Page 150 of Onyx Cage: Volume II

For the sake of harmony, I opted to focus on her implication rather than the neat stack of papers she dislodged with her perfect, round backside.

I cared about alliances for a lot of reasons, but there was no denying that they made trade simpler. That was part of why Iiro’s insistence on ruling was so infuriating.

He could have worked to restore Socair to a semblance of what it had been before the war, but he didn’t want to govern anyone. He only wanted the prestige the position allowed without any of the work, which only caused me to further wonder what he promised or told the other dukes to sway them to his side of things.

“A united Socair wouldn’t be the worst thing, if it were under someone who actually gave a damn,” I allowed. “Unfortunately, the only one I could be reasonably certain meets those requirements is Arès, and after keeping to himself for so long, I doubt he could garner the support, even if we could rid ourselves of Iiro.”

It was something I had considered at length. The only clan with the power to rule aside from Elk was probably mine, which was almost laughable.

If there was anything worse than Iiro on the throne, it was starting a war to usurp him with my father, only so my father could then start another war with my wife’s kingdom.

If he didn’t execute the entirety of his own kingdom before he got the chance.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

The meeting with the lords was just after breakfast the following day. For weeks now, I had considered how to go about laying the groundwork for Rowan to be seen as something other than the average silent Clan Wife.

Aside from the obvious reasons, if she was more present in the regular dealings of the men, she was less likely to give offense when she inevitably voiced her opinions over dinner.

Probably.

Rowan lounged idly on the bed, making cooing sounds at Boris while he pressed himself against her like he hadn’t hissed at her only a few months ago. Perhaps the lords would feel the same…

If I hadn’t been able to appease them this past week, taking her today would have been out of the question. Even with the sentiment in our favor, having her observe the meeting was a gamble, but so was waiting.

“I have to act in my father’s stead at a meeting with the lords in our territory,” I told her, decision made. “It would be a good idea for you to accompany me.”

After all, this was likely to be the most straightforward assembly we would have, since I had spent all week hearing their concerns in advance.

“Are women allowed at these meetings?”

“Not generally,” I acknowledged, though I had verified extensively that there were no actual laws against it. “But this is the first one since our wedding. It might be prudent to start as we plan to go on.”

Mightbeing the operative word, but I was relatively certain it was better than the alternative. The lords would take to her presence in the meeting even worse than the soldiers took to her presence in the sparring ring. Sword-fighting could be an odd quirk of hers, but sitting on a council where decisions were made was something else entirely for them. Something that had never been done, nor looked upon as even a remote possibility.

At least none of them were likely to mention it to my father, since they wouldn’t want to risk his judgments over mine.

“All right, then.” Rowan smiled, eyes lighting up as she climbed gracefully out of the bed. I allowed my gaze to linger on her bare, shapely form for a handful of seconds before I spun toward her closet.

She would have just enough time to get dressed as it was, without any delays on my part, no matter how tempted I might be. Appearances would matter today.

I rifled through a veritable sea of black fabric before I landed on one that would work for today. Formal enough to be taken seriously, with simple embellishments that wouldn’t stand out as overly feminine when she would already be so veryotherin that room.

“Wear this,” I instructed, draping it over the chair rather than the bed where Boris was still happily shedding all of his ginger fur.

Though she raised her eyebrows in a challenge, I didn’t miss the way her pupils widened. Once again, I pointedly averted my gaze.

Time. We were short on time.

But later, I intended to explore every nuance of that reaction at length.

The lords took to my wife’s presence about as well as I had expected them to, but no one outright objected, which was as much as we could hope for the first meeting.

Taras was present as my second-in-command. Though he made an admirable effort at schooling his features, he did shoot me the barest incredulous glance that I chose not to acknowledge, which had him almost imperceptibly flaring his nostrils. I hadn’t mentioned that I was considering bringing her today, at least in part because I could have guessed this would be his reaction. I could practically hear the wordchaosrunning through his mind, but even my lemmikki could only cause so much damage by her presence alone.

Most of which had passed now that the initial shock had worn off.

One by one, the lords took their turn bringing matters to me for judgment. Only three issues in, Rowan spoke up to ask a clarifying question.