other buyer.”
Ren did the math. Once Eldest accepted an offer, she would need four or five days for the betrothal contract to be written, all prenuptial tests run on Jerin, and then the actual signing. Add another five days for traveling, and the Whistlers actually needed to accept an offer two weeks prior to Jerin’s birthday.
“So you only have thirty days or so to decide.”
Eldest nodded. “Have you heard from your sister?”
Ren shook her head. Raven’s people had found no trace of Halley.
“If it was a straight choice between you and the Porters,” Eldest said, “it would be a simple pick. Jerin’s happiness matters much to me, and any fool could see that my brother is in love with you. If I was sure that your family would eventually come around to favoring the match, we could wait financially. We have different options, but they’re not as simple to access as the brother’s price on Jerin, and not without risks.” Eldest looked at Ren with frank honesty. “But I’m not sure. Princess Halley may show up and want nothing to do with us. Or she might not show, and yet your mothers could continue to deny the match. Much as I love my brother, I have to do what is best for my sisters. I can give you until thirty days, and then I must accept Kij’s offer.”
“I understand.”
Ren would face Trini and make her see the facts. If four of the five elder sisters agreed on Jerin, perhaps her mothers would allow the marriage without Halley’s presence.
Trini managed to mostly avoid Ren for a week. Their duties precluded her from avoiding Ren completely, but she slipped into court minutes before the first case was called, and then darted out the moment the last case was settled. Unwilling to estrange Trini from Jerin completely, Ren settled on giving a rare command as Eldest, ordering Trini to eat with the family. It was almost comical to see Trini try to avoid Ren, Odelia, Lylia, and Jerin at dinner.
Aware of the days slipping by, Ren finally cornered Trini deadheading her prize roses. “We need to talk.”
“No, we don’t.” Trini snipped viciously at the innocent flowers. “I know what Lylia tried to pull. I know what you’re trying to do. I’m not going to be roped into marriage again so soon. We’re young. We can wait.”
“No, we can’t!” Ren snapped. “Do you want it to end here, with us? After twenty generations, our family ends with us? The entire country thrown into the same chaos of Wakecliff’s estate, with no clear heirs?”
“You’re being melodramatic, Ren.”
“I am not. We’re only ten in number. If something happened to any one of us, our daughters could be even fewer. We have to marry and start having children.”
“Why not this violent outcry last year? Or the year before? Or any time in the last six years?”
“Halley hadn’t gone missing last year. Odelia hadn’t been attacked last year. I hadn’t had a few narrow calls myself. And yes, this opportunity hadn’t presented itself.”
“Opportunity? Let’s call things as they are. You’ve met a pretty boy and you want to be serviced like a cat in heat. This is no different than with Eldest and Keifer.”
“Jerin is nothing like Keifer. This isn’t like our first marriage. The Porters poured a fortune into Keifer’s dress; they kept him under our elder sisters’ nose, and gave full liberties to him prior to the wedding.”
“And this differs how from the Whistlers? It seems he’s here, under our noses, well dressed, and, from what Barnes tells me, well tousled.”
“If Odelia and I hadn’t gone north, we would have never met them. I caught Jerin alone at night and seduced him. I brought the Whistlers here. And if I hadn’t begged Eldest Whistler to wait for our offer, they would have already accepted Kij Porter’s generous offer a week ago and left.”
Trini whirled around. “What? No one’s told the Whistlers what a monster Keifer was?”
“Kij is not her brother.” Ren waved it tiredly aside. “Besides, it would seem as if we were just poisoning the well to keep the water for ourselves.”
“All bad apples come from apple trees.”
“You can’t say Keifer is a fair representation of his sisters, any more than Cullen is like his sisters.”
“I find Cullen exactly like his sisters-intelligent, fair-minded, openhearted, charming, and headstrong. I wouldn’t mind marrying Cullen.”
“Cullen is too close in blood.” Ren rubbed at the bridge of her nose. “I like him too. He would be a safe choice; we know him well and there’d be no surprises. but we can’t marry him.”
“I know. I know.”
“Trini, do you remember how Keifer was with you and Lylia? He could barely be civil even with Eldest watching. I’ve seen Jerin with his youngest sisters while trying to cook for forty people. There’s no way he could have faked being so patient, gentle, and caring with them.”
“I’ve seen Jerin with Zelie and the youngest,” Trini admitted. “He seemed very good with them, but it could have been an act. All of it could be an act.”
“If you don’t trust him, at least trust me to know the difference between genuine goodness and fake. I’ve resisted a second marriage this long because Keifer hurt me too. Of all the men paraded before us, Jerin’s the only one I’ve trusted.”
Trini stared out over the rosebushes for several minutes. “And if we don’t take Jerin, Kij gets him?”
“Most likely.”
“I wouldn’t give a dog to the Porters,” Trini growled.
Was it too soon to ask for her support? Ren hesitated, afraid that Trini might construe the next question as her being bullied into a decision. But it made no sense to avoid the issue after pushing it to a head.
“Can I tell Mother Elder that you support a marriage to Jerin?”
Several minutes passed, and then, quietly, Trini murmured, “Yes.”
Ren went to her Mother Elder. “The Porters have offered for Jerin. Let me make an offer too.”
“Have you spoken with your sisters about this?” Mother Elder asked quietly.
“Odelia and Lylia are eager for the marriage. Trini has agreed.”
“And Halley?”
Ren bit down on a bolt of anger. She mustn’t lose her temper. “There hasn’t been any word from Halley. Mother. I am beginning to doubt she is alive; I would have expected her to surface when the Herald reported the attack on Odelia. In that light, I do not think it’s reasonable to wait for her. We have a majority.”
“With another man. a brother of a well-established noble house, I would agree with you. While Jerin is a charming man, there will be many objections to him fathering the next generation of rulers. We are the daughters of the Holy Mothers, unsullied by common blood for twenty generations.”
“All the noble houses were commoners at one time, from the Keepers on down.”
“With the exception of the Porters, the nobles have all taken royal princes as husbands.”
“If the Porters were acceptable, why not the Whistlers? They at least married a royal prince. In fact, in many ways, they are more noble than all the noble houses, since their royal blood has been less diluted by successive generations.”
“Truly, Ren, how can you compare the Porters, landowners for twenty generations, to thieves fathered out of cribs?”
“Landowners? The Porters were not much more than river pirates cutting the throats of those who failed to pay for portage around the falls. They claimed to be neutral during the War of the False Eldest, but everyone knew they played both sides, and yet we married them. ”
“This is not about the Porters; it’s about the Whistlers.”
Ren realized that her mother was going to hold to her impossible demand. “If you hadn’t planned on giving your permission all along, why did you allow me to hope? You’ve made losing him all the more bitter now.”
Her mother shook her head. “I told you that you shouldn’t engage your heart.”
Ren stood, feeling hollow, betrayed.
Her mother reached out and took her hand. “Ren, I was willing to allow the marriage if Halley agreed to it. In such an unequal marriage, you’re asking your sisters to take a huge risk, a risk a normal marriage wouldn’t entail. If you wished to marry the brother of a noble family, a majority would be enough. This isn’t the case. You must all be willing to take Jerin as husband.”
“Halley is dead!” Ren snapped. “Dead! She went out and got herself quietly killed!”
Her mother slapped her hard. “Shut your mouth! Until her body is buried in the family crypt, she is alive!
The answer is no. You cannot marry without Halley’s agreement. That was the case from the very start.
