ourselves. Had I not slipped him into the library at an opportune moment, nor had you invited him on the hunt that day, Tanalasta would never have given him a second look.”
A pained look came to the king’s eye. “Just because a man wants to know his daughter’s suitors does not mean he is thrusting them on her.”
“No more than we have been thrusting poor Dauneth on her.” Filfaeril shot a glance at Vangerdahast, who pretended not to notice and continued to gaze into the fire. “It is no wonder his mother assumed more than she should have.”
Azoun nodded. “Yes, I suppose that mess was my fault-but a father can encourage, can’t he? I only want to see her happy.”
“Happily married,” Filfaeril said, “and pregnant with an heir.”
Azoun shot his wife a rare frown. “Happy first.”
“Regardless of the cost to Cormyr?” the queen asked.
Azoun thought for a moment, then said, “The price of the realm’s good does not have to be Tanalasta’s happiness. Perhaps it is time I realized her calling may not lie in being a ruler.”
Vangerdahast was so surprised that he nearly choked on his own saliva. Of course, the same thought had been in the back of everyone’s mind since Tanalasta’s embarrassment in the Abraxus Affair, but this was the first time Azoun had voiced it aloud.
Filfaeril did not seem so shocked. She merely raised a brow, then spoke in an eerily neutral voice. “That would be a big decision.”
“But not necessarily a hard one. Tanalasta is thirty-six years old. By the time you were her age, she was already fifteen, and Foril would have been…” Azoun did not finish, for neither he nor his queen liked to dwell on the loss of their young son. “Perhaps Tanalasta would be happier without the burden of producing an heir.”
“Perhaps,” Filfaeril allowed. “She is approaching the age when the choice may no longer be hers, and we must also think of the kingdom.”
Vangerdahast’s heart sank. Until now, the queen had always been Tanalasta’s greatest supporter, maintaining that the princess would grow into her responsibilities when the time came. If even Filfaeril had lost faith in her eldest daughter, then what support could Tanalasta have left in the rest of the kingdom?
Azoun stepped over to the hearth and stared into the flames, blocking Vangerdahast’s heat. “Tanalasta isn’t the same. She may have been naive before that Bleth trouble, but she was hardly stupid. Now
…” The king let the sentence trail, shaking his head in dismay. “Embarrassing Lady Marliir like that was bad enough.”
“Majesty, we must recall that Tanalasta had some-ah-help in that,” Vangerdahast said. “I seem to recall shaking my head as you turned to start up the rostrum.”
Azoun regarded Vangerdahast with a look of puzzlement. “I thought you were at odds with the crown princess.”
“I do not always agree with you either.”
“Nor do the two of you seek every opportunity to vex each other,” said Filfaeril. “So why are you defending her now?”
“Because fairness demands it,” said Vangerdahast. “She was merely standing up for herself in an unfair circumstance.”
“Unfair?” Filfaeril’s eyes narrowed to ice-blue slits. “What game are you playing at now, old trickster? You were the one who said we should give destiny a push and ask the Marliirs to host the king’s party.”
Vangerdahast felt the heat rising to his face, but it was impossible to disguise the reaction with both royals watching him so closely. In a voice as casual as possible, he said, “I may have pushed rather too hard, milady.”
“‘Rather too hard?’” Filfaeril demanded. “If you cast any spells on them-“
“Of course not!” Vangerdahast was truly indignant. “Would I use magic to manipulate the princess’s emotions?”
“Only as a last resort,” Azoun growled. “So tell us what you did do.”
“It was but a little thing.” Vangerdahast held up his hand, pressing together his thumb and forefinger to illustrate. “Merely a matter of a few words, really.”
“Whispered into whose ear?” Filfaeril asked. “Lady Marliir’s?”
“For one,” Vangerdahast said. “But that really isn’t important.”
“No wonder Tanalasta has so little use for you!” The king shook his head in disbelief. “That doesn’t excuse this royal temple nonsense. Half the nobles in the land will convert to Chauntea merely to win favor at court, and the other half will take up arms to defend their own faiths. How can she expect me to let this happen?”
“Because if you don’t, her reputation will be ruined,” Filfaeril said. She went over to stare into the flames, and now Vangerdahast was completely blocked off from the warmth of the fire. “Forgive me for saying so, Azoun, but I think we’re the dense ones here. Our daughter knows exactly what she’s doing.”
Azoun furrowed his brow. “Let us assume that is so-but to what purpose?”
“To force our hand, of course,” said Filfaeril. “Obviously, she does not wish to be queen.”
Vangerdahast was up and standing between the royals in an instant. “Let us not leap to conclusions, milady! No one has heard Tanalasta say any such thing.”
The queen whirled on him with a vehemence that, until that moment, had been reserved for poisoners and plotters. “What do you care, you old meddler? You’ve never wanted Tanalasta to be queen, not since the day she crawled onto Alaphondar’s lap instead of yours.”
Vangerdahast forced himself to stand fast in the face of her fury and in that moment he saw the first hint of frailty he had observed in the queen’s character in more than forty years of knowing her. It was not the princess who had reservations about ascending the throne, but Filfaeril herself who wanted Tanalasta to rebuff the crown. The queen simply could not bear the thought of the grief and sacrifice her bookish daughter would suffer in having to become something so much larger than she was by her own nature.
Had the old wizard known her feelings a year earlier, before leaving on his journey with Tanalasta, perhaps he could have honored her wishes. Filfaeril was the closest thing he had to a sister or a wife or a mistress, and he would not have hurt her for all the treasure in the Thousand Worlds, but it was too late now. Screwing on his most enigmatic glower, the wizard met the queen’s furious gaze with an angry conviction he did not quite feel.
“What you say simply is not true, milady. If I have been hard on the princess, it is only because you and the king have been too soft on her.”
Filfaeril’s eyes flashed white. “What are you saying, Magician?”
“That you spoiled your daughter, Majesty-a sin pardonable enough, except that she happened to be the crown princess of Cormyr.”
“How dare you!”
Filfaeril’s hand flew up so quickly that it would surely have sent Vangerdahast sprawling, had Azoun not caught her wrist.
“Not yet, my dear.” Azoun’s eyes were as angry as those of his wife. “First, I’d like him to explain himself.”
Breathing an inward sigh of relief, Vangerdahast turned to the king and inclined his head. Azoun, at least, would not strike unless he meant to kill.
“It is simple enough, Highness,” he said. “Between childhood and adulthood is rebellion. You and the queen have been loving parents but not stern, and so your daughters had no one to rebel against. I am privileged to be that person for Tanalasta.”
“So you have been deliberately provoking her?” Filfaeril demanded.
“Quite,” Vangerdahast said, almost proudly. “I would say I’ve done rather well, wouldn’t you?”
Again, Azoun’s quick hand was all that kept the queen’s fist from knocking the old wizard off his feet. Vangerdahast’s heart broke a little as he realized that the fury in her eyes would not soon fade. Still, one sometimes had to pay a steep price for always being right.
“I want it stopped,” said Azoun. “It isn’t working anyway.”
“I’m afraid it can’t be stopped.” Vangerdahast did not relish saying that to the king. “Now that it has been stirred, Tanalasta’s fury will not simply fade away-not when it has been corked up inside her for twenty years. This thing will have to run its course now, and it’s better that she is angry at me than at you. That way, we avoid the
