“Rupert’s scheme is actually working better than mine,” she said. “His tactic is to let the really determined girls corner him, and then he does nothing but talk about how wonderful Peggy is.”
“And is she?” I asked. I thought that instead of summoning eligible maidens from all over the Realm to try to win his son, the High Liege would have done better to let the affair run its course. The worst likely to happen was that she’d produce a few bastards before the Heir tired of her, and went on to marry the nubile and gifted young noblewoman he was supposed to wed. Opposition only makes young lovers more determined. Though as Jack had taught me, there were ways around that.
“So what was your tactic? Did you invent some mythical lover of your own to babble about?”
“Nothing so silly,” Kathy said. “Though I might have been better off trying that. No, I decided to befriend Peggy myself, thinking that would make it too awkward for me to chase after Rupert. And it wasn’t hard—she’s no brainless court ninny. In fact, she was studying law at Mortmain University when she and Rupert met. She was supposed to become an in-house lawyer for her family’s textile business—they raise both flax and sheep, though most of their money comes from weaving. There’s a whole town, good-sized, north of Crown City that does almost nothing but weaving for Merkle Cloth and Thread. Peg says that on a still day in the summer, when the cottage doors are open, you can hear the clack of the looms half a mile away.”
I’d been through some of the great weaving towns, and what struck me most about them wasn’t the noise, but how much bolder women become when they’re given a chance to make a decent wage. Having tired to save three sisters from poverty, I liked that better than most men would.
“So Mistress Margaret was supposed to be checking over the family’s contracts, but she fell in love with a prince instead. How very backward.”
The Heir’s romantic tangle sounded more interesting than I’d first thought.
“The irony didn’t escape them,” Kathy said. “Me, I think a queen with a through grounding in the Realm’s law and its history would be a good thing, but...”
No gifts. Which meant none passed to her sons, either.
(Page and a half where the conversation strays, but then wanders back.)
“I’ve ended up doing what father wanted Michael to do,” Kathy went on. “I spend half the day out inspecting flooded fields, or crop blight, or fences that need mending. Court may look all glittery and glamorous, but it’s dull!”
“It does sound like you’re wasted there,” I said. “So what went wrong? You befriended Mistress Peggy, and then... Oh. Dear.”
“You’re quick,” said Kathy. “I didn’t see it coming at all.”
“Well, to be fair, neither of us is the middle-aged ruler of a whole Realm. The High Liege is.” I wasn’t sure whether to be appalled, or to laugh.
“The perfect solution, he called it,” Kathy said grimly. “We could just share Rupert, and he could go right on loving Peggy, get me pregnant on a regular basis, and none of us could fight or fuss about it because we were all such good friends. If you laugh, I’m going to kill you.”
