Page 146 of The Last Syphon

Once Inara managed to drag Prince Walder into the room and shut the door, she turned to face him, hands on her hips. “Where are you going?” she asked again, trying with all of her might not to show her frustration. She knew he was trying his best to solve the issue.

He was frustrated too. Beyond frustrated. “Nowhere. Anywhere. I just needed to get out of that room.” He cursed and began to pace. “Fools. The lot of them. Utter fools!”

Inara agreed with him there. “I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. Who the fuck cares what they think? You’re the Crowned Prince. You’re the Heir. In what realm can they tell you what you can and can’t do?”

“You wouldn’t understand.” He was still pacing, eyes plastered to the floor as if it could somehow solve all of his problems.

“I think I do, but go ahead. Help me understand, then.”

“The High Council was formed to ensure fairness within the kingdom. After what happened in Tolanaa, the Arelian’s decided letting one person have all the power was not the way to rule. That there were benefits of an oligarchy instead.”

“That’s a huge word, and I have no idea what it means,” Inara admitted.

“The power rests with the Council as a whole, not one individual person. There is only one person who can override their decisions, but he has to have a sound justification for doing so.”

“The king,” she guessed.

He nodded. “My father is…not of sound mind at the moment.”

What did that mean? Inara knew he probably wouldn’t answer, but she had to ask.

“What do you mean by that?”

Prince Walder finally stopped pacing and faced her. It looked like he was going to answer her question, but in the end, decided against it. His pacing resumed. “As Prince of Arelia, I am bound to follow the law.”

“Even if you don’t agree with it?!” They’d had this same conversation before, and yet, it still didn’t make a lick of sense to her. “You know this problem is serious. Who knows if the rate the cursed land is spreading isn’t going to change? For all you know, you could wake on the morrow, and it’s completely consumed the Borderlands! You don’t know what’s going on. No one knows what’s going on. We need to go and investigate and find out.”

“And if we do not return? Then what? Who would continue on in our stead?”

“Then we make sure we return.” She said it definitively. With purpose. As if saying it out loud would miraculously make it true.

“You cannot guarantee it. Nor can I.”

“So what? We do nothing? Just continue to let it cause havoc throughout the realm until the High Council decides to get off their useless asses and do something?!”

He didn’t respond. Just paced and paced. Inara was sure he would wear a hole in the floor if he continued.

Inara had to appeal to Prince Walder, make him see this wasn’t the right course of action. She stepped into his path, making him come to a grinding halt, and stared him down.

“You have to do something. Fuck the High Council and their ogre-y.”

“Oligarchy.” He corrected.

“Whatever. Fuck them. Do something rebellious for once in your life.”

He sighed, rubbing his temples. “Rebelliousness causes chaos. What if others begin to feel the same way? Decide to no longer follow the rules or laws? It would be anarchy. Rules are what hold the kingdom together. Keeps it from falling into ruin.”

Inara didn’t agree with that. “Some rules are meant to be broken. The realm is not so black and white. There are grey areas. Things that you know aren’t right. Things you have to fight against. This is one of them.”

He stared at her, thinking over her words.

“I can see you want to go. You want to find out what’s going on. What happened to your people. I can see it in your fucking eyes. Let’s go. Let’s jump on the back of our dragons and just go. They can’t stop you. What are they going to do? Lock you in the dungeon?” she shook her head. “No one in their right mind would dare stand up to you.”

Inara could have sworn his face softened just a touch.

“You do.”

“I’m not in my right mind,” Inara admitted freely. She went to reach for his hands but stopped herself. “Let’s go,” she whispered.