Even though Giran’s brother had been one of Darling’s worst critics, he winced at what was most likely being done to both of them while Giran was here. A Caronese noble in League custody ranked right up there with Darling Cruel being held by the Resistance.

“Did you contact the League?” he asked Giran.

“I tried. But the agent I spoke to said that they were all considered radicals who are being held to secure the peace, and that so long as the League was here, they would remain in custody. She also intimated that if I persisted or protested, I’d be viewed as such and seized, too.”

Darling gave him a droll stare. “Did you not know this?”

Giran sniffed back his tears as he ignored Darling’s question. “My son was only there so that he could go home with my brother after the meeting and visit with his cousins. He’s barely fifteen, my lord. Just a baby.”

Darling ground his teeth. A kid that age wouldn’t do well in a League prison. Especially not with an uncle who most likely had never been in so much as a fistfight to protect himself…

Gods have mercy on that kid.

“I don’t understand why they did this. The League was supposed to help us.”

Darling wanted to ask him what form of hallucinogen he’d consumed. Please tell me you’re on something. The thought that he’d be sober and do this…

Honestly, it had to hurt to be that stupid.

Giran cleared his throat. “Did you know that when the League is invited in by the ruling body of a planet or empire, they are allowed to take over all facets of the government, and place all of the reigning aristocracy, not just the ruler, in League prisons?”

Again, no shit…

“Yes, I did. What? Did you sleep through your government classes?”

Giran raked his hand through his hair. “There were so many laws to read and remember. And they were ever changing. I never could keep half of them straight. And honestly, they were so boring that I usually cheated to pass the classes.”

Darling let out a short, bitter laugh. “Yes, they were extremely dry and boring, and in between my sucking off thousands of men, stealing the money from our treasury and embezzling funds from the pleb schools, getting shanked and filmed every afternoon by Nylan, all my stints in and out of mental wards where I, as a boy your son’s age, beat the staff to the point they were all terrified of me, and raping and brainwashing the Resistance leader I’m only marrying for political reasons, I committed every single one of those laws, our laws and my father’s code, to memory. And in between my numerous extracurricular activities, superhuman that I am, I’ve kept up with every change to every law that has been made in my lifetime.”

Shame filled Giran’s eyes over Darling’s sarcastic reminder of what he and his brother had been publicly alleging every time a news camera came near them. “I’m so sorry I said those things about you, Majesty. It… I was wrong to do so, and I apologize deeply.”