“He’s not used to being refused, Your Highness,” I reply.

  “I wanted to come and warn you,” Grethe says, “He’ll be doubly dangerous. I don’t know what gets into that man at times."

  “His own sense of entitlement and self-importance, perhaps?” I quip.

  Grethe smirks, “It’s not really a subject for jest. He’s a king.”

  “A king who is attempting to abuse a foreign ambassador and the personal envoy of King Ellisar Wynric, King of the Fey of Hloir? Aralli?,” I shrug, “My king will permit me to defend myself by any means necessary.”

  Grethe gives me a look, but I shrug, “Still, perhaps a visit to the priests to see if they can determine if it’s not obsession but possession might be required.”

  Grethe gives me another look,

  “Are not the possessed often driven to the very things that destroy them?” I ask.

  “He’s been different these last few days,” Grethe says slowly, “But it is also said that only the weak-minded can be possessed.”

  “That aligns with what our temples teach, so it’s likely true,” I reply.

  “It would be terrible if that’s the case,” Grethe says.

  “Why? It explains his behavior, and it has a simple enough cure,” I say.

  "Jannick or the dukes might move to replace him, if it were public knowledge,” Grethe says. “I’ve been hoping Jannick would mature a bit before he becomes king."

  Ah, yes, the mean drunk who’s also attracted to me.

  "I’d rather see Bastian on the throne, if I had to pick from among your sons,” I reply.

  Grethe suddenly looks surprised. “I think that perhaps Oskar agrees with you, and this is all some subterfuge to allow him to name Bastian heir.”

  That shows a depth and subtlety that Oskar utterly lacks.

  “If that is the plan, it isn’t his plan,” I say, thinking out loud.

  Grethe’s head snaps around to look at me, and I realize that I’ve said it out loud. “You’re right. One of the dukes must have put him up to it.”

  “I doubt it was Doerr or Pleiter. That leaves Lindeman, DeBoer, or Jellema,” I say.

  “DeBoer is Jellema’s creature. I don’t know what happened, but Jellema owns him body and soul,” Grethe says, “Jellema likes you, so I doubt this is his plan or De Boers’s.”

  “You’re probably right,” I agree.

  Grethe goes on, “That leaves Aart Lindeman. This is something that coward must have cooked up, and probably why he’s still hiding in his rooms.” Now’s the chance to dump a few things on Aart while he’s in hiding.

  “No one’s seen anyone coming or going, not even to bring food. Are you sure he’s hiding?” I ask.

  Grethe gets another look, “You think he’s fled. He wouldn’t dare. Oskar would have his hide for leaving without permission.”

  Grethe stops for a moment, “Oh. You think Oskar gave him permission and that all this is tied together, somehow.”

  “That’s my current guess,” I shrug, “Replacing Jannick isn’t something that your husband would come up with on his own since he’s about as subtle as a war hammer.”

  Grethe smirks at my assessment, “You’re not wrong. It is far too subtle for Oskar to be acting alone and far too sneaky. If it didn’t involve setting me aside so that he could set the boys aside and then bring Bastian back, I’d be impressed with Oskar.”

  I don’t want Grethe set aside. She helps to check some of his more asinine impulses. She’s also suffered enough at his hands. Now her children, whom she’s endured so much for, are endangered.

  “Aside from bedding anyone other than Kenric, let me know how I can help,” I say quietly.

  Grethe shrugs, “I’m a Queen. Queens don’t have friends unless they’re other queens.”

  Grethe stops and stares at me, “Oh, gods! That’s why Ellisar sent you here. You’re going to be the Fey Queen.”

  “There’s been some speculation about that in our court,” I shrug.

  It’s more likely that I end up taking Ellisar’s head by challenge and become Queen of the Fey that way. Some of the speculation is interesting. Amer thinks Ellisar may be trying to wed me. Elora thinks he means to name me his heir, and all this interference in my life is testing me to see how I manage and whether I’m suitable. Either way, I’m fed up with it. As nearly as I can tell, it has served no purpose at all, other than to make my life difficult.

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  Grethe shrugs, “I don’t have time to speculate. I’ve been here too long already. If I need you or need something from you, I’ll send one of my ladies to speak to one of yours.”

  Grethe gathers up her retinue, and they all depart. I spend some time staring after them and a wicked idea occurs to me. It’s time someone takes Oskar to task. I’m tired of playing by his rules, so his rule book is officially tossed into the fireplace.

  I’m rewrting our rules of engagement. I am going to tie him in knots and force him to thank me for doing it. When I’m done, he’ll be so happy to see the last of me that I doubt he’ll look back. I am practically chortling with glee inwardly. This is going to be absolutely delightful.

  Melina looks at her, “What do you make of all that?”

  I shrug, “I’m not sure. I think Oskar’s going to become a problem that I’ll eventually be forced to deal with. Humans always find us attractive. It’s a blessing and a curse all rolled into one.”

  “Half the lords here eye you like a starving man looks at a feast table,” Melina says.

  “No worse than the women who keep eyeing Kenric,” I shrug.

  Melina laughs, “He is very handsome and well-built. You’re fortunate. He doesn’t even look at other women. As soon as you walk into the room, his attention is all yours. They’d like that for themselves.”

  “Then they should have been pickier about the kind of man they married,” I reply.

