"Father," Nick said loudly into the all but empty throne room. "You are simply going to have to deal with the fact that Huulion failed. Again."
The would-be King of the Semirellians looked up from his throne and glared at his son.
"You are out of line."
"Let's face it. He got captured trying to take out the Usurper and his wife, and his prior effort to program the human boy into taking out Isabel has failed miserably. It's been two months. Time to make new plans."
"He was our best telepath!"
"So you keep reminding us," Nick sighed. "But Hugh is either dead or captured and whichever it is we're not going to see him again any time soon. You have to move on. Make new plans."
"And I suppose you had something in mind?" his father said sarcastically.
"Absolutely," Nick said cheerfully, putting on the charm. "I shall marry Isabel."
"Marry Isabel! Absolutely not!"
"Just consider the possibility, father. Humour me?"
The workings of Nick's Charisma affected his father, who although he might know what his son was doing, was not quite as immune to Nick's power as he would have liked.
"I insinuate myself into their lives. I can seduce any woman, so Isabel won't be any problem, especially with her previous lover's attempt to kill her," Nick smirked. "We marry. I should be able to organise things so that the Usurper and his wife have a little accident. That will make Isabel Queen, as far as the Device is concerned. We have a child. Isabel has a little accident and I take on the role as distressed widower and 'reluctantly' take on the position as regent until my child is of age."
"Why should we demeen ourselves by mixing our bloodlines?" demanded his father, his eyes flashing angrilly. "Our bloodline, unsullied, is the true line!"
"There's no disputing that. Unfortunately, the Device thinks otherwise. Think about it, father: This way there is no race to acquire the Device when the last of their bloodline dies. Then too, after all these generations, how can we be certain that the Usurper and his sister are the last?"
His father frowned.
"The Usurper - the original one, Max's father, he had a sister too, if you might recall. We killed her and her child, but can we be certain that she didn't have two children? If Max and Isobel die, neither providing a potential heir, we might find we have to track down yet another branch of the family and all of this happens all over again."
Nick smirked mentally, noting his father's reaction to this idea. Naturally the idea of there being another branch of the family they hadn't tracked down was plainly ridiculous,
"However, if Isabel and I have a child, with the Usurper and his wife out of the picture, we have a chance to raise the future King properly. I can even lay down some groundwork for the inevitable changes that must occur."
There was silence for a time.
"I'm the true King," said his father in a petulant voice.
"And all true Semirellians know this," Nick nodded. "You will, of course, receive your rightful place in our history, as the King who located the children of the Usurper and bided his time until the right moment to strike."
His father considered.
"Very well," he said finally. "You have my leave."