He looked for Trebilcock. Michael still had not shown, and had not been seen since the attempt on Liakopulos's life. Ragnarson had begun to worry. He wanted to talk to the man.
They were still arriving. The hall was getting crowded. If all the invitations were accepted, he would have trouble packing people in.
Mist arrived, escorted by Aral Dantice. The effect of her was like a numbing gas spreading from the doorway. Men stopped talking. They stared in awe or hunger. Women stared in awe, envy, and outright hatred. The woman's impact was incredible. Even the musicians faltered.
And how well she carried off her act of being unaware of the effect she produced!
Behind Mist and Aral were Kristen and several friends. His daughter-in-law had been free with the secondary invitations, he saw. Each of her guests was unattached and lovely.
That startled him. He dropped back into his seat. „Derel, I just noticed something." „Sire?"
Bragi folded his hands under his chin. Thoughtfully, he said, „There are a lot of unattached women these days. Good-looking women. That's unnatural." „Adopt the marriage laws of Hammad al Nakir." „What?"
„Let a man have more than one wife." „Gods! One is trouble enough." He glanced round the room. He saw a lot of unmarried younger women. Most were the daughters of guests. Each had a huntress's gleam in her eyes.
„The war claimed a lot of young men," Prataxis ob served. „Kavelin's single females probably outnumber sin gle males five to one."
„What am I doing married?"
„Definitely a tactical mistake, Sire. Michael appears to be prospering. But it's a game with few survivors. The huntress knows how to net her prey."
„It's something I never really thought about. An imbal ance like that is going to have effects."
„Absolutely. It'll strain the traditional mores. What you have to do is make the girls having illegitimate children all have boy babies. After a while there would be husbands to go around, though they'd be a little young."
Bragi gave Derel a sour look. That was a Prataxis joke.
„It's not a problem unique to Kavelin. One way or another, one place or another, the west has been at war since the Scourge of God broke out of Hammad al Nakir. We're into our second generation of sexual imbalance. One more and the die-hard guardians of the old morality will be gone. Changes in female attitudes will accelerate... ."
„I've got a question, Derel."
„Sire?"
„Do you have a lecture for every topic?"
Prataxis looked bewildered, then a little hurt.
„Just joking. Every time I notice something, you already know about it. And you go on forever about how it happened and why, how and why it works, what it means... ."
„I'm a don of the Rebsamen," Prataxis replied stiffly. „I was taught to observe and reason. There's nothing mystical about that. You do it yourself, though on a less premedi tated level. That's why you make correct decisions more often than not."
„I didn't mean any offense, Derel." Why was the man so damned humorless and touchy? He had asked to come live among the barbarians... . No. Derel would object to the wording. Insufficiently precise. He would prefer something encompassing self-righteous ignorance.
„Father?"
He glanced down. His daughter-in-law stood at the foot of the dais supporting the party thrones. „Kristen! You found something to wear. And I thought you weren't going to make it."
„Liar. You knew I'd be here if I had to come mother naked. These are my friends." She indicated the girls still with her. „It's okay, isn't it?"
„The more the merrier. I'd rather look at them than bald old men with beards. But maybe you should show a little respect for your King in front of people." He smiled. Kristen's girlfriends had performed their deep curtsies immediately.
„Oh. Yes." Flustered, she bent a leg.
„Good enough. Now. Who are all these beautiful ladies?"
Kristen pointed. „Anya. Tilda. Julie. And Sherilee. You met Julie and Sherilee before."
The girls nodded shyly. Except the tiny blonde. She looked him in the eye. But her hands were white and shaking. She clasped them and continued looking at him. That look did not read invitation, but neither did it contain disgust.
„Enjoy yourselves, ladies. Kristen, would you honor an old man with a dance?"
The request surprised her, but only momentarily. „Not that old, I think." She glanced at the blonde. „All right. If it's a Royal command."
His smile declined to a ghost. „It is." He left the dais, caught Inger's puzzled look from the corner of his eye. He wasn't a dancer.
He quickly proved it. He could not follow the steps. „Ah, hell," he gasped. „I just wanted to talk, anyway. Come over here and taste this fizzy wine Cham brought from Delhagen. He tells me it'll become a big export item."
„Talk?" Kristen's eyes sparkled more than did the wine.
„You said something to that Sherilee."
„I? Father!"
„She's young enough to be my daughter."
„I thought men liked women young and fresh. The Krief was fifty years older than Queen Fiana."
„I'm a married man. A king. Whatever. That's a trap I don't need to get into."
„Sounds like you're convincing you."
He grinned half-heartedly, glanced across the hall. The girl was watching through breaks in the crowd. Her timor ous look made her more appealing. „So I've got to convince me first. So what? Honest, Kristen. Don't push it. It's too much temptation. I don't know about her, but / couldn't handle it."
Kristen's amusement faded. „You're serious, aren't you?"
„Yeah. Really. I can tell just by looking at her, and from what I know about her, and about how I work inside, that I'd fall like a rock. I'd make a complete fool of myself. That's fun once in a while, but I don't have the time now. I can't handle two mistresses at once. My main lady is headed for some hard times, I think."
She asked her question with a raised eyebrow.
„Kavelin."
„Oh. You think there's going to be trouble?"
„Maybe. I'm trying to head it off. You'll get a feel of it tonight. Listen to what people are talking about. The big subjects this year aren't crop yields and mine production."
„Does it have anything to do with General Liakopulos?"
„It may. Sic her on Michael, why don't you?"
„She's not interested in Michael."
„Damn you. What did you have to say that for? Excuse me." He glanced at Sherilee again. So tiny. Like a toy. And every curve and line of her a match for a fantasy-lover's template. He shook his head viciously. „Damn me, too." He left Kristen looking bemused.
Inger joined him on the dais. Her perpetual mocking smile had shrunk to a minimum. „What was that about?" She did not like Kristen. They were both mothers of candidates for Kavelin's throne.
„Household allowances. She wants a separate tutor for Ainjar and Bragi. She tried her jolly-the-old-man-along approach."
„Grasping little witch. It never fails. The commons... ."
„Inger?"
„Hmm?"
„Hold my hand."
She reached over. Her smile returned. He squeezed once, gently, reassuring himself. „Inger. Don't take this as a shot. But you're holding the hand of a common foot soldier who did a lot of grasping. And you married him."