and some by virtue fall; Gallows

[Kushiel]

Kushiel didn’t even pretended to be offended at being called useless. He didn’t find it offensive in the least, especially coming from his mother. In fact, Kushiel worked very, very hard to give off the appearance of apathy and idleness. The second someone so much as thought you may be good for something they suddenly started asking you to do that something. Better to avoid the mess entirely.

Ah, Kushiel really would make a fantastic prince.

But it is a dream he is willing to set aside for now. Like many of his dreams, they are appealing, but all together require a great deal more concentration that Kushiel had.

While he has never entirely accepted the fact that his mother could read his every thought, he had grown accustomed to it. He sent a single, fleetingly stern glance in her direction, just to alert her that he had noticed it and still didn’t approve. He didn’t put up any further protest, however, for there was really no point and he knew that well enough.

“If I didn’t know you so well I’d say you may live to regret those words. I might take you up on them.” That was very unlikely. Kushiel liked to cause trouble, but setting a monarch on fire had more backlash than he was willing to take on at this stage in his life. He had, however, heard there were other fire setters lurking around these parts. Perhaps, he could set Demian on fire if he was careful enough to frame someone else for it. Still, it sounded like a lot of work. He looked at his mother critically for a second.

“Though I have no doubt you have your ways of dealing with unsatisfactory monarchs.” Now that he thought about it he did remember hearing about the time Gallows ruined a diplomatic meeting of her own by kidnapping someone. Perhaps that ran in the family as well. Of course, she had kidnapped a king, and Kushiel had only kidnapped a captain. He still had a lot to learn. At her next comment Kushiel grinned.

“Thank you mother, I do agree. I’m hoping she’ll come to see me as a blessing. I’ve heard that’s very important to queenship, learning to question yourself. Keeping me around will surely cause anyone to question themselves.


Kushiel cast a glance around. Thinking to compare his new home to his old home. The Valley did seem to have a fair amount of activity. Perhaps, they were plotting something. He knew enough about how things worked to think that plotting was very likely.

“So aside from boring old Demian, are things to your liking? Are your many talents being utilized to their fullest?” He wasn’t expecting a rundown of kingdom secrets, but he did wonder what was in the works. Their kingdoms were allies after all, and he was curious enough to try and stick his nose where it didn’t belong.