Sara Douglass – The Serpent Bride – DarkGlass Mountain Book 1

Maximilian felt he could barely spare him from the duty.

“Among other things,” Vorstus said. “And one of those other things…”

“Do we have to drag it out of you with blacksmith”s tongs?” Maximilian said.

Vorstus took a deep breath. “One of those other things is a somewhat unexpected offer of

a bride.”

Garth and Egalion shot careful glances at Maximilian, gauging his reaction to this news.

Maximilian had been singularly unlucky in finding a bride. It was eight years since he”d

been freed from the Veins, and he was still wifeless. Garth knew it niggled at him. It wasn”t so

much that Maximilian wanted a woman by his side, as welcome as that might be, but that he was

desperate for a family. Maximilian had once confided to Garth that when he”d been trapped

down the Veins, he”d occasionally overheard guards talking about their children. It had made

him long for a family and children of his own, although, imprisoned in the Veins as he was,

Maximilian could barely imagine a world where that might be possible.

Now that it was possible, it was proving difficult beyond anyone”s wildest imagining.

“A bride?” said Maximilian. “How many negotiations have we opened and lost these past

eight years? It must be all of…what…twelve or thirteen?”

“Fourteen,” Vorstus muttered.

“Fourteen,” Maximilian said. “All of them eligible, and all of them deciding for one

reason or another that I wasn”t quite „right” for them.”

His voice was so bitter that for a moment Garth more than half expected Maximilian to

wave away the offer without even considering.

But then Maximilian sighed. “And here we have a new offer. From the Outlands, of all

places. They”re such a strange nomadic people, Vorstus. What manner of Outlander woman

would want to spend her life as queen in my staid—and stationary—court? And why would I

want her?”

Vorstus had by now retrieved a sheaf of papers from his satchel. “The lady in question”s

name is Lady Ishbel Brunelle, and she is the surviving member of an ancient family who for

many centuries resided in Margalit.”

“Margalit? The only place even faintly resembling a city in the Outlands?”

“Yes,” said Vorstus. “It”s the only place where families actually settle—as you say,

everyone else lives a virtually nomadic life.” He rustled through the papers. “Lixel has

investigated the Brunelle family…let me see…ah yes, here it is…eminent and highly

educated”—Vorstus looked up at Maximilian—“well, as highly educated as an Outlander family

can get, I imagine.” He looked back down to his papers. “Very distinguished. Somewhat

cultured—I have no idea what Lixel means by that—and remarkably fecund.” He chuckled.

“Lixel patently thought that a point in the woman”s favor.”

“Yet this Lady Ishbel is the only remaining member of her family?” Egalion said. “That

doesn”t seem very fecund to me.”

“A plague went through the Outlands twenty years ago,” said Vorstus. “I don”t even need

to consult Lixel”s report to remember that. Half the Central Kingdoms were affected by it as

well, and Escator was damned lucky to escape its ravages. Anyway, the plague took out

everyone in the Brunelle family except Ishbel, then an eight-year-old girl. So”—again Vorstus

looked at Maximilian, but now with some humor twisting his mouth—“the Lady Ishbel comes

with a considerable dowry along with her other attributes, which Lixel claims are a fair face and

form, a decent education, and a pleasing manner of character.”

“Why do I sense a „but” coming?” said Maximilian.

Vorstus put down the papers, and sighed. “There is a problem.”

“Yes?” said Maximilian.

“The Lady Ishbel is currently a ward with the Coil at their base in Serpent”s Nest. It is the

Coil who offers her to you, Maxel.”

There was utter silence, everyone staring at Vorstus.

Egalion finally broke the quiet. “I thought the Coil was a myth! You can”t tell me that the

vile…gut gazers…actually exist!”

Vorstus looked down at his hands, now folding the papers over and over in his lap.

“Vorstus?” said Maximilian softly.

Vorstus sighed. “The Coil do exist. I have always believed them fact, and Lixel confirms

it here.”

“But they”re nothing like the myth,” said Garth. “Right, Vorstus?”

The abbot remained silent.

Maximilian gave a soft humorless laugh. “Do you—or Lixel—actually suggest I take to

wife a woman who lives among those who slice open the bellies of the living in order to foresee

the future?”

