Fists of Justice (Schooled in Magic #12)

“I don’t think he’ll hate you,” Emily said.

“He certainly won’t be pleased.” Sienna smiled, rather thinly. “But I have made it clear to him that he will regret it if he defies me.”

Ouch, Emily thought.

Sienna cocked her head. “And that leads us neatly to the second point.”

Emily braced herself. She didn’t think anything could be worse than having the talk with her boyfriend’s mother, but she knew she could be wrong. Not that she blamed Sienna, not really. An unplanned pregnancy – or a scandal – would have all sorts of unfortunate repercussions. She had no idea what Sienna could do to her, beyond kicking her out of the house, but Caleb could be disowned – or worse.

“Just under two years ago, Caleb came to us – his parents – to request our blessing for a Courtship,” Sienna said. “We discussed the matter at great length before agreeing, provisionally, to grant him our blessing. You were a child of many worlds, the daughter of a great sorcerer as well as a great noblewoman in your own right. Caleb’s decision to court you carried risks.”

“Not that many,” Emily said.

“You might have rejected him, which would have been a blow to his pride,” Sienna said. Her face flickered with droll amusement. “And if you’d done it publicly, it would have embarrassed the family and turned us into laughing stocks. But even if you didn’t, Emily, it ran the risk of entangling us with the affairs of your father and Zangaria. We seriously considered denying Caleb our blessing because of the risk of being dragged into politics. My dear grandfather would certainly have been concerned about the danger.”

Emily swallowed, hard. “Your grandfather?”

“The Patriarch of House Waterfall,” Sienna said.

She shook her head, holding up a hand to stave off any further questions. “We consented to the courtship, Emily, because we believed the risks could be managed. Caleb is – was – a second son. His marriage is understandably of personal importance, but not particularly important to anyone outside the immediate family. We could have disowned him if things had threatened to get out of hand.”

Emily stared at her. “You would have disowned your son for marrying me?”

“Not for marrying you,” Sienna said. “For dragging us into a political morass. I believe your friend Markus was disowned for similar reasons.”

“Yeah,” Emily said.

She kept her thoughts to herself. She’d never thought about it like that before - she wished she didn’t have to think about it now. It wasn’t something that made her feel comfortable.

“Things have changed,” Sienna said. It was an understatement. “Caleb is now my heir. A year ago, I would have said there was no hope of him succeeding my grandfather, but…things have changed. If he marries you, Emily, he’ll be in a very strong position indeed. And yet, there is your current…disagreement with King Randor. Where, exactly, do you stand?”

“I chose to leave,” Emily said, stiffly. She needed time to think – and, perhaps, discuss the matter with Caleb. “I am no longer the Baroness.”

“You are, even if you’re in exile,” Sienna corrected.

She sighed, heavily. “You entered into the courtship on the understanding that you were going to be marrying a second son. Caleb was not expected to inherit anything beyond a small legacy. You may, if you wish, back out now. No one would blame you for taking a moment to reassess your position.”

Emily met her eyes. “Do you want me to marry Caleb?”

“I want you to be aware of the problems facing you,” Sienna said. It wasn’t an answer. “And there is a further problem. There are already rumors that you deliberately killed Casper to clear the way for your boyfriend.”

Emily felt a flash of hot temper. “I did not!”

“If I thought otherwise, young lady, we would be having a very different discussion,” Sienna said, dryly. “But people will talk. If you were to marry Caleb – and he were to become Patriarch of Waterfall – you’d be combining magical and aristocratic power to make a formidable power base. Even if he didn’t become the formal Patriarch, he’d be in a strong position to steer family affairs from behind the scenes. And you, behind him, would be pulling the strings.”

“You didn’t answer my question,” Emily said. She felt her magic rising with her temper and ruthlessly forced it down. Sienna could probably sense it already. “Do you want me to marry Caleb?”

“What I want doesn’t matter,” Sienna said. She looked down at the wooden floor. When she spoke, there was a hint of pain in her voice. “Emily…for people like me…like us…marriage is rarely a matter of personal choice. We make the matches that suit our families and hope that love blossoms. I’ve known girls and boys who were broken-hearted because they couldn’t marry the people they loved, or were disowned after they eloped. I was the youngest daughter of the youngest son, and yet I had to argue for weeks to convince the Patriarch to bless my marriage.”

Emily frowned. Alassa had said much the same, when she’d been preparing to meet her first set of potential suitors. She’d even admitted that her father might pick one of the young noblemen who’d traveled to Zangaria, dismissing whatever concerns Alassa might have about the match. Emily hadn’t been able to understand it, not really. Alassa was the Crown Princess – and she would be Queen, in time – but she didn’t have much choice about who she married. It had been sheer luck that she’d remained unmarried long enough to start a proper relationship with Jade.

And yet, it wasn’t something Emily wanted for herself. She liked Caleb…she even loved him. She simply didn’t know enough about love to be sure of what she was feeling. The idea of outsiders discussing her marriage, even trying to manipulate it, was horrific. She had no intention of trying to use the match as part of a stealth takeover of House Waterfall…

Christopher Nuttall's books