Kings of the North - Elizabeth Moon [173]
“We should—”
“I have a Squire with me,” Kieri said. “And you know the Grove will not let harm come to me.”
The light grew as they went deeper in; Kieri felt the elvenhome kingdom surge out to meet him. He looked at Arian; she said nothing, but nodded, her eyes bright. In the center, the mound rose as always, moss green as ever despite the depth of winter, and there the Lady waited, her expression more stern than Kieri expected. Slightly behind her was another elf, one Kieri had never met, clad in ice-blue and silver.
Arian knelt as Kieri bowed.
“Well,” the Lady said, her head tilted slightly. “The taig brings tidings.”
“Good tidings,” Kieri said.
“We shall see,” the Lady said. “This is the wife you would choose?” Her voice was cool, as when she had spoken to the Pargunese king.
“Yes,” Kieri said.
“And when was this choice made, and how carefully did you consider it?”
Irritation prickled his neck. “I have thought of my future wife since I first learned I would have one,” he said. “As for Arian, I have known her since spring—”
“I did not ask when you met her, but when you made your choice, grandson.”
“I loved her before Midsummer, but thought her too young,” he said. “Only today I learned her age, and then I knew.” He took Arian’s hand and pulled her close. “I do not choose lightly, grandmother.”
The Lady’s lips tightened. “She is half-elven, but not the half-elf I would have chosen—”
“And it is not you she will marry,” Kieri said.
“For you, grandson. I would not have chosen her for you.”
“She is brave, honest, generous—and she loves me.”
“It is her heritage that I am concerned about.”
“My mother was an honorable woman,” Arian said. “You cannot say—”
“I do not speak against your mother,” the Lady said. “But your father—” She gestured, and the other elf came forward. “Your father disobeyed my command when he made liaison with your mother; it was the third human woman he had made liaison with, in the short space of two centuries, and that is unseemly. Besides those he merely charmed for a night or two.”
The elf raised an eyebrow at Kieri, spread his hands, and shrugged. “I am what I am, O Queen,” he said. “I cannot help my nature. Humans fascinate me, and human women—” He shrugged again.
“So I have gathered,” the Lady said. “And you have fathered too many children you did not stay to rear. You do not regard them as important—”
“I do,” he protested. “But they grow so fast—”
“It is your father’s character that concerns me,” the Lady said to Arian. “You are his daughter; he is untrustworthy. How, then, can I trust you? Did you not seek to be a King’s Squire because you wished liaison with my grandson?”
Arian was silent a long moment, then she spoke, her voice clear. “I first came to Chaya, seeking a place as King’s Squire, because I had served long as a forest ranger, and hearing of the new king—the true king—wanted to see for myself. I did not think then of the man, only of the chance to make a change in my life at the time the kingdom was making a change. The taig sang to me, my Lady. I felt the spring rising in it, and in me. When I came there, like other rangers, other Knights of Falk, I helped where I could around the time of his coronation.”
“As close to the palace as you could get,” the Lady said.
“Yes,” Arian said. “Because we all sought a chance to serve. I helped in the stables, and the Master of Horse assigned me to exercise those horses elves favor, the color of air and water.”
“And had your chance then to make your plans—” the Lady said.
“I had none beyond applying for King’s Squire,” Arian said. “Like many others. The royal stables were full; the whole city was packed with visitors, as my Lady knows. All of us worked daylong and had no time for gawking. We knew the Master of Horse would keep account of our work, even had we been inclined to stray, and we were not.”
Arian paused; the Lady said nothing this time, and