Although there were enough chairs for all of us, none of us sat.
“I’m going to get right to the point,” Mother said, rubbing her hands together in a nervous gesture that seemed unlike her. “Do you remember the Prides?”
“The Prides?”
“Specifically, Cars Pride and his son, Marcus.”
I thought a moment. “No. I’ve never heard those names.”
“They are on the way here to see you. I’m surprised we managed to get here first.”
“Why?” What was so important they couldn’t just send me a letter? What was so awful my family had pushed themselves over half a continent to reach me first?
Mother took a deep breath. “Because you’re betrothed to Marcus.”
I snickered, because that had to be one of the most ridiculous things I’d ever heard.
But no one was snickering with me.
“I’m being serious,” said my mother.
“Please. No one does that anymore.”
My mother seemed to contemplate that for a moment. “It isn’t surprising that, given your upbringing, you might not be as aware of certain realities as—”
“I live in the real world,” I snapped. Yes, I’d spent seventeen years protected in the Shield Academy, but I would wager I’d gone through more extraordinary things in my years since leaving than anyone in my family could imagine. “This does not happen.”
“It does, actually. It is much less common now than it was when you were born, and even then it was more the custom to arrange marriages between adults rather than children, but it was done then, and it is still done occasionally now. I could give you some examples, if you wish.”
I stared at her. She looked back at me with grim determination. My brothers didn’t appear amused. Dias, in particular, looked like he pitied me. This was not a joke. How could this not be a joke? “You betrothed me to someone?” I couldn’t believe those words were coming out of my mouth. It was farcical.
“They are a merchant family and—”
“I don’t care who they are, how could you—”
“—we were experiencing some—”
“—take such an important—”
“Dunleavy Mallorough!” Mother snapped. “You will show me the respect of listening to me without interruption.”
I clamped my lips together and crossed my arms. But I was furious. Oh, I was furious. This was the most idiotic thing I’d ever heard. How was I supposed to show respect to someone who had dredged up such a ridiculous obsolete tradition?
“Our fortunes were at a low ebb. The lowest we’d suffered in generations. The Prides had only recently established their enterprises, but they were doing well. They were new and fresh, and they created so much produce that some suppliers began to deal only with them, needing no one else. You are probably unaware of the practice, but many suppliers to the markets would prefer to deal only with one source rather than many. So we lost some of our connections, which cut down greatly on the markets our produce reached, and our income flow sank so deeply we were facing the possibility of being unable to support our staff, even our own family, without selling off assets we couldn’t afford to lose.
“The Prides approached us. They wanted our name. We were established; they were new. They had resources; we had experience. They felt combining our lines would benefit us both. You were an infant. Marcus was only slightly younger. They knew we wouldn’t agree to his marrying Kaaren. She was our firstborn; she would be responsible for our enterprise when your father and I were too old to carry the business ourselves. And she was nearly ten. I believe the combination of her status and her age would have given her an advantage over their son that made them uncomfortable. The boys weren’t yet born, of course. You were the only suitable child. And we were sliding too close to the edge to refuse their offer.”
What I was hearing made no sense. I had been betrothed my whole life and I’d never even known about it? It was impossible. They hadn’t told me anything about it. Surely, if this were true, they would have told me at some point. It was a pretty significant fact.
Seriously, this couldn’t be happening.
“Papers were drawn and goods were exchanged. But a few years later we learned you were a Shield, and as you know, once that happened, you belonged to the Triple S and the contract was invalidated.”
Yes, that was right. Relief unclenched the panic balling in my chest. Of course I wasn’t actually betrothed to anyone. The very idea was ludicrous. My knees felt weak. I wanted to sit down. “Then why are they coming here?”
“They don’t consider the contract invalidated. We didn’t return the payments. The paperwork hasn’t been revised. We still use the connections the agreement garnered us.”
“Why didn’t you return the payments?” I demanded.
“It wasn’t required, under the circumstances.”
I was appalled. “I would think decency would require it.”
“I didn’t realize trade was part of the curriculum in the Shield Academy,” my mother said coolly.
I felt like I’d been slapped. It hurt. But that wasn’t the important issue right then. “They can’t expect me to actually marry this man.” Of course I wouldn’t do it. I didn’t care what contracts had been signed. I hadn’t signed anything, and as far as I was concerned, I was the only one who could and have it stick.
If these Prides had just sent me a letter, I would have reminded them that, as a Shield, I couldn’t be held to obligations created by my family. I would have saved them the trip. And the fact that my family had thought to trade me off like a sack of grain wouldn’t be made known to everyone in Flown Raven.
Because it would be made known. To everyone. That was the nature of a small place like Flown Raven.
This was going to be so humiliating.
Taro was going to lose his mind.
“The Prides are desperate, Lee. Things have been going very badly for them. They’re in textiles, too, but much of their money was tied to land they owned in the south. Nacin worms have spun in their trees for decades, but a blight has killed almost all of them. The Prides haven’t been able to honor all of their trade agreements and their name has started to acquire tarnish. A marriage will make the connection between our families undeniable to the rest of the world. We could act as a form of security for their ventures. And, of course, there is money and goods that we would then have to settle on their family as part of the wedding process.”
Perhaps it was callous of me, but I could give a broken stick for whatever troubles the Prides were going through. “And this Marcus fellow, he’s just going to go along with this?” Had he no spine?
“Cars has informed us that Marcus is obedient.”
Not feeling good about Marcus. “I won’t do it. You do understand that, right?”
“Of course. We came to warn you of their coming and to offer our support against them.”
“Oh.” Couldn’t she have started her announcement with that? Something to tell me that she had some odd news to deliver but not to worry because nothing would come of it all? I would have been spared all the anger and panic.
