Mix two options into one.

“Okay, bear with me here,” Fate began after a minute or so of deep thought. “Am I safe in assuming you have… shall we say, ‘fans’ among the public? Its not uncommon for princesses of a kingdom, and judging from your demeanor and the way you carry yourself, I imagine you have a lot.”

Silquintis sighed and nodded, “Aye, quite a few loyal ones too, I might add. Chief among them are many members of the tundra folk for exactly the reasons you described. Many of my ‘fans’, as you put it, believe me to be fit for rulership. If I had ever decided to rebel against my father, I’m sure they would constitute a large portion of my forces.”

“Then am I also safe in assuming that I need to carefully consider their response to whatever I decide to do with you? It wouldn’t do well to make enemies of a large portion of my subjects right off the bat.”

“You’d be very correct, in fact you’ll find them caring about the decision even more than I do, ironically.”

“So, in that case, you might be happy to know that execution and exile are completely out of the question.”

“Doing either of those things would almost guarantee rebellion, yes,” Silquintis agreed.

“Additionally, I can’t imagine that choosing not to recognize your nobility in any capacity would be much better.”

Silquintis actually broke eye contact to stare upward and off into space to think about that one, “I think it would depend on whether or not you decided to keep me in the castle and in what role. There are many who are fans of mine specifically because they think I would make a good ruler and would be ideal as a decision-maker. So, you’d anger them if you put me in a role where there was no chance that you’d take what I say under advisement. If I were just a maid or a cook, for example. They might be fine with me in the position of something like a court advisor or even a concubine. But there are those who do care about acknowledgement of my nobility, and would be upset, just not as many as you might think. Rebellion would be significantly less likely in that case, but civil unrest would be a guarantee.”

Fate nodded, “But I imagine that if I made you, say, a consort, thereby acknowledging your pedigree, would that have the opposite effect? I’m not putting you in an advisory role, which I assume means those people who think you’d be a good leader wouldn’t be happy with me, but the ones who want your nobility to be recognized would be.”

“I’d say it would be a less **** outcome, as a consort can still subtly affect the decisions of their spouse, but in general, I suppose so.”

“Got it. Well, then I think I have the perfect solution. There’s no ironclad rule that says I can’t mix and match. I’ll be frank, I want your advisement. You know this kingdom better than me, you know the public better than I do, and you have demonstrated an amazing ability to be diplomatic, especially when faced with sensitive issues or in times where chaos would otherwise be the norm, such as the Dark King being murdered. You even speak about the prospects of being executed with a level and cool head, something that I frankly have never seen before outside of a battlefield.”

“I am flattered, Your Majesty,” Silquintis smiled.

“And once again delving deep into the depths of honesty, I am not altogether opposed to the idea of making you a royal consort. You are very attractive to me as well, and I likewise find you very fascinating. I wouldn’t mind getting to know you better in a romantic context. My only real concern is what Aria would think about that, I have committed myself to a relationship with her.”

“She won’t mind.” Silquintis announced, matter-of-factly, “Remember, I spoke with her at length while you were ****. She wants you to be happy, and if your happiness includes other romantic partners, she is content with that. It may also feed somewhat into her masochism, I’m pretty sure she would enjoy the experience of being cuckolded.”

“See? This is exactly what I mean. You haven’t even known Aria for a single day, and you already have such keen insight into how she is. That is an invaluable tool to me. So, it is my official declaration that from this day forward, you will be one of my royal consorts, my prime minister, and personal advisor.”

“Very well considered, my lord, indeed that will satisfy the vast majority of my fans, and the show of creativity and resourcefulness will go a long way for the general public as well. And while I assume Aria’s status as consort is a given, what of the former consort, Vexelda Helvaria?”

Fate felt that was a good question, she seemed pretty on board with the idea of being his consort, but he would rather hear it from Vexelda herself in an official capacity. There was a world of difference between flirting and making a statement. “I’d be more comfortable speaking with her about it before making any official decision.”

“Very wise, then I think you should come with me. There’s something I need to show you, and I think we’ll meet Vexelda along the way.”

Fate’s curiosity was piqued. It sounded important, and the fact that she only brought it up after having confirmation of his intention to lead meant it might have been some closely guarded secret. He nodded and stood up, following her out of the throne room. As soon as she encountered one of the skeletal guards, she told the creature to spread word about Fate’s decision to become the Dark King, and her own appointment to the position of Prime Minister and royal consort.

After that, she began to lead Fate through the winding passages and corridors of the castle, eventually coming to a set of stairs leading downward. The trip was quiet, and more than a little awkward, so he decided to strike up conversation.

“I’m glad you are satisfied with my decision regarding your future.”

“If I may be perfectly honest, I would have been satisfied with any decision.”

“Really? Even execution?”

“I’ve been around for a very long time, my lord. In that time, I have lived in the lap of luxury being waited on by a small army of servants. I have also lived to see the Dark King’s curse be lifted, a truly monumental occurrence. If I had died, I would have done so without any regrets. I might have been disappointed in your decision to do so, from a political perspective, but I believe you would have led this country to a much better future regardless.”

“Do you not have any ambitions or goals?”

“Living to see my father perish was the only thing resembling a goal I’ve ever had. Aside from that, what better ambition to have than a life of comfort? In the end, isn’t that what most people want?”

