Myles was clearly impressed. “Will you accept?”
Roi grinned. “Of course I will,” he said. “How else do you think I will be able to work in concert with Peter and the Executioner Knights, making sure England remains safe and secure for all of us? If there is a problem that laws cannot fix, then the Executioner Knights can.”
Myles, who wasn’t one to easily smile, was nearly beaming at his brother. “Chief justiciar,” he repeated in awe. “God’s Bones, Roi. Papa will be so proud.”
Roi sobered, humbled by his brother’s praise. “I’ve had a different path than most of you,” he said. “I’m a knight, and a skilled one, but I’m not a warlord. I’ve been more of a scholar, and I always wondered if Papa was somehow disappointed by that.”
Myles frowned. “Are you mad?” he said. “You are a better knight than any of us. And as for Papa being disappointed… go in there and tell him what you just told me. The man will be beside himself with glee.”
“I hope so,” Roi said. “I feel that I can do England—and our family—much more good as justiciar than as an Executioner Knight. We all have our roles to play in life, and this is mine.”
“Agreed,” Myles said. “When will you assume the role officially?”
Roi lifted his eyebrows. “After Adalia’s wedding,” he said. “That is coming this summer, after the baby is born. But with Iris marrying Kyne a few months ago, Adalia has a serious case of wedding fever, and she can hardly wait. Mathis is at Pembridge more than he is at Cicadia, and he is excited, too, though he will not admit it.”
“You still have not officially moved into Cicadia?”
Roi shook his head. “It is my seat, but I prefer Pembridge,” he said. “Diara prefers it there, too. She said that she never had a happy childhood at Cicadia, so she wants to raise our children at Pembridge. Adalia will make a fine chatelaine at Cicadia when she marries Mathis, so let her make her own good memories there.”
“And Dorian?”
Roi chuckled. “She has her eye on Eddard de Vahn,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “He serves me at Cicadia, you know. Have you met him? He’s difficult to miss. Smells like a stable. I think that is why she is fond of him.”
Myles started laughing. “I think I have met the man,” he said. “Hair the color of straw?”
“That is him.”
“Is there any way you can keep downwind of him?”
Roi put his hand over his face, snorting. “The problem is that he is an excellent knight,” he said. “But I’ve a mind to send him to my property in France, Chateau de Beuville, simply to get him away from people who don’t like his smell.”
“But Dorian does.”
“She does, indeed.”
“Then it sounds as if your daughters have found their true loves.”
Rex picked that moment to bolt out of Christopher’s solar with Dustin in pursuit. Roi watched them scurry down a corridor, listening to his son scream and his mother’s calm voice. Diara emerged from the solar as well, standing in the doorway as she watched her husband’s mother chase down her skittish toddler.
But Roi only had eyes for his wife.
Somehow, Myles’ words had particular resonance at the moment.
“Mayhap,” he said softly. “For I have certainly found mine.”
When Diara caught his eye, smiling adoringly at him, there was no doubt in Roi’s mind that the feeling was quite mutual.
True love always was.
*THE END?*
