Hell. “Do you indeed? I trust that it is not that I just give her the land. Every charlatan in the kingdom will be making up stories and claims against peers’ properties, then. Nor would you want me to accommodate a fraud, I am sure.”
“And if she isn’t a fraud?” Haversham said.
“Do you have reason to think she is not?”
“She is a most unlikely fraud, that is all.”
Eric could not believe the utter lack of reasoning at work. “Let us be frank. If this claim came from a man of ambiguous history, based on some story told by his father, no one would give it the slightest credence. But let a handsome woman be the liar, and suddenly she is plausible.”
The king’s eyes brightened. “So you find her handsome? We did, but not in a typical way.”
“Handsome or homely, she still has no proof and should not be encouraged.”
“But you referred to her as handsome.”
“Yes, fine, I find her handsome. Can we return to the matter at hand?”
The king looked back at Haversham smugly. “He thinks she is handsome. We told you our plan would work.”
Eric did not like the king’s sudden confidence. “What plan is this?”
The king gave Haversham a direct look. Haversham cleared his throat. “His Majesty thinks there is a way to compromise her claim quickly, at no cost to you.”
“What the hell does that mean,compromise her claim?”
“Give her half a loaf, so to speak, so she is contented.”
“If you mean give her half the land, I refuse. Does no one else see the dangerous precedent this could create?” Eric battled to keep his tone even, but as so often happened with the king, his temper was beginning to rise.
“Not half the land, no,” Haversham said. “Not give her any, in a manner of speaking. The plan is that—”
“Stop talking in circles.” The king leaned forward and balanced his weight on his hands, which he set firmly on his knees. “Everything will be fixed neatly if you marry her, Brentworth.”
Eric just stared.
“You are past the age. It is time. Why not this handsome woman?”
Eric kept staring.
“The thinking is that should her claim be proven, it will not matter if you are married,” Haversham said soothingly. “The lands would have been joined already. And if it turns out she is a baroness—”
“Madness that they allow women to inherit titles up there, but we are stuck with it,” the king inserted. “But it won’t matter if you are married, will it? Better, actually. Good blood on both sides, then.”
“And if she isn’t a baroness but a lying female scoundrel?” Eric said.
Something in his tone had Haversham sweating and the king shrinking. The king nudged Haversham.
“There is reason to believe she is not,” Haversham said. “That letter from the last king, for example. Her name. There is a fair chance she is correct in her claim.”
It was time to kill this plan. Now, before the king warmed to it even more. “I do not know anything about this woman. Nor do I think there is a fair chance she is correct. In any case, I have no intention of marrying her. Find another plan.”
The king frowned darkly. “Don’t know her well? Hell, we didn’t know our wife at all when she was chosen. We don’t worry about such things. Duty, duty.” He made an ugly face. “Nor did you have any sympathy for how that affected us, so don’t expect us to be overly concerned with your marital bliss now. We say you will marry her.”
“You don’t get to say that and you know it. I’ll not have my life become a convenient solution to a problem of your own making.”
“We are your king, damn it.”
“And I am Brentworth.”
