She grunted her appreciation of the remark. “Let’s leave them out of this for now, shall we? What I meant was that caution in flight is also a good idea.” She paused a moment, then rapped out, “Does the girl repel you?”
“No!” was his quick response. “She’s beautiful!” Then he blushed. “Any fool could see that. Men my age are usually fools about women.”
“So she doesn’t disgust you physically. That’s a start,” Andrade said wryly. “Now that we’ve established her as a woman and not a witch—”
“Have we?” He gave her a tiny smile. “I have your word for it, but the face in the flames said otherwise. If not a witch, then certainly something enchanted. What comes from Goddess Keep that is not?”
“Oh, very pretty,” she mocked, restraining laughter with difficulty, more and more pleased with him. “Have you studied charming phrases, or do they come naturally? As for the girl—she’s a fit mate for a dragon’s son. Your children should be the wonders of the world.”
The hot color came back to his cheeks, the sight an education to Andrade. He rose and went to the windows again, saying with an attempt at nonchalance, “We’ll tithe one of them to you for playing matchmaker.”
“Don’t be facetious.” Waiting until he faced her again, she went on, “Your mention of an alliance is something I’d expect. But you’re so rich that very few could aspire to your hand and your bed.” He did not blush at this reference to sex, and Andrade rightly concluded that the prince could consider such things but the man was shy about them. “Of the great lords and princes, only a few of them have daughters of marriageable age. Most of these are out of the question, being either promised or too ugly or stupid for consideration. None of us wants you tied to a fool.”
“Is that a polite way of saying I’m going to need all the help I can get?”
“You were lonely as a little boy,” she said with a gentleness that surprised her. “I don’t want you to live your manhood lonely as well.” To cover the emotion she continued more briskly, “Of the few eligible ladies, most of them are the High Prince’s daughters.”
Rohan’s face pulled into a grimace. “Thank you, no. The son of the dragon has no wish to marry a daughter of the lizard. I would gladly live my manhood lonely, as you put it, in exchange for the assurance of living it at all.”
“And what do you mean by that?” she asked, wondering if he had figured it out for himself.
He gave her much the same reasoning she had given Milar, and Andrade sent heartfelt thanks to the Goddess. Rohan would not have an easy time of it as ruling prince, but neither would he be the victim of those more clever than he. There would not be many. When he had finished a succinct summation of why his life would be worth less than nothing after he had gotten an heir on one of Roelstra’s daughters, Andrade smiled her approval.
“Your wits are in working order, at any rate,” was all the verbal praise she gave him. “Now that you’ve had a chance to think about it, tell me why you should marry my faradhi witch.”
Rohan took several moments to answer, but when he did it was with growing enthusiasm. “Information, for one thing. A network of faradh’im all over the princedoms would be very useful.”
“And what makes you think I’d allow you to use them?”
“The same thing that makes me think you’ve got some grander plan for me that doesn’t preclude using anyone or anything you can get your hands on. I know why you pushed your sister into marrying my father, and I know all about your spies—I’m not talking about the official Sunrunners, Andrade.” The line of his jaw hardened. “What is it you really want? Why show me that face, knowing I’d find her beautiful? How do you plan to use us?”
“If I live long enough—if you live long enough—we may all find out. I do only what the Goddess bids me.”
“Dragon shit,” Rohan said in a pleasant tone, his eyes blue ice. “She tells you what you feel like hearing. You’re setting me up in direct opposition to Roelstra. Why?”
“You mean that with all your studies and all your deep thoughts, you haven’t yet seen it?” she taunted, angry and a little frightened