Chapter 412: The Better Offer
"Let’s make a deal."
Two hours later, Cyran was sitting at a considerably larger table.
The secured council room beneath the administrative wing had no windows, only dark stone walls broken by narrow bands of gold ether-light and a single reinforced door guarded from the outside. Someone had brought coffee at some point, though only Cassian had touched his.
Arik sat opposite Cyran with one arm resting along the chair, dressed much as he had been during the candidate meeting earlier that day, except his jacket was gone and the sleeves of his black shirt had been folded to his forearms.
Mezos occupied the chair to his right.
Whatever humanity Cyran had occasionally seen in the chief of security remained absent.
Cassian sat beside Arik, apparently far more interested in the situation than a man claiming retirement had any right to be.
Cyran looked between them.
"The support behind my campaign is considerably larger than I expected."
Arik’s expression did not change.
"That sounds like bragging."
"It isn’t."
Cyran folded his hands on the table.
"When I agreed to this, I knew there would be money, introductions, favorable press coverage, and assistance establishing provincial campaign offices. I expected influence. I did not expect them to build enough momentum that I could realistically win."
Cassian lifted his cup.
"And now that winning is possible, you have developed principles?"
"No."
At least Cyran had the sense not to pretend.
"I developed a problem."
Arik’s gold eyes narrowed slightly.
Cyran continued.
"Neither the Emperor of Nuria nor I can afford a mistake now."
"You seem remarkably concerned with my mistakes."
"I have been studying them for months."
Mezos’s gaze sharpened.
Cyran ignored him.
"I am a good politician. I know that sounds arrogant, but pretending otherwise would waste time. I understand legislation, public sentiment, institutional pressure, and how to stand in front of a room full of people who distrust one another and make them support the same proposal for entirely different reasons."
Cassian smiled faintly.
"At least he knows what he is."
Cyran inclined his head.
"The problem is that much of my rise was not mine."
Arik waited.
Cyran exhaled.
"King Gerard paid for it."
Silence settled across the room.
Arik leaned back.
"Which parts?"
"Campaign infrastructure. Media consultants. Provincial organizers. Several supposedly independent civic groups supporting my constitutional platform. Some of the signature network."
Mezos’s voice was flat.
"Foreign money was prohibited."
"Yes."
"And you declared none."
"No."
"Then you were already legally disqualified."
Cyran looked toward him.
"That is why I asked for a deal."
Arik’s fingers tapped once against the armrest.
"What does Gerard want?"
"Nuria weakened enough to negotiate."
Cassian finally lowered his coffee.
"Negotiate what?"
"Territory eventually. Trade concessions immediately. Transit rights. Preferential access to eastern mineral deposits if possible."
Something dangerous passed through Arik’s expression.
Cyran noticed.
"Gerard considers your foreign policy insulting."
"My foreign policy?"
"Your blatant favoritism toward Agaron and Wrohan."
Arik almost laughed.
"Agaron is my family."
"I know."
"And Wrohan is Liam’s."
"I know that too."
"Then Gerard has excellent observational skills."
Cyran’s mouth twitched despite the circumstances.
"He considers it evidence that Nuria’s partnerships are being determined by personal attachment rather than strategic balance."
"And you?"
Cyran considered the answer before giving it.
"I found it offensive."
Mezos’s expression hardened.
Cyran raised one hand slightly.
"I also understood it."
That caught Arik’s attention.
Cyran looked directly at him.
"You are both young and old in ways most people cannot properly account for. You inherited memories from an emperor who ruled before our grandparents were born, but you are still a man who grew up in Agaron and married someone from Wrohan. You do not care enough about how smaller countries interpret that combination."
Arik’s eyes cooled.
"Smaller people?"
"Smaller powers."
"Choose your phrasing more carefully."
Cyran nodded once.
"That is part of what I mean. You can afford not to care about every insult. Gerard cannot."
Cassian watched Cyran with considerably more interest now.
"And his solution was to purchase a prime minister."
"His solution was to place someone beside Arik who could gradually redirect policy."
Arik’s mouth curved without humor.
"You?"
"Yes."
"At least we have reached the simple part."
Cyran leaned forward.
"So let me continue."
Arik gestured once.
"My proposal is that I remain a candidate."
Mezos turned toward him.
Cassian actually laughed.
Arik did neither.
Cyran continued before anyone interrupted.
"The next time Gerard contacts me, I respond exactly as expected. We behave as though this entire discovery was planned from the moment I accepted his support."
"You become my agent," Arik said.
"Essentially."
"And Gerard believes his candidate reached the final ballot undetected."
"Yes."
"While knowing nothing you tell him can be trusted."
"Yes."
Cyran spread his hands.
"You retain the election. You retain a capable candidate. You gain direct access to a king attempting to purchase influence inside Nuria, and the public never discovers that the first election after the Gate was nearly compromised by foreign money."
Cassian’s gaze shifted toward Arik.
Cyran saw it.
"That matters."
Arik’s expression remained unreadable.
"The election going forward matters," Cyran continued. "You created it publicly. You told people their vote would determine the prime minister. If you cancel it now because one candidate was compromised, every noble who opposed the reform gets to say they were right."
"I do not need to cancel it."
"No."
"I remove you."
"That still damages it."
"Perhaps."
Arik leaned forward, forearms settling against the table.
"But you are assuming I need this election more than I need control of the government."
Cyran went quiet.
Arik’s voice remained calm.
"I can disclose the interference."
Cyran watched him.
"I can show that Gerard funded an illegal campaign, that members of my election commission were compromised, and that foreign money corrupted a candidate before voting began."
Cyran’s jaw tightened.
Arik continued.
"I can say the experiment failed because greedy people decided a new system was an opportunity to purchase access to my government."
Cassian’s expression became thoughtful.
"And then?" Cyran asked.
Arik smiled slightly.
"I retain the authority to appoint the prime minister."
Cyran sat back.
Mezos remained utterly still beside him.
Arik tilted his head.
"So tell me, Solvere."
His gold eyes held Cyran’s without blinking.
"Why should I help preserve an election that almost placed another king’s man directly beneath my throne, when exposing all of you gives me a perfectly defensible reason to take that authority back?"