A siege was one of those things which could be simply summarised while being the most plex part of a war. What few battles there were, they could usually be won with suitable numbers and petent leadership. Sieges, however, asked for a lot. There o be enough of an army to dissuade the defender from repelling them with a sortie, yet te of an army was difficult to be kept fed, only so much that could be pilged, and besieging a pecessarily meant being in that area for months, not the week it took to march to the pce.

  Of course, perhaps having the defender sortie was one’s goal, leading down another avenue of warfare. tless tactics, strategies, tricks—whatever one wished to call them—had beehroughout history to either hurry a siege, or to break it.

  However, it was rare that sieges could be ht avoided. That was why the world was not in a stant state of war—at least, from her uanding and reasoning. romised such gains that it truly was the case that a defender both had the strategic advantage and had greater reason to rally, creating this equilibrium where war was always looming, yet not stant. That often, war was more personal than rational.

  Marquess Bavaria sat opposite her in the same seat Baron Gr once had. The room looked no different from theher, still the study where her father had often burhe midnight oil, where she would sit on his p when she couldn’t sleep, staring at the meaningless pages, listening to his stories of her mother.

  Such a long time ago, it may as well have been another life.

  “Sihings between us are clear, I shall be frank,” the Marquess said.

  He did not have the posture she onew, as if weathered, worn down, even his expression unguarded. She felt no pity, though. The st Duke of Bohemia had been partially correct: some sins were ied as if debts. His grandfather had known and groomed him to be someone who did not incur the same debts; however, he still had debts to be paid.

  “I would ask for My Lady to lend me her bombardiers.”

  “No.”

  There was ation, only that word. After a sed with no more said, his hands ched, letting out a long breath. “My Lady, must I beg? The new Duke has no sense of reason and I fear this war shall not end until either of us are dead, and I am irely sure that is enough,” he said, a measured voice, gentle.

  “Nothing My Lord could say or offer will ge my answer,” she said.

  He reached up to rub his face, dragging his hand down after, scratg against a beard that had st been shaved in times of peace. “Then name a price for the method of produg that gunpowder. Any price,” he said.

  “No.”

  A silence fell, one where he was deathly still and she sat ba the chair, watg him. The firepce crackled behind her, wind whistling through what gaps it found.

  “Are we not allies? Do you fear that I will turn on you the moment I ?” he whispered, voig the thoughts he knew made no sense, yet were the only ohat came to his mind. For all his grandfather had taught him, such lessons seemed ill-suited to this tess.

  “My Lord, I believe you lied when you said things between us are clear,” she said, a hint of humour in her voice that her lingered on her lips nor reached his ears.

  He swallowed, his throat feeling tight. “Then pray enlighten me.”

  “My bombards knock down an old stone wall that had already colpsed, they cut down many an unsuspeg man standing in close formation at such cle. What they ot do is help besiege a well-built fortress. At best, I would be giving My Lord false hope. Even my gunpowder is something which, at present, only be made in small quantities, regardless of how mue has to spend.”

  Staring her in the eye, he waited for her to flinch. Wished her to. Any sign that she had lied—he desired that more than anything else at this moment. However, she gave none, meeting his gaze evenly. “Of course you would say such a thing,” he said, desperate, trying to get a rise from her.

  “Indeed, I would give My Lord the frank truth.”

  In the end, he broke first, his head hanging down as he rubbed his face with both hands this time. “What would you have me do, then?”

  She tilted her head. “I beg My Lord’s pardon?” she asked.

  He gave a hollow ugh. “I have no desire for war, nothing to gain from it and it is as if I am fighting to defend only my own life. However, he believes I am responsible for his father’s death, so he shall fight to the st man. They all would, it seems. Tales of my cruelty have spread far. How I sughtered men like cattle, leaving only offal to bury. Someone who would stoop to deception to sy my ho foe. Lies and truth, woven together until inseparable.

  “Even then, I do not care what reputation I have in others’ eyes, only that I could end this. All reasoning tells me is to submit myself and ask for mercy, yet it is as if I hear my grandfather scolding me for such thoughts, and I… I ot bear to leave my family this soon, not before holding my unborn child just once.”

  What had been a dispassionate assessment turo sorrow by the end, his voice hoarse.

  “So pray tell me, what am I to do?” he whispered.

  His words melted into the gloom. She gave ion, still staring, her pity nor s in her eyes. It scared him, but not in a way that filled him with fear. That she could hear such words airely u was as if she had sat through all his grandfather’s lessons aures and became the very embodiment of them. If there was such a person, he ko be scared of what they would aplish. As it was, though, he could only remind himself that she had only met his grandfather once, his grandfather having held on with his ailih for so long to repay a favour long held.

