Page 5 of The Prince's Wife

Kerrin pouted. "Aww, I want to play with the fish. We saw lots of them while on the big boat, but we couldn't stop to play with them. Back home there's too much ice, but here the fish areright there, and the water isn't too cold—"

"Kerrin! Kerrin!" Came a beautiful but frantic voice. "Damn it, I will kill him myself for real this time."

Flinching, Kerrin said, "Mama is having a fit."

Biting his lip to avoid laughing, Aradishir bent and scooped him up. "Yes, she is. I used to give my mother fits when I was your age too. 'Ari, you are a brat and you will go to your room!' is what I heard almost every day."

That seemed all the permission Kerrin needed to launch into an avid, wandering discussion of all the ways his mother had fits about him, even though he wasn't doing anything wrong.

When they reached the chambers assigned Princess Relanya, the guards there slumped in relief. "Your Highness, you found him. I don't know how you managed it, but we're happy you did."

"He climbed the wall and found his way to my garden," Aradishir replied, and motioned with his chin for them to knock on the door.

It swung open a moment later, and every carefully rehearsed word fled Aradishir's head.

The thorough description of Princess Relanya had not done her a single bit of justice. Her son looked just like her, from the brown of her skin and black of her hair, to the beautiful gray eyes currently filled with murder as she glared at Kerrin. Her features were soft, slightly rounded, giving her a gentle appearance further enhanced by her buxom figure. She looked… huggable. Touchable. Achingly beautiful, even when she was clearly exhausted and furious. Aradishir had never seen such a fascinating woman in all his life.

Aradishir gathered his scattered thoughts. "Um. Beg pardon, Your Highness, but I believe this belongs to you?"

"Yes," she said with a long sigh. "Where was he?" Her eyes skimmed Aradishir, then looked past his shoulder to where Heydar stood just behind him. "Oh, my, Your Highness, I didn't realize! I'm so sorry, how in the world did my son come to bother you?"

Chuckling, Aradishir handed him off. "He was playing in my fishpond. You apparently have quite the climber on your hands."

"Climber, swimmer, digger, runner, everything but a hold-stiller," Relanya replied with another sigh. "Thank you for returning him. I am so very sorry he bothered you."

"No bother at all. I hope the rest of your night is peaceful, and I will see you at breakfast, Your Highness." He bowed and departed, heading quickly back to his own room, silently willing his pounding heart to calm.

*~*~*

He woke bright and early, bathing and dressing with care, and double checked all the gifts were wrapped and waiting, ready to be given to Relanya after breakfast. She would open one or two, then have the rest sent on to her room while they headed off to begin their day.

Aradishir wished desperately that his heart would stop racing.

"—shir?"

"Huh?" He stared at Heydar, shook himself. "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I asked if you were all right," Heydar replied. "You've been a hundred leagues away all morning."

"Sorry, guess I'm distracted worrying about this visit."

Javed laughed. "You'd think, given you returned her son last night, already putting you in her good graces, that would have calmed some of your nerves."

"I'm certain there's nothing to be anxious about, my prince," Merza added. "Worse comes to worst, the betrothal is still largely in the trial phase. There's nothing to worry about."

Aradishir sighed. "I know. I just… My useless brother isn't even here, her arrival was less than ideal… I just don't want her to dislike Tavamara right from the start."

"If she was that shallow and absurd, your mother never would have worked so hard to arrange this marriage," Heydar said. "Also, her son seems really sweet. A child like that would be raised by a woman with sense and kindness."

"I know, I know," Aradishir said. "Let's get to work then, before I fret myself into even more of a knot."

There was no way he would be admitting to anyone, not even his harem, that he was distracted not by anxiety, but eagerness, by aneedto see Relanya again. Reassure himself that he'd blown that fleeting encounter from last night out of proportion. She wasn't as beautiful and fascinating andcompelling as he'd thought all night. He'd exaggerated the brief encounter in his head. That was all. She was beautiful and interesting and his future sister-in-law. He just wanted to do well on Bakhtiar's behalf, even though the reckless jerk would deserve it if Aradishir ruined everything for him.

Normally, he'd only have one of his concubines accompany him throughout the day, swapping them out as they each needed to be somewhere else—training, practice, fittings, other little errands and chores they did for him. Contrary to the licentious suppositions of gawking foreigners, concubines did not spend their days lying sensuously about waiting to be ravished. As delightful an image as that was, they would all get bored very quickly.

Today, though, he wanted to make the best impression he could, and in Tavamara there was nothing more reassuring and impressive than a royal figure surrounded by the whole of their harem. It conveyed trust, faith, and competence in a way nothing else quite could.

Aradishir reached the breakfast room first, pleased to see that all was ready: food, flowers, the gifts to be presented. Even the weather was cooperating.

---