His next visit, that meeting had made clear, would have to be to the Prime Minister. Jacob Cornell had been leader of the King's Party for a decade without large scandal or controversy. He had overseen, and supported, things remaining largely the same. Lord Blackthorn thought him a dull man, but sometimes dull was what was necessary. And he was willing enough to cooperate on the important matters.

This was most definitely an important matter. The Prime Minister wasn't meeting with traditionalists or with the major players in his own party when Lord Blackthorn reached his office. Instead he was sitting alone, staring at papers which presumably detailed the current state of matters.

"Lord Blackthorn," said the Prime Minister, glancing up as he entered. He'd long since given up protesting against the other man's habit of entering without asking permission or being announced. It was surprising how much you could tell about people from how they reacted to that sort of thing. "I know you prefer coalition with the PHP, but you have to understand that Watson – "

"Of course. Twenty minutes ago I would have suggested demanding Watson's resignation as condition for such a coalition."

"That might work," the Prime Minister mused. It took him a full ten seconds to notice Lord Blackthorn's phrasing and ask "What changed?"

"Carling is attempting to persuade unelected seats to defect to the Reformists."

"Stars, she's what?"

Another thing about Cornell: he was rigidly conventional to a fault and thus easily shocked and outmanoeuvred by those who were not. Lord Blackthorn supressed a sigh. "You heard me," he said, and then decided to save time by pre-empting the next few questions. "She's already secured the support of Cavendish. I'd say she can get at most ten, but…"

"Ten would be enough," the Prime Minister agreed grimly. "Should I ask where you got this information?"

"By talking to her, of course."

"She didn't try to recruit you? Then again, that alliance might work out well for you when you make your bid for the throne, actually." He laughed, but it seemed forced. Lord Blackthorn thought people like Cornell made that sort of joke because they genuinely feared he might do it.

Which went to show how little they understood him. Seizing the throne was also something that could not be done without provoking civil war. "Oh, she tried to recruit me," he replied easily, ignoring the joke. "You can judge the outcome of that by the fact I am here now."

"I wouldn't put it past you to stroll in here and proclaim yourself the agent of my doom. But I will assume you are not, at least not yet."

"Indeed," said Lord Blackthorn, and let the silence linger.

"So, then. The Traditional Protectionists. That will give us a majority, and I have no doubt of His Majesty's support for it. And I must move quickly, I suppose?"

"Unless you want enough unelected seats to defect that you'll lose that majority, yes."

There was a hammering on the door of the Prime Minister's office. Cornell glanced at Lord Blackthorn, who remained still and silent, and then got to his feet and opened the door to reveal a frazzled-looking young aide who outright flinched at the sight of Lord Blackthorn.

"Prime Minister," he said, gasping for breath. "Lord Blackthorn. Lady Cavendish has just made a statement that she is defecting to the United Reformists, effective immediately."

"As expected," Lord Blackthorn said. "Well, I shan't take up any more of your time." He swept out without another word. Cornell's reaction was too predictable to be worth observing, and he would do what was necessary to prevent Carling's plan from succeeding.

The time was ten and four. The King's Council would meet at noon, though he ought to be half an hour early to make his presence known, and it would be wise to eat beforehand since this meeting might well be a long one. That still left him with an hour and twenty minutes.

He'd check back with Edgar to make sure no new crises had materialised during his two meetings, update himself on the state of the protests outside, and then… he should probably meet with Watson, he supposed, much as he would rather focus on any one of a thousand other things. The man had nothing useful to offer now, but he still had the potential to cause problems if left unchecked.

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Edgar reported no new crises, since Cavendish's defection was nothing new. He read her statement anyway; it was a short piece, not too badly written. Rasin needs change, it said, and I now believe the United Reformists are best placed to provide that change. Lord Blackthorn laughed to himself: that girl didn't have a Reformist bone in her body. She and Carling had little more than an alliance of temporary convenience. If Carling's plan succeeded, though, her majority would be so slim that every vote would be crucial. Which would grant someone like Mildred Cavendish a great deal of influence.

He could do more to prevent it, he thought, as he paced through the halls towards the nearest room with a view of the Central Ring. Calling in favours, using scraps of leverage, he could prevent at least two defections. Possibly up to four; some were harder to predict than others, and time was a limiting factor. That would almost certainly put a stop to the plan.

But he believed it would more likely than not fail regardless. And using those favours and leverage would come at a cost; it took away resources for the next crisis, and would ruin chances of future cooperation with at least one seat-holder for good. The consequences of being wrong about this, though, the horrifically unstable government that would follow… it hardly bore thinking about, but it was his job and his duty and his purpose to think about it.

Carling could be reasoned with. Carling was pragmatic. Carling might just be very capable indeed. He'd take the chance that if she succeeded, she was good enough to turn what followed into something other than an unmitigated disaster.

It took him two minutes to reach the room he had in mind, and he found he was not alone. A tall, thin woman wrapped in a dark coat was staring out of the window. It took Lord Blackthorn a moment to place her: Charlotte Fox, deputy leader of the People's Heritage Party.