Fate thought about it, and he supposed that wasn’t too far from the truth. Even when he thought about how he was before slaying the Dark King, he would have been happiest living a comfortable life with Aria at his side, even if it was the life of a commoner. So, at the very least, this philosophy rang true for himself.

“You are very wise, Silquintis, I am glad to have made you my advisor.”

“Thank you, my lord, and since you’re to be my husband, you’re welcome to call me Silq,” she said, pronouncing the name like silk.

“Only if you agree to drop the ‘my lord’ nonsense and call me Fate,” Fate rebutted.

“That would hardly be proper,” Silquintis said and smiled.

“I don’t want you to be proper. If you’re to be my advisor I will need you to speak plainly and bluntly. That’s the sort of advice that has always gotten through my dense skull the best.”

“As you wish, I shall make an effort to be more direct with you, my Fate.”

Hearing her call him “my Fate” made the newly appointed king shiver with gooseflesh. It wasn’t a bad feeling; it was the result of a warm tingle sent through his body. It was a surprisingly cute and simultaneously clever nickname for her to give him.

By now they were walking through what appeared to be a very old part of the castle, a part that looked very seldomly traversed. Fate swore that a few of the armored skeletal guards had cobwebs extending from them to the walls. He supposed if you were the walking dead you didn’t need much rest, so rotating out guards wasn’t all that necessary.

After getting over the obvious horror of the idea of undead guards, Fate had to admit the idea was very solid. These were guards that could remain vigilant indefinitely and that didn’t need to eat or sleep. If he stripped away his own Syldonite preconceptions of necromancy, he couldn’t deny that undead were very practical in this role. It did make him curious about something.

“Who is the one who raised these undead guards?”

“These specific ones were raised by Hilda, the captain of the guard. She has learned necromantic magic to supplement her martial prowess and become something of a mystic warrior in the process. Most of the undead you’d find outside the castle were either created by our citizens or by the shamans of the northern folk.”

“That’s smart, having a legion of guards who are unerringly loyal to the captain of the guard must be a huge tactical boon.”

“Please feel free to inform me if I am stepping over some sort of boundary, but as I understand it, Syldon uses their religion to ensure loyalty to the kingdom. Is that right?” Silquintis asked, her expression one of genuine curiosity.

Fate was going to protest, mostly at how simplified the idea was, but the words were caught in his throat. He honestly couldn’t actually deny that claim very easily. It was true that the King of Syldon’s family line was blessed by Anterose, and therefore his position was considered divine providence. Loyalty to the king was just a proxy for loyalty to Anterose, in the end, as few would wish to defy the wishes of their patron deity.

“I suppose you’re right, but I think it’s a little oversimplified. And I wouldn’t go so far as to say Syldon uses religion to enforce loyalty, I think it just sort of happens that way.”

The former princess seemed to ponder this for a moment, “I can see that. I bring it up because I think you’ll find no such phenomenon in the Dark Kingdoms. Most of the common folk are not religious by choice, and the few that are don’t let their faith take priority over their own will. You will find that personal freedom is very important to these people.”

“And yet they followed a tyrannical ruler?” Fate asked.

“While it may seem counter-intuitive to the idea of tyranny, my father very rarely made any laws or declarations involving the general public. He was militaristic and **** to expand his influence, but once he had conquered someone, he largely left them alone. This was by no means on purpose; he simply didn’t care one way or the other about them. I should have mentioned this earlier, but I am actually the first prime minister this kingdom has had in centuries.”

“Oh,” Fate was a little surprised by this development.

“My father was simply more interested in the hatred his curse inspired in him. It just so happens there are a lot of people in this part of the world who are happy to be left alone by their governing body, even if it means they get no official support from it either.”

“A tyranny of neglect,” Fate mused, distantly.

“Very poetically put, I agree. But the kingdom has definitely suffered for it. Crime is rampant and many of the people don’t feel secure or safe even here in the capital. The whole reason there are undead guards in the hands of the citizens is because they have turned to necromancy in desperation. If the kingdom won’t protect them, they’ll try to protect themselves instead. Nearly every soldier is on the front-lines, almost nobody is here enforcing what few laws there are. We can discuss that more at length another time, though. For now, we’ve arrived.”

By this point, the environment had shifted dramatically. For a brief moment Fate wondered if he had left the castle entirely, because his current location seemed a lot more like an ancient temple than a palace. Strange and old symbols from a long-forgotten language dotted the walls in massive murals, cracked and faded with time. A stone altar stood at the end of the room, with a massive pair of metal doors behind it. Thankfully, the door was already opened, letting a single crack of strange, eerie red light spill out into the room.

“What is this place?” Fate asked, as the two of them crossed the massive chamber to the doors.

“The castle is built upon and around an ancient temple dedicated to a specific society of philosophers that are long-since dead. This castle, and subsequently this nation, was created by the first Dark King specifically to ensure that nobody would ever find this place and what it contains.”

Fate couldn’t help but swallow hard, “Is it really that bad?”

As they approached the extremely ominous door, which Fate could now see had thousands of small runes carved into the surface, Silquintis leveled a deadly serious gaze on him, “It is the source of the Dark King’s curse of hatred.”