“And who in the doing turn the entrails of the still-living into snakes?” said Egalion. “I

can”t believe you—or Lixel—have actually thought to take this cursed offer so seriously as to

bring it to the king”s attention.”

Maximilian waved a hand. “Vorstus must have a reason. Let”s hear it.”

“The lesser of the reasons is that the Lady Ishbel is not a priestess. She is not a member

of the Order. The Coil took her in during the dark days when much of the Outlands was in

turmoil. When Ishbel had no one, the Coil offered her a home.”

“And a warm place to sleep amid the steaming entrails of their victims,” muttered

Egalion.

“The Coil”s priests and priestesses never leave their Order, Maximilian,” Vorstus

continued. “The mere fact they offer her to you indicates that Ishbel has been their ward, but not

their trainee.”

Maximilian gave a shrug. “Why should I consider her? Gods, Vorstus, she comes tainted

with all the vile reputation of the Coil…how could I take such a woman as my queen? No one

would accept her.”

“The Lady Ishbel comes with an added extra to her dowry, Maxel. The Brunelle family,

as well as owning half of Margalit, also controlled vast estates in the principalities of Kyros and

Pelemere in the Central Kingdoms, as well as the full manorial rights to Deepend. She would

bring much-needed riches to Escator.”

Maximilian said nothing, regarding Vorstus with unblinking eyes as he slowly stroked his

chin with a thumb as he thought. Vast estates in Kyros and Pelemere. And full manorial rights to

Deepend, the town and its land, which in turn controlled the trading and shipping rights to

Deepend Bay to the south of Escator.

Riches indeed, particularly to a king who, in the very act of escaping and then destroying

the rich gloam mines, had virtually crippled Escator”s economy. Most of the past eight years had

been spent, relatively unsuccessfully, trying to repair the country”s finances.

What a difference this dowry could make.

“How is it a lady from the Outlands manages to control the rights to Deepend?”

Maximilian asked. He”d known there had been an absentee lordship on the place—Escator had

the right to use the bay for its shipping but each year Maximilian paid heavily for the privilege to

the steward of Deepend—but had always believed it belonged to one of the more reclusive

Central Kingdom families.

“The Brunelle family has lineage that stretches back many centuries,” Vorstus said.

“Lixel writes that they picked up the Deepend rights via a fortuitous marriage two hundred years

ago.”

“And now the Coil, via Ishbel, offers those rights to me,” said Maximilian. “Why? Of

what benefit can this be to them?”

“You”re the least objectionable man on the aristocratic marriage market,” said Vorstus

bluntly, and Maximilian laughed, now with genuine amusement.

“Ah!” he said. “Now I see. The Coil doesn”t want anyone from the Central Kingdoms

getting them, eh?”

“Indeed,” said Vorstus. “There”s bad blood between the Outlands and the Central

Kingdoms, as well you know—”

Maximilian grunted. The various kingdoms and principalities of the two regions had been

posturing and threatening each other with war for years.

“—and perhaps the Coil, who Lixel says are closely allied with the Outlanders through

blood and geography, think to establish an alliance with Escator so that they may have a friend

on the rear flank of the Central Kingdoms.”

“So we get to the heart of the matter,” said Garth, silent until now as he studied

Maximilian”s reactions. “Is the thought of the economic advantage of the woman enough for

Maxel to forget her more ghastly acquaintances?”

“There is no need for anyone beyond this room to know of the Lady Ishbel”s „more

ghastly” acquaintances,” said Vorstus softly. “She is the well-dowered Lady Ishbel Brunelle, of

Margalit. An Outlander, to be sure, but one wealthy enough, and well-mannered enough, for that

slight geographical stain to be conveniently forgotten. Maximilian”—Vorstus leaned

forward—“no one need ever know of her time with the Coil.”

“You really want me to consider this, don”t you,” said Maximilian.

“Aye,” said Vorstus, “I don”t think you can ignore it. Escator needs her wealth, and you

need a wife to mother you a family. Damn it, all you need do is meet with her, talk, and if you

don”t like her, then walk away.”

“How would I know,” said Maximilian, “if she really is „just a ward” of the Coil, and not

some full-blooded member of their vile Order? I don”t want some witch slitting open my belly in

the middle of the night to see what the weather will be like for her tea party the following week.”