He tried to recall what Moergan’s wife was like, but found that he could not even summon up the name of the baroness, much less call to mind her features.
“Tell me about this girl,” he said. “Is she comely?”
Ariel smiled. “She bears little resemblance to her father, if that is your concern. In her looks, she takes after her mother, but where the Baroness Vivianne is shy as a wild forest creature and takes pains not to call attention to herself, Faelina is vivacious and most attractive.
She has poise, bearing, and a strength of personality that commands attention. The moment I met her, I was sure she was the one, and though her rank may not be high, all on the committee agreed she was the perfect choice.”
Aedan raised his eyebrows. “Indeed? I am intrigued. When can I meet her?”
“Tomorrow,” Ariel said. “I have taken the liberty of inviting her to breakfast with us in our chambers.
I thought that would give you ample opportunity to form your own opinion of her.”
“I will be looking forward to it,” Aedan said.
In the morning, after they had dressed and the servants came to set the table for their breakfast, Faelina of Aerenwe arrived promptly with her ladyin-waiting. The baron had accompanied his daughter to Anuire, and they had been given rooms at the palace, but unlike the other fathers, he professed no interest in directly championing his daughter’s cause.
He had served with the emperor in the War of Rebellion and had survived some of their most difficult campaigns, but socializing and political maneuvering were not pursuits for which he cared a great deal, if at all. He had an eligible daughter, and he had done his duty by putting her name forth and coming with her to the capital when they received their invitation. Beyond that, he was content to let Faelina speak for herself.
And she did so, frankly and directly, with disarming honesty. Aedan was very much impressed. She was, indeed, vivacious and attractive, but she was no great beauty. Most of the women Aedan had seen had gone to great lengths to enhance their beauty, and while Faelina was far from plain, she was pretty rather than beautiful and did not go to any trouble to enhance her appearance.
She wore no jewelry save for a thin girdle of silver chain around her waist and a small gold locket of her mother’s. She came dressed in a simple yet tasteful blue gown with matching slippers, and her long ash-blonde hair was arranged in a thick braid that she wore down the left side of her chest. Her skin, unlike the pale, creamy and flawless complexions of
most young women of the nobility, was tanned from a life spent out-of-doors, rather than cloistered in her father’s house. Her eyes were a startling, gorgeous shade of blue-frank and direct in their gaze.
She had a slight dusting of freckles across her nose and was slim rather than voluptuous, yet appeared very fit. She was built along lines similar to Ariel’s, which meant she was tall, long-legged, and small-breasted, close to Aedan’s height, which would make her about a head shorter than Michael. Before she even spoke, Aedan found himself quite drawn to her.
There was something about her, some indefinable quality, that made her quite appealing.
They made small talk over breakfast for a while, mostly about her life in Aerenwe, and she replied to Aedan’s questions in a very self-possessed manner.
She did not appear at all nervous or anxious, but seemed quite comfortable in their presence.
“What do you think of the emperor?” Aedan asked her finally “I love and respect him as my sovereign,” she replied, “but as I have never met him, I have had no opportunity to form a more personal opinion.”
What a contrast that reply was with others he had heard to the same question, Aedan thought. Most of the others he had spoken with had gushed about Michael’s many virtues, his greatness and his bravery in battle, his handsome looks and regal bearing and so forth. And most had gone on at some length concerning what an honor and a privilege it would be to sit by his side as Empress of Anuire. Faehna’s response was simple, honest, and refreshing. He approved.
“Why do you wish to marry him and be empress?” he asked.
“I do not,” Faelina replied.
Aedan raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You do not?” Ariel said nothing, merely sat there watching him, a slight smile on her face.
“Why, pray tell? And why then have you come?”
“I came because it was my duty,” she replied. “As to why I do not wish to marry Emperor Michael, it has nothing to do with him as an individual. I do not know him. I have never even seen him, save once, at a distance. How can I have a wish to marry a man I do not even know?
Aside from that, I imagine life as Empress of Anuire would be much more confining than the life to which I have grown accustomed. I love the rolling plains of Aerenwe and the peaceful beauty of the Erebannien, where I can roam at will and spend my days schooling my horses. I can sew, but I have little taste for such things as embroidering and weaving and spending most of my days indoors. Given my choice, I would prefer a life that is more active.”
“You are fond of horses, then?” said Aedan, seizing upon that.
Faelina’s eyes lit up. “Oh, yes! I love them. There is no greater pleasure for me than to breed and raise them and train them to saddle.
I do not even allow my father’s grooms to touch
