Thor understood. “Ah,” he said. “The protective older brother.”
“Indeed,” Jareth said. “Ironic he did not think my father was good enough, because we descend from King Mark of Cornwall. Our bloodlines are royal. But Chester never liked my father. Truthfully, he probably would not have liked any man who married my mother. When my mother died when I was ten years of age, I do not think Uncle Chester ever spoke to my father again. I seemed to be the only one he maintained a relationship with. Still, this missive comes as a… surprise.”
A lift of the eyebrows emphasized his last word, and Thor could see that it was a complex family matter. Anything involving relatives usually was.
“What will you do?” he asked quietly.
Jareth lifted his shoulders. “What can I do?” he said. “I cannot ignore this. My uncle had no children, so I suppose I should, at the very least, go to Bristol and settle his affairs.”
Thor nodded. “But what about the empire?” he said. “What will you do with it?”
Jareth shook his head. “For all I know, it may not even exist any longer,” he said. “Mayhap Uncle Chester let it all fall to pieces.”
“Would he?”
“I have no way of knowing until I go to Bristol.”
“Then you must tell Henry.”
Jareth cast him a long look. “He’s already lost Kent,” he said. “Torran is only here half of the time. I do not think Henry will be too thrilled if I leave for months on end, but it cannot be helped.”
Thor gestured to the vellum. “If I were you, I would tell him now,” he said. “You already know you must go. You may as well ask permission.”
Jareth knew that, but the missive in his hand caught his attention again and he lifted it, looking at the words again and suspecting his life was going to change from this point forward. It wasn’t that the prospect of wealth didn’t interest him, because it did. But he wanted it on his own terms, not his uncle’s. Chester had sent him a summons from his deathbed, informing him of the path his future was about to take, and Jareth wasn’t entirely certain he wanted to go down that road.
He wasn’t entirely sure about anything at the moment.
“I will,” he said. “But this is something I must ponder. This was not something I had anticipated today. This will take some thought.”
Thor understood. Over in the group of training knights, someone had started an actual fight and neither Thor nor Jareth was surprised to see that it was Orion. He had irritated Stefan, who swung his big sword at him, much to Orion’s delight. The training was turning into something else.
“This will not end well for Orion,” Jareth said, his focus shifting away from his uncle as he watched Stefan stalk Orion. “Stefan may not be able to hear, but he can still fight better than almost anyone in England. If I were Orion, I would be—”
He didn’t even get the words out of his mouth before Stefan launched a lightning-fast attack, thrusting with his sword so that all Orion could do was defend himself. Orion was dodging a move that came up from underneath him, turning his sword to counter it, but he failed to see how close Stefan came to him until Stefan’s left fist made contact with Orion’s jaw.
Down he went.
Much to Orion’s chagrin, the laughter from his colleagues could be heard all throughout the yard. Directed at him, no less. Nay, it was not his finest moment.
Training was over for the day.
CHAPTER TWO
“Idid notknow that Chester de Long was your uncle.”
“He is, Your Grace.”
“Then I would say that this is excellent fortune for you, yet you do not seem pleased.”
The words came from Henry, King of England, the man who had ruled since he’d been nine years of age. If anyone in the history of the Crown had ever truly lost their identity in their birthright, it was Henry. He was England and England was him. He’d long shirked off any sense of individuality, and now was simply a symbol of the idolatry for those who worshipped kings.
HenrywasEngland.
He was also quite elderly and ill, and he had been ill for some time. Anyone who knew that, those closest to him, were surprised that his son and heir, Edward, had left for the Levant the previous year on yet another crusade. However, those that knew Edward were not surprised in the least because Edward did as Edward wanted.
Even if it meant he’d never see his father alive again.
Jareth was very aware of all of that, and his focus was on Henry as the man sat in a cushioned chair in a small reception chamber that was part of the royal apartments. He wouldoften receive the Guard of Six, or other close ministers, there informally, so when Thor came to him with Jareth’s request for an audience, Henry was quite willing to give it to him. He liked Jareth, in particular, because the man would sit with him for hours playing chess, something Henry enjoyed and something Jareth was good enough at to make it look like the king won more than he did. Therefore, he was genuinely pleased to hear of Jareth’s good fortune with his inheritance.
