The Chronicles of Ursa

Part 1 Chapter 4

Tollredd could not believe his luck. In the months since he and Lani wed, his life was full to bursting with happiness in a way that he'd never imagined possible. She breathed new life into the war-wearied castle, like the salty sea air gusting through, scouring everything clean. His devotion was such that it had begun to inspire eye rolls around the castle: honestly, grumbled the most embittered, it is as if he thinks he invented love.

The young king and the old had officially begun the grace period that would eventually transfer power to Tollredd, and though his father was stern and very serious, he had not struck his son again, and had in fact mellowed considerably from his first few months off the battlefield. Tollredd schooled his face during the sessions with his father, neutral and impassive, listening carefully and learning how to be king. But in private they grew closer, not prince and king but father and son, and Wothe told Tollredd on many occasions how pleased he was to have Lani as a daughter-in-law.

They did not discuss Raevan, whose own betrothal to Fennis Rowendown had been announced in the months after her older brother's wedding. Fennis was Raevan's senior by six years, handsome, tall, blonde, blithe, and he hailed from an Ursa family with a lineage that pleased the queen their mother. Tollredd did not particularly like Fennis but he was the man on whom the queen has decided for her headstrong daughter. They made a fine-looking pair, the red-haired young princess and the tall blonde man who would one day inherit his father's seat on the council. Fennis made every overture properly; he brought Raevan the right gifts, he escorted her around the garden for the correct amount of time, and he pressed her hand to his mouth in goodbye for precisely the right space of moments. Even Raevan seemed charmed, but Tollredd knew Fennis was under strict instructions from his family to woo the princess, and once they wed he would return to his previous occupations, which included gambling on fights and drinking too much. Despite the distance that separated the siblings, Tollredd's stomach went oily when he thought about the match, but his father had given the entire task over to his mother and, as such, Tollredd could do nothing about it.

Plus, Fennis knew that Raevan was Talented, and it did not bother him one bit.

At least, he claimed it did not.

Tollredd banished thoughts of his sister, feeling guilty even as he told himself he was only following his father's instructions. He had been cold to Raevan in the past months beyond his usual heedless indifference, even punished her for insolence after she burst into a council meeting.

He had not relished the switch in his hand, he did not like the way it snapped across her back (though he did not swing it hard enough to leave a permanent mark). He did not want to lock her in her room, to humiliate her in front of the castle, but he could show no weakness, and his mother seemed to think he was already playing the fool in the ways he doted on his new wife. Tollredd did not have his father's battle-hardened nerve, or his mother's gift of guile.

He would eventually learn these things, but for the moment he hid his glad heart behind a show of impassive strength, which unfortunately included putting Raevan in her place. Their vast age difference meant they had never been particularly close, and as such he'd marked her general spitefulness as natural, due to her being young and a girl.

"Your sister does not like me."

Lani said it in their bed one evening after a long day of lying around feeling nauseous.

Tollredd paused, his large hand on his wife's stomach, which had not yet begun to show that it carried something precious.

"Why do you say that? The whole kingdom likes you."