The Shadow Matrix (40 page)

courteous. But I don't have a yen for Gisela any longer— and the one I had years back

was mild, to say the least."

"I am sure . . ."

"I am not your pawn, Regis, and I will not become one. I would like to point out, I am

not the only unmarried son of Gabriel Lanart-Alton, although I suspect you have

conveniently overlooked that. Your plan is clear as glass, to bring the Aldarans back to

the Council by marrying me off to Gisela. It is even a logical idea. But I think that if

you introduced this idea to other members of the Council, you would find a greater

opposition than mine."

Regis looked startled, then thoughtful. "What do you mean?"

Mikhail took a bit more wine and tried to order his thoughts. "Last summer, when we

were riding into Thendara, I had a very useful discussion with my cousin Marguerida

about the balance of power in the Domains. I was trying to explain to her why my

parents were so opposed to the idea of any marriage between us." He paused and

nodded. "Marguerida clarifies things with her questions. The man who has her to wife

will have a wise counselor."

"She was remarkable during that uproar in the Crystal Chamber," Danilo interrupted,

"and I remember thinking much the same thing at the time.-" He grinned at the

memory. "There you were, all screaming at each other, and she managed to bring

everyone to a halt by telling us we were behaving like dolts instead of intelligent men.

Clarifying is the exact word."

"Yes, yes, I know that you find her a paragon among women, Danilo! Perhaps the

answer is for
you
to marry her!"

Regis found himself the focus of two pairs of astonished and angry eyes, and his face

flushed.

"That would certainly be a solution," Danilo drawled, "but not one to which I would

agree. She fears me, less than when we first met, but still she finds me less than

comfortable. More, I fear her. Even were I inclined to marry—and I am not!" There

was a quiet finality in his voice. "Please, Mikhail, continue. I am very interested in

your thoughts, and Marguerida's, even if Regis is too impatient to listen to them."

"That puts me in my place," Regis complained. "This meeting is not going at all the

way I planned."

Mikhail had never thought of Danilo Syrtis-Ardais as a potential ally, and certainly not

where it concerned Regis.

He felt surprised, and more than a little warmed, at the intervention of the paxman, and

shot him a look of gratitude. "Yes, I know. I am sure you expected me to bow to your

wishes, to say of course I would marry Gisela, for the good of Darkover. I know that I

am not a private person, that I have certain duties and responsibilities, for as long as I

remain your heir in name, and also am Elhalyn Regent."

"It was only an idea," Regis muttered, looked mild daggers at both of them. "I had

hoped

to

make

the

Aldarans

more acceptable in our usual way, with a proper marriage.

In truth, I did not expect to have them show up on the

doorstep as they did—I think that the

damisela

may have

persuaded her father to advance things, for I did not plan

to get them down to Thendara until Midsummer. I have

been in very cautious negotiations for over a year now—

quite difficult, for he is a hasty man at the best of times."

Regis continued. "You are not the man I sent to Halyn

House, Mikhail. I will have to become accustomed to that—

give me time. Your experiences have changed you, and,

truthfully, I don't quite know what to make of you just

now." He made a wry face. "I don't suppose an appeal to

your sense of duty would work? No, I thought not. Why is

it my best-laid plans seem to come to mischief? It was such

a nice solution, I thought."

;

', "Well, I did not," Danilo snapped. "How could you imagine that Mik would take to

Gisela when both Lady Linnea and I have told you that it will be Marguerida or no

one? Are you going deaf, or do you only take the counsel of your own mind now?"

"You are very severe, my friend, and. perhaps I deserve it. Please, go on, Mikhail, and

I will try to hear your words." He smiled suddenly, and the expression was charming.

"And Danilo will doubtless ring a peal over my head if I don't."

Mikhail was rather stunned by this sudden turn of events. He had never imagined that

Danilo disagreed with anything Regis wanted, and it gave him an insight into the

complexity of their lifelong friendship. Like many others, he tended to ignore Danilo

Syrtis-Ardais, to forget that he was an extremely intelligent man, with a mind of his

own. Danilo's skill at effacing himself was partially to blame, since he

possessed a capacity for seeming almost invisible most of the time.

"I told Marguerida that much of the history of the Domains has been about preserving

a balance of power, so that no one family was too much greater than another. And since

the exile of the Aldaran Domain from our councils, this balance has become more

difficult to maintain. The Aldaran Domain was very powerful when they were still in

the picture, and has, in some ways, become more so since they have been gone. If we

are to be Seven Domains once more, instead of the Six, we must strive to maintain a

good balance among the families. Otherwise, we will fall into feuding, as we did

during the Hundred Kingdoms and before, and we will be easy prey for the Terranan.

And to propose that I wed Gisela Aldaran would provoke the other Domains

enormously. Lady Marilla Aillard, for example, would be outraged, and my father

would oppose any match of that sort, because he would see it as putting much too

much power into these callused hands of mine." Indeed, his hands were as rough now

as any farmer's.

"How did they get into that wretched condition, Mik? I have been meaning to ask you

since you arrived." Danilo's question clearly stemmed from genuine curiosity, but

Mikhail knew he wanted to give Regis some time to digest what he had said.

"Oh, if you muck out the stables, haul bales of straw into the barn, carry bags of grain

into the kitchen, hammer nails with workmen, and do a dozen other chores, your hands

will look like this, too."

"I had no idea that the conditions at Halyn House were so dreadful."

