Chapter 20: Four Chains

The Charter was signed in the great hall of the Lake Palace, on a table set where Mariam's chair had been.

Ren read the clauses aloud so that every court could hear them.

No pledge-husbands from any kingdom, ever again.

No garrison in a foreign capital.

Any king could open any chain, and no law could bind a man to a bed.

The old queens nodded, one after another.

The elder from the South wept openly.

Ryu signed first, in blunt black strokes.

Su Ming signed with a flourish and a wink at the room.

Ken pressed his thumb in the ink and left a print as big as a coin.

Then they all turned to Ren, who held the pen and found his hand was shaking.

"There's a gap," said Su Ming, quite gently. "At the bottom of the page. Do you see?"

Ren looked.

At the foot of the Charter was a space for a fifth line, labeled High Seat.

"It's empty," he said.

"It's yours."

"No."

He said it quickly, and the hall went still.

"I came to give power away," he said. "Not to take a bigger crown. Put the line out of the Charter. Let the four of us be equals."

"Four crowns can't govern one road," said the old queen in the third row. "You know that, boy. Every kingdom here has bled for it."

"Then choose someone else."

"We have," said Ryu.

He rose.

Then Su Ming rose.

Then Ken, who had to be elbowed.

Together, in front of the whole hall, the three kings knelt on the stone before Ren.

"You gave us the keys," Ryu said. "You could have kept them. You could have used the Pledge and the seal, and you gave them up in an afternoon."

"A man who does that is the only man safe to hold the high seat," Su Ming said.

"And if you go bad," Ken said, with a nasty grin, "we've got the keys to your chain. All three of us. We can put you down."

"That's the Charter," said Ryu. "The High King answers to the three who knelt."

Ren stood with the pen in his hand, speechless.

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