a misogynistic slur! Kidnapping her baby? Someone who used to be one of them? Catch them on a bad day and the damned Matriarchy would NUKE us!”

“I think you’re exaggerating,” Kristofer shrugged.

“And I think you are a bumbling idiot, a liar, and not fit to run a school sports day! If Zongongian law allowed me to disinherit you, I would! Get out.”

Prince Kristofer snorted in amusement, and began to open his mouth.

“I mean it. GET OUT!” the King shouted, picking up a letter opener and brandishing it like a dagger. “Or shall I have the guards remove you?”

Kristofer looked at his father with disdain, but got to his feet and left the office without another word.

The King sat back down, gesturing for the guards to leave him alone with the spy who had watched the whole scene with keen eyes.

“Your Majesty, I do not believe this will stop him,” the spy said calmly.

“No, probably not,” the King sighed, his head in his hands. “Apologies for using that word, Jasper. I allowed my anger to get away from myself.”

“Forgiven,” Jasper shrugged. “It is merely an accurate description, my half-brother, within the context.”

“I’m sorry,” the King repeated.

“Our father may have hidden my existence, but he ensured my mother and I were provided for, which is considerably more honour than many would have had in that situation. I have made my peace with the situation. I am not sure Natasha Robinson’s son will feel the same way when he is grown.”

“Certainly not if Kristofer continues in this fashion,” Osvald agreed. “If only one could send a twenty-one-year-old to boarding school.”

“It is a pity that the tradition of Zongongian royals joining the military fell by the wayside in the nineteenth century,” Jasper mused.

“Rocks, no. He’d be plotting a coup in five minutes,” the King chuckled.

“What is your plan with him?”

“I don’t have one,” Osvald sighed. “He may still grow up. Or the Kerlians will handle the problem, I expect, if he keeps going after Natasha.”

“How callous, to allow the Kerlians to deal with it,” smirked Jasper.

“I do not want Kristofer to be hurt,” Osvald replied clearly. “But if it is him or the entire country… sacrifices must be made.”