Haydn of Mars Read Online Free Page B

it would work.   He had brought it on too soon.   We tried to tell him, but he wouldn’t listen.    The clans weren’t ready for it, and neither were the common people, who only think in terms of clan, anyway.    While he was alive no one dared say anything against him.   But after he was butchered, those of us who knew the republic were doomed began to work to see that if the monarchy was reinstated, the legitimate line continued and you were crowned Queen.”
    He pointed at my food.   “You aren’t eating, little Haydn.”
    Suddenly, I was no longer hungry.   The odor of burnt poultry made me want to vomit again.
    â€œGo on,” I said.
    Xarr paused to eat a bit, and drink much.   “I see I have your attention.   So, where was I?”
    â€œA return to monarchy.   Me as Queen.   So you knew all along that Frane would usurp?”
    He was drinking when I said this, and nearly choked.  
    â€œ No!   We knew the F’rar, and Frane in particular, were a great danger.   But we had no idea how strong Frane had become, or how bold she would be.   I’m ashamed to say we were caught unawares.   But now, little Haydn, we will do what we must to make sure you are returned to the throne.”
    I was silent so long that he finally said, “This does not please you, having so many willing to fight and die for you?”
    â€œI’ve spent my whole life trying to insure that the monarchy never returns,” I answered.   “My father taught this to me from the moment I could sit still long enough to listen!   He sat me on the throne once, just to show me how horrible a place it is...”
    Xarr was staring at me over his cup.   He had stopped drinking.
    â€œOh, don’t worry, little Haydn.   You need do nothing.   They mean for you to be little more than a figurehead, anyhow.”   That strange mixture of cunning and a myriad of other emotions had returned to his face.
    I was speechless with rage.   Xarr continued to look at me in the lowering darkness with his grin.
    â€œI can see your father in you now, little Haydn.   Can you imagine someone telling him he would be nothing but a pretty bauble to hold up in front of the people?”
    â€œIf I were ever to be crowned Queen,” I said, measuring my words, “it would only be to ensure the restoration of the republic.”
    â€œAh, I have no doubt.   But first you must become queen.   Oh, the wheels within wheels, and your friend Jamie always in the middle of them.   He was the first to see that the monarchy would return.   He saw far ahead of the others that the republic would fail.”
    â€œAnd Kerl?”
    â€œKerl is the best fighter I’ve ever known.   But he did as he was told,” he said, giving his hoarse chuckle.   “Much the worse for him, since he had always been in love with you as much as you are with him.   Or so he’s told me many a night over a cup or ten of my wares.   Jamie thought your marriage to Kaylan would not save the republic, and he was right.   But he was outvoted by others, many of them dead now.   And so Kerl’s brother, being eldest, had to marry you.   For a brief moment there, it was thought that Jamie was wrong, that your union with Kaylan might form the glue to hold the Republic, and the clans, together after all.   And then your father was butchered last year...”
    He stared off into the lowering sun, which made his savage features shadowed with a kind of sadness and nobility.
    When he continued his voice was lower, still gruff, but had lost all of its effects of alcohol.   “Everything unraveled after that, little Haydn.   And quickly.   It had been hoped that if the republic started to fail, then the assembly would turn to you because of your father, and because of your union with Kaylan.   You would have been the legitimate