"Mage Storms 01 - Storm Warning" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

Baron Melles was a so-called "court Baron," a man with a title but no
lands to match. He didn't need land; he had power, power in abundance,
for he was an Adept and his magics had brought him more wealth than
many landed nobles had. His coffers bulged with his accumulated
wealth, but he wanted more, and his bloodlines and ambition were likely
to give him more.

He also happened to be of the political party directly opposite that of
Tremane's. Tremane's parents had held their lands for generations;
Melles was the son of merchants.

Melles was, not so incidentally, one of Tremane's few enemies, one of
the few candidates to the succession who did not underestimate the
Baron. There was a personal animosity between them that Charliss did
not quite understand, and he often wondered if the two had somehow
contracted a very private feud that had little or nothing to do with
their respective positions and ambitions.

Melles would be only too pleased to find Tremane a failure and himself
the new successor. This meant, among other things, that if Tremane
happened to survive his failure to conquer Hardorn, he probably would
not survive the coronation of his rival, and he might not even survive
the confirmation of Melles as successor. Melles was the most ruthless
of all the candidates, and both Charliss and Tremane were quite well
aware that he was a powerful enough Adept to be able to commit any
number of murders-by-magic, and make them all appear to be accidents.

He was also clever enough not to do anything of the sort, since his
political rivals would be looking for and defending against exactly
that sort of attack. Melles was fully wealthy enough to buy any number
of covert killers, and probably would. He was too clever not to
consolidate his position by eliminating enough rivals that those
remaining were intimidated.

That was, after all, one of the realities of life in the Empire;

lead, follow, and barricade yourself against assassins.

And the first in line for elimination would be Tremane-if Melles were
named successor.

Charliss knew this. So did Tremane. It made the situation all the
more piquant.

interestingly enough, if Tremane succeeded and attained the coveted
prize, it was not likely that he would remove Melles. Nor would he
dispose of any of the other candidates.

Rather, he would either win them over to his side or find some other