"I didn't mind, and it gave me a sympathy with the working men I might never have

realized. Actually, Danilo, I almost came to enjoy it. It was a real thing, and it had a

good result. Not that I have been idle all my life, but I have been kept from doing the

dirty work most of the time. Except for occasionally fighting fires, I have had it easy.

Shoveling manure gives you an entirely new perspective on things."

Both Regis and Danilo roared with laughter. "I never thought to hear such words,"

Regis said, when he was able to control his merriment. Then he grew thoughtful. "I

sup-

pose I should have made Dani my official heir long since, and regularized the

situation, shouldn't I?"

Danilo and Regis exchanged a look which Mikhail could not interpret completely.

There was something sad in the eyes of both. He wondered, as he had a few times

previously, if there was something he. did not know about Regis' son, some flaw that

would make him unsuitable. He seemed a good enough boy, except for the constant

look of anxiety around his eyes, and his preference for verse over any other pursuit.

"You are going to have to pay for your impetuousness at some point, Regis. You gave

an oath, and if you break it, you will lose a great deal of the trust you have built up

over the years." Danilo spoke gravely, slowly, as if aware that he was treading on some

dangerous ground now.

"What do you mean," Mikhail asked, very puzzled.

Regis held out his empty glass, and did not respond until Danilo had replenished it. "I

promised that you would be my heir, as you know, before I found my dear Linnea and

had my own children."

"I know that."

"You do and you don't. The wording of it was rather tricky, and the interpretation even

more so. The way it was done, as Danilo enjoys reminding me, was hasty and ill-

thought, for it says that you will be my heir no matter what. This, at least, is how

Javanne sees it, and a number of others as well. This is why I have not done anything

— hoping the entire matter would go away. I do not want to be remembered as Regis

Oathbreaker, Mikhail. When you snarled at me that you did not break your word, it

made me feel perfectly disgusted with myself."

"I'm sorry, Uncle. I had no real idea. I never meant that to happen."

"No matter. I am stuck with leaving both you and my son in this ambiguous situation,

which I hoped to resolve by making you the Elhalyn Regent. Javanne nearly took my

head off—-she saw right through my plots, as she always does." He sighed. "Danilo

told me not to do it, but I did not listen."

"Well, that clears up some of my confusion, at least. I take it that unless I fall off a cliff

and break my neck, or Dani does the same, you cannot untangle this mess?"

Regis nodded, looking sad. "I have not treated you well, Mikhail, have I?"

"Yes, and no. You have been a good uncle to me, a better father to me than my own, a

teacher and a guide. But what you have done to your son disturbs me much more. No

wonder he always looks at me so fretfully. I am surprised he has not wished me dead—

well, he likely has."

"Well, perhaps he has, and doubtless felt dreadful about it afterward, since he is a very

serious boy. Too serious, I fear."

"He did not look serious when he was staring at Miralys Elhalyn, Regis—he looked

dumbstruck!" Danilo smiled to himself, which gave his face an expression of foxlike

cunning.

"Yes, I noticed, and felt both relieved, since he has never shown the least interest in

any girl, and incredibly old! Of course, Miralys is lovely, but I think her sister the real

prize."

"When I was at Halyn House, Uncle, I found myself regretting that we cannot have an

Elhalyn queen instead of a king, for the girls are by far the best of Priscilla's children."

"Now, there's a thought to set the Council on its ear!"

"Why have we never had a queen, if I might ask?"

"I don't know, lad. But it goes against all tradition, and I think I have done enough

untraditional things during my time for me not to wish to do another."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, appointing Herm Aldaran to the Terran House eight years ago, for instance. And

allowing him to remain as Senator when Lew Alton resigned, for another."

"That was not untraditional, Regis, it was simply highhanded!"

"What a sharp tongue you have tonight, Danilo. What would you have done?"

"Nothing different, but perhaps I would have moved with more subtlety," the paxman

answered, not the least disturbed.

"There is a time for subtlety, and a time for boldness— the only problem is deciding

which is which." He turned back to his nephew. "So, Mikhail, it is your opinion that a

match between you and Gisela Aldaran would not only be

unsuitable but would create more trouble than it is worth. Perhaps you are right. Have

you any ideas to propose?"

Mikhail felt his face soften into a large smile. "I can only point out again that my

brothers Gabe and Rafael are unmarried, and that, since they have no claim to the

throne, are both more appropriate for such a marriage."

"You seem amused by the thought."

"Well, the idea of Gabe and Gisela is pretty funny isn't it? Not that he wouldn't be a

better husband than old Bertrand was. What was
Dom
Damon thinking of, handing her

off to-that old sot?"

"The pickings for suitable husbands for his daughter were rather slim, I suppose, but I

agree that I would not have wanted my girls to be shackled to that old fellow. I am told

he did it to keep her from galloping off with some Terranan or other. I would love to

know the particulars! Only good manners prevents me from inquiring. It seems there

were a lot of them around, up in the Hellers, more than I realized, and some of them

were quite presentable." I
don't like it either. I have let things get out of hand! Damn!

Mikhail glared at his uncle. "Do you think we will ever be able, on Darkover, to stop

treating our females like children, and allow them to choose their own lives?"

Regis looked stunned. "No, I don't, so long as there is
laran,
and we value it. I hear the

voice of Marguerida Alton in your words—she has had quite an influence on you, and

not completely for the best, I believe."

Stung, Mikhail felt his face redden. "She is the finest woman I have ever known, and

her influence on me has been to make me look at Darkover with new eyes, to more

clearly see our strengths and our weaknesses."

Regis glared at his nephew for a moment, sincerely angry. Then his face relaxed, and a