  It didn’t occur to him to sider what kind of debt his grandfather had hoped to spare him from shouldering by doing so.

  “Marquess Bavaria, I am merely a tess of little note. You ask me for solutions to problems that are her mine nor problems I am in any pce to sider. I have dealt with some traitorous meraries and given you some assistan a sortie, that is all of my aplishments, yet you would ask me how to win an endless war? I have no advice. All I know—all I have learned about—is to do with my fief. This fief is what my parents left me and I have her the spare time nor the ination to think of grahings than to protect it.”

  He dutifully listened, a small smile ing to him by the end. “I see, you think me a fool,” he said without any anger.

  “I do. Whatever notions you had of me, pray look clearly now. What kind of monster do you think I am? Yes, I am ruthless—because it is necessary. I do not have the luxury of showing mercy. What answers do you think I could have, not even a year into my majority, having been ousted from the pce I thought home with no oo protect me?”

  Her words seemed to finally break him, his mouth pressed into a grim expression as he dared not meet her gaze.

  However, she scolded him no more, letting out a gentle sigh. “You ask me for answers knowing what answer I would give. Well, if you have no shame, then go beg the King to intervehis war had no justification to begin with, so I am sure it would not be difficult to sway the cil.

  “Oter of surrendering, you know what that will mean, no? You are the kind of man who would leave such a burden on your son—on your wife? Never mind losing father and husband, they would be thrust into this dark and twisted world of ours.”

  He opened his mouth to ugh, but no sound came out, eventually f a polite smile. “My Lady speaks so lowly of herself, yet sees the matter clearly.”

  “It is because you are deep within it that you ot step back to properly observe your situation. Still, if you wish to hear my adviot as an ally, but as a ruler….”

  “What harm could words do? Pray tell me,” he said.

  She leaned forwards in her seat, adding an air of secrecy as she spoke in a quiet voice, that even if someone else was in the room they wouldn’t hear. “If one appears weak, they must be strong. Asking the King to intervene would only ihers to peck at you for whatever cessions they grab. This war, if the Duke wishes to win anything, he must e for you, so wait for him and push him ba familiar terrain. Think of it as him trying to siege your entire fief. You keep your troops easily supplied while he only pilge so much. Even for reinforts, you spend the time between his assaults training more troops, so you will only grow stronger and him weaker. His anger may st a lifetime, but how could his army stay coherent?”

  He listened in sileill, even his blinks few and far between. “You speak of supplying an army as if it as an easy thing,” he said lightly.

  She waved him off. “Did I not say I am ill-informed on such matters?” she said, matg his light tone. “Although it may not be much, I have a good retionship with the Nelli family. At present, they bring a lot of foodstuffs from the south to the capital, so I am sure they would be eager to expand their business. If ons are what you need, my city has some smiths I could set to the task. Would that I could give them as a gift, but my situation… I have to ask for enough to cover the cost of the metal.”

  “Of course. You are already being far too generous with such a patheti—I couldn’t ask for your charity,” he said, regaining a little more of his vigour.

  “Pathetic?” she said, tilting her head. “Pathetic is the man who would stand proud after losing everything precious to him. Noble is the man who would give up everything, even his dignity, to protect the things precious to him.”

  He gave a half-hearted chuckle. “My Lady likes philosophy?” he asked.

  “Thinking is what sets us apart from the beasts,” she said, pausing to give a soft smile. “It is also one of the few things I do. In this case, it serves me well to borrow the thoughts of our predecessors. It is much easier to judge which statue is most beautiful than carve the most beautiful oneself.”

  Nodding, he went to speak, only to stop when it seemed she had more to say.

  “On that matter, I would ask My Lord some things?”

  He gestured for her to go ahead.

  “I had expectations of the Duke perhaps crossing the rivers in winter,” she said, bringing her fiips together.

  “Such a thing is not impossible; however, the fortresses are spaced to at for this,” he said, beginning to gesture along as he spoke. “Not to mention, he would struggle to maintain his army. There is a pressing need for shelter lest his troops freeze and this area, already a on victim of pilging in the past, is rather barren. While one always wishes t as mao battle as possible, one must take care that each man does n down the rest of the army more than he elevates it.”

  She gently nodded. “Of course, My Lord makes such a plicated facet of war something easily prehended.”

