Page 9 of Pawns of Fate
“Yes, Uncle?”
“I’ve found you a husband!”
Rose jolted upright and shook her head in disbelief. Looking for a way to calm down, she glanced out the window of her Uncle’s office, which had the best view of the rose garden and waning celebration. Rose let the scene distract her for a moment, then inhaled sharply.
“A husband?” she asked.
“Yes. A husband. And a highly-rankedone at that.” Her uncle sniffed, seemingly pleased with himself. “I see you are surprised. You expected another assignment, didn’t you?”
Assignment. That was what Uncle called it whenever he needed her to serve as collateral to compensate for his lack of political prowess and negotiation skills. He’d always preached that it was her way of ‘earning’ her spot in the family.
These stays were usually relatively painless. Her captors were often kinder than her uncle’s family. Rose tried not to let that fact frustrate her, to simply accept that this was her place in life, but it wasn’t an easy position.
“Well, that has been my role in the family,” she replied carefully.
“Yes, and you’ve played it fabulously, my dear. But no one can play that role forever, or, unfortunately, the other families will grow suspicious. With every assignment you’ve had, your value as a bargaining piece, in that sense, has decreased.” He frowned as if he truly felt bad about his words, but Rose knew it was just because the situation inconvenienced him.
Rose blinked as she considered her situation. Her uncle’s words weren’t surprising or new to her. After all, she was an intelligent girl. What Rose hadn’t learned at the orphanage or from her etiquette tutors, she’d often managed to learn from books. More than that, she was skilled at reading people’s emotions and intentions, even without her aura, though that certainly helped. She’d been piecing together the true picture of her situation for years and learned not to trust her uncle long ago. He would only reveal information to her if it were helpful for him.
Even before Hector brought it up, she’d wondered when her value as a captive would run out. She just hadn’t realized that her uncle intended to marry her off when it did. Perhaps keep her in the shadows as staff, or ship her off to work elsewhere, but Rose had never guessed that he’d marry her into another noble family.
“It’s a very good match for you,” Uncle Hector continued. “Marquess Sharp is looking for a bride for his oldest son, Nicholas. You might have heard that his younger son recently married a commoner?”
Rose quickly hid her surprise. Her uncle didn’t know she’d spent the past hour with Ava Sharp. Did he? Did it matter? Had the whole thing been a setup or some kind of test? She wouldn’t put something like that past her uncle, but it didn’t make sense. From how he was grinning like the cat that caught the fattest rat, Rose had to assume that her uncle knew something she didn’t. She needed to find out what.
“I met Ava at the party today. She’s a kind girl,” Rose said with as little emotion in her voice as possible. It was always best to be neutral.
“Yes, I’m sure she is.” Her uncle picked up a pen and scratched a few notes onto a parchment. “Since she’s a commoner and has York infatuated, Marquess Sharp wants a more practical and beneficial marriage to a noble girl for his older son. That’s where you come in.” He pointed the feathery end of the pen at Rose.
The skin on the back of her hand tingled as she thought about Marquess Sharp’s older son. Nicholas was only two years her senior, very handsome, and a well-respected noble. He wasthe sort of man Rose dreamed about marrying—not the sort that an orphan like her would end up with.
“Isn’t it… too good?” Rose asked cautiously. She wanted to hide her skepticism, but it was hard. The Sharps socially outranked the Robsons, and Rose wasn’t technically even a member of the main Robson family. Maybe if this offer were for Luanna, it would be more believable. There had to be a catch.
“Well, you know the crystal mines we discovered in the swamps around this time last year?”
“Yes?”
“Frankly, we don’t have the tools or investment funds to harvest everything in those mines properly. Considering how dangerous the monsters in that swamp can be, it will require a lot.” Hector dipped the pen into an inkwell. “Knights and mages are expensive, so I thought about our powerful neighbors, the Sharps. We’ve needed to strengthen our bonds with them for a few generations, anyway. What if we strengthened the bonds through investment?”
“Ahh. Clever you, Uncle.”
“Yes. You see where I’m going with this. I approached Marquess Sharp to use his army and mining equipment in exchange for a healthy percentage of the profits—averyhealthy percentage,” he added, with remorse.
Of course, her uncle would be remiss to lose any profit. Rose bit her tongue as she mulled over this new information.
Her uncle had found an attractive suitor for her because it benefited him. That much sounded believable.
“Marquess Sharp liked the deal, but I wanted something toprove that both parties would uphold their ends of the bargain. This mining business could last a long time and be profitable for everyone. Before I could even suggest that we trade collateral, he suggested the marriage. When I thought about it, I realized that a marriage would make more sense. You can’t be a capti—er, I mean, you can’t be on assignment for the rest of your life.”
Rose pursed her lips. Even with gold lining the pockets of both families, it didn’t make sense that she was selected, not Luanna. Once marriage to a future marquess was on the table, her uncle would have wanted the match for his daughter, not Rose. Her uncle was lying about something, but she couldn’t accuse him of that directly.
She decided to gamble on her uncle’s apparent good mood and ask for more information.
“Why me? Why not Luanna? Is there something wrong with Nicholas?”
A bark