Realm of Dragons

“Everything is in chaos, thanks to you. An extra feast wasn’t just food, it was time as well, so now we’re trying to deal with everything at once. Then there’s the fact that half your children aren’t doing any of the things they should be to help, your sorcerer is wandering around doing strange things no one can fathom, and Finnal’s family is making things more complicated.”

King Godwin heaved a sigh. This was why he liked being out on the hunt: things were simpler there, with only the chase and the prey.

“Well, Rodry’s with me, along with those lads who follow him around so closely.” He raised his voice. “Rodry, come forward so that we can see you.”

Rodry strode forward and swept a bow in his father’s direction. He was dressed in loose hunting clothes, a sword at his hip.

“What do you need of me, Father?”

“What are you doing to aid in the wedding preparations, my son?” he asked.

“Aside from spearing the largest of the boars this morning?” his son countered with a confident look. His followers had cheered when he’d done that, clearly impressed. All the king had been able to think of was what might have happened if the boar’s tusks had gored his son, his heir.

“There’s still a lot to do,” Aethe said.

Rodry nodded. “Then I and my friends will do all that we can to help. Just tell us where we are needed, and we will do it. I have something special planned for a wedding gift, as well.”

“What?” King Godwin asked.

Of course, his eldest son shook his head, before he rushed off to do whatever it was he was set on doing.

“You realize that his would-be knights trying to help will create more chaos?” Aethe said. “You let the boy get away with being too rash.”

Godwin spread his hands. “You can’t have it both ways, my love.” He looked over to a servant. “Find my other children and bring them. Find my soon-to-be son’s family and ask them to meet with me too. I would know what the problem is.”

Aethe laughed at that. “You’re making it sound like all they need is a good talking to.”

Godwin shrugged. “Maybe they do. I’m going to start by talking to the daughter who is actually getting married.”

He stood and went to Lenore, who looked as perfect as she always did. She was standing there elegantly while her maids were working on her dress. At the same time, she was going through lists and notes while one of the maids read them out.

“Lord Forster and his son will be at the second table. Remember that they have a hatred of music, because the son finds it painful to hear…”

“Trying to remember everything about our guests?” King Godwin asked. “We’re the ones who are meant to be making the day perfect for you.”

“I still have plenty to do though,” Lenore said. “I will be meeting so many people, and I want to acquit myself well; I wouldn’t want to embarrass you.”

“You could never do that,” King Godwin promised her.

“Then there’s the tour of the kingdom,” Lenore said. “It takes a lot of preparation.”

King Godwin smiled at that, remembering when he’d toured it with Illia. People had come out to see them, and had given gifts, and more importantly, had pledged their loyalty.

“I’m sure it will be fine,” he said. He looked around at the sight of the doors to the Great Hall opening. “And here are your brothers and sisters.”

The brothers, at least, which caught the king a little by surprise. Vars and Greave walked in together, Vars looking like he was nursing a hangover, his shirt and doublet disheveled as if he’d thrown them on in a hurry. Greave was dressed in gray and black, a book of some sort in his hand, his expression downcast. Honestly, Godwin didn’t know what it would take to ever make his youngest son smile, and he wasn’t sure he had the energy to care. His presence always put Godwin a little on edge, simply because he resembled his mother so much, from his shoulder-length blond hair and blue eyes down to the almost feminine lines of his face.

“Where are your sisters?” he demanded.

Greave shrugged, and somehow managed to do even that mournfully. “I have not seen Erin. Nerra is in her rooms, unwell, I believe.”

Godwin flinched at the thought of Nerra unwell again. He would have to see her and make sure she was all right. As for Erin…

He turned to a couple of his knights, Jolin and Borus. Both had served him for many years now. Both were utterly loyal. “Find my youngest daughter, wherever she has gone, and bring her back.”

“Yes, your majesty,” they chorused, heading for the door together.

King Godwin returned his attention to his sons. “What about you two? Why have you not been doing what you should to help with the wedding? Vars? You were not on the hunt.”

“I found more useful things to do,” he said. “I will of course aid in any way I can.”

“Then you won’t mind being Lenore’s guard and champion on her wedding procession?” the king said. It was the sort of job Rodry would have volunteered for, but his other sons needed some hardening up. Let Vars learn what being a warrior meant.

“Of course,” Vars said, although his voice was tight. That only told Godwin just how much his son needed to be made to take responsibility.

“And you, Greave?” the king asked, but cut his son off before he could reply. “No, don’t tell me, you were lost in some foolish book of poetry, or you felt the world too bleak to rise from your bed, or… what is that you’re carrying?”

“A refutation of Serek’s arguments regarding the autonomy of the spirit,” Greave said in that too serious voice of his.

“So nothing useful?” King Godwin said. If he’d spoken that way to one of his daughters, Aethe would probably have intervened, but she didn’t interfere when it came to Illia’s sons.

“If you wish me to help with the wedding, then perhaps I could assist the players with composing—”

“No,” King Godwin said. “You’ll do work that befits a king’s son, and a nobleman.”

“Such as what?” Greave demanded, with that edge to his voice that always made Godwin angry with him. “Maybe I could beat some peasants like one of my brothers, or stab some animals like the other?”

The king opened his mouth to reprimand his son, knowing full well that it would only go downhill from there. It was almost a relief when a trumpet blared and Finnal’s family walked in. Almost.

The young man himself was a handsome thing, who matched his daughter well, but Godwin could have lived without the whole parade of others who came with him: cousins and uncles, with his father, Duke Viris, at their fore. The duke had gray running through his formerly dark hair, and was dressed as severely as always, in clothes as suited to war or hunting as to the court.

“Your majesty, may I congratulate you on your success in the hunt?”

“You’re kind,” the king said. “At the same time, I understand that not everything is to your liking here?”

“Oh, it is just a few small matters,” Duke Viris said. “The order of arrival at the wedding, for example.”

“That is decided by rules of precedence,” Aethe said, “as I have already explained to you.”

“And I have pointed out that the order you have chosen is not the one that is universal. Typically, dukes process before princes.”

“Maybe we can discuss it further,” King Godwin said. “I’ll not have it said that I was a stickler for rules when they got in the way. What else?”

“There is the small matter of when and how your daughter’s dowry will be paid,” the duke said.

King Godwin sighed and settled back in his throne. Whoever had said that kings were able to just do what they wished had clearly not spent any time as one. This was going to be a long day; there were a thousand details to discuss now, and if he messed up any one of them, he suspected that his daughter might not be getting married after all.

CHAPTER TEN