Page 49 of Songs and Spun Gold
Axel stared at her. He must have stayed up too late and fallen asleep standing up, because where else but a strange dream sequence did people talk about spinning things into gold and marrying princes to penniless strangers for doing so?
“I don’t understand why you’re upset,” Father muttered to the window. “It’s an impossible task, so she won’t be able to do it, so Axel won’t have to marry her.”
“But—why?” Axel finally managed. “Why offer her an impossible deal, and why – whether it’s impossible or not – why offer marriage to me as a prize?”
“One of my advisors suggested it.” Father turned back to the room. Now that Mother had stopped yelling, he hadresumed a normal volume. “Her father claimed that the ban on spinning wheels kept him poor because his daughter can spin her wool into gold. Obviously, she can’t, since only magic could do such a thing and magic doesn’t exist, but offering her the deal allows the crown to give her the chance to prove his words. Offering your hand in marriage displays our willingness to correct our mistakes should she accomplish the feat and show that her father is not a liar.”
That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.It was right on the tip of his tongue, but Axel managed to bite it off at the last moment. He didn’t need to set off the yelling again. Besides, a different point was more important to him.
“If you are willing to let me marry a poor village girl,” he said quietly, his voice shaking a little as he struggled to control his emotion, “why can’t you let me choose my own?”
“You’re not listening, Axel.” Father shook his head as he walked back to his desk. “You won’t be marrying her. Last night was the first night, so it’s already over.”
“But what if she pulls it off?” Axel insisted. His hands clenched into fists at his side. “You don’t think she can, but what if you’re wrong? Then I’ll be marrying some no-name girl from a little village.”
Mother took a few steps closer to him, her forehead wrinkled. “I didn’t think you cared that much about social station, Axel.”
Keeping his gaze focused on his father, Axel repeated, his voice starting to rise, “If you’re willing to take the risk that I marry someone like that, why not let me choose my own? I thought you said you wanted me to be happy if possible!”
“Axel,” his mother admonished. “Why—” She paused when he turned his blazing eyes in her direction. Her eyes widened as understanding dawned in them. “Oh,” she sighed. “Heidi is from a poor family in one of our villages. Isn’t she?”
He didn’t answer, but he didn’t have to. His expression said it all.
“If you’ve known the whole time that her father wasn’t acceptable, why didn’t you say so?” Father lowered himself heavily into his chair. “At least we can put her behind us now.”
“Why should she be judged by her father?” Axel argued. “If she is acceptable, why does it matter whether her family is?”
Father looked up from his papers without raising his head. “If you were to marry her, her family would become our family. Therefore, if her family is unacceptable, so is she.” He dropped his focus back to the papers. “Especially if she is only interested in your title. Wasn’t that the reason you rejected her?”
“Won’t the girl trying to spin gold want my title, too?” Axel bit back.
“Actually, she seemed much more interested in helping her family,” Mother interjected. She mashed her lips together, but the edges curved up slightly. “She didn’t appear to want to marry you.”
“Good, and I don’t want to marry her, so let’s call it off.”
Father slammed the papers onto the desk. “It doesn’t matter. If I thought there was a chance of her succeeding, I wouldn’t have agreed to it when Lord Ulrich suggested it, and he would never have suggested it ifhethought there was a chance of her succeeding.”
“Lord Ulrich?” Axel asked. His frustration began to dissipate as he latched onto the name. Surely it was simply coincidence. After all, what could Otto’s stranger have to do with this situation?
“However, itistime for you to settle down,” Father continued in a calmer voice. He picked up his papers and resumed examining them. “Neither of us is getting any younger; you need to find a suitable wife so you can ensure we have an heir.”
At these words, Axel’s emotions began to well up again. “Father, I—”
“Begin assembling a list of the noblewomen you plan to consider once this spinning mess is behind us.” His father raised his eyes again. “Or I’ll do it for you.”
“Steffan,” Mother protested. “At least give him some time to—”
“He’s had plenty of time.” Father held his eyes. “Now he needs to grow up.”
Axel breathed deeply through his nose but couldn’t quite unclench his jaw. “Yes, Father.”
As he turned and wrenched the door back open, Father said, “I’ll be meeting with the girl later to find out how she did last night. You should be there.”
He kept his hand on the door and his face toward the hall. “I have no wish to watch her failure. I refuse to be part of this.”
Then he left the study, only just stopping himself from slamming the door, to the sound of his mother’s quiettsk-ing at his father.
~
