“I know you don’t want to ‘marry me off,’ Father. I know why you don’t. And to be completely honest, there’s a huge part of me that never wants to leave Toramos, move away from home…away from you. For that matter,” she smiled crookedly, “you’ve established a high standard for any future husband. I had to conclude some time ago, when I looked around and surveyed the possibilities, that I wasn’t going to find a husband of my own who was your equal, but that doesn’t keep me from wishing I could.
“I don’t really know Thorandas.” She shrugged. “Oh, I’ve spoken with him several times at balls in Sothofalas, and I’ve encountered him from time to time when you’ve taken me to court, but I can’t say I’ve ever had the opportunity to actually become acquainted with him. On the other hand, how many noblewomen truly know their husbands before their wedding nights? From what I do know about him, he seems a likely enough man. I won’t pretend I haven’t had my own share of dreams and fantasies about dashing, handsome young men battling one another for my hand, but that’s what happens in bad ballads and worse novels, not in real life. And what young woman in her right mind could object to marrying the heir to one of the ridings? Especially when it would unite two of them not just politically but by blood?
“You don’t need my consent to approve my betrothal to Thorandas.” Her smile warmed. “I can’t deny I’m pleased you did discuss it with me, even though the decision is ultimately yours. But I’m hardly surprised you did, however some other father might have acted in your place, and if you were concerned I might object to it, don’t be.” She drew another deep breath. “I imagine every young woman feels nervous, even a little frightened, when the time finally comes for her to leave her home and go make another one with someone else. I know I feel that way, at any rate! But I understand the reasons, and I’m sure that in time, Thorandas and I will build a life together just as you and Mother have.”
Cassan’s eyes prickled as he looked across the table at her, and pride in her filled his heart. Yet he couldn’t help hoping Shairnayith and Thorandas’ lives together would be more complete than his own with her mother. Indeed, despite his disgust and contempt for Tellian, there was a tiny corner of his own heart which had never quite been able to stop envying him, as well, when he thought about the closeness which had kept him from setting Hanatha aside. Stupid, willful, and selfish of him, yes; it had been all of those things and worse, just as it had been the stuff of those bad ballads and worse novels of Shairnayith. Yet still that tiny piece of him envied the two of them for having something he himself had never had. Felytha Blackhill had wed a much younger Cassan Axehammer for the same sort of “reasons of state” Shairnayith faced, but there’d never been anything of fire or passion-or love-between them, and unlike her brother Rulth, she’d always hated the “great game.” She was far too intelligent and properly reared to ever let that hatred show, and Cassan doubted that even their children were aware of just how bitterly unhappy she’d been over the years as he waged his fierce, unremitting war against Tellian of Balthar. And however unhappy she’d been, she’d never shirked for a moment on her responsibilities to her house, her husband, or her position.
“Watching you leave Toramos will break my heart,” he told his daughter softly, “but you’re right. I’ve always known the time would come when I’d have to let you go, and perhaps I’ve been selfish not to have done it sooner. Yet the truth is that Thorandas is probably the only match I could make which could possibly be worthy of you.”
“I’m less concerned with worthiness than I am with binding our house more closely to the Daggeraxes for the good of them both…and for the Kingdom as a whole, as well,” Shairnayith replied.
“I’ve never doubted that for a moment, but I hope you’ll forgive a father for trying his best to find his daughter the husband she deserves…and the position for which she’s so well fitted.”
Shairnayith smiled and made a tiny waving away gesture with her right hand. Then she straightened and pushed her chair back from the table.
“I’m sure you’re actually thinking about all sorts of other things right now, Father.” She shook one finger at him teasingly, her voice and manner almost- almost — normal. “I know you too well to think anything else could be possible! But with your permission, I think I’ll leave you to your plans and machinations while I go for a ride to think about what we’ve discussed this morning.”
“Of course, my dear,” he agreed. “Just be sure you take your armsmen along.”
“And here I was, planning on sneaking away without them.” She sighed and shook her head. “Very well. Since you insist.”
“Such a dutiful daughter,” he said, a deep, gentle note underlying the humor in his voice, and she bent to kiss him lightly on the cheek before she rustled out of the room in the whisper of her skirts.
He sat looking after her for a long, still while. Then he took another sip from his chocolate cup and made a face as he discovered how it had cooled.
He put the cup back down, rose, and crossed to one of the dining room’s windows, gazing out it with his hands clasped behind him while he considered his children, their places in the Kingdom, and the dangerous decision which had made itself as Talthar brought him the latest news from Sothofalas.
His gray eyes turned bleak and hard, and his jaw clenched. He’d tried so hard to avoid crossing that final line in his conflict with Tellian, yet now Tellian and Yurokhas had left him no choice. They’d convinced Markhos not simply to allow their accursed canal, but actually to grant it a Crown charter! That was intolerable. Even if Shairnayith’s marriage to Thorandas Daggeraxe were to bring the North Riding into alignment with the South Riding and the East Riding on the Great Council, the success of Tellian’s project would permanently tilt the balance of power towards Balthar. It could be no other way when the floods of wealth Shaftmaster was predicting at the Exchequer began to flood into the West Riding and the Kingdom. Tellian’s position as the gatekeeper of that wealth would inevitably establish him in an unchallengeable position as the Kingdom’s most powerful noble, and if that happened, Cassan’s power base would be destroyed. Worse, he told himself, it would mean Tellian’s obscene alliance with the bestial hradani would succeed, and that was unacceptable. He’d rather see the Wind Plain inundated by ghouls and trolls than see those horse-stealing bastards actually accepted as Sothoii allies-as equals — after everything they’d done to balk his own plans at every step of the way!
No. He shook his head, eyes like gray flint. No, it was the only way, and it wasn’t simply Tellian and Yurokhas who were to blame. The gods knew he would never have raised his hand against his King if his King hadn’t driven him to it! If he hadn’t proven how unworthy of his crown he was. But Markhos had-worse, he’d broken faith with countless generations of Sothoii who’d known the enemy when they saw it. All he’d had to do was to say no, to refuse to lend his approval to Tellian’s insanity, but he’d refused to do that. He’d taken his stand with the enemies of the Kingdom, not those who had it’s best interests at heart, and in doing that, he’d left Cassan no choice, no option.
If Crown Prince Norandhor should suddenly inherit his father’s crown, the Kingdom would be looking at a regency at least sixteen years long. And if the North Riding aligned itself with Cassan and Yeraghor on the Great Council and neither Markhos nor Yurokhas were there to oppose them, then they would name the Crown Prince’s regent…and that regent would not be someone named Tellian Bowmaster.
Talthar’s right, damn him, Cassan thought bitterly. I know he’s after more than just all the kormaks he’s had from me. The man has plans of his own, and I don’t trust him as far as I could throw a warhorse. But I also know he’s here, where I can keep an eye on him once the dust clears. If I can’t keep him under control with that starting advantage, then I’ll deserve whatever happens to me! And even if that weren’t true, he’s still right. I have to act, and act now, before Markhos officially promulgates his charter for Tellian at the fall Council session. And I have no choice but to make sure he and Yurokhas both die.