  “Please, do not ftter me,” he said, waving her off. “What I know is… how to avoid defeat. I have spent my life looking at how others failed a, for all I have studied victories, such greatness eludes me. Of the two of us, I feel like you would be the oo be remembered as a genius.”

  A er of her mouth tugged up. “My Lord, pray cease this silly talk. What great wisdom is there iing a weaker foe and surprising an ally with a betrayal?”

  “Speaking with my grandfather, he ofteed what he could prehend as self-evident and what he could not as something only a genius would uand,” he said, speaking slowly. “You may think it is easy to think about war. However, I assure you, it is not. Do you fet how much you spoke on simply the matter of routing outnumbered meraries? I dare say even the greats of history did not put such thought into their quests.”

  “Indeed, I must put in such thought—because I ck such talent.”

  He ughed, a chuckle that seemed to linger in the air. “I should say no more.”

  Although her expression still showed no amusement, it did soften at his cession. “Ahing I am curious about, My Lord has brought together his cavalry?” she asked.

  “I have. Such brigades fell under my father’s leadership, so his… death saw them in disarray. The successful sortie helped to establish my position more than you could know,” he said, ending with a wry smile.

  Ign his titempts at praise, she tinued with her questioning. “May I ask how they are arrahat is, I would think them still in the image of a knight in shining armour.”

  “Such a way of putting it isn’t wrong. However, there are only so many knights and armies have only seemed to grow i decades,” he said, falling into thought for a moment. “Are you sidering training cavalry?”

  “It would be useful for interrupting an enemy’s advance, giving us time to better fortify our positions,” she said, speaking as if thinking aloud. “I am unsure if su expense could be justified.”

  So the two fell into a discourse, toug on topics of warfare that books seldom discussed, both the practical and theoretical, until such a time that her butler knocked, g the Marquess’s wife wished for his pany.

  He made no attempt to stay, rising to his feet and, on the way out, gave a st thanks to her—“For I have much to sider this evening.”

  “Give Dorothy my regards,” she replied, softly smiling.

  However, ohe door closed, her expression became bnk, absent gaze lingering on the closed door. While her butler had been the oo interrupt, he had not been the oo lead her guest away and so remained in the room. At such times, there was usually a need for him—if only to listen to her thoughts on what had transpired.

  Today proved no different. “That he would be regarded as a talented general, are my standards too high?” she asked, her voice quiet enough to only be heard by the butler.

  “It is natural after following in your parents’ footsteps for so long, My Lady,” he replied.

  She let out a long sigh. “Could I ask for what books on war my father has,” she said, the request not sounding like a question, but still rather polite for an employer speaking to a servant.

  “Of course, My Lady,” he said, giving a bow, before then going to the bookshelves.

  “What is war but a means to duct politics?” she muttered, closing her eyes. “How is it that something as simple as that seems to elude one educated as him? That he thinks me novel for sideri, that he is relut to broach a war decided without battle. Is it absurd to sider every victainst one foe a loss against all others? Which ruler has such a pool of able men that they may be squandered over personal grievances? Knowing that a siege’s greatest ally and enemy is time, yet sidering only assault rather than logistics or subterfuge? otential there is in the bombard something his aors prepared carefully for, that he may now be ignorant of it to his own peril?”

  Her pints apahe scrape of books ing down from shelves and shuffling footsteps, until finally he walked to the desk, pg a pile of books before her.

  “These be sidered of My Lady’s i. While there are ats of more ret wars, the methods in which the old Romans and their poraries fought, I believe, embodies the essence of war My Lady seeks.”

  Eyes flickering open, she looked at the books, then at him, a tender smile ing to her. “Truly, how did my father inspire such loyalty that it persists so vigorous this long after his death?”

  Her butler chuckled. “If I could expin, My Lady, I would. It is simply the case that I still trust him and his legacy.”

  Smile being wry, she asked, “Even though his legacy is his very antithesis?”

  He looked at her with the same tenderness she had always known from him, as if uncle and her than servant and master. “My Lady may not be the woman your father wished you to bee; however, he has passed, that we may now only live as we believe we must. That aside, the opposite of good is not evil, but indifference, and I know very well that My Lady is not at all indifferent. In that regard, you greatly resemble your father—and your mother.”

  Although she gave ion, she could not keep her eyes from shimmering. “You are too kind, Mr er,” she whispered.

  “As are you, My Lady, and I hope you shall learn that few deserve such kindness,” he replied, then bowed. “I shall leave My Lady to her reading.”

  “Very well.”

  So he left, her gaze lingering on the door for a moment, then she picked up the first book and began to read.