An Oath Of Lords And Ladies (ARTK, Book 1)

Chapter 19

Derun 1st, 3327 A.G

  Silence filled the table for nearly half a minute. Renard wasn't quite sure how to respond, so he thought it over. Why was he here? The question had so many layers and was filled with so many possibilities. On the surface, he'd told himself it was to offer her advice that wouldn't go over well in letters and would take weeks to travel back and forth. Even now he felt it was true, but most people would have gone home as soon as they could after surviving an Ocean Dweller attack.

  Renard had never been one to quit when things put a strain on him. He'd trained to use a sword growing up, and he'd thought he was pretty good- but he didn't break down when Andre proved him wrong; he allowed the younger man to help him unlearn the poor techniques he'd been taught by those who thought they were infallible.

  He blushed for a split second while thinking of him and the things they'd done to eachother, but the feeling quickly passed. People were staring at him, and their time doing... what they did was over. The two people he'd layed with on and off of that ship had gotten engaged, and he imagined they were married by now with how quickly Narenian weddings happened.

  Not that he hadn't slept with married women and men before, but he respected his friends too much for that. He took a deep breath and decided to tell Nara the full truth, not just his reason for traveling there. People talked, and though it always took a long time- word traveled over oceans. It would be better to tell her now and not risk her misinterpreting his intentions later.

  For some reason, she didn't seem like the type that would tolerate such discussions about her- no matter how quickly he'd ended it.

So when he finally answered the question, he turned his full attention towards Nara. He made eye contact and spoke slowly enough to show his sincerity- but not slowly enough for it to be viewed as an insult. He suspected that wouldn't go well either.

  "When my advisors back home learned of your father's death, the first thing they brought up was marriage and.....that you are..." Renard struggled with how to phrase what his advisors said in a way that wouldn't be offensive. In the corner of his eye, he briefly caught a glimpse of the tiny amethyst on her right ring finger- but he couldn't focus on the fact that she was already wearing his gift.

"Of the age most women start giving birth?" Nara's eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she mumbled a string of curse words under her breath that Renard couldn't quite make out. "Gods."

"I know." Renard didn't see the words as offensive, but when her head snapped up- he sensed he'd made some sort of mistake.

"Do you?" Nara snapped. "Do you know what it is like for your father, grandparents, advisors who otherwise care about your well-being, and most of the people you're sworn to protect to pressure you into continuing a lineage?"

"Yes." Renard gulped. Nara walked around the table and sat to the left of him. A younger guard started to move with her, but stayed at his spot against the wall when she shook her head.

Nara propped herself up on her elbows, and now their knees were touching and she seemed to stare into his soul.

"Do you understand-" When she continued, her voice was slow. "What it is like for someone to try and arrange your marriage to someone a single decade younger than your grandfather without mentioning it to you first?"

"Well no, but I-"

"My grandmother was involved as well." Nara sarcastically chuckled. "She knew how old he was and encouraged me to meet him anyways."

Renard's blood ran cold. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Did he......."

"Oh, no- he was kind." She quickly said. "Creepy, but kind."

She paused for a few seconds, then got back to the point she was making.

"As a woman on this continent, it is almost a right of passage to marry someone twice your age- sometimes three or four if your blood becomes a monthly occurrence when you are very young. I've been 'lucky' enough that mine's taken a few years to even out-" didn't need to know that- Renard thought. "but there are very few people in my life who would have found a problem in marrying me to a sixty year old at twelve. You, Mi'lord- will never understand what that is like. After all, what is a woman in this world if she's too old to have children?"

He did not try to argue with her, because he knew she was right.

"You have decent looks. Any children of yours would have to try their hardest to come out of their mother's womb ugly." She rubbed her chin, thinking.

"I mean this in this least creepy way possible.... You too?" He finally said, paying no mind to how many people were watching them.

"Oh fuck me-" She mumbled. "Maybe your advisors had the right idea."

"Pardon me?" He raised an eyebrow, confused.

"An alliance of House Ashhand and Vraemore would tie them to us and make Liberan territories stop laughing at the fact that an entire house of people moved to an island to escape our continent's conditions." She seemed to be talking to herself, looking at the sky- but then her eyes met his again. "I will be married eventually. A man may go into his twenties or thirties before doing so, but it is unavoidable for a woman in this world."

He still hadn't registered what she was saying, but those at the table started to get it. Each looked at her in shock, not expecting her to propose such a thing.

"For fucks sake-" she said. "We will marry. You seem tolerable enough. I will bear a child, and if there are no complications with the birth or fatal defects in the child I will bear another- all while I am on incredibly large quantities of poppy seed of course. We will send the potential second child to House Vraemore when it is of age to take over as the high lord or lady."

"Respectfully....." Renard's voice trailed off, her words finally sinking in after she spelled it out. "I don't think I am.... comfortable in.... consummating.... a marriage to someone... your age."

Nara sighed and leaned in close to his ear so no one else could hear. "When I was a child, I overheard a servant telling another how disgusted her husband was with women's lower halves. He could never get over it long enough to grow, so he wouldn't look at her, he would release himself into a cup and she would pour it inside of her. They had three children."

To Renard, that seemed both worse and better than the alternative.

"No traditional consummation?" He whispered back.

"No traditional consummation." She confirmed.

He sat back, thinking it over. Once he gave his answer, there would be no going back. House Vraemore could be allies with Kroba again, or they could make an enemy out of them. Again.

"As you wish, mi'lady." He forced out.

"Perfect-" Nara stood, walked to the door like she were going to leave- then paused. "From now on, you will address me as 'My Queen."