51. Alar
ALAR
“Royals do not marry for love. They marry for alliances. For commerce. For peace.”
—Queen Hanith of Catonia
"Take a seat, Alar." My mother motioned to the dainty couch by the window, then turned to her assistants. "Take a lunch break, ladies."
There were four of them that afternoon, all daughters of good houses, laboring at their small desks, turning my mother's instructions into the elegant correspondence that helped hold the Federation together.
They looked surprised to be dismissed so early, but glad of it, and they didn't waste any time putting their pens away and filing out after offering quick courtesies and murmurs of good day.
As the door clicked shut behind them, my unease intensified.
Why had she sent them away?
They were privy to all her secrets, drafting every letter she sent out, so they knew about every betrothal months before the couples involved were told of their upcoming nuptials.
What could she possibly need to tell me that she wouldn't say in front of them?
She poured two glasses of the pale wine she'd kept in an ice bucket, handed me one, and sat next to me on the couch.
"You have no idea what I had to go through to untangle the knot your brother's recovery made of my arrangements.
" She took a sip from her glass. "I'm not complaining, mind you.
I'm overjoyed that things are back to the way they were before the attempted assassination, and my son is back.
" She shook her head. "I wish his mobility could be restored as well, but I'm just being greedy.
" She put a hand on my knee. "I'm so incredibly grateful to you for all you have done for your brother. "
There was a 'but' coming, and knowing my mother, I wasn't going to like it. Not with this preamble.
"Thank Elurion," I said. "Couldn't have done it without his blessing."
The smile that lifted my mother's lips was too knowing. Did she know about the greycap?
Had she had me followed? Because I didn't think she could have forced a confession out of Healer Lemil.
"Yes, indeed." My mother took another sip of wine. "Elurion is merciful." She let out a dramatic sigh. "But Queen Margada isn't. That woman is a tougher negotiator than I am." She shook her head. "I can't believe her audacity."
Here it comes.
I braced to hear the news from Tarina, and what Queen Margada was demanding in exchange for the breach of the marriage agreement between Arlen and Cardilia, the crown princess of Tarina.
"I graciously offered to honor the betrothal between Cardilia and Arlen, and I asked that Cardilia abdicate Tarina's throne to her younger brother and come to live in Catonia as the wife of the heir."
That was indeed a generous offer, and if the Queen of Tarina refused, she was a fool who was putting her wounded pride before what was good for her province.
"What did she say?" I asked.
"She refused." My mother's mouth narrowed.
"She informed me that Cardilia has always been groomed to be the next Queen of Tarina, and that Cardilia's husband, whoever he would be, would rule at her side, in Tarina.
" She set her wineglass down on the side table.
"Frankly, I was stunned by her reply. I thought she would be overjoyed that her daughter was no longer marrying a broken man but the future Head of the Council.
As Arlen's wife, Cardilia's position would have been much higher than that of a queen ruling over a small province.
But evidently, Margada would rather her daughter be the biggest fish in a pond than a great one in the sea.
I find it shortsighted, but it is her choice, and it is final.
She wouldn't budge even when I promised to sweeten the deal with promises of investments in Tarina's industry. "
I turned the wine glass in my hand. "Why are you telling me this and not Arlen? Arlen is the one who's lost a bride."
She waved a dismissive hand. "Arlen lost one bride and got another.
The one who was meant for you. Osrec and Ralehari were never going to give their only daughter to anyone but the crown prince.
I knew that when I first betrothed Ailadi to you, back when you were supposed to be heir.
With Arlen restored, Ailadi could no longer marry you.
I explained the situation and offered them Arlen instead.
Not the same prince, but still the heir to the crown of Catonia.
They accepted the offer without making a fuss, even after I told them that Arlen had lost the use of his legs.
As long as he could still produce heirs, they didn't care whether he had a third eye in the middle of his forehead or was missing limbs.
As long as Ailadi was married to the future King Tekumuton, they were content. "
I wanted to release a relieved breath. I wanted to believe that I was off the hook and that I wouldn't have to marry any princess, but I knew that my luck couldn't be that good.
Still, I had to try.
"Thank you." I put a hand over my heart. "I never wanted that match. Not that there is anything wrong with Princess Ailadi. I'm sure she's delightful. I just don't want any of this."
The guilty look that crossed my mother's face confirmed my suspicion.
"Arlen's part is settled, but yours is not," she said.
"There is also the issue of placating Queen Margada.
Breaking a promise between crowns is not as easy as simply backtracking and saying 'Oops, the plans have changed.
' There is a price involved, either in coin or concessions, or you make an enemy.
Regrettably, Margada refused coin. I owe Margada a prince.
" She held my gaze, waiting for me to realize what was coming, but I wasn't going to make it easy for her.
"You have three more sons. I'm sure one of them can marry Cardilia."
"No, they can't, because now Margada knows that you are the next in line if anything happens to Arlen, and she won't settle for anyone else."
"And how does she know that?"
"Because I told her." My mother grimaced.
"To sweeten the offer. I thought, here is a fifth son who is also our hedge against losing Arlen again, worth far more than he appears.
I expected her to leap at the chance to bind such a prince to Cardilia.
Instead, she pocketed the information and turned it against me.
That is the caliber of woman I am dealing with. "
I frowned. "I don't understand. Does she want me to marry Cardilia or not? She's not making any sense. She doesn't want Cardilia married to a potential heir because she wants her to remain in Tarina."
"Margada doesn't want you to marry Cardilia.
She wants you to marry Idrilia. Her other daughter.
This still gives her an alliance with Catonia, and if Arlen abdicates or becomes ineligible again, she gains a crown prince for her daughter, while keeping Cardilia free for another important alliance later.
I have to admit that Margada has negotiated brilliantly.
