Prologue
I stare at the woman on the pedestal.
Her face a mask of composure.
Her eyes full of secrets.
Buried in grief for all she has lost.
Hardened by responsibilities recently claimed.
She steers with reins she’s barely gripped.
She keeps her seat without skill or surety.
A tainted legacy.
A torrid throne.
Human nature is a fickle thing.
To be honest, I’ve never fully understoodwhywe function the way we do. Maybe that’s the reason I spent so many years studying psychology; I was trying desperately to figure out the inexplicable motives that have always driven mankind to war and feud and battle — whether on muddy medieval fields or in modern corporate boardrooms.
Our power struggles are the stuff of legends, recorded in novels and textbooks alike since the first ink hit parchment at the dawn of mankind. Whether it’s Brutus and Caesar or Arron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, history seems to repeat time and time again with alarming inevitability.
But I can’t help wondering…
Why?
We are the undeniable apex predators on this inconsequential blue-green planet. No other creature that shares our atmosphere poses even the inkling of a threat to our domination. By all accounts, we should feel secure. At peace. Uncontested and unrivaled in our role, with no foes to thwart us.
And yet…
In absence of a natural adversary, we have become our own greatest enemy. Whether through sheer boredom or self-sabotage, humans have evolved to kill each other. To push aside all chances for accord and take what we want, regardless of consequence, regardless of who we must crush to accomplish our own ends.
In the choice between armistice and all out war… we choose the bloodier option every time.
Perhaps we are naturally selfish — programmed on a molecular level to disregard harmony in favor of strife. Perhaps our own self-destructive tendencies are simply unavoidable. For who would everchooseto be at odds when they could be at peace? Who wouldwanta life spent chasing after better cards, if instead they could be satisfied with their own hand?
It must be ingrained in our DNA — this tendency to seek out things we do not possess, rather than enjoying the ones we do. To always want what we can’t have — the more untouchable, the more desirable.
I told you: human nature.
How predictably fickle.
We manipulate. We maneuver. We set aside our scruples, our sense of conscience, our ill-fitted morality. We chase down those alluringly elusive end-games, heedless of the chaos that will unfold when we finally catch up. We lie and cheat and steal, maim and break and deceive.
And for what?
Power.
The power to rule.
To steer the fate of a nation.
To wear a crown.
To sit on a throne.
No matter if it’s already occupied by an unprepared girl who never wanted it in the first place…