Page 280 of The Crown's Awakening
“That is not an answer.”
“It is the only one that matters.”
“That is not how this works,” he snaps. “You know what he is.”
“I do,” I say. “Which is why I need to understand what he controls before we decide what to do about him.”
“There is nothing to understand,” Colsar says. “We destroy Morrath. We remove him. That is the end of it.”
“It is not that simple.”
“It is,” he says. “You are choosing to complicate it.”
“I am choosing to understand it,” I correct.
A brief silence passes between us.
“I am going to Morrath,” I say.
“No.”
The answer is immediate.
“You did not even?—”
“No,” he repeats, sharper.
“You cannot get in,” I rush to say. “But I can.”
His expression shifts. “What are you talking about?”
“Kiss’s blood,” I say. “It is still in me. Enough that the wards will recognize it. Enough that I can pass through.”
“Absolutely not.”
“We just named her heir,” I say, my voice tightening. “Which means Morrath is hers too.”
His jaw tightens.
“If you take the throne without understanding it,” I continue, “you are not taking power. You are walking into something he already controls.”
I pause. “And what if he doesn’t control it as well as he thinks he does? What if it doesn’t answer to him at all?”
Silence.
“It is the only thing he has that you don’t,” I say. “And you want to move on him blindly anyway.”
“I am not arguing the need,” Colsar says. “I am telling you I will not send you into it without me.”
“You can’t go,” I say. “That doesn’t mean I don’t.”
“That’s exactly what it means,” he snaps. “You don’t walk into the one place he controls alone and expect me to agree to it.”
“Colsar,” I say quietly. “You do not have to agree in order for me to do it.”
He doesn’t answer.
That is answer enough.
