A Kiss of Fire (A Kiss of Magic #2)(19)
“Yes Raja,” Lindo said, injecting the amount of required respect into his tone. “I only meant…should something happen to you before those sons are born, we would be left under the rule of Raj Vich. The very thought of it makes me shudder. And Vich will not sit idly by while you take steps toward eliminating him from the succession. By bringing her here like this, you have endangered her very life.”
“I will protect her. Vich does not dare touch her. He knows that if something happened to her I would suspect him first. And I would remove him from succession the hard way. I would have done so already if not for the war.”
“We have had peace now for two autumns.”
“I am aware of this,” Sin said. “What is your point?”
“My point is it is not so easy to kill a brother, no matter what the headache he gives you.”
“It is a headache I can manage at present. But any attempt on my life or the lives of those dear to me would change things quite dramatically. He knows that.” Sin shrugged. “Besides, who can plot against me that you cannot hear their thoughts?”
“I can hear your brother’s thoughts…but he schools them quite firmly when he is in my presence. Any plotting he does he does it out of my sight and hearing. I have never known anyone with such control over their thoughts and impulses. He is a force to be reckoned with, Sin. Do not underestimate him.”
“Believe me, I do not underestimate my brother. He openly opposes me every chance he gets. He makes no secret of it when he disagrees with me. And he disagrees with me just for the joy of contending with me. If I say black, he says white. If I say it is cold, he says it is hot…whether it is or is not.”
“But you—“
“Brother! There you are!”
Lindo surged to his feet as the object of their discussion conveniently walked in the door with a sweep of presence. The prince was a good six inches shorter than his brother, but it was easy to see the family resemblance in their faces and similar coloring. They both were fit of form and wide of shoulder. They both boasted the same blade of a nose and sculpture of lips. However, Raj Vich’s eyes were set closer together and their brown was far lighter than Raja Sin’s nearly black irises. In fact, they were so light they seemed an almost golden beige in color. They were quite unnerving to look into, even if you didn’t know of the cunning mind behind them.
“Brother,” Sin greeted without getting to his feet. Without even looking away from his glass which had suddenly grown interesting again. “How went things while I was away?”
“Quite well. There were no troubles of note.”
“Of note? But there were troubles?”
“Merely some land disputes,” the other man said with a shrug. He walked into the room and into Sin’s eye line. “The usual nonsense.”
“We have opened the frontier to whomever wishes to stake a claim and settle upon it. Of all things, dispute of land should not be occurring.”
“There are those who don’t respect that which is already staked by another.”
“And you mediated these arguments?”
“I did indeed. And a small matter developed at one of the mines.”
Sin raised a brow and finally looked up at his brother. “Which mine?”
“The Golan Reserve.”
“That is a very large gold mine. No matter is small where the production of gold is involved.”
“This is true. The workers were threatening to walk away. Apparently they feel they are being poorly treated.”
“That is not a small matter. It is a very serious one,” Sin said with a dark frown of disapproval. “In what way are they being mistreated?”
“Oh, they complain that the work days are too long…that they do not get enough breaks in the middle of the work day in which to catch their breath. But you know as well as I do that any mine that does not reach its quota—“
“Did you give them what they wanted?”
“Why…no! We cannot be held hostage by a few disgruntled laborers. I told the foremen to dismiss any of the malcontents.”
Sin’s frown deepened. “The effort it will take to replace those workers lost will slow down production of the mine just as much as having those people walk off the job would. The better choice would have been to shorten the day by and hour or give them an hour rest at midday. Lindo, see that those dismissed are returned to their jobs. I'm sure they will return as they have families to feed. Then instruct the foreman to provide an hour rest for the men at midday.”
“If you give in to one mine’s demands news of it will reach the others. Your quotas will be destroyed.”
“Then the quotas must change.”
“But we have trade needs to be met!”
“I am aware of that. I am aware this act will send ripples throughout our entire economy. But better a ripple than a wave. A wave is what we’ll get if the workers walk out of the mines in force.”
“They wouldn’t do that! They need to feed their families, as you just said!”
“The land act we have instituted that allows anyone to make a claim on fresh land will provide any family with new means to provide for themselves. Maybe not this winter, but definitely come spring.”
“I never agreed with this land claim idea. Free land! When we paid so dearly for it…and will continue to pay for it every autumn in our tithe to the Sarens. A bad choice brother, to not buy the land outright.”