Though my emotional responses were my own fault. It was my responsibility to remain calm in all circumstances. My training in that area had been slipping further and further over the past couple of years.
So just be calm. I was making a fool of myself. “All right.”
And the crazy thing was, this wasn’t even the first time someone wanted to marry me. What was it with people? I had no title, no land, no business interests. There was absolutely no reason for anyone to want to marry me.
I couldn’t believe my parents ever thought to marry me off. They’d negotiated over me like they would a cow. They’d signed paperwork.
“Kaaren’s doing well,” my mother said. “She was quite upset she had to send Deacon away, but she is recovering her equanimity nicely.”
I couldn’t help staring at her. She had nearly capsized my emotional equilibrium, and now she wanted to sink into gossip?
Who the hell was Deacon?
I cleared my throat. “If that’s all to be said about the Pride matter, I suggest we let Fiona have her office back.” Sometimes, when one doesn’t know what to do, fall back on strict civility.
So we retired to the suite I shared with Taro, where my mother proceeded to tell me all about what was going on with the family and the business and a bunch of people I’d never met and probably never would. I tried to look as though I really cared, when all I wanted to do was ransack Fiona’s library for law texts. Maybe one would clearly state that Shields couldn’t be forced to honor family obligations. I could stand before these Prides with the text, show them the relevant section, and send them on their way.
My brothers said nothing. I didn’t know them as well as I would have liked, but their ongoing silence struck me as uncharacteristic. It was disquieting.
In time, Mother started yawning, her eyes watering. “Time for us to bed down, boys,” she announced. “We’ve had a hard day.”
Dias and Mika didn’t appear tired, and I expected them to demur. I was surprised when they didn’t. They were too old to be going to bed just because their parent told them to, but they got up and left with her.
Interesting.
I sat alone by the fire and tried to settle my mind. Thoughts were jumping in and out and bouncing against each other. It was so hard to focus. It was impossible to remain calm.
What if I hadn’t been a Shield? Would I have been already married? Having grown up with that expectation, would I have accepted it with equanimity, or would I be as bitter and resentful as I was feeling right then?
And then Taro breezed in. Oh, lords. I had to tell him.
“Your family is very free with their hands,” he commented.
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh, that wasn’t a complaint. I like them.”
Yes. Taro liked to touch people, too. Or he used to. He didn’t do it as much anymore. I wondered why.
He liked my family at the moment. What would he say once he knew why they were here? “They have told me some disturbing news.”
I had planned to get it out all at once, I wasn’t looking for drama with a significant pause, but Taro interrupted me.
“Is something wrong? Is someone ill?” He reached out to touch my hand.
“No, nothing like that.” I pulled in a deep breath. “Apparently, when I was a child my parents entered me into a betrothal with a boy named Marcus Pride. They never invalidated the agreement when they sent me to the Shield Academy, and Marcus Pride and his father are coming here in an attempt to enforce the contract.”
He stared at me. “What?”
It was too ridiculous to say again. “You heard me.”
Taro’s lovely black eyes widened. “You’re betrothed.” His voice was flat with disbelief.
“Of course not. The agreement became invalid once I was recognized as a Shield.”
“So why are they coming here?”
“Apparently they’re claiming the contract was never voided. Mother says they’re desperate.”
Taro’s posture stiffened. “Wonderful. That’s just wonderful.” He started pacing.
“Listen, it’s nothing. They’ll come here, they’ll make their demands, I’ll say no, they’ll go home. That’s it.” I almost felt sorry for them, coming all this way for nothing. Almost. They should have written. Or, better yet, just accepted that the contract was void.
Perhaps they had hoped I wouldn’t know they had no legal claim, hoped to arrange a quick wedding before I found out differently. If Marcus was so meek, they might assume I would be, too.
I was almost looking forward to proving them wrong.
“Have you met this Marcus Pride?” Taro asked.
“Not that I can remember.”
“So what happens if he’s moderately handsome and intelligent with a pleasing manner?”
I glared at him. “Don’t be absurd.”
“Please, the whole situation is absurd.”
“I don’t disagree. It’s going to be humiliating. It won’t result in anyone getting married.”
Taro knocked his knuckles against the wall before turning and pacing back. “It doesn’t make sense. You don’t own anything.”
“My family does.” That was all the Prides would care about.
“Becoming a Triple S member severs family ties.”
“I already said that.”
He pushed his hands through his hair and then rubbed his face. “I can’t believe this.”
“Neither can I.”
“It’s always something.”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“There is always someone.”
“There is always someone what?”
“Someone . . . interfering. With us.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes. You do.”
I really didn’t, but I had no interest in arguing. “They’ll get here, I’ll tell them there’s no chance, they’ll turn around and go back home. Sorted.”
“You really think it’s going to be that simple? They’ll come all the way from . . . wherever they’re coming from, and they’ll just turn around and leave on your say so?”
“They can stay as long as they want. I won’t be marrying anyone.”
He just scowled and kept pacing.
“My family is against this. The only pressure I’ll be feeling is from a couple of strangers. Do you really think I’ll submit to it? You know me better than that.”
“If this Marcus is—”
“Who cares what Marcus is? It doesn’t matter. And I can tell you this much about him: he’s prepared to go through with this asinine marriage plan. How could I possibly respect someone like that?”
“There’s nothing wrong with someone who cares about his family and is prepared to sacrifice for them.”
My mouth dropped open, I was that shocked. “Have you been drinking?”
“You haven’t even met him yet, and you’re discounting him. You do that, you know. With people.”
“You sound like you want me to give this serious consideration.”
“You are naive. You underestimate people all the time. You have no idea what’s going to happen.”