Page 131 of Halfling
Sorcha blinked up at Darrow, words failing her. She felt every eye on her, waiting.
She turned to look at Jerrod, seeing the weak man desperate for acclaim, no longer hidden under fine clothes and suave smiles. He was laid bare for all of them to see, and Sorcha almost wanted to look away.
She made herself look—and think.
Sorcha’s gaze cut to Aislinn. Those golden eyes glared at her, and she mouthed,don’t you dare.
But Sorcha did. She did dare. She had the choice to do something good for their people, and she had to take it.
“I would ask two things, my lord.”
Lord Darrow nodded, eyes tight to hear her decision.
“First, Jerrod shall be sent to the Ward to serve with the wardens there. Hopefully they can teach him to heal rather than hate and put others before himself.” The Ward was a well-respected healing house, converted from a castle gifted by the crown. All who served there took vows forsaking worldly goods and comforts and instead cared for the sick, injured, and dying.
“He shall forfeit his claim to the Darrowlands. In his place, Aislinn will be your heir and the next Lady Darrow.”
Sorcha’s sentence was met with stunned silence, and she kept her gaze on Aislinn. Her friend had always been intelligent and competent. She was beloved in Dundúran and throughout the Darrowlands. Sorcha had heard more than a few whispers that it was a shame Aislinn hadn’t been born male, that she would make a much finer lord than Jerrod ever would.
Rulership hadn’t always been passed from father to son; not long ago in Eirean history, it was the eldest or the most suited to the task who received the mantle. The custom had only come when the new dynasty took power in Gleanná some thirty years ago, brought from intermarriages with Pyrros to the south, where women could inherit neither title nor land.
But that was there. Here, now, the Darrowlands needed Aislinn.
Sorcha knew Aislinn didn’t want the responsibility. She liked her learning and her projects and having few demands on her time.
But the people needed her.
Darrow held her gaze for a long moment, weighing her decision. Finally, with a nod, he sealed his son’s fate.
“Your decision is fair. I can’t undo the pain my son has caused, but I hope this will make it right.”
“Father!” Jerrod cried.
Darrow turned his face away. “So be it.”
Even an hour after the feast, with her hair brushed and face washed and in a slightly too-small nightgown borrowed from Aislinn, Sorcha buzzed with everything that had happened.
In the wake of Darrow’s decision, others had to be made about Jerrod’s confinement and Aislinn being named heir. Until he could be transported to the Ward, Jerrod would be held in his rooms at Dundúran under guard. A decree needed to be written condemning his actions, and a reward placed for information on the slavers he’d hired.
As for Aislinn, Sorcha had received a few more glares from her friend, but Aislinn’s reticence was soon soothed away by the genuine pleasure the castle staff showed at hearing she would be named heir.
An impromptu feast was held, small in comparison to others Sorcha had attended there, but the food had been tasty and Aislinn had begun to smile again, even if the shock hadn’t faded yet.
When she wasn’t grinning at Aislinn, she was smiling to see her handsome halfling taking in a human feast. He ate his fill and talked openly with Lord Darrow and Connor. He held his own throughout, leaving Sorcha time to tease and congratulate Aislinn.
“I’ll only forgive you if you promise now to help me,”Aislinn had said.
Sorcha squeezed her hand.“You know I will.”
By the time feasting had ended, most had fallen deep into their cups and no one wanted to make the journey home. Rooms were found for them, and after filching a nightgown from Aislinn, Sorcha had whisked her man into a room.
She lay now on her back in the big four-post bed, grinning madly up at the velvet canopy.
“I just can’t believe it,” she said.
“You were fearsome,” Orek said, his fingers tracing patterns along her middle. “I’m proud to be the mate of such a fierce female.”
Sorcha rolled to her side to smile at him. “It’s all thanks to you.”
