“A good part of it, I expect. He has very strong opinions.”
“Of himself, you mean? Oh, Inos! How could you?”
“Me? I wasn’t there!” With demure innocence, she turned to gaze out at the big cottony flakes drifting past the windows. Eventually she looked back at Kadolan, and then they both laughed. Their laughter was rather long and immoderate for high-born ladies.
Inos recovered first. She smoothed her sketch book with her hand, took a deep breath, and said, “He really did deserve it! I don’t mind the ones who are looking for wives, Aunt. I mean, I don’t mind them looking. I mind some of them thinking I would be interested . . . Oh, I’m not saying this very well.”
“Take your time, dear. I think we ought to have this out now.”
Inos looked startled. “Hair down? A woman-to-woman chat?”
“A lady-to-lady chat.” The sort of chat they could not have enjoyed even a few short weeks ago.
“All right! You and the dowager dragon—”
“Inos!” Kadolan murmured reprovingly.
“Hair down, Aunt! You two have been parading your breeding stock—”
“Inos!”
She chuckled. “All right, but why do you think I had hysterics that time at the Kinford Horse Show?”
“I knew exactly why, dear, and so did everybody else.”
“And I should have grown out of it by now? I’m sorry, Aunt. I just can’t take it all seriously!” But her fists were clenched.
“You have to, my dear. You will be a queen one day. Your choice of husband is a matter of state. You know that.” Inosolan sighed and pouted. ”Father promised I was not being sent here to be married off!”
“Your father wants you to choose, for love. Few kings would be so considerate. Obviously there is no one suitable in Krasnegar, so he hopes you will meet someone here. Here you have been introduced to some of the most eligible—”
“Dullest, fattest, oldest—”
“Don’t be so conceited,” Kadolan said primly. “People do visit Kinvale for other reasons than you.” Her niece colored slightly and said nothing.
“Also, Ekka has many other ladies visiting, also. She can hardly hand her gentleman friends a menu when they arrive, now can she?”
Kadolan did not add that all those other ladies were in despair, that Ekka’s renowned matchmaking venture had not produced an engagement in months, that no living, breathing male guest had eyes for anyone but the fabulous princess.
Inos nodded repentantly. “I am trying, Aunt. I really am! I made some mistakes at first, but I think I’m doing all right now.”
“You’re doing splendidly, my dear. I’m very proud of you.”
“Well, then! But there have been one or two, like the hearty Captain Eggoli . . .” The big green eyes grew round with wonder. “He really believed me! He really thought I was going to meet him in the potting shed; of all places, so he could—”
“I think I can guess what he thought.”
Inos chuckled again, then sighed. “It isn’t fair! It just isn’t fair! Just because they’re bigger and stronger than we are, they think they can run the world to suit themselves. And run us, too.” Kadolan could remember thinking things like that. “We are not totally without resources. Captain Eggoli is much bigger and much stronger than most, but he looked very miserable as he left. His nose was red, and his eyes were puffy as lambswool bedsocks. ”
Inos sniggered, then became suddenly wistful. “Oh, we can win a point or two, now and then. But it still isn’t fair.”
“No, it isn’t. What are you going to do about it?”
“Oh! I’ve just made an epochal discovery, haven’t I? Inosolan’s Guide to the Universe! I suppose everyone sees it in her time! Did you experience the same shattering revelation at my age?”
“I was older than you, I think. But it is the way of the world, and we must just play the cards we are dealt.”
“Or refuse to play at all?”
Kadolan sighed quite genuinely. “No, my dear. That is not an option—not for anyone, and especially not for you. And even if the rules are unfair, all we can hope is that everyone plays honestly.”
Inos showed her teeth. “I’ll keep them honest!”
Overconfidence would be her next danger, of course. Regretfully Kadolan decided that she would have to be frank, although she hated to hazard this precious bridge of trust and understanding they had so painfully built to each other. But now the stakes were high, time was very short, and the perils great. She reached out to the sketch book on Inos’s lap and turned back the page that Inos had so casually flipped just before seeming to notice her aunt’s approach.
