Extras

View Lyvia's Secret Document:

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(Below is Lyvia's unedited musings about succession. Most of this information is in chapters 7 and 8, but I'm including it for context.)

*****

Lyvia leaned back over the pages, covered in her own neatly handwritten notes, the more potentially damning or incriminating thoughts carefully encoded. Even her handwriting wasn't her normal style. In the event the document was discovered, and there really was no reason it should, it would be all but impossible to prove a connection back to her.

The document contained little new information, especially about those members of the extended family who were still living. On one hand, this was good news; no hitherto unknown scions or branches of the tree to stand as extra steps along the path. On the other hand, neither has it revealed any new opportunities or avenues of attack at the problem.

The most major new discovery was the connection to the Frandrens. They were not a family of particular note, and what little she knew of them she had learnt via Cheribelle, a fellow dancer in the Luthadel scene. Lyvia had not been aware they were actually second cousins. There wasn't any obvious way this knowledge could be used to an advantage, others than as forewarning against the potential threat. The entire Frandren family were right behind Lyvia in succession, and anything that brought her closer to inheriting brought them closer also.

Lyvia shook her head. She was keenly motivated and exceedingly capable, and even she was balking at the idea of somehow disposing of seven people ahead of her. Anyone further down the line of succession would have to be crazy or stupid to have aim on House Donnelle. Still, it's not like stupidity or insanity was in short supply.

If her suspicions were correct, it wouldn't even be the first time it had occurred in the Donnelle family tree. Rovert Donnelle gave every indication of having arranged the deaths of his father and at least two of his siblings to claim the title, and they probably weren't the only ones to have met with an untimely end.

That was the obvious path for someone with few enough scruples to pursue it. Murder, assassination, carefully arranged accidents… The more obvious the foul play, the more the finger of evidence would point at her. Even if fall guys and patsies could be found to take the blame, even if deaths were made to look like accidents, the sheer number needed would itself be suspicious. Perhaps a plague might be considered innocuous enough for the public to buy, but there would be a limit on how many targets could be brought together at once…

What then were the alternatives? Faking deaths was a more merciful option than actual death, but would not help with public perception of the matter. Exile was little better, and muddied the waters regarding inheritance if there was a possibility they might return.

There were other disqualifying factors that could prevent someone from inheriting the House Title. Imprisonment, if for a suitably serious charge, would make one ineligible to hold noble title. Though it may be a narrow path to thread. It would need to be a serious enough crime without being so egregious as to warrant execution instead. Everyone involved was a Noble, which would grant them some leniency. The legal system would never take the trouble of life imprisonment for a Skaa when execution was so much simpler.

Insanity had, in the past, exempted nobles from being trusted with the power of their House. So long as it was sufficiently pronounced. There was no formal process, it was just quietly understood by everyone that for the benefit of the House, the next in line would take control. That did make this a political move as well… If too many prominent house members objected, it wouldn't happen. Lyvia pondered for a moment if it would be easier to fake a case of insanity in someone well enough to pull off such a thing, or to actually drive someone crazy. Neither sounded particularly neat, but sometimes a messy plan was acceptable so long as it was successful.

Lyvia closed her eyes again and pinched the bridge of her nose. It was so easy to get wrapped up in finding solutions to problems that one could forget that these weren't just obstacles or targets, these were people. People who, for the most part, had done her no wrong, and almost certainly didn't deserve to be killed, imprisoned or exiled. Was she really considering leaving someone alive but driving them insane a "merciful" option? Did even Tanniker deserve that fate?

Maybe she didn't need to deal with the individuals at all. Maybe there was a political solution, some sort of coup could cut through the entire matter. Get enough powerful people on side with Lyvia becoming the head of House Donnelle, and it wouldn't matter if the others in line would object, their opinion wouldn't matter if they didn't have the power to enforce it. The trouble was that within the house the most powerful people were the very ones in line to inherit. There were other figures on the sidelines who might support Lyvia's ascension, but it might be hard to convince anyone to act against their own interests.

As for power outside the house… a military takeover would draw a lot of unwanted attention, and questions about the legitimacy of her taking control. And that was assuming they could pull off a bloodless coup, if there was resistance, it could end up as an unthinkable bloodbath. Plus it would invite those with more military force to exact their own takeover, if that were an acceptable way of taking power.

…If the Lord Ruler himself could be convinced to intervene, then almost anything was possible, and none but the most foolhardy would dare to object. A simple uncomplicated plan with no downsides other than the insurmountable task of somehow getting the Lord Ruler to take a personal interest in such matters.

Lyvia sighed. If anything, trying to jump straight to taking power seemed even worse than trying to take out individuals. If only she could convince each of them to just step aside for her. There were rules for abdication in place. While a House Lord couldn't just name their own successor in defiance of the rules of succession, they were at liberty to renounce their own claim on the title and allow it to pass to the next in line. It was possible that not everyone ahead of her was interested in ruling House Donnelle anyway.

Mother, to begin with. She would be most out of her depth trying to rule a Great house of Luthadel. Whether it was made official through abdication, or just having Lyvia serve as a regent, it would be Lyvia who would be making the decisions, and they wouldn't need to make any secret about it.

