His mother smiled, but it was a sad smile. His parents stood together and exchanged a brief glance. “We’ve been so happy to have you home, and were wondering what your plans are after the tournament next week.”
Valten took his time as he thought about what to say.
“I was hoping you would settle down here in Hagenheim,” his mother said, with a lift of her brows, “instead of leaving us again.”
She seemed to try to sound nonchalant, but there was a glisten in her eyes that signaled she might be about to cry. Valten shifted his feet uncomfortably. He wasn’t afraid of much, but a crying woman made the hair stand up on the back of his neck.
“I don’t know, Mother.” Valten crossed his arms and turned to face the window to the courtyard. “I haven’t decided.”
“We want you to be happy.” His father stepped forward. “Are you happy competing in the tournaments? You are very good at it, but you can’t do it forever, and you will be needed here in Hagenheim someday. It would be good to have you at my side, son. There is always something that needs our attention.”
“To confess the truth,” Valten said, turning to face them, “I don’t get much satisfaction from the tournaments anymore.”
They were looking at him as if waiting for him to go on.
“I feel restless.” Valten started pacing, talking to the floor. “I want to do something but I don’t know what it is. If there was a war going on I could go fight, to offer myself as a knight in the king’s service.” A tightness in his chest signaled the familiar frustration.
“Perhaps it is time you thought about taking a wife.” His father’s voice was firm but quiet, confidential. “You are twenty-four, the same age I was when I married your mother. It is a good time to settle here at the castle, with a wife. Your people will need you here, and I could use your help. You have an obligation to them to provide an heir, which will also provide stability. You’ve proven yourself on the tournament fields, and now it’s time to learn about governing and leading.”
Valten’s jaw clenched. His father was probably right. He wasn’t against finding a wife, but it was awkward to have his father tell him it was time. Just how did a man go about deciding on a wife anyway? How much easier to have your betrothed picked for you, brought to you, without having to court her. Or, as Gabe had done, to rescue your betrothed from some evil fate. That appealed to him. But he’d yet to find a damsel in distress, oppressed by evil and in need of rescue.
A few unkind thoughts about Gabe came to his mind.
He’d thought he might accept Rainhilda, Sir Edgar’s daughter. She was beautiful, after all, and seemed to get along well with his mother and sisters. But he hadn’t at all liked the way she looked at Gisela in the street a few days ago. It showed a haughtiness and meanspiritedness that she’d hidden from him. He was glad she hadn’t noticed him as he watched Gisela being treated badly by her family.
Gisela. She was beautiful, and easy to talk to. And unlike Rainhilda, she didn’t prattle on and on about things Valten didn’t care or know anything about. She talked about horses — a subject he was quite comfortable with. And he had always thought a love of horses was a sign of gentleness and good character. The way she had bonded with Sieger had quite awed him.
But … he didn’t understand why those people, her family, treated her so badly. She had stood up to Friedric Ruexner and practically spit in his eye. So why were those girls not afraid to laugh at her? She said the woman was her stepmother. Why was her stepmother dressed like a nobleman’s wife, and yet Gisela was dressed like a peasant? Something was wrong with that situation, and Valten hoped to find out what it was when he saw her at the tournament. Perhaps he would find her in the crowd and then send his squire to spy on her.
“You’re right, Father. Maybe it is time I think about getting married.”
His father cleared his throat. He was surprised, no doubt, at Valten’s easy acquiescence.
“That’s very mature of you, son.”
“We will have a banquet after the tournament.” Already his mother’s voice sounded happier—almost giddy, in fact. “And we can have a ball and invite eligible maidens of the region. Unless you wish me to invite the titled men of the Empire and their eligible daughters. But that will take more time …”
“The girls of Hagenheim will be sufficient, I believe.”