“You will oversee the ruling of the kingdom with me. You will have to learn a great deal, I’m sure, but you don’t seem afraid of hard work.”
“I’m not.”
He smiled, and her stomach tried to jump up and punch her throat. He had sharp, vicious fangs tucked in at the corners of his normal human teeth. She wondered if it was true that Bears could not only show themselves as Bear and human, but also as Bearfolk, those half-human, half-beast mysteries.
Do I want to be married to such a creature? Bedded by one?
“Traditionally, the queen has always dealt with social and domestic matters, and my mother—not mystepmother—” he snarled out the word, “divided tasks with my father. He oversaw the military and agriculture; she oversaw education and the Ministry of Health. He handled treaties and alliances, trade and commerce, and she was—they say she was a formidable diplomat, who solved endless stalling with dinner and dancing.”
“I don’t know how to dance.”
“Nor do I, not well. But there is a ball to come this Saturday, and if we are together, we can pretend to be so infatuated with one another’s company that we sit and whisper all night long. We will just need to take one turn around the floor to appease the masses.”
Jocasta found herself smiling, both at this hidden weakness and the fact that he shared a secret plan to avoid showing it.
“But I know nothing about diplomacy and education. Health, perhaps, and fishing—”
“We will learn together, divide together. Even your presence in the royal family will make life in Caledon better.”
“Yes, I suppose it could, but only for a bit. The kingdom will need an heir.” She crossed her arms and dared him to explain that away.
He crossed his and shook off his hood, revealing the shining plait and the silver disc that did indeed bear the crest of Caledon. “Not for several years. I imagine a healer like you knows the best potions and herbs to take so that every chance for success is given. I am sure that for the sake of Caledon, we could have aphysical expression of our union once, or twice if the first time does not produce desired results.”
His voice was so cold and clipped that the warmth in her chest died, and her rowdy stomach fell.
He doesn’t want me for my looks or my disposition. He’s not after something to rut.
Well. Good.
“Yes, I would consent to that,” she muttered, not dropping her eyes. “If you’ll give me a moment, I’ll just look over the rates due and the takings we’ve had this past month. See if your proposition is worth it.”
Jocasta turned and ignored the low snarl behind her, grabbing paper and ink, totting up figures.
If the rates stayed the same and takings remained at their highest... It would still take several years to buy either the shop, the house, or the boat. Not all three.
And what would happen if her parents, already starting to slow down, became too ill to work, and she was tasked with doing the work of five people, not just three? And what if they had to hire help? She scratched out some figures while Girion paced behind her, huffing and stomping.
If they had to hire help, and to be fair, it was a matter of when, not if, they would slide into arrears. Eventually, they would be forced to close. And knowing the Fox, Mr. Nemo would come for their boat first. He’d cut off their livelihood—and say it was with the king’s blessing.
A nugget of hatred for the king who would allow such abuse of honest, hard-working people burned in her chest.
With her back still to him, she said, “If I should become queen, I would like to propose new laws about the mortgage rates and property taxes. That they must not be raised at will, but only once per year, and then only a percentage. And what aperson is charged should only be a percentage of his income, say, ten percent or less.”
“Is there not something similar in place?” Girion asked, voice surprisingly light, even startled.
“If there is, someone is abusing it and claiming the king approves.”
“I very much do not. Who is this person?”
“A Fox who lives in Caledon. Nemo. I don’t know where he lives, but he sends out his men this way every three months, and they have not once stopped without jerking up the rates until they strangle us. Even with all my magic and all of our work, we are surviving, not prospering. That shouldn’t be the way it is.”
“No. It shouldn’t. My land is harsh, but those who brave it have always been able to show something for it. If you will consent to be my bride, then you will serve on the economics council as an advisor, and we will track down this Nemo to make sure that he is playing by the rules the Ministry of Commerce and Banking has set forth. If those rules need to be altered, you will tell me, my queen.”
My queen.
The ball of hate burst, and the strange, unwanted heat returned. “You will have to ask my father—and you will have to buy the boat, shop, and all of our holdings outright, with my father and mother’s names on the deed.”
“I will take care of it today. Who holds the deeds?”