  Melina shakes her head, “Lord Kenric is a rare sort. I doubt ten men among these lords are faithful to their wives.”

  “I suspect the number of faithful wives to be similar,” I reply.

  I smirk at Melina, “At least there’s one area where women have equality.”

  Melina laughs at my joke, but then grows serious. “Are you truly considered equal among your people?” Melina asks.

  I explain a bit of what means, “I am. I am an advisor to Ellisar, our king. I outrank the males in our court. My advice is sound. The people adore me. Rank, among us, is earned and not a birthright. It’s more of a meritocracy than Centis. Gender is irrelevant to determining worth, unless it’s a spouse you want.”

  “I’ve heard that spouses are very different there,” Melina asks.

  She’s asking about things like Amer, Fylson, and Elora. “Rules about that are very different among us. The only things that matter are age and consent. The only reason age issues arise is that you must be old enough to consent. If those conditions are met, who are the rest of us to judge what happens with others behind closed doors? Let them do as they will. They will anyway, but by allowing it, refusing to stigmatize it, if there are problems, then there are also remedies for those problems.”

  “I don’t understand,” Melina says.

  I give her an example from the Centis court. “Look at Lord and Lady Geil. We’d never allow that to drag on. Their union, among us, would have been dissolved long ago, and all three of them would be better for it. Lord Geil wouldn’t be developing some rather nasty tendencies that the next king will likely need to deal with. His son, likely Oskar’s son if you believe the rumors, wouldn’t be being abused by Lord Geil. Lady Geil would be free to remarry someone more suitable.”

  “Would she be able to, though?” Melina asks.

  “Here in Centis, probably not, but among us, her son would be seen as proof of fertility. She’d be highly sought after because of him, not in spite of him,” I explain.

  “So Fey would be lining up to court her?” Melina asks.

  “They’d be courting her and the boy, too. Children are precious to us. The fact that there are orphanages here is… mind-boggling. No youngling goes unwanted among us,” I say.

  “That’s why you went shopping for them. Isn’t it?” Melina asks.

  “Of course,” I nod, “I wanted to see them for myself. There are so many there… It’s hard to understand, but I attribute it to your obsession with bloodlines.”

  Melina looks at me, puzzled. I walk over to the bookshelf and pull down two books. One is a studbook for horses. The other is A Listing of the Kingdom of Centis’s Nobles. I flip open the studbook for horses and gesture for her to look. I show how lineage among horses is traced. Setting that aside, I pick up The Listing, as it’s commonly called.

  Using my finger, I trace the same types of lineages for humans. In this case, Kenric.

  Melina looks at me, wide-eyed. “Gods above! They’re nearly identical.”

  I nod. “Now that you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee it.”

  “It’s a stud book for humans,” Melina says.

  Snorting, I nod. “I thought it was odd that you’d keep such a thing, until I found out how much importance is placed on bloodlines even for yourselves. It’s even in your language... the phrases that you use.”

  Melina looks puzzled again, so I start listing some of the phrases, “Bad blood, hot-blooded, blood will tell, blood runs thicker than water, blood of my blood, royal blood, blue blood, common blood, blood feud, blood ties, and runs in the family, to name a few of them.”

  Melina stares at me, “I suppose we do say those things, don’t we?”

  I nod. “Now that you’ve seen it, you can’t unsee this, either.”

  Melina laughs, “I’m going to make sure that I point this out to my father and brothers.”

  “I asked Duchess Ina about it. She agrees but says it’s more about consolidating wealth and power than faster legs, like the horses,” I say.

  Melina shakes her head, “I can’t believe you asked the Duchess about that.”

  “I had to ask someone, and she’s become my de facto cultural advisor,” I reply. Melina has that puzzled look again.

  “Every diplomat needs one in a foreign kingdom. Someone who can explain things that may have hidden cultural or religious significance to the locals. It lets us avoid unintentionally giving offense,” I explain.

  “What about when they offend you?” Melina asks.

  “Mostly, I ignore them,” I reply.

  “Why not stop them?” she asks.

  I shake my head, “First, to be truly offended, I’d have to care what they think. I do not. In the scheme of my life, they simply don’t matter. They can no more insult me than that table can. Let the donkeys bray, the goats scream, and the oxen bellow. They’ll get it out of their system eventually and move on to someone else. Trying to trade insults with them is a waste of time. Until they become problematic, I let them go.”

  “But why? Surely you could do something,” Melina asks.

  “I could, but is it really worth the effort? If I stamp out one, more will spring up. If they become problems, I’ll deal with them and the problems they’ve created. Has someone been bothering any of you?” I ask.

  If they are bothering my ladies, I’ll put an end to that nonsense quickly.

  Melina shrugs, “They repeat the most malicious rumors to us constantly. It’s upsetting. They’re the worst to Lilli, though.”

  I frown at Melina and gesture for her to explain. Melina does. “She’s a sweet girl, and nothing that happened to her was her fault. Her family traded her like a milk cow past its prime.”

  “I’m taking Lilli back to Imelenora with me when I go home. All of this is temporary,” I say, waving my hand at Oskar’s palace.

  “Maybe next summer when the tides turn, you could send her ahead,” Melina says.

  I frown, “Is it that bad? Are they so terrible to her?”

  Melina nods, “In a word, yes.”

  What do you think of Grethe?