I was just showing how ill-tempered and autocratic she was. . . .
Things rippled at once. Starting with the way they didn't actually carry out the execution and lied about it. And the way it redoubled the rumors about the magic.
She can order more executions, no doubt, but re-securing their loyalties is another matter, especially when her claim rests entirely on what the heroine just disproved.
Thus leading me to wonder if she can really hold out until the end of the story, or the political forces will tear her from authority. Because if she can't, I will need to explain what happened to the lands without even her leading them. Probably something ugly. And the question of how to neatly tie things back up again at the end gets rather messier. They will have a powerful reason for people to return peaceably to the Lord Champion's over-lordship, but it may not be powerful enough to reasonably overcome pride and willfulness. . . .hmmm. . . . .
