Blood of the Fold

Richard's mouth dropped opened. "He would forsake you to be with other women?" Her reluctant nod confirmed it was so.

"It was an arranged marriage," she explained. "Though he was of noble blood, for him it was a move up in station. He gained his title by marriage to mine."

"What did you gain?"

The ringlets of curls at the sides of her face swayed across her cheekbones as she glanced up. "My father gained a ruthless son-in-law to run the family holdings, and at the same time he rid himself of a useless daughter."

Richard came halfway out of his chair. "Don't say such a thing about yourself. If I had known, I would have seen that the duke had a lesson…" He sank back down. "Forgive my presumption, Duchess."

Her tongue leisurely wet the corners of her mouth. "Had I known you, when he struck me, perhaps I would have been bold enough to have sought your protection."

Struck her? Richard ached to have been there, to have been able to do something about it.

"Why didn't you leave him? Why would you endure it?"

Her gaze sought the low fire in the hearth. "I couldn't. I'm the daughter of the queen's brother. Divorce in such high ranks is not permitted." She suddenly blushed with a self-conscious smile. "But listen to me ramble on about my petty problems. Forgive me, Lord Rahl. Others have a great deal more trouble in their lives than an unfaithful husband with a ready hand. I'm not an unhappy woman. I have responsibilities to my people that keep me occupied."

She lifted a slender finger, pointing. "Could I have just a sip of tea? My throat is dry from worry thinking you. ." The blush revisited her cheeks. "Thinking you would chop off my head for coming to you against your orders."

Richard shot to his feet. "I'll get you some tea that's hot."

"No, please, I don't want to inconvenience you. And just a sip is all I need, really."

Richard snatched up the mug and offered it to her.

He watched her lips mold around the rim. He glanced to the tray, striving to put his mind back to business. "What is it you wished to see me about. Duchess?"

After she had taken a sip, she set the mug down, turning the handle back around before him the way it had been. There was a hint of a red print from her lips left on the rim. "Those responsibilities I spoke of. You see, the queen was on her deathbed when Prince Fyren was killed, and died herself soon after. The prince, though he had uncounted bastard offspring, was not married and so had no issue of standing."

Richard had never seen eyes of such a soft brown. "I'm not an expert on matters of royalty, Duchess. I'm afraid I don't follow."

"Well, what I'm trying to say is that with the queen and her only descendant dead, Kelton is without a monarch. Being the next in the line of succession — the daughter of the queen's deceased brother — I will succeed to queen of Kelton. There is no one I need turn to, to seek direction in the matter of our surrender."

Richard struggled to keep his mind on her words and not her lips. "You mean that you have the power to surrender Kelton?"

She nodded. "Yes, Your Eminence."

He felt his ears redden at the title she had given him. He picked up the mug, seeking to hide as much of his coloring face as possible. Richard realized he had put his lips where hers had been when he tasted the piquant print left on the rim. He let the mug linger as he felt the smooth honey-sweet warmth slide across his tongue. With a shaking hand, he set the mug on the silver tray.

Richard rubbed his sweaty palms on his knees. "Duchess, you heard what I had to say. We fight for freedom. If you surrender to us, you will not be losing something, but gaining. Under our rule, for example, it will be a crime for a man to harm his wife, the same as it would be were he to harm a stranger on the street."

Her smile had a hint of merry scolding to it. "Lord Rahl, I'm not sure even you will ever have enough power to proclaim such to be law. In some places in the Midlands it is only a token fine for a man to kill his wife should she provoke him with any of a list of misdeeds. Freedom would only give men everywhere the same license."

Richard ran a finger around the rim of his mug. "Harming an innocent, whoever they be, is wrong. Freedom is not a sanction for wrongdoing. People in some lands shouldn't have to suffer acts that in a neighboring land are a crime. When we are united, there will be no such injustices. All people will have the same freedoms, and the same responsibilities, to live by a just law."

"But surely you cannot expect that by proclaiming such tolerated customs outlawed, they will stop."

"Morality comes from the top, such as parent to child. The first step, then, is to set down just laws and show that all of us must live by its maxims. You can never stop all wrongdoing, but if you don't punish it, then it proliferates until anarchy wears the robes of tolerance and understanding."