If you become heir, Tarina suddenly becomes the most influential province after Catonia.
If Margada manages to snag Prince Werden of Helsta for Cardilia, she will catapult her poor and insignificant province to the top of the list. He's the second son, but he still wields a lot of influence, and Helsta is affluent. "
I had stopped listening after my mother casually threw the name Idrilia at me. I didn't remember her. Had she been too young to attend the annual balls? Or had she been so unremarkable that I hadn't noticed her?
"I don't even remember Idrilia," I said.
"She is a scientist, from what I hear. A botanist. You like intelligent women."
My mother's emphasis on Idrilia's intelligence and professional interests meant she wasn't memorable because she was plain and quiet, not because she'd been too young.
Not that it mattered. I didn't want her. I didn't want any princess except for the two I'd left behind in Elucia.
"Then it hardly matters, does it?" I set the wine down. "Cardilia or Idrilia, I don't want either. But since Idrilia is the spare, ending things with her shouldn't cause a diplomatic incident."
My mother glared at me. "Haven't you been listening to anything I said?
Queen Margada demanded you by name for a reason.
You will marry Idrilia. Your only choice will be where you want to live.
You can go and live with her in Tarina, or bring her here, which I prefer for the simple selfish reason of a mother wanting her son close by. "
Give Avren to Idrilia, and inform her that he's the most probable replacement for Arlen, then have her come here. Problem solved.
I felt like an ass for saying that. Especially since I suspected Avren of sabotaging Arlen.
I didn't believe that he'd been behind the assassination attempt.
That was taking it too far. But once he'd tasted the possibility of becoming heir, he must have liked it too much to give it up and arranged for the window incident that had ruined weeks of Arlen's progress.
Still, that was enough to disqualify him in my eyes. If he'd been behind the incident, he was dishonorable and, therefore, should never be king. It might be naive to think so, but I truly believed that my father would never have done something like that.
"Queen Margada will see right through it and her offense will reach explosive proportions. I already told her that we had a deal."
I let out a breath. "So, why go through the charade of calling me in here and kicking your staff out if you never intended to ask me if I accept?"
She smiled. "I kicked them out in case you turned petulant, which you did, so they wouldn't have to witness the prince throwing a tantrum."
Ouch. That hurt.
"I'm not a child, Mother, but you are asking me to sacrifice everything I care for, and no matter how hard you try to convince me, I don't think Tarina is all that important and worth the sacrifice."
She closed her eyes for a moment. "Every council vote in our favor matters.
We are teetering, Alar. These marriages will ensure that we maintain the lead.
Without them, we might lose the seat of the Head of the Council to Varilia.
King Sonof is gaining the support of many provinces, and he has two sons and a daughter.
I know that Margada is trying to match her son with his daughter.
Usually, it would have been punching way above her son's grade, but the princess is rumored to be deformed and dimwitted, so there aren't many takers.
I don't need to spell out for you what happens if you decline, and Margada's son marries Sonof's daughter. Tarina will vote with Varilia."
I felt the noose tightening around my neck and the floorboards about to go out from under my feet.
"Your father survived the last assassination attempt thanks to Arlen," My mother said quietly.
"I want to ensure that everyone knows killing him would get them nothing because his five sons are all married and each of them is ready to take the throne, and because we have enough allies to vote whoever ascends to the throne of Catonia to the Head of the Council.
I will not hand our enemies a willing ally because you refused to do your duty.
You will marry Idrilia, and Tarina will stay ours, and that is the end of it. "
The verdict had been pronounced, the floorboard went out from under my feet, and I was hanging from the noose, dying.
"If you find Idrilia unbearable," she said more softly, "you may take on a paramour. Discreetly, of course. It is done in nearly every court in the Federation, and it is an open secret. You can even bring your Elucian girl to court and put her in a suite of rooms."
My head came up. "How do you know about her?"
"Ah."
"The clerks." The words came out hard. "Your people in Tarina, the ones who pass my letters. They broke the cipher, didn't they? They read what I wrote, and they reported it to you."
"They did no such thing." She looked almost amused now.
"They tried, but your cipher is impossible to break.
I didn't need to know what you wrote in those letters.
I needed only to count. A young man does not send letter after letter, going to extraordinary trouble to speed them across a continent, for the sake of his friends or even his beloved cousin. He does it for a woman."
I couldn't deny it, so I said nothing, which was its own confession.
She rose, smoothing her skirts, the queen back in place over the mother.
"You will accept Idrilia at the ball, in front of the whole Federation, and you will be gracious about it.
You will smile, and you will bow over her hand, and you will give no one the smallest reason to think Catonia regrets its bargain.
We are the party in breach, this match is a compromise, and you will perform a perfect act of acceptance. "
I nodded because I couldn't force a single word past the tightness in my throat.
Stop the pity fest, I could almost hear Veynathei in my head, not because she could reach me over the vast distance but because this was precisely what she would have said. Find a different solution. A workaround.
I thought of the map.
Tarina sat against the Elucian border. If I moved to Tarina, the distance separating me from Veynathei would shrink significantly, and we would be able to communicate.
I could go on treks up the mountains and call her.
I could slip away across that border and be at the Citadel in hours instead of days.
I would never ask Kailin to abandon everything to come live in Tarina and be my paramour. But perhaps she could accept me when I came to visit, because my marriage to Idrilia would be in name only. I had no intention of consummating it.
It was not the life I wanted, and I wasn't sure I could ask Kailin to take back a man who was bound to a wife, even if she was a wife in name only. She deserved a whole man and a whole life, not stolen afternoons.
I could never ask it of her. Could I?
"I need to hear you say that you will do it, Alar," my mother insisted.
"I'll do it," I said. "I'll accept Idrilia, and even though I will hate every moment I have to spend with her, I won't embarrass Catonia."