Chapter 1 #2
Thaddeus walked across the room and gripped her shoulders. “Lalsacia attacked while your grandfather was inspecting the army. He was badly wounded, and he isn’t expected to make it.”
The words sank in with the slow speed of dripping honey. She didn’t feel any grief, not really. She knew she should. He was family. But she couldn’t dredge up anything but the same regret that had plagued her relationship with her grandfather for years. “I should go to him.”
“He isn’t here yet. The wagon won’t get here until the morning.” Thaddeus hunched his shoulders.
A weight settled across her shoulders, even as she slowly sat on her divan. She would be queen tomorrow. Kelverny would be hers to rule.
As that thought tingled though her, bile rose into her throat.
“The law. We thought we’d have more time, but…
” She swallowed. Kelverny had an ancient law of accession.
Every king or queen had to be married to ascend to the throne.
The law came from an old belief that marriage grounded a ruler in country and family.
With her grandfather healthy and seeming like he was going to rule for years, she’d thought she still had time to carefully weigh her marriage prospects.
She’d been meeting the young men of the court, learning their alliances and politics, narrowing down those who would be an asset to the crown and those who would try to be the power behind it.
Now she had no time. Her grandfather had only hours, maybe days at most to live. With their country at war, she needed to ascend to the throne quickly.
She could see it now. The lords would descend on the castle in the morning.
Each would be pressing his son or nephew on her.
Or perhaps even himself, if he was under the age of eighty and unmarried.
The council would band together and all but force her to marry their choice.
She’d become little more than a puppet queen if they had their way.
If her grandfather lived more than a few hours, he would see to it that she married a man of his choice. A nobleman who would carry on the hatred of Lalsacia and continue the war.
She glanced into Thaddeus’s eyes. “Who do you think I should go with? Lord John Delaney or Lord Jasper Fellton?”
Through her careful deliberations and research, she had narrowed down her choices to those two men.
Lord John Delaney was a bit of a flake, but he wouldn’t pressure her. He wouldn’t be much of an asset, but he wouldn’t try to rule her either. Still, she’d find herself rather alone in facing down the council, and he wouldn’t be any help in ending the war or keeping her on the throne.
Lord Jasper Fellton was the son of one of the most powerful lords in the kingdom.
If she married him, his father would back her…
and strongarm her into doing things that would benefit him in return.
If she was politically savvy, she could work with it.
But it would be an exhausting way to live, and Lord Fellton the elder was a proponent of the war. He wouldn’t push to end it.
Either way, she would likely find herself powerless. Or constantly locked in a power struggle with her own husband.
“What if there was a third option?” Thaddeus took the seat across from her, his gaze level as he held hers.
“Third option? Surely you don’t mean Lord Lerroy?” Adeline resisted a shudder. Lord Lerroy wasn’t a bad sort, all things considered. He was in his forties, fit, handsome, politically astute. Many a young woman married men old enough to be their fathers when politics demanded it.
But considering he was twenty years older than her, he would patronize her, never seeing her as a queen in her own right but instead as a child to be raised.
“No.” Thaddeus drew in a deep breath. “Marry one of the Lalsacian peace party. Tonight.”
“What?” Adeline nearly leapt to her feet before she sank back into the couch. “Surely you aren’t serious.”
“Quite serious.” Thaddeus clasped his hands as he leaned his elbows on his knees. “The leader of the group is a Lalsacian lord. He’s obviously trusted by his king.”
“Yes, but…” Adeline’s mind whirled as she tried to process everything. All her research, all her deliberations, she couldn’t just throw it all away on a whim to marry some Lalsacian lord whom she knew nothing about. “The nobles wouldn’t stand for it. They’d revolt before the year was out.”
“Yes, they would.” Thaddeus didn’t even blink at that.
“But nobles don’t revolt the way peasants do.
They plan a coup, and planning takes time.
In that time, you can end the war. If you end the war, you not only consolidate your power, but you gain the undying loyalty of the commoners.
The nobility wouldn’t dare act against you then. ”
“You’re asking me to risk everything—my kingdom, my life—for this?
” Adeline’s throat closed on the words. If she did as he suggested, it would be all or nothing.
Either she succeeded or she plunged her kingdom not only into a continued war with its neighbor but also into a civil war.
Not that she would live to see that civil war.
She’d be dead long before it got to that point.
But if she succeeded? She could end the war. Build a lasting peace with Lalsacia. After all, she would’ve made one of their own the prince consort. Perhaps she could even convince Lalsacia to agree to have their crown prince marry a Kelvernese noblewoman.
Her parents had died trying to achieve a closer relationship with Lalsacia. They would have been appalled by how her grandfather had used their deaths as an excuse for war. How could Adeline do anything less than risk her own life to bring about peace?
She swallowed. It was a gamble. A gamble she’d have to live with for the rest of her life, no matter how long or short that life might be.
She’d be tying herself to a man she didn’t even know.
If she survived, if she could bring about peace and retain her throne, then he would be her husband.
He would have to be the father of her heir.
She squeezed her eyes shut. No matter what she did, she would have to marry a man she didn’t love, whether it was this Lalsacian or someone else. She had no choice about that.
Her only choice was who and when. She could take the risk and marry the Lalsacian tonight, she could contact one of her other choices and marry him in the morning, or she could wait and let others decide her future for her.
She forced herself to meet Thaddeus’s gaze. “Do you think the Lalsacian lord will go for it? We’ve treated him rather horribly.”
By all rights, he would hate her after what her grandfather had done to him. Would he even want to help her bring about peace? Or would he just become one more danger she had to navigate? He might even kill her in her sleep and call it justified.
“Despite all he’s been through, he’s still committed to peace.” Thaddeus gave a slight shake of his head, as if he couldn’t quite believe it. “I talked to him briefly today.”
“You talked to him? Why? We didn’t know about Grandfather until a few minutes ago.” Adeline searched Thaddeus’s face.
For the first time, Thaddeus’s gaze dropped. “I was investigating whether this could be an option, but I was expecting we’d have a few more days to consider it. You would’ve still had to marry him quickly, before your grandfather returned. But I never thought…”
Of course he hadn’t. Who would’ve suspected she’d find herself with mere hours to make a decision like this?
“How do you know he’s unmarried? If he’s a well-respected lord in Lalsacia, then surely he’s married with several children already.” Adeline pictured someone like Lord Lerroy. A man in his forties. In his prime.
“I don’t know for sure. It was something I was going to attempt to find out with further investigations.
” Thaddeus’s grim look broke with a hint of a smile.
“But he’s young. Your age or maybe a handful of years older.
Our odds are good that he isn’t married yet, although he could be betrothed.
It’s hard to tell beneath the blood and grime, but he seems handsome. ”
Handsome was good. Not a great thing to base a marriage on, but right now, it was all she had.
There was no time for wavering. She had to take action now. This was her chance to take a step towards peace. No matter the cost to herself.
She straightened her spine and began winding her braid around her head. It wouldn’t be as elegant as Jelsa’s version, but a princess couldn’t be seen wandering the castle with her hair down, even in a braid. “All right. I’ll do it.”