“And now you tell me that you have to marry Hemlock even though you don’t want to? I don’t believe it.”
“Well, the option is that she abdicates and I’m stuck with being king,” I said, bitterly. “I want that even less.”
“Then don’t do that, either,” the General shrugged. “How is anyone going to force you to do either if you don’t voluntarily go along with it? I know I wouldn’t want the job.”
His simple analysis gave me a thread of hope, but I was still reluctant to grab for it.
“But people are counting on me,” I protested.
“People are counting on you to do what is right for you.” Badaxe said firmly. “Though it’s hard for you to see, they’re assuming that you’ll do what you want to do. You should have listened more closely to what my bride to be was saying to you. If you want to marry Queen Hemlock, they’ll support you by not standing in the way or giving you grief. Do you really think, though, that if you firmly state that you want to continue working with them, that they won’t support that with as much or more enthusiasm? That’s what Massha was trying to say, but I think she was saying it too gently for you to hear. Everyone’s been too gentle with you. Since you don’t seem to know what you want, they’ve been walking on eggshells around you to let you sort it out. In the meantime, you’ve been straining to hear what everyone else wants rather than simply relaxing and admitting what you want.”
I couldn’t suppress my smile.
“Well, General,” I said, “if there’s one thing no one could accuse you of, it would be of not treating me overly gently.”