Chapter Eleven
Milo
Even the sitting room outside the patriarch of House Lynx’s office was gaudy.
Olympia had warned me it would be. After our secret dinner with the Bexleys and following discussion about the journal three days ago, I’d learned from grandmother that this meeting with Raghnall was in my near future.
Olympia had been present when it was discussed and had chatted endlessly about the inside of House Lynx ever since, as if she was convinced I’d need a mental blueprint of the place for escape purposes during my visit.
Staring at the foreboding mahogany doors in front of us now, I couldn’t necessarily say she’d been wrong.
“He makes us wait to soothe his own ego,” grandmother said suddenly from beside me.
I glanced over to where she sat next to me, wriggling in these uncomfortable velvet chairs set against the wall opposite the door to the patriarch’s office.
“The older I get, the less time I have for male arrogance.”
“I hate to break it to you but there’s no shortage of that up here,” I replied in a mumble.
She barked out a laugh at that, bright eyes sparkling with humor.
“He speaks,” she exclaimed with a grin, “and a joke at that. I was beginning to worry you’d lost all semblance of personality, hafid. You’ve been so sullen and silent lately.”
“Apologies, grandmother,” I replied. “It’s the lack of sleep. I’m afraid I still don’t possess the willpower to send myself off to bed at a reasonable time.”
“A wife will assist you in that regard, I imagine.”
My gaze snapped to her once more to find she wasn’t looking my way.
Her gaze was settled firmly on the door before us, but my brow rose all the same.
I hadn’t told her what my decision had been.
In truth, I hadn’t completely made one yet.
But she was referencing a marriage as if she already knew what I would choose.
She was right. I couldn’t allow my House to suffer because of my desire to remain unbound.
I had no business turning my nose up at a wise and powerful match that could only strengthen our line when hundreds of men before me had not.
Still, the way she said the word wife, as if it were a curse rather than a blessing, had me hesitating once more.
“Madam Nascha,” a pretty red-headed acolyte announced with a smile as she stood in the now open entrance to Raghnall’s office. “Sir Milo, he will see you now.”
My grandmother and I exchanged one final glance before standing and making our way into the office.
It was precisely as Olympia had described it.
Everything was drenched in burgundy and velvet.
Artwork in gilded frames hung on every available wall while tall, shining bookshelves took up one entirely.
Raghnall’s desk was twice the size of mine which made the man behind it seem comically small despite the fact that I already knew how large he really was.
Behind him, on either side, stood the twins.
Isla and Cora’s eyes both found mine the moment I entered.
But it was the fourth man, the one leaning unexpectedly against the bookshelf in the back corner, who caught me off guard.
Luca’s narrowed gaze tracked my every movement as I made my way across the room, helped my grandmother into one of the seats opposite Raghnall, and settled into the other.
Surrounded by all three potential Lynx heirs, the stakes of this meeting skyrocketed even further.
This wasn’t going to be the casual negotiation Nascha had indicated.
Raghnall had come prepared. I couldn’t see a way forward which would allow my grandmother and I to exit this room without an agreement in place and that had my heart beating nearly out of my chest before anyone even spoke.
“Nascha,” Raghnall crooned with an oily grin. “A pleasure to see you again.”
“Raghnall,” my grandmother responded with a curt nod and nothing else.
“And Milo,” Raghnall added, looking at me as his grin broadened. “What a treat to see you within these walls once more. It’s been far too long, wouldn’t you say?”
He was baiting me. I just bit the inside of my cheek and nodded.
“You’re aware of the opportunity which brings us together today?” he asked, raising a brow as he folded his hands together on his desk in preparation for whatever onslaught he’d prepared.
“I am,” I replied. “Though I admit I’m a bit surprised by the pace of these negotiations. As I understand it, you only made this offer to my grandmother less than a week ago.”
“Your matriarch indicated she would speak to you about it immediately. Are you insinuating you haven’t had sufficient time to consider it?”
“Marriage is a lifelong commitment, Raghnall. A few days is hardly enough time to make such a lofty decision.”
And I haven’t had the chance to talk to you yet, I shot to Isla.
Her gaze snapped to mine immediately but her expression never changed as she stood still as stone behind her grandfather.
Speaking to me now, are you? She asked.
Did you know? I forged on, ignoring her cheek. When I called out to you by accident at my grandmother’s birthday weeks ago, did you know then what he intended?
I’ve known since the day we were paired, Milo.
Did you know he offered Cora as well?
She was silent in my mind for a moment, long enough for my attention to drift back to Raghnall who was speaking to Nascha about the terms he’d laid out to her before.
She told me when she found out, Isla finally said.
Which was when? I asked.
This morning.
My fists clenched at my sides. I did my best to hide them but couldn’t stop the glare I now aimed toward Raghnall who wasn’t even looking my way as he spoke to my grandmother.
“–arrangements can be made, of course, at your earliest convenience,” he was saying. “I hardly see any reason to wait to be done with the whole thing.”
What do you want? I asked Isla, fearing we were running out of time to have the conversation I’d intended to have with her all along, a question I’d hoped to phrase far better than I did.
When has that ever mattered? She mentally scoffed.
I’m asking, Isla. Don’t waste your opportunity to tell me.
She hesitated once again, this time her gaze drifting up to Luca who still stood silently behind us.
I have no objection to you, Milo, she told me after a moment, her tone much softer than it had been before, almost like it used to be before I’d cut her out and avoided her. I never have.
