Kellen looked over his shoulder at Gallus. “In their chambers, I would think,” he said. “I do not expect them to join us.”
Gallus turned back to his brother although he was eyeing Kellen oddly. “So he keeps the women hidden when male guests arrive,” he muttered. “Strange.”
Maximus shook his head. “He did not keep them hidden last night.”
“That is because he did not view you as a threat. Now, he evidently does, to any and all women in his family.”
Maximus was fairly certain that was the truth, which worried him for the marital negotiations to come. But he sat down when Kellen indicated for him to sit at the same feasting table he had occupied the previous evening, and even in the same seat. But instead of Gallus on his right, last night it had been Courtly. Already, he missed her and the growing bond they had. Her smile, the warmth of her hand… he missed everything. He wished very much that she was sitting beside him.
Kellen’s soldiers apparently had kitchen duty this night because two of them came from the small door that led to the kitchen yard bearing trays of cups and two big pitchers. But it was clear they resented the duty because they weren’t very polite or even very competent when distributing cups and setting down the pitchers. Wooden cups tumbled and rolled, and wine splashed from one of the pitchers, set down heavily, and splashed on Scott’s tunic. The de Wolfe brother was visibly displeased at the dark purple stain on his shoulder.
If Kellen noticed that his soldiers were being rude, he didn’t speak up. He poured himself a full measure of wine and drank deeply before Gallus had even been served. Casting Maximus a long glance indicative of his feelings on de Lara’s bad manners, Gallus passed the wine pitcher to his brother before taking a drink of the tart, cheap wine.
“Your younger daughter,” Gallus started the conversation. “How old is she?”
Kellen looked up from his cup. “She has seen eleven years,” he replied. “Why do you ask?”
Gallus shrugged his shoulders. “Simply to make conversation,” he said. “Why is she not fostering at that age?”
Kellen was starting to look displeased again. “Because I never sent her away,” he said snappishly. “She was quite young whenher mother passed and I never had the heart to do it. You said you had two daughters. How old are they?”
Gallus didn’t appreciate the man’s rather confrontational tone but he let it go for the moment, especially since he wanted something from the man. “My eldest, Violet, is five years of age and her sister, Lily, is almost four,” he replied steadily. “They are not old enough to foster yet if that is what you were going to ask.”
Kellen simply downed more wine because that was exactly what he was going to ask and he was frustrated that de Shera was one step ahead of him. “See if you do not send them away when they come of age,” he said knowingly. “It is more difficult than you think.”
Gallus lifted his eyebrows in agreement. “I absolutely believe that,” he said. “Sending your daughters away to foster is much like sending them off to marriage. It is quite difficult to let them go but it is necessary.”
Brilliant!Maximus thought as he cast his brother a casual glance. Gallus was leading up to the subject of their visit. But Maximus kept his mouth shut and let Gallus take the lead. He was much better at negotiations than Maximus was. Maximus tended to swing a sword first and ask questions later.
Kellen, however, didn’t think Gallus’ statement was brilliant or relevant. He had nearly drained his wine cup by now and was moving to pour himself more.
“Why is it necessary?” he wanted to know. “I see nothing necessary about marrying off daughters. It is simply a way for a man to gain your money through a dowry. Moreover, once your daughter is married, she no longer belongs to you. She belongs to a stranger.”
Both Gallus and Maximus were coming to understand a great deal of how Kellen thought of marriage in that brief statement. “Not necessarily,” Gallus said. “If your daughter marries someone you know, a fine man that you approve of, whowants nothing from you including a dowry, that would be quite an excellent circumstance for your daughter. Not only does she have a fine husband, but you keep your money.”
He laughed as he said it, hoping Kellen would, too. He was attempting to ease the man into the idea of his daughter being married. But Kellen saw no humor in the statement so Gallus wiped the smile off his face and took another drink of wine, thinking on his strategy.
“Men are only after money,” Kellen reiterated as he started in on his second cup of wine. “They do not care for the women they marry.”
Gallus shook his head. “That is not true,” he said. “I love my wife dearly and I took her without a dowry, although when I married her, I inherited Anglesey from her father. It is a fine legacy to pass down to my son. Wouldn’t you want a grandson to pass your legacy down to?”
Kellen frowned. “I have not thought on it,” he said. “Although… although I will admit that I have been thinking on marrying again so I can have a son. Daughters are useless and expensive.”
Gallus stopped drinking his wine. He was more interested in watching Kellen’s guard come down the more the man drank. Before he drank himself into oblivion, Gallus needed to act. He was very careful in how he proceeded.
“They do not have to be,” Gallus said. “Daughters could actually bring you some wealth instead.”
He purposely said it to pique Kellen’s curiosity, which it did. The man cocked his head thoughtfully. “How?” he asked.
Gallus had him where he wanted him. “Let me see if I can think of an example,” he said, pretending to ponder the situation. “Hypothetically speaking, let us say that a man comes to you and offers for your eldest daughter. He is a wealthy man from a good family with excellent connections. Let us say thatinstead of expecting a dowry, he offers you lands in Cheshire that belong to him. The lands are part of a bigger estate, but what he will offer you is a gift of land that produces over a hundred acres of barley a year and has a small village attached to it, a town that you can draw revenue from. Now, for that kind of gift, you would gain quite a bit of wealth and keep your daughter’s dowry. Would you not find that manner of offer attractive?”
Gallus and Maximus held their breath as Kellen mulled over the proposal. It was hard to tell just how seriously he was considering it because the wine was already having an effect on his manner– his face was flushed and his eyelids were droopy.
“Mayhap,” Kellen finally said. “But I am not sure I can let my daughter leave me.”
Gallus didn’t let up. “But you said yourself that you were considering marrying again,” he pointed out. “A house cannot have two queens. If you take a wife, your daughter will be unwanted in her eyes. You must allow your daughter to have a house and husband of her own.”
Kellen’s brows drew together. It was clear that he was considering that scenario but Gallus didn’t want to give him too much time to think about it. He continued.
