“She seems to think otherwise,” Kiernan said. “So you must talk to her.”
Senneth glanced at Tayse and bit her lip. “I am not, perhaps, the best example of marrying to oblige one’s family.”
“Well, she trusts you,” Kiernan said. “And I believe that, whatever your faults, you have the well-being of the kingdom at heart. So talk to her tomorrow. Take care of this. We are dealing with too many other problems to add this absolutely unnecessary one to the mix.” He nodded curtly and let himself out of the house without another word.
Senneth looked at Tayse again. “You see why I didn’t talk to my brother for seventeen years.”
“What will you tell Amalie?” he asked.
Senneth sighed. “That if she’s going to rule the kingdom, she must first rule her heart.”
“Will she listen to you?”
“She’s an intelligent girl, our young princess. I think she will.”
SENNETH brought Kirra with her the next day to the rose-and-cream parlor that Amalie had apparently made her headquarters. Baryn had always done most of his work in a very masculine-looking study, so for a moment Senneth was disconcerted by the sheer frilly girlishness of the room. Life would be very different when Amalie wore the crown. But maybe that would not be such a bad thing.
Valri met them at the door, looking stormy. “I wash my hands of this matter,” she said. “She will not listen to me. See what the two of you can accomplish.” And she shut the door behind her with rather more force than was necessary.
“Well! You’re putting all your friends in a frenzy,” Kirra said in her cheerful way, advancing deeper into the salon. “What a pretty room this is! Oh, can we sit in those chairs in the sunlight?”
“That’s my favorite spot,” Amalie said, leading the way. She perched rather primly on the seat she selected, and Senneth sat very upright on her own, but Kirra frankly lounged in her chair.
“I suppose you know why we’re here,” Senneth said.
Amalie nodded, and a faint smile crossed her pretty features. “To dissuade me from marrying Cammon.”
That caused Kirra to scramble to a more or less upright position. “You can’t marry Cammon, even if you keep him around,” she said. “I thought we were here to persuade you to marry someone else.”
“Well, I won’t,” Amalie said in a very pleasant voice. “Shall I have Milo bring us some refreshments?”
“If you want,” Senneth said impatiently. “Amalie. You do understand, don’t you? You must marry a nobleman. You will be the queen and your children will be crowned after you. This war was fought to prove that you have the right to be on the throne. You cannot throw away all the sacrifices made by everyone who fought for you by marrying a man who isn’t fit to be the king.”
“Cammon will be a splendid king,” Amalie said calmly. “He’s wise. He’s honest. He’s incapable of being unfair. He supports me completely, and I trust him utterly. Even if I didn’t love him, I would want him at my side.”
“Certainly, and he can be at your side,” Senneth said. “Many monarchs have trusted advisors with whom they can talk over the most serious problems-men and women with no official titles but a great deal of power and respect. Cammon can be such a man for you.”
Kirra added, “And many kings and queens have married for the sake of allies but kept lovers on the side.” She ignored Senneth’s hiss of reproof and said, “Your husband might have his own arrangement. It is not necessary that you love the man you wed. Cammon need not be absent from your life just because he isn’t beside you on the throne.”
“But I want him beside me on the throne,” Amalie said. “I will be queen. I should be able to marry whomever I want.”
“Unfortunately,” Senneth began, but Amalie interrupted her.
“Both of you should have married nobles, and both of you married commoners.”
“I had renounced my heritage, however, and you have not,” Senneth replied.
“I haven’t married anybody,” Kirra said blithely.
Amalie folded her arms. “And I might not, either.”
Senneth took a deep breath and slowly released it. “Well. Perhaps you might not-right away. Perhaps in a year or so you will think differently. Perhaps it would be better to let the dust of battle settle. Then we can all make a wiser choice about who should be named king.”
Amalie leaned forward a little. The sun caught that red-gold hair and burnished it to a high gleam. She looked perfectly composed, Senneth thought-and completely intractable. “You don’t understand,” she said. “I will marry Cammon, or I will marry no one. Ever. I won’t change my mind in a year. I won’t change my mind no matter who rages at me or tells me I’m a foolish girl. I’m not a foolish girl. I’m a very serious woman. I’ve always been serious. And I tell you now that Cammon will be my king, or no one will be my king. And you can either find a way to make that decision palatable to your brother or you can continue to argue with me, but in the end nothing will change. I will be queen, and I will marry Cammon.”
There was a long, long silence. Senneth stared at Amalie and Amalie stared back, while Kirra sat absolutely motionless. Amalie raised her eyebrows. “Now should I have Milo bring us some refreshments?” she asked and leaned over to tug on the bellpull.
Senneth turned to gaze at Kirra, the only possible ally in such a situation. “How,” she murmured, “how can we make this acceptable to the marlords of Gillengaria?”
Kirra was already thinking, tapping a slim finger against her perfect nose. “We make him one of us,” she said. “Someone’s lost son.”
Senneth snorted. “Too convenient! No one will believe it.”
“Perhaps not, but they won’t be sure. There might be whispers, but there wouldn’t be proof.”
“Whose?” Senneth demanded. “I tell you now I don’t believe Kiernan would go along with such a charade, even to save the kingdom. Would your father?”
Kirra thought about it. “Lay claim to a bastard son? I doubt that would trouble him-and he likes Cammon-oh, but I simply can’t! Pretend Cammon is my brother? It’s offensive on so many levels.”
She shuddered delicately, but Senneth ignored Kirra at her worst. “I didn’t mean for him to be your father’s son. Surely we can step down a few rungs in the hierarchy. Enlist one of your father’s vassals, perhaps. Would they be willing to pretend Cammon was a child set adrift some dark night? He’s got magic in his blood-surely it wouldn’t be too great of a disgrace to admit they had abandoned him for that reason? And now. Well! The kingdom embraces mystics again, and they’re ready to atone!”
“That might work,” Kirra said. “But I wonder if Danalustrous is the place to be looking for Cammon’s mythical parents. Everyone knows my father is loyal to the crown. They would suspect a lie.”
“Then what other House?” Senneth said. She tilted her head to one side. “Rappengrass?”
Kirra considered the name and liked it. “Oh, yes, Ariane might be just the marlady to back us in this,” she said. “And remember, she owes a debt to Cammon! He helped me last summer when I saved her granddaughter’s life. I think she would be most willing to find some hapless vassal to claim Cammon as his son.”
“Good, then we have solved this problem,” Amalie said.
“Not quite so fast,” Senneth said. “We still must ask her! And she must agree! And then we must fabricate some story and-”
“If not Ariane, then Eloise Kianlever,” Amalie said. The door opened, and she waved Milo inside. “Or Mayva Nocklyn. Someone will be willing to earn my lifelong gratitude by telling a simple lie. I’m very glad the two of you came to me this morning. I knew you would solve this problem, and you have, very neatly.”