The King's Sons (The Herezoth Trilogy) (46 page)

“Good
boy,” the prince told Trite.

Kansten
joined Hune near the dog. When the prince looked at her, he saw she was
overwhelmed—the good kind of overwhelmed—and he kissed her, a long,
slow kiss that made Kansten’s eyes leak tears. Finally, Kansten wrapped both
her arms around one of Hune’s, and said, “You trained Trite to knock that
basket over, didn’t you?”

“I
did. And he was perfect.” Hune smiled. “You’re perfect,” he told her.

“Good
heavens, far from it! Our wedding will be, though. The Traigland one. Hune, my
sisters, they’ll hate me the rest of my life they’ll be so jealous. And they should
be, I suppose. It’s really not fair I’ll be the princess and not one of them. I
don’t know that I’m princess material. Tressa and Laskenay, they’re more
elegant than me already. Even their names are more elegant.”

“You’ll
make as fine a princess as my sister,” Hune insisted. “A better one. I love
Melinda, but she’s frivolous. Of course, she’s barely twelve.”

“She’s
a beautiful child,” said Kansten.

“So
were you. It’s odd to think we met when I was eight, isn’t it?”

“Well,
I was nine. And I paid more attention to Valkin than to you, if I remember.
Hune, we owe him. He needn’t support us like he’s done. He could easily….”

“I
know. We can thank him by marrying according to his timetable. He mentioned
next autumn.”

Kansten
nodded her assent, and gripped Hune’s arm tighter. She laid a head on his
shoulder, as she had before he rose to admit his family. “Do you think people
will assume we married for politics? Your brother’s politics, and Vane’s?
They’ve made such a platform of advancing magic. Standardizing it. People might
think they chose this for us.”

Her
weight against Hune’s side felt like a ballast. She gave him balance,
stability, and he said, “I don’t care what people think, as long as thinking’s
as far as it goes. Let them mold whatever half-crazed conspiracies they wish.
It’s amusing to see how they delude themselves.”

Kansten
grinned. “Oh, thank the Giver! Thank the Giver, I thought that was just me.
We’d do better to laugh about being despised than grow angry.”

Her
reaction gave the prince pause. “You’ll have a bodyguard,” Hune told her. Her
face grew serious. “Before we announce anything, you’ll have a bodyguard.
Anything he tells you to do, or Vane, or either of my brothers….”

“Hune,
you don’t think I’d be threatened?”

“I’ve
no explicit cause to believe so. But I won’t take chances. Do you think my
grandfather expected what Vane’s uncle did?”

“Surely
not.”

Kansten
looked troubled, and Hune’s throat constricted. “The engagement’s not an hour
old,” he said. “I wouldn’t blame you, if you told me you wanted some time to
reconsider things.”

Hune’s
pulse calmed when Kansten snuggled closer against him. “Never,” she said. “Never,
do you hear? If I won’t let learning etiquette chase me away, you think I’d
flee over possible assassination?”

Hune
laughed in spite of himself. She reminded him, “You said you don’t foresee open
danger. And even if you did, I’d be proud to join my life with yours. You know,
Herezoth has no right to a prince like you.”

“It’s
no right to have you either, but it’s got you, whether it wants you or not. We’ll
make Herezoth better just by being together and withstanding the mockery. I’d
never be able to live with myself if I gave up on this place. My father
sacrificed too much for it. So has your mother, come to that.”

Then
Hune fell quiet. To think of his father still pained him. Rexson would have
loved Kansten, and Hune would have liked, so much, to see his father jump up
when the prince burst into his office to announce, “She said yes!” Hune would
be the first of Rexson’s children to marry. It seemed horribly unfair the man
would miss every one of their weddings, the birth of every grandchild.

Kansten
must have guessed where Hune’s thoughts were headed, because she directed his
gaze into hers as she said, “He was proud of you, and he still is. He wouldn’t
want you dwelling on sad things today.”

“I
know he wouldn’t,” said the prince. “I miss him, that’s all. I figure there’s
nothing wrong with that.”

“Not
a thing.” Kansten kissed his cheek. “Not a thing.”

“As
for your sisters being jealous,” Hune began, and Kansten asked:

“What
about them?”

“Let
them. They have the magic you’ve always wanted. Why shouldn’t you get the
palace?”

“Huh,”
said Kansten. “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re absolutely right.
You know, if the girls are kind enough to me, I might even them visit.”

Hune
laughed. “You’d never prevent them from seeing this place. How many times have
you told me they read nothing but fairy tales? Besides,” he said, “they’re
around Melinda’s age, aren’t they? The three might become friends. That would
do Melly good, to have such companions.”

Kansten
laughed. “Wouldn’t
that
be something?
The princess hanging around with a blacksmith’s daughters?”

“Just
about as strange as the prince marrying a fisherwoman.”

“That’s
amateur fisherwoman. I’m an architect by trade, thank you very much.”