Elantris - Brandon Sanderson [136]
Sarene paused. “I don’t think they’re dangerous, Lord Eondel. I’ve looked in on the city and its people. There is nothing frightening about Elantris—well, nothing besides the way its people are treated. I don’t believe the tales about monsters or Elantrian cannibalism. I just see a collection of men and women who have been mistreated and misjudged.”
Eondel didn’t look convinced, and neither did the others.
“Look, I’ll go in first and test it,” Sarene said. “I want you lords to join me after the first few days.”
“Why us?” Edan said with a groan.
“Because I need to start somewhere,” Sarene explained. “If you lords brave the city, then others will feel foolish if they object. Aristocrats have a group mentality; if I can build some momentum, then I can probably get most of them to come in with me at least once. Then they’ll see that there is nothing horrible about Elantris—that its people are just poor wretches who want to eat. We can defeat Hrathen with simple truth. It is hard to demonize a man after you have seen tears in his eyes as he thanks you for feeding him.”
“This is all pointless anyway,” Edan said, his hand twitching at the thought of entering Elantris. “The king will never let her in.”
“And if he does?” Sarene asked quickly. “Then will you go, Edan?”
The baron blinked in surprise, realizing he had been caught. She waited for him to respond, but he stubbornly refused to answer the question.
“I will,” Shuden declared.
Sarene smiled at the Jindo. This was the second time he had been the first to offer her support.
“If Shuden’s going to do it, then I doubt the rest of us will have the humility to say no,” Roial said. “Get your permission, Sarene, then we will discuss this further.”
“Maybe I was a little too optimistic,” Sarene admitted, standing outside the doors to Iadon’s study. A pair of guards stood a short distance away, watching her suspiciously.
“Do you know what you are going to do, my lady?” Ashe asked. The Seon had spent the meeting floating just outside the chapel walls—well within his range of hearing—making certain that no one else was eavesdropping on their meeting.
Sarene shook her head. She had displayed bravado when confronted by Ahan and the others, but now she realized how misplaced that sentiment had been. She had no idea how she was going to get Iadon to let her into Elantris—let alone get him to accept their help.
“Did you speak with Father?” she asked.
“I did, my lady,” Ashe replied. “He said he would give you whatever financial help you required.”
“All right,” Sarene said. “Let’s go.” She took a deep breath and strode toward the soldiers. “I would speak with my father,” she announced.
The guards glanced at each other. “Um, we were told not to …”
“That doesn’t apply to family, soldier,” Sarene said insistently. “If the queen came to speak with her husband would you turn her away?”
The guards frowned in confusion; Eshen probably didn’t come to visit. Sarene had noticed that the bubbly queen tended to keep her distance from Iadon. Even silly women resent being described that way to their faces.
“Just open the door, soldier,” Sarene said. “If the king doesn’t want to talk to me, he’ll throw me out, and next time you will know not to let me in.”
The guards hesitated, and Sarene simply pushed her way between them and opened the door herself. The guards, obviously unused to dealing with forceful women—especially in the royal family—simply let her pass.
Iadon looked up from his desk, a pair of spectacles she had never seen him wear before balanced on the end of his nose. He quickly pulled them off and stood, slamming his hands against the desktop in annoyance, disturbing several invoice stacks in the process.
“You aren’t content to annoy me in public, so you have to follow me to my study as well?” he demanded. “If I’d known what a foolish, spindly girl you were, I would never have signed that treaty. Be gone, woman, and leave me to work!”
“I tell you what, Father,” Sarene said with frankness. “I’ll pretend to be an intelligent