She started as the door swung shut behind him, but didn't flinch when she saw who he was. "Lord Blackthorn," she said, dipping her head respectfully. "I have called for a motion of no confidence in Watson's leadership."

Which would begin the process of removing him from his position as leader of the PHP. He knew Fox had a good working relationship with her leader, even to the point of considering him a friend. This was a betrayal. Political necessity above personal feelings. Lord Blackthorn could respect that. "When will the vote take place?"

"Eleven."

"And the leadership elections?"

"You're assuming the motion passes."

Lord Blackthorn didn't dignify that with a response; of course the motion would pass.

"As soon as practical. The party will have a new leader within three days."

"That will be too late, if you want to be part of the new government."

"Carling's scheme," Fox said, a trace of bitterness in her voice. "And so it will be the Traditional Protectionists, then?"

"Unless your party has a new leader within the next few hours."

"Unless Watson stands down. And hands me the leadership." Unless a man infamous for political grudge-holding handed the leadership to a woman who'd just betrayed him. Fox had very little hope. It hadn't been a bad decision, to publicly distance herself from Watson and his scandal, but that was before Carling gave them a time limit.

Lord Blackthorn considered for a moment. Fox was competent enough, and her party a more appealing option than the alternatives. It was worth a try. "Watson has asked to speak to me."

Fox narrowed her eyes. She knew what it meant when Lord Blackthorn mentioned something like that. "What do you want?" she asked, not bothering to spell things out explicitly.

"I want a stable government. You happen to be useful in forming that."

"No strings? No favours?"

He took another moment to think. "No strings. No favours." Her owing him a favour for this would be useful, but not as useful as her not resenting and being wary of him. This way, perhaps he could persuade her to do more than one thing he wanted.

"You'll forgive me for being somewhat sceptical of that."

"Of course." He stepped towards the window for his initial purpose of observing the protest.

"You're here to keep an eye on this protest, I suppose?"

"Yes. I'm surprised you're here instead of drumming up support for your leadership campaign."

Fox sighed. "I just… needed to be here. To see what's happening to the country. To see what my choices have wrought."

At least some understanding of the bigger picture beyond these political games. He approved. This was definitely a useful ally.

The protest looked under control. The Central Ring was packed with people, and he could dimly hear chants of Reformist slogans, but the crowd wasn't moving as if it were about to erupt into violence. He'd trust the people he had keeping an eye on it to alert him if that changed; he was procrastinating on the meeting with Watson.

He allowed himself another ten seconds of staring at the square before turning and sweeping out of the room.

Stars, he hated Watson. Not only had he been idiotic enough to indulge in illegal drugs, he didn't even have the decency to accept that he'd destroyed his own political career. And now he was dragging his party and quite possibly the country down with him.

Lord Blackthorn let him talk. Listened to the begging to help him in any way possible: make the Prime Minister accept the coalition without demanding his resignation, exonerate him of involvement in illegal drugs, please, he'd offer information about the source of those drugs…

That gave him pause. It was unlikely to be useful for anything meaningful, but he wasn't going to turn down information freely offered. "Tell me about this source, then?"

"And in exchange, you'll help me?"

"Yes." He produced a sheet of paper and a dictation-quill from his robes.

"An associate put me in contact with their supplier, the Two Rivers Corporation."

Lord Blackthorn had to fight not to react to those words. The Two Rivers Corporation owned, or had owned before its explosion, the warehouse in which – he had to suppress another reaction to the memory – Edward had been held. And he'd found out nothing about them except that they were a perfectly legitimate company importing seafood from Sirgal, to the extent that his working theory was that whoever had – had kidnapped his son had broken into the warehouse of an unrelated company to do so.

"Who was the associate?" he asked, hoping Watson wasn't smart enough to pick up on his fractional hesitation. What was the association between the Edward incident and Watson being caught in this scandal? The Edward incident was an attack on him, though he wasn't sure exactly what form it took. And the scandal… the Traditional Protectionists would have motive, as would anyone wanting Rasina politics to become more extreme, less stable…

Destabilisation was the common thread there. And the links with Sirgal, with the increasing tensions there… that gave a clear picture. He barely heard Watson's answer, but fortunately the quill took down every word. He continued the interrogation more or less on autopilot, being as thorough as he possibly could be, focused on making mental notes of points to follow up on.

He had evidence that the Two Rivers Corporation was involved in illegal activity now – well, he already had, but covering up the kidnapping had been regrettably necessary – but now he could legitimately do a lot more to limit and investigate them. Did he have time to make it back to the Ministry when this was done and before the King's Council met?

After twenty minutes or so, he decided he was done here, and said as much.

"And your help?"

"Step down," Lord Blackthorn said, and then decided to take a calculated risk. "Unless you want to face formal prosecution for taking illegal substances."

"What – I – I asked for help, not blackmail."

"I'm helping you by giving you a way out instead of having you prosecuted regardless. And I have better things to do with my time right now."

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