The big clock tick-tocked, tick-tocked, thin-slicing eternity. Kade said, ”It’s a very good likeness, my dear. I had not realized how talented you were.”
Inos was scarlet, eyes glinting furiously. She did not speak.
“Tell me about him.”
“I love him.”
“Yes, I think you do. But tell me about him.”
“What more is there to tell?” Inos was hurt now, and angry, and defensive. “What else matters?”
“Quite a lot, dear. You see, Sir Andor was a mistake.” Inos drew a deep breath, and Kade interrupted before emotion could provoke indiscretion.
“I mean that he was not invited here to meet you. He was not invited here to meet anyone. He was not invited here at all, Inos. He brought letters of introduction, of course. It was the duke who asked him to stay.”
“Oh.” Inos was far from stupid. She smiled triumphantly. “So it was chance? Not the dowager dragon? The Gods intervened!”
“Possibly. The trouble is . . . his letters were signed by some very odd people. His Grace has many curious friends for a man of his rank—artists and builders. The nobility write introductions for one another all the time, of course, but one of Sir Andor’s references came from an artist, and another from a scholar. Most nobles would not accept such letters.”
“And the others?”
“From quite minor gentry. Ekka has been making inquiries. They now admit that they hardly know him.”
A dangerous frown came over her niece’s face. “Are you suggesting that Sir Andor is a fraud? An imposter? Because—”
”I’m not suggesting any such thing, Inos. You spent five weeks in each other’s company. You must have talked about yourselves. So you tell me about him.”
Inos turned away quickly to stare at the window. Her hands moved restlessly. ”He had to leave upon a matter of honor. It may be dangerous, he said. But he promised to return, and I certainly trust—”
“That wasn’t what I asked, dear.” Kade spoke softly, treading gently. “Who is his father? Does his family have money? Land? Titles?”
Looking suddenly much younger—looking rather like a cornered fawn—Inos said, “Those things do not matter!”
“They do not matter very much, I agree. A good man is a good man, and I believe that you father might even accept a commoner, if he was a man of honor and good qualities. But they may matter if Sir Andor deliberately set out to win the heart of a princess by pretending to be something other than what he is.”
“He did. Did win the heart of a princess.”
“Then it does matter. Inos, you must see that?”
Again Inos turned her head to study the snowy scene beyond the casement, the drifting flakes. The big pendulum behind her stroked more seconds off their lives.
“Yes,” she said at last. “I see. I do see, now. I don’t know—he told me nothing about his family.”
“You did not ask?”
“No. I didn’t. I would now, I think . . . He is knowledgeable, very well traveled. He has had very wide experience. And charm! Oh, Aunt, you must admit he has charm!”
“Mountains of charm! Ranges of mountains of charm. Very good company, I agree. Krasnegar would be a much brighter place with Andor there.”
“Even the jotnar would like him! In a week he would have the rock itself turning cartwheels.”
“Polar bears would bring him the catch of the day.” That had been a childhood joke between Kade and Holi. Inos missed it. “He is obviously a gentleman.”
“Obviously he acted like a gentleman while he was here.”
Inos blushed furiously. “Yes, he did!”
“I did not mean it that way, dear. He did not say when he would return? ”
“No. But he will! I am certain.”
“Then we must just wait, I suppose.”
“And meanwhile keep the parade going?”
“Ekka says she has almost run out of candidates.”
“Good!”
Kadolan bit her lip. Obviously this conversation had served its purpose and should now be drawn to a close, but she had one more necessary spoonful of wisdom to administer. It also would hurt, but better to hurt more now, while Inos was already upset, than to wound her again on another occasion. Still no word had come from Krasnegar, and there should have been something. It would not be fair to burden Inos with mere suspicions—and Kade kept reminding herself that they were only suspicions—but time might well be running out, and the child had perhaps forgotten the stakes in this game she was being forced to play.