'A quarter.' The cripple licked at his empty gums with a faint sucking sound. 'From each one of you.'

'This will not stand!' shouted an angry old man in the front row.

'You think not, Lord Isher?' Bayaz only smiled at him. 'Those who do not think so may join Lord Brock in dusty exile, and surrender all their lands to the crown instead of just a portion.'

'This is an outrage!' shouted another man. 'Always, the king has been first among equals, the greatest of nobles, not above them. Our votes brought him to the throne, and we refuse—'

'You dance close to a line, Lord Heugen.' The cripple's face twitched with ugly spasms as he frowned across the room. 'You might wish to remain on that side of it, where it is safe, and warm, and loyal. The other side will not suit you so well, I think.' A long tear ran from his flickering left eye and down his hollow cheek. 'The Surveyor General will be assessing your estates over the coming months. It would be wise for you all to lend him your fullest assistance.'

A lot of men were on their feet now, scowling, shaking fists. 'This is outrageous!'

'Unprecedented!'

'Unacceptable!'

'We refuse to be intimidated!'

Jezal sprang from his throne, raising his jewelled sword high, and struck at the platform again and again with the end of the scabbard, filling the room with booming echoes. 'I am the king!' he bellowed at the suddenly silent chamber. 'I am not offering a choice, I am issuing a royal decree! Adua will be rebuilt, and more glorious than ever! This is the price! You have grown too used to a weak crown, my Lords! Believe me when I say that those days are now behind us!'

Bayaz leaned sideways to mutter in Logen's ear. 'Surprisingly good at this, isn't he?'

The Lords grumbled, but they sat back down as Jezal spoke on, voice washing around the room with easy confidence, sheathed sword still held firmly in one fist. 'Those who lent me their wholehearted support in the recent crisis will be exempt. But that list, to your shame, is all too brief. Why, it was friends from outside the borders of the Union who sustained us in our time of need!'

The man in black swept from his chair. 'I, Orso of Talins, stand always at the side of my royal son and daughter!' He seized Jezal's face and kissed both his cheeks. Then he did the same with the queen. 'Their friends are my friends.' He said it with a smile, but the meaning was hard to miss. 'Their enemies? Ah! You all are clever men. You can guess the rest.'