From there, Michel and her father went into a locked room alone and did not come out. Eve was not allowed in, though it seemed every other advisor her father ever had was summoned at some point. Khuyag came and went. Each brother was called in. Timicin entered the room and stayed for hours. She heard bursts of yelling from behind the door throughout the day, but she never knew from whom.
Eve stayed perched outside the door. For a while, she paced. Then she sat. Then she stood by the window. Each time the door opened, she waited for news, like an expectant father. She received nothing more than stern looks from those coming and going. Her mother brought her broth and fruit to nibble on. Her sisters-in-law, all five of them this time, like a flock of geese, came to look at her, asking questions she couldn’t answer.What are they discussing? Why aren’t you allowed in? Did youreallysee a dragon? The time ticked by, and the sun traveled through the sky. It was not like her father to leave her out of things that mattered to her. Plus, she had input that could help this alliance be forged. But now,now, she wasn’t invited while these men planned her future?
Finally, after hours and hours, the door opened. Her father stood there and asked her to come in. By now, she waspissed.
She rose and walked toward him in a halo of fire. Her father’s expression went from sternness to surprise when he saw her, then to amusement as she glared at him while entering the room.
Michel, molded over a chair, perked up to smile at her, but his expression turned anxious when he saw her scowl.
Her father sat at the table, Michel stayed in the chair to his right, and Eve sat across from the two men. She folded her arms.
“So,” she bit out. “What have you two intellects decided will be my fate?”
Michel opened his mouth to speak, then shut it. He looked from her to her father.
Her father sighed with irritation. “Michel has told me many things this afternoon,” he began. “Many things that you did not tell me about the journey you have been on.” He paused and breathed in a long breath through his nose. “I believe…” He paused. “I believe this will be a suitable match.”
“Oh, really?” Eve said sarcastically, her arms folded.
“Eve,” Michel began. “We didn’t mean to exclude you. There were politics to discuss. How to handle Timicin.”
“Do you not trust my input on politics? You don’t know this tribe better than I.”
“No, I—” stammered Michel. “Of course not.”
“Enough.” Her father waved his hand. “I needed my head to be clear. If you were here, emotions would be too high.”
“Father, I am more than capable of controlling my emotions?—”
He stood up and struck his chest with a closed fist. “Myemotions, Enebish.”
Eve shut her mouth.
Her father took in another controlling breath. “It is all done. Everything has been decided.”
“What of the tribe of Timicin?” she pressed.
Michel scooted forward on his chair. “Eve, we will trade with him,” he said, his voice hoarse from the hours of negotiations. “Timicin’s tribe does business with the Chinese and other markets I’ve never had access to. It will give me enough that the loss of Renault and Kashgar will not destroy my business here.”
“The trade will bring riches to Timicin,” her father interjected. “He is satisfied.”
“The girl?” Eve asked.
“As far as Timicin knows, it was Ganbold who killed Bataar.” Borjigin nodded. “This was all a game played by the ancestors. Let them know the truth and no others.”
“Well,” she said, throwing her hands up in resignation. “That just leaves me.”
“Eve,” Michel said. He reached out to take her hand, but when her father grunted, he pulled his hands back. “We will be wed in the morning. Your father has agreed.”
“No,” Eve said.
“No?” Michel asked.
“No?!” her father bellowed as he slammed his hands on the desk, fuming once more.
Eve stood up too to match her father’s gaze. “We are traveling to Chevalerie,” she announced, fuming just as much. “I wish first to be accepted by my future in-laws.”
“Who is traveling?” asked Michel.
