“You look like you have faced rejection more times than you want to admit.” Braydon could not help but say it. As he walked into the study, He had been greeted by the sight of the King with his head in his hands letting out a sigh. And if the past few days had been anything to go from, then he knew why.

“Like you would not believe.” Aled could only let out a further sigh. He had known that it was going to be hard to convince many people but to the extent that he had faced?

“How many actually said yes? And do not think you can get away with saying one when you just mean me.” Braydon knew that it would be far easier to count the number of lords that had agreed to the King’s proposal than those that had rejected it out of hand. Hence the little jab at the end. And from the lack of delay between his question and the response, he knew he was right.

“There were quite a few barons, even an earl.” When he heard that an earl had agreed Braydon raised an eyebrow, thinking that it was odd that someone of such high standing would agree. ‘Wait a moment…’

“It was Ethan wasn't it?” Having not called him by his title in several weeks at this point, Braydon had almost forgotten that Ethan was still Earl Fornton. When he thought of it like that, it was not as surprising that an earl had agreed. Ethan was one of the King’s biggest supporters in normal times, of course he would be one of the first to agree to his proposal. That did not mean that others would follow suit though, as was evident from the King’s demeanour.

“Yes and unfortunately, despite his station, it has not influenced many other lords to also agree.” Aled was happy that at least some lords had accepted his proposal. If it were only Braydon and Ethan, it would truly have been dead in the water. But since there were a number of barons who had already agreed, it was not hopeless to try and convince others.

As an earl, Ethan would normally have more influence than he did among the other lords but there were a few problems. First, that the majority of the lords that had now relayed to the King’s banner were neutral lords from the north east and not in Ethan’s natural sphere of influence to begin with. There was also the fact that despite having been an earl for almost a decade, most of his time had been spent on rebuilding the mess that he had inherited. That was time that he had not spent widening his social circle or doing others favours.

In terms of influence, besides the King, in the royal faction nobody could compare to Cinar. He may have suffered quite a bit in recent years at the hands of Earl Blake after losing a sizable portion of his land in the Leighian War, but he had been in his position for many years before then. Cinar was very popular with the lords of the royal faction, and Braydon could see why after spending time with him. He was really hard to dislike. Even as his power declined, Cinar kept many noble friends, inside and outside of the royal faction. Upon thinking about this, Braydon thought of something.

“Have you asked Cinar about it?” It made sense. Cinar was a very popular man. If he weighed in favour of the proposal, even if there was not a majority of lords who would agree there would be a lot more than there was before.

“He still has not come back from your castle. Are you sure that it is not a labyrinth?” King Aled shook his head, he had already thought of doing that. The problem was that Cinar was not in Mapjess. And just getting a letter saying that Cinar approved of the proposal would not have anywhere near the effect of him saying it in a meeting.

“Then should I have someone go and call him back? If he still has more catching up to do with Nela, I am sure that he will find time to go back and see her. Better yet if she came here, I am sure that Lani would love to see her.” Braydon conveniently forgot about considering if Nela had any outstanding work to do. Even if it was important, it could not be as important as preparing to fight for control of the country.

“Oh, there is one person that I had forgotten to ask! I have had my men go through the inn and army camps asking for lord’s opinions, but forgot that there were people actually staying here.” Other than himself, and Braydon and Ethan whom he saw regularly, Lani was also staying in the lord’s mansion. And she was also a countess, if he could get her approval there might be at least some people who changed their minds. Aled knew that it might be wishful thinking, Lani had even less influence on most of the nobility than Ethan, but it was still worth a try.

“Is there something that you need me for?” Speak of the devil and he shall appear, or in this case she. Just as the King finished speaking, Lani opened the door to the study. She had been fairly quiet for the past few days. Lani had been seen out and about but nobody knew if she were doing something or just taking a stroll.

She had been accompanied by a knight that Braydon still could not tell if he was leader of the mercenaries that she hired or actually one of her knights. The knight in question only accompanied her when she went out, but was very big and looked like he could take on multiple other knights at once. Hence why there were very few that had approached her of their own volition.

“You might want to take a seat, his majesty’s idea might take a while to explain.” Braydon said before the King could start talking. He knew that once Aled started he would likely forget to offer Lani a seat. When the proposal had been explained to him in full, he had hobbled away with cramped legs, having been stood still for far longer than he should have been.

“Er, yes that might be a good idea.” Aled looked away with an awkward look, it had been one time but he knew that this was not the moment to argue with one of his subjects over something so petty.

“Then I shall. Now go on, I am all ears.” Lani took a seat with perfect manners before turning to the King, listening attentively.