my mother is right, and the Yafir lord cannot be saved. If that is the truth then so be it. But the Yafir people may not be filled with such hate as is their ruler, and we can welcome them back into our world to live in peace together. The Belmairans want it, and I am certain the Yafir want it, too. With all the women they have stolen over the years your bloodlines are now well mixed.”
“My family’s blood is untainted,” Dreng said stubbornly.
“What of the granddaughter who was stolen?” Dillon reminded him.
“My sister,” Lina said softly.
“She is dead to us now,” the duke replied. He sent a fierce look at the young girl. “We do not speak her name now. She is no longer one of us.”
“This debate, while fascinating, goes nowhere,” Lara said quietly.
“I see the servants are bringing in the evening meal. Shall we go to the high board?” She stepped up upon the dais, pulling the queen’s chair forward so no one might sit in it. “Will you sit on my son’s left, my lord duke?” she invited him. Then she directed Dreng’s two granddaughters next to him, seating herself and the lady Amata on the other side of the empty chair where they might speak with some small measure of privacy.
“Your granddaughters are lovely,” Lara told the duke’s wife.
“They are mine by marriage only,” Amata explained, “for they are the children of Dreng’s first wife’s children. I asked him not to do this,” she said softly.
Lara smiled. “My son says you are a sensible woman. He takes no offense.”
“Dreng is a man who follows tradition scrupulously,” Amata explained. “He will not tolerate change, and everything around us is changing, isn’t it?”
Lara nodded. “Yes,” she said, “Belmair is in flux right now, but so is every world. In Hetar during the last ten years the women have slowly been gaining political power. Soon they will be stronger than the men. The Lord High Ruler of Hetar is not pleased with this, but so many man were killed in Hetar’s wars that there are more women now than men, and they are seizing power.”
Amata’s eyes were wide with amazement at this revelation. “But women,” she said, “should be in their homes, seeing to the needs of their men, caring for their children. But then Hetar and its people descend from those we exiled so long ago for the very sins of being much too independent. There must be an order to life or all becomes chaos.”
“The Hetar in which I spent my early years was indeed an orderly place,” Lara said. “But the truth, my dear Amata, is that while the men of Hetar took the higher place in that society it was their women who actually did most of the work. And with so many of the men gone it was time for the women to control their own lives. Ten years ago all the Pleasure Houses were owned by men who did naught but collect their profits. It was the house’s Pleasure Mistress who managed it all, selected the women, paid the merchants who supplied the foods, wines, garments for the women, and the furnishings. The men who owned the houses did nothing. Several years ago a law was passed that set a price upon each house, and permitted the Pleasure Mistress of each house to purchase it for herself. Over half of the houses were bought up by the women running them. And while many women continued managing their merchant husband’s shops and stalls after their death, under the law this had been forbidden for centuries. Three years ago it was made legal for them to inherit and own their own shops.”
“But were there not men who could take over for them?” Amata asked.
“Many of these women were indeed forced to relinquish their shops and stalls. The High Council mandated a price be set upon each shop or stall by the Merchant’s Guild, which was in the pocket of the emperor, and later the Lord High Ruler. Pay a bribe, and gain a profitable shop for a pittance. And the widow and her children were then put out onto the streets with little to show. It was a small group of men who sought these businesses so they might control prices. Women seeing other women homeless with their children, women taking in sisters and their families began to take note, and heed the call of small movement seeking change. Hetar is in flux, too.”
“What of your lands, my lady Domina?” Amata asked shrewdly.
“Things are changing in Terah, too, but our ways were never as rigid as those in Hetar. Our people are artisans, and those beyond the Emerald mountains, the Outland clan families, are farmers and herders. Our way of life has always been less structured. But women have always held positions of power among the clan families, and even among the artisans. Terah now has its own governing council which advises my husband, and several of its members are female. Women are important to the development of any society. Even here in Belmair the guardian of your world is a female.”
“I never thought of that,” Amata said. “You are right!”
Lara smiled at her. “Then I have enlightened you,” she noted.
“You have encouraged me to think again,” Amata told Lara.
After the meal had been concluded, the minstrel who lived in the castle came with his lute to entertain them. Encouraged by their grandfather, Lina and Panya danced gracefully together to the music as the minstrel played.
“Are they not charming?” Dreng murmured to the king. “Each a perfect example of Belmairan girlhood. They know how to manage a large house, can converse on subjects conducive to the female mind, and are certain to be very fertile. Both have mothers who have delivered between them fifteen grandchildren for our family.”
“Virgins, of course,” Dillon said drily.
“Of course!” Dreng replied, not noticing the king’s tone. “I should never offer Your Majesty used goods. Lina is the more submissive. Panya has a bit more spirit, but is obedient, and needs only the slightest touch of the whip now and again.”
“That is good to know,” Dillon replied wondering when this foolish duke would cease attempting to peddle his granddaughters to him.
“I will allow you time alone with each of them, Majesty, so you may kiss and fondle them to see which one would please you the most,” Dreng continued. “Lina has larger breasts, but Panya’s are particularly well rounded if you will note them. But both have good plump bottoms for smacking. I’ve always liked a woman with a plump bottom,” he said grinning. “It was the first thing that attracted me to Amata.”
“Duke, let me tell you once again. I have a wife. I neither need nor want another,” Dillon said coldly. He arose from the chair in which he had been sitting. “I will bid you all good-night now,” he told his mother and his guests.
“What did you say to him?” Amata, suddenly bold, demanded to know of her husband. “I recognize a man running away.”
“I was merely pointing out our granddaughters assets and liabilities to His Majesty,” Dreng said, sounding slightly irritated.
“Which caused him to leave the hall,” Amata said with a sigh. “When will you learn, Dreng? At this moment the king does not seek another bride. He wants the one he has back. I know that cannot be, but until he knows it you have no chance of making a match. And you will but damage the girls chances with the king if you annoy him again.”
“At least we got here before Tullio and his candidate. As we passed by Beldane I saw his sailing ship being readied. Where else would he be coming but here?”
“Duke Tullio is a widower, my lady Domina. He will probably travel with his widowed sister, Margisia, and her only daughter. I will see everything is in readiness.”
Lara nodded. “Thank you,” she said, and went to her son’s apartments to warn him of the new visitors who would arrive on the morrow.
Dillon shook his head. “I want my wife back,” he said.
Lara sat down upon a small stool by her son’s chair. “But what,” she said, “if you cannot regain Cinnia?” she asked him. “Or what if you cannot make Belmair accept as their queen a woman who has been held captive by the Yafir?”
“Then I will leave Belmair,” Dillon answered.
“You cannot,” Lara told him quietly. “This is not why Nidhug chose you. This is not why Kaliq brought you here. As my final destiny lies in Hetar, so your destiny lies here in Belmair. You were meant to be its king, and meant to bring the changes that need to be brought here. You can, you will, overcome the Yafir, Dillon. I know this in my