But do you want this? I pressed.
I’m not opposed. At least, I’m not opposed for any reason other than the idea that I should be against anyone bartering me like recycled goods.
I frowned, returning to the world around us in time to realize Raghnall was now addressing me.
“–if that’s amenable to you?” he said.
I blinked, staring at the patriarch of House Lynx as if he’d grown a second head. I was out of practice with this. I could no longer pay attention to two conversations at once. That was a product both of my cutting Isla out of my life and spending so much time alone with my books.
“I’m sorry?” I asked because I had no choice but to. I wouldn’t blindly agree to anything this man was offering.
“I said we can have you married off to whomever you choose by the end of the week if that’s amenable to you,” Raghnall repeated, clearly annoyed at having to do so. “A small ceremony, as your grandmother has insisted. Though I still think my girls are worth far more pomp–”
“Fine.”
All eyes in the room snapped to me at once.
I saw Isla draw a slow breath, the only one who truly knew what had happened here.
My grandmother was stunned. Cora looked fearful I might pick her and that expression twisted my heart in a way I thought I would rather not feel again.
Luca actually stood up off the wall and Raghnall grinned broader than I’d ever seen before.
“Milo,” my grandmother said slowly.
Are you sure about this? I asked one last time, gave her one last chance.
“Maybe you want to take a moment to talk about this?” my grandmother offered. “We haven’t really had a chance to discuss…”
I’m glad it’s you, Isla said. I know you don’t love me, not like you did her, but still, I’m glad it’s you.
“I have demands,” I announced.
Raghnall’s grin twitched and faded but he bowed his head in acquiescence.
“Of course,” he said.
“I will marry Isla,” I told him and watched as Cora visibly relaxed behind him, “but you must make her your Heir.”
Cora tensed back up immediately, her jaw popping open and dropping even wider when Raghnall actually paused to consider.
“Grandfather–” Luca started from behind us, stepping forward in stunned disbelief.
“It cannot be done,” Raghnall announced. “What children she bears by you will bear the name of House Avus. As her husband, she will belong to you in heart, body, and name.”
“The others have loyalties to Viper,” I said.
Cora gasped, hands flying up to cover her mouth. Behind me, Luca cursed.
“This is ridiculous,” he said. “Grandfather, you can’t possibly be considering this. It would be the end of our House. For the matriarch to reside in another House, for her children to bear another name, it’s never been done. You can’t–”
I met Isla’s gaze over her grandfather’s shoulder to find her just as stunned as the others. She stared at me, speechless both physically and mentally.
“You propose unity,” I said, speaking to Raghnall but maintaining eye contact with Isla.
“And yet you abandon my wife the moment she transitions to my family. How can there be an alliance between House Avus and House Lynx if, by the very marriage securing said alliance, Isla becomes no longer a part of Lynx? I have no intention of controlling my wife. She is an independent woman raised from birth to inherit all the rights and privileges of her House. She has been considered a contender for the role of Heir long before I entered the picture. A ring around her finger and a space in my bed does not disqualify her for that position. She is intelligent, cunning, and resourceful and she will serve your House loyally whether she resides within it or not. With her at my side and me at hers, we can make the best decisions not only for our individual Houses but for all of Sanctuary. And if Cosmo should rise up and try to claim the Ring for his own, we can stand together in the truest form of unity Sanctuary has ever seen.”
I felt a swelling of pride deep within me that came not from my own heart as Isla’s eyes sparkled with fierce appreciation.
Cora was still stunned speechless by her side as Luca sputtered incoherently behind us.
My grandmother and Raghnall both remained silent, each of them watching me with a curiosity that showed how much they’d both underestimated me.
I hadn’t come here as a boy unaware of my value, blindly hoping to please those above me.
I had come as Heir to my House, properly informed and prepared for political negotiation.
I was a force to be reckoned with, an authority in my own right, a contender. Now, they knew.
“The offspring—“
“Whatever children Isla and I do or do not have will have the opportunity to be named Heir of either House Avus or House Lynx. When the time comes, I will choose my successor just as Isla will choose hers in the way it’s always been done, whether they are our children or not,” I answered the question before Raghnall could ask it.
The patriarch’s forehead wrinkled as he pulled slightly away from me.
I waited for him to consider my offer and his potential response.
Backing out now would be a slap in the face to House Avus, leaving him without an ally to face Cosmo, something he needed more than he was willing to admit.
Going forward with it would take away his choice on the matter of his House’s succession.
He was caught in his own snare and he knew it.
“It seems that now I have much to consider,” Raghnall finally spoke after a few minutes, stroking his beard as he cleared his throat and settled back in his chair.
Luca was horrified if the sputtering at my back was any indication, Cora seemed to be locked in a state of shock, and my grandmother was suppressing a grin beside me, but it was Isla who drew my attention more than the others.
She was practically beaming outwardly with the pride I still felt radiating from my core, from her.
I placed a hand on my heart and gave a slight nod in her direction to show I felt the outpouring of admiration she was conveying to me.
Her lips stretched up into a small smile as I rose.
“It’s a big decision,” I told Raghnall, calling back to earlier in our conversation. “Marriage always is. Take your time. I look forward to hearing what you choose. Isla, Cora, a pleasure as always. Luca.”
I gave them each a small nod before departing with Nascha. My grandmother took her time heading for the door and I had no choice but to walk beside her.
Luca’s eyes burned a hole in the back of my head all the way.