“Absolutely not,” Ansley replied stiffly.“Perhaps, if youstart to build a relationship with her, and trust blooms.But until then, wemust proceed understanding a Dawes is a Dawes, and we must treat them with thetrust they’ve earned.That beingnone.”
This was another query to which he wished a response, and heset about getting it.
“If you dislike Derryman so badly, why did you promise me tohis daughter?”Loren asked.
His father, as ever, had a ready reply.
“Because it was my responsibility to you and your future tosecure the most advantageous alliance I could.Because his wife was stunning,and he’s rich as sin, and his daughter was, as far as I knew, his only child.Her dowry alone, added to our personal wealth, will make you the richest man inHawkvale, Loren, outsideNoctorno.And now, as they produced no other child, again, as far as we know, you’llinherit it all when Derryman dies.This means, eventually, you might even bewealthier than the king.His tactics to acquire that wealth might revolt me,but it does not negate said wealth.”
One could say this was a good reason, as no one, includingLoren, had issue with being rich.Therefore no one, including Loren, had issuewith beingricher.
However, his father wasn’t finished.
“And you’ll be the most titled noble in the land, as you notonly hold mine, you hold your mother’s, and your children will also hold yourwife’s.You will need for nothing.You will want for nothing.Nor will yourchildren or your children’s children, for generations.And you will hold powerin the realm.You’ve already been asked to sit onNoctorno’scouncil, butNoctornodoesn’t see titles.The natureand fortitude of a man are what matters to him.But he’s not the only one inhis council chambers who will be playing the game.And for many of them, thetitle, and where it stands, isallthat matters.”
“So you thought about it, you didn’t just sellmeto the highest bidder,” Loren joked.
Ansley tutted.
Loren smiled at his father.
Ansley grew serious.“I will find a way out of the contract,my boy, if she does not please you.”
Call me crazy, but I’ve enjoyed ourtête-à-tête.However, it would mean a great deal to me if you would make an effort to learnwhen to back me into a corner, and when…not.
Loren greatly relished the idea of being in a situationwhere she was happy for him to back her into a corner.
Or back her somewhere that had a far more comfortabledestination.
“I’m intrigued,” Loren admitted.
“Andthatpleasesme, my son,” Ansleyreplied.“And I am not referring to wealth or power when I state that.”
Loren felt the softness again, this time around his heart,at his father’s words.
He didn’t share this.
“I think you need a drink,” Loren prescribed.
Ansley moved to him, clapped him on the back and stayedclose as they both walked to the door, his father saying, “I believe we bothneed one.”
And he was, as through his life Loren knew his father oftenwas (though he would rarely admit it), right.
Chapter Five
Caught a Chill
Maxine
“These worlds are known by very few, and there isa reason.A reason that must be guarded closely.Therefore, if you speak asingle word…even thatfirstword…about these different worlds, I willsettle a curse on you and your mother, a bitter curse so powerful, you’ll ruethe day the words left your lips.”
That was what the witch who transported us had said afterMom and I, bound and gagged by Dad and a couple of his buddies, melted from ourworld into the new one.
She’d been wizened and haggard and looked ready to drop.
But she scared thebeejeezusoutof me.
And she had the power to rip me from everything I knew anddeposit me somewhere I didn’t want to be.
