Page 7 of Crossbones
“The shipping lanes to Az’Verin were compromised again.”
I hear the comment and my attention immediately jumps to the speaker. Lord Callohan, a noble sitting on the other side of Aldric’s betrothed. He’s one of the older sons of the House Arvell. Their house ships timber and furs to Az’Verin, one of the kingdoms that comprise Seven Landings, in exchange for spices and glass products.
“That’s an eloquent way to say pirates, my lord,” the man on his left states dryly. “How many ships?”
“Two that I’m aware of,” Lord Callohan sighs. “But if we lose any more the merchants will start to refuse the route.”
“Is it Blackwell again?”
Lord Callohan nods, looking grim. “Bastard strung up the Captain—hung him from the mast draped in the Black.”
“The crew?”
“Butchered,” Lord Callohan says simply.
His companion shakes his head. “Piracy is a growing problem—the noose is the only solution.”
“You have to catch them first,” Lord Callohan shrugs. “The Stormbreaker is notorious for eluding capture. If I ever get my hands on him though…”
“Your Highness,” Lady Annika draws my attention back to her.
“My lady, you’re to be my wife in a few short weeks,” I say, trying to keep the irritation out of my voice at the interruption of my eavesdropping. “Please call me Caspian.”
A blush stains her cheeks and she nods, a strained smile on her face. So she doesn’t like the prospect either—good, that makes two of us.
“About that,” she says carefully. “Will you prefer our residence be here at the palace or at one of my family estates?”
The wine is warming my blood fairly well by now and I meet her gaze which is carefully blank. I can tell she’s very invested in my answer but doesn’t want to appear so.
“Frankly, I don’t care where you reside, my dear,” I state. “This is a political marriage, nothing more. You can do whatever you want—fly your falcons, drink your wine, have an affair—skies the limit, literally.” I hold up my glass, having just thought of something. “On second thought, be sure to send me wine shipments, that’ll be your only responsibility.”
She looks disappointed for a moment before she hides it. “Is it because I’m—” she stops abruptly, her face growing even more red.
“Because what?” I prompt.
She leans into me. “Because I’m not aman?” She whispers.
I laugh out loud and look at her in amusement. “Goodness no, I don’t have a preference when it comes to gender, darling.” I tilt my head at her. “You don’t seem like someone taken by fairytale notions…”
“I don’t want this anymore than you do, Your Highness—”
“Caspian.”
“Caspian—but I did have hope that one day it wouldn’t be such a burden,” she peers at me out of the corner of her eye. “That we could at least grow to be friends.”
“I don’t have friends,” I say automatically. “You should prepare yourself, Annika. I have never been anything more than a disappointment to my family, and I don’t plan on changing that anytime soon. Your house can attempt to use this marriage for whatever gain they think they can garner but I will have no part in any of it.”
Her mouth presses into a thin line in displeasure but my comment has my desired outcome when she turns away to end the conversation. The less she expects of me, the better. The last thing I need, besides having to suffer through whatever hell this marriage will be, is a shadow pining after me on top of that.
By the time the main course is served, I’m several glasses deep and the wine haze has hit me. Lady Annika made a gallant second attempt to engage me in conversation but the only topics she brought up were birds and wine—not interested at all in birds and only marginally about wine. She even attemptedto find out what my interests are, bless her, but after I once more deflected the question with a drunken comment, she realized it was futile and turned to talk to her dinner companion on her other side.
“I heard Teal is about to fall.” I turn to my left to see Lady Annika’s father, Lord Glibben, directing the comment to my father.
“Yes,” My father says loudly. “All thanks to Aldric. His leadership has been instrumental to expanding our eastern border.”
“And with Lord Haldon’s help, we’ll be able to achieve even more success on that front,” Aldric replies. He raises his glass to the older man sitting next to him. I have to stop myself from rolling my eyes but I can’t seem to hold my tongue.
“I expect it’s rather easy to win when your opposition has nothing more than sharpened sticks to defend themselves,” I say bitterly.
