“Can we discuss this later perhaps? You might not be concerned, but there is an approaching High Lord as well as his two sons,” Valor said with a faint smile.
Jala raised her eyebrow and turned back to look toward their visitors, raising one hand to shield the sun from her eyes as she did so. “Ahh. Truce and Nathan as well as their daddy. This must be important,” she murmured softly.
“Did you get horribly lost, Avanti?” Neph snapped as he walked toward the porch from the opposite direction as the visitors and stepped up to stand just below Jala.
“Now, Neph that is no way to address our visitors. There is a High Lord present,” Jala said calmly and placed a hand on Neph’s shoulder as she smiled at the High Lord. Carefully she raised one hand and pointed north as she gave him an overly sweet smile. “Avanti is actually farther north, Lord Avanti. You just missed it by a smidgen of several hundred miles,” Jala offered in helpful tone.
“How cute,” Lord Avanti said as he paused several feet away and adjusted his coat carefully so that the deep red velvet fell perfectly straight to his waist. “I am, in fact, here to speak with you, Lady Merrodin. And while that must seem as ridiculous to you as it does to me, I’m afraid my son has insisted on it.”
His sons took positions behind him and Jala was quick to note that while Nathan looked pleased, Truce had an expression that suggested he would rather be anywhere else. By the expression on his face it was clear that Truce wasn’t the son that had insisted on the visit, and she could only imagine what Nathan must want.
Another figure moved behind them and caught her eye. Jala felt a twinge in her gut as she recognized the dark green eyes. While the man was covered from head to toe in a dark cloak and his lower face was shrouded with a mask, the eyes were enough to tell her who he was. Sovaesh, Finn’s father who served as Avanti’s personal Assassin. Sovaesh caught her eye for just a moment and nodded so faintly it was barely perceptible.
Sighing heavily, Jala ignored the gesture from Sovaesh to keep from drawing attention to him and shifted her gaze between the two sons once more before looking back to the High Lord. She didn’t bother to acknowledge the ten armed guards that surrounded the Avanti in a semi-circle, but she could tell by the way Valor and Jail stiffened that they were both intent on them.
“It seems you have yourself in a difficult place, Lady Merrodin, and my son has a soft heart. He feels that we should give you a second chance,” Lord Avanti continued, his eyes locking fully on her. “Earlier this year, you chose to side yourself with the rebels and now… Well now, you are all alone out here, little girl.”
Jala cocked her head slightly to one side and watched him, an expression of amusement flicking across her face. “You are surrounded by crowds of my citizens and I am standing with half my court beside me and you think I’m alone?”
The High Lord shifted and looked around slowly, a smile widening on his handsome face. “Little girl, you are surrounded by whores, gutter rats, and dysfunctional knights that were so worthless Arovan wouldn’t even let them die for their country. You have a single Delvay and a Han’shy beside you. Delvay is at war and I hold the country of Han’shy in my power. How long do you think they will stand by you, given that knowledge?” He paused long enough to smile wider as he regarded Valor. “Then of course, there is the rapist that wasn’t allowed back in his country. I suppose that one might fight for you, given proper incentive. So you aren’t entirely alone, are you?”
“That is the one and only time you will insult my people without paying for your words. Choose what you say with more care Lord Avanti,” Jala replied coldly, her expression shifting from amused to dangerous in a breath.
“Father, this is not what we came for. We are not here to insult the High Lady,” Truce cut in, earning a glare from his father for the effort. To his credit, Truce did not flinch away from his father’s displeasure, but held his ground with a calm expression.
With a disgusted sigh, Lord Avanti turned back to regard Jala and nodded slowly. “My son is quite right. We are not here to insult. It seems that both of my sons are cursed with soft hearts.” He paused and cleared his throat before smiling once more, though there was no warmth in the expression. “You can’t stand alone, Lady Merrodin. You are too weak. Surely you are not na?ve enough to believe otherwise. My son, however, finds interest in you, so I offer you salvation. Ally yourself with house Avanti through marriage and you will survive the coming war.”
“She is in mourning, you ass. You know her husband just died. There is no way you couldn’t know your daughter had him killed,” Neph snarled.
“I’m quite sure Cassia had no part in that unfortunate incident. As I heard it told, he died in the battle for the city. It truly is a pity and I do sympathize with your loss, Lady Merrodin, but these are difficult times that demand action now,” Lord Avanti said in a mockery of her own honey sweet voice.
Jala stared at the High Lord for a long moment in silence before looking away. Sovaesh drew her attention for a breath and she noticed the faint shake of his head as her eyes settled on Nathan. “You believed I was a peasant whore a scant few months ago and now you wish to marry me?” she asked her tone incredulous.
“Your identity has been proven and you have been acknowledged as the High Lady of Merrodin,” Nathan answered with a smile that might have been charming if she had never met him before.