Lyvia traced her finger back along the family tree, considered each ot the others in line to inherit in turn.

Uncle Garven and cousin Milen… Lyvia had met them a couple of times, but wasn't particularly close. They had their own title in House Hordreau, but it was a sadly diminished entity from its heyday. Uncle Garven had found much more success professionally with his architectural work as a partner for Hordreau, Hordreau, Argent and Smythe. His wife would no doubt be eager to access the fortunes of House Donnelle, but would either Garven or Milen be that interested in the demands of running a Great House? Or capable of such a thing even if they tried? Perhaps they could be bought off, happier with a small fortune without strings attached than a great fortune with an abundance of strings.

Hyden Byrod probably had no interest in becoming a House Lord right now. That probably didn't matter though, since at only 12 years old, it would be a number of years before he would do any ruling himself were he to inherit. The question then would be who would actually do the ruling if he were to ascend? His father? His grandfather? Someone else entirely who might somehow maneuver themselves into the rule of regent? Might Lyvia herself try such a thing? The boy himself would probably not be the issue, unless matters dragged out so long that he came of age. It's whoever saw the opportunity to act in his name.

Lyvia felt a pang of heartbreak for the boy, for the entire family. To lose so many so young… It was a tragedy.

That then brought it back to the three Donnelle siblings. In reverse order, Portisha was a spoiled brat, and an airhead who could too easily become enamored by honeyed words delivered by a suitably handsome face. She was already drawing interest from men more concerned in what a relationship with a high placed noblewoman could do for them than any care for her as a person. If it looked like she would inherit, then the jackals would swarm all the more eagerly. It would hardly matter how Portisha would conduct herself as the head of house Donnelle… within months at the most she would have been swept off her feet by some lothario who would then be the one with control of the reins. Ha, the reigns! If control of the house itself were all that mattered, Lyvia might consider sponsoring such a suitor herself, provided she had some means to keep him willing to take instructions. But she was tired of working from the shadows and operating through others. As a temporary step, perhaps, but not as a final goal.

Maybe instead Portisha could be lured away by some suitor that would make her uninterested in House Slowswift. It was hard to think what kind of man could turn Portisha's head without any designs on House Donnelle of his own. Perhaps someone with a ranch out in the countryside with plenty of horses, far away from Luthadel…

Then there was Cymon. Above all else, Cymon was what stayed her hand from disposing of Tanniker immediately. Tanniker was a fool who thought himself shrewd, who was slowly bleeding the house dry through his misjudged business decisions.

But Cymon was a loutish, boorish, detestable drunk, a shameless letch and philandering womanizer, a gambling addict with a losing streak and an impulsive wastrel. Their father Tyden had Cymon on a strict allowance to limit the damage he could do, a practice Tanniker had continued. Cymon squandered what he was given, and then ran up debts all over Luthadel to the point that he could scarcely dare step foot in the city for more than a couple of days at a time lest his creditors catch up with him.

There were other potential successors who might do damage to House Donnelle, or be hard to remove once in place. But if Cymon got unfettered access to the house coffers, there wouldn't be anything left of the house's fortune or its good name to be worth ruling.

Lyvia leaned back to take in the whole of the document once more. Running through the successors one by one did make the task less imposing than it had initially appeared. Of the seven successors, only six were a real obstacle, and maybe half of those might be amenable to more gentle persuasion.

One blessing was that none of them were in a position to have any additional heirs in the near future. In fact the only couple of child bearing age was… herself and Tanniker.

It was hard to avoid thoughts of Lyvia's plans for a family together. She and Tanniker would have been a power couple in Luthadel politics, and raised their children to be righteous successors, taught from their youth to prepare them to take over the house affairs and expand their influence, to go forth and make bold choices, to live happy and prosperous lives, to make the world a better place. They could have been a dynasty… Now the idea of bringing a child into the world with that man was repellant to her.

It would be a potentially simple solution…

According to the rules of succession, the child would be first in line. It would be only natural for Lyvia to be their regent until they were old enough to take over the rule of the house themselves. Everything else would be moot… Cymon would continue to live on the pittance he was permitted, Portisha could marry whoever she pleased, the rest could do what they weill and it wouldn't matter at all. Lyvia and her child would rule. But even if Lyvia could bring herself to bear Tanniker's child, she couldn't countenance using her child as a political pawn that way.

No, she would have to forget about children for now. Perhaps one day she would find a man who was everything that Tanniker should have been… perhaps then… you never knew what the future would bring.

And that was the most important thing of all to remember. This diagram was not the board, fixed and unmoving. You never knew what move another might make that could shake things up completely. This was a painting, a captured moment in time of what things were. But there were endless possibilities for what could be. It wasn't about having a plan. It was about having contingencies. You might not know everything that would happen, but you could put pieces in place ready to capitalize on new opportunities.

Lyvia carefully rolled up the scroll and slipped the ribbon back over the tube. The information it contained did present a challenge, but also a host of opportunities. She would need to learn more before she was ready to make a major move. But there were plenty of places to start.

She could do this. She knew it!