Regis made sure his own voice was under steady control. “I should as soon ask you, my brother, what youmean by defying custom in claiming the throne no Hastur has wanted for generations. I might inquire whether you feel yourself more worthy than Grandfather,” or myself, for that matter,“or what sudden and overpowering need our people have for a king. But none of these questions will accomplish anything except to widen the rift between us.”
“If there is a rift,” Rinaldo said tightly, “it is yourdoing. You promised to advise me, and then you vanished! My agents could not find you anywhere! Where did you go? With whom did you meet?”
His eyes narrowed. “What exactly were you up to?”
Regis had never before heard such naked hostility in his brother’s voice. “Let us sit down and discuss matters like civilized men.”
Trying to appear more calm than he felt, Regis walked over to the two chairs before the hearth, thus drawing Rinaldo away from the desk. There was no point in placing such an imposing piece of furniture between them; it would only serve to heighten the antagonism.
Rinaldo hesitated for a moment, then threw himself into one of the chairs. He was clearly angry at having lost the initiative.
Regis moved into the breach. “I was attending to necessary family business, if you must know. Am I not free to do so? Or do you intend to take care of our entire Domain single-handedly?”
When Rinaldo glared at him, Regis shifted to a more conciliatory tone. “You trust me enough to ask for my advice. Can you not trust me to handle my own affairs and fulfill my other responsibilities?”
Rinaldo had the grace to look abashed. “I was wrong to be angry when I did not understand. I had thought—erroneously, I see—you would be by my side. Everyone said it was an insult that you did not attend my coronation.”
“I am here now, and we have much to discuss. How did it come about that you are now king? What crisis required such a drastic step?”
Not to mention usurping the old faith with a relatively minor sect and then demanding conversion as proof of loyalty?
“If you are going to lecture me on how change takes time, save your breath!” Rinaldo snapped. “I have already heard more of such nonsense than I can stomach. I have been charged with the spiritual welfare of our people. The rightness of my calling has been verified by miracles—or do you think an emmascasiring a son is an event that happens every day?”
“That is indeed an extraordinary thing,” Regis admitted, choosing his words with care, “but not one that requires a supernatural explanation.”
Rinaldo leaned forward, his face alight with the fervor Regis had come to know. “I had been granted worldly power, but I needed more of it to fulfill my mission. We Hasturs are the most powerful Domain on Darkover. Men listen when we speak, and our word is accepted as an oath. At first, I thought that prestige was enough, but I was wrong. The very people I have been sent to succor refused to alter their vile practices. All my pleas and exhortations could not reach them.”
“You have been Head of Hastur for only a short time,” Regis pointed out. “Even Grandfather could not sway tradition in a single season. A better strategy might be to lead by example, by attraction rather than by force.”
Rinaldo responded with a dismissive gesture. “That is all very well when debating women’s fashions or the mode in musical entertainments. It is criminally negligent when men’s souls are at stake! Who knows how many have already died in sin, condemned to eternal torment, when quicker action on my part might have saved them?”
Regis was startled into momentary silence, although upon reflection, what had Rinaldo said that did not follow from everything that had gone before?
“How can you hold yourself responsible for the fate of all men?” Regis asked incredulously. “Is not each free to choose as his conscience dictates?”
Rinaldo replied, as if this were the most reasonable thing in the world, “Why else have I been placed in a position of authority over so many?”
Regis thought bitterly that the real reason Rinaldo had been given such power was that he, Regis, had so readily relinquished it. He wrenched his own thoughts back to the present problem. With those sentiments and ambitions, Rinaldo would naturally seek the means to compel what he could not persuade.
“It is a very serious matter to assume a crown,” Regis said. “Long ago, wiser men than you and I decided that the best way to influence the course of history was by wise counsel and restraint, by inspiration instead of command.”
“They must have been fools! No, no, of course not. They were men without divine purpose. They could afford to work subtly. I have not the luxury of such patience. I see you do not approve, my brother, just because you yourself would never take such a bold step.”
“If—” Regis began.
“If you had been here, and if you had counseled me otherwise, my decision would have been the same. Come, do not look so grim. A coronation is not a funeral! Think of the good we can accomplish!”
Regis thought of Javanne, half out of her mind, of Gabriel thrust from the office he had held so honorably for so long. Of Ariel, torn from her mother. Of Linnea, begging him to take Kierestelli to safety. Of Danilo . . .
“Power cannot coerce good will,” Regis declared, “nor can bad means serve good objectives. That is the lesson we have learned in our long and bloody history from the Ages of Chaos.”
“Ah! This is why I need you here to advise me, to be sure that I use the power of the crown in a worthy manner. I know what I am called to accomplish. I have been given the means. All I lack is guidance as to prudent yet effective methods.”
Regis bit back a caustic reply. He should take his own advice: Persuade, reason, shift gradually . . . do not provoke a man so set in his opinion by outright confrontation.
“Your goals are noble indeed,” he said slowly, “and there is no question that you now have the power to do much good. You have spent the better part of your life among men of faith and discipline, so of course you are disappointed in the failings of those who have not had such benefits.”
Rinaldo nodded, the tension in his features lightening.
“I suspect that men are more stubborn about their faith than almost anything else, even their choice of wives.” Regis kept his tone easy. “They will fight for their religion when they will fight for nothing else. I believe the Federation worlds have strict laws against the imposition of one faith over another.”
“Yes, that much is true.” Rinaldo looked thoughtful. “Lady Luminosa said as much. Even when the One True Faith is reviled, it is never proscribed.”
“It would be a terrible thing,” Regis suggested, “if its followers were forced to turn against their own consciences and worship false gods.”
Rinaldo nodded agreement.
“That being the case,” Regis went on in the same tone, “might not men of other faiths feel the same way? Most of our people know little or nothing of cristoforoways. Who knows what lies they may have been taught? Surely, once the truth is known, and the virtues of the faith have been demonstrated to them, they will eagerly embrace it.”
And if they did not, Regis would have bought time to soften his brother’s stance.
Rinaldo expelled a sigh, half frustration, half resignation. “I suppose you are right. But I cannot allow anyone of prominence in my court to follow any other religion. How could I trust their counsel? How could I be sure they were not under the influence of demons masquerading as this absurd pantheon?”
“How can any man be sure of any other?” Regis returned, thinking of all the betrayals and shifting alliances in his life. If a man behaved honorably, did it matter which god he answered to? He already knew what Rinaldo would say to that.
For a moment, the two brothers fell silent. Regis debated whether to press the issue or let it go, resting with what he had already achieved. The next opportunity for moderation might come slowly, in its own time, but it would surely come. Briefly, he considered bringing the conversation to a close with whatever cordiality might be expressed.