SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant Chapter 930 - A Change of Plans

Every pair of eyes in the room came around to Maeron.

Valttair calling Trafalgar in almost the moment he landed was worth noting. None of the other heirs had been sent for with that kind of haste, or none that Maeron knew of. Trafalgar had barely reached the castle and their father had already made room for him, and that alone was enough to quiet the room.

The meeting also handed them an opening. With Valttair and Caelum occupied elsewhere, there were fewer people left nearby to wonder why Maeron had walked into this particular room so soon after arriving.

Rivena spoke first.

"Oh? How interesting. What could Father want from our dear little brother so urgently? Do you think Trafalgar has been doing something he shouldn't?"

Maeron looked at her.

They had spent most of their lives set against each other in one way or another. Neither had ever cared to see the other climb too far, and in ordinary times Maeron would not have trusted Rivena with anything of weight.

Things were different now. For the present they wanted the same thing, and that did not mean he had come to like her.

There were parts of Rivena that Maeron had always found unpleasant. She enjoyed causing discomfort well past any use it served, and she had a habit of turning a private grudge into something uglier than it needed to be. Sometimes he wondered how much of it she actually held the reins of.

"I've no idea what they're discussing," he said. "Moses was the one who told me. He suggested I walk into Father's meeting and ask them myself, if I was so curious."

Seraphine's face tightened at once. "Moses said that to you?"

"He did."

His mother slowly closed the fan in her hand.

Seraphine had never liked Moses. The captain of the First Squadron gave authority its due when duty called for it, and he had never confused rank with worth. Being the first wife of Valttair du Morgain bought Seraphine nothing from him past the courtesy her position was owed, and she hated it.

More than once Maeron had watched a conversation with that man leave his mother furious for the rest of the day, purely because he refused to look impressed by her title.

"He forgets who he is speaking to far too easily," Seraphine said. "Your father has let that habit run on too long."

"Moses knows exactly who he's speaking to," Maeron said. "That's why he does it."

She clearly had more in her, and after a moment she opened the fan again and let it go.

"We should not waste the hour on him. Tell us how things stand outside."

Everyone understood her. No names were needed. Even here, in one of the private rooms kept for Valttair's own wives, they had to work on the assumption that somebody could hear more than was intended. House Morgain held too many servants, guards, hidden passages and people whose loyalty ran to different members of the family.

And there was Caelum. If anyone could hear a thing never meant for his ears, it was that man.

Maeron crossed the room and took the empty chair facing the sofa.

"The other party is no longer any use to us. Every time it looked as though we were getting somewhere, they delayed again, changed what they wanted, or asked for more before committing to anything."

Rivena watched him closely. "So they turned you down."

"Not outright. That was the trouble. They stayed interested enough to keep the conversation alive while refusing to put their name to a single thing. I gave them chances enough. I'm not spending more months waiting on somebody who won't decide."

Seraphine lowered her fan. "And you're content to give up that support?"

"We wanted another Great Family willing to stand behind us if this turned difficult. We did not want one badly enough to spend a season begging for an answer."

Maeron's voice stayed level.

"More to the point, our ground inside Morgain has improved. Most of the secondary branches I've gone to agree the family wants a change of direction."

That brought Verena's head up. She had been quiet since Maeron came in, sitting beside her daughter with her arms across her lap.

"Most of them?"

"Enough that Father cannot take it for granted that every branch stands behind him if this house divides. Some stay loyal to him. Others will wait and see who looks stronger before they choose. There are already more people unhappy with his rule than there were a few months ago."

Seraphine looked pleased by that. Verena did not.

She looked down a moment, turning it over, before she spoke.

"We need to be careful."

Maeron turned toward her.

"My husband is watching all of this far more closely than any of you seem willing to say out loud," Verena said. "Rivena can hardly cross this castle without somebody knowing which corridor she used."

"And me?"

"You've been put over the central territories, where every unusual movement goes into a report. Take it that Valttair knows more than he shows."

Seraphine studied her. "You truly believe he has found something already?"

Verena looked straight at the first wife. "We share a husband, Seraphine. You have been married to him longer than I have, and there are days I wonder whether you know the man at all."

The fan stopped moving in Seraphine's hand.

Verena did not soften it. "If this fails, you are digging your own grave. Valttair may hesitate before moving against one of his children or his wives. Do not take that hesitation for weakness. If he decides a thing has to be done for House Morgain, he will do it even when it costs him."

The room went quiet.

None of them could honestly argue with her. Valttair was not without feeling, and they all knew that much, and it had never made him merciful. Put to a choice between any one of them and the survival of House Morgain, there was very little doubt which way he would go.

Maeron watched Rivena.

Unlike Seraphine, she did not look troubled in the slightest. A slow smile had started across her face.

"That's exactly why none of you need to worry."

Maeron already knew what she meant. Seraphine and Verena did not.

Verena turned toward her daughter, her face changing as she did.

"What do you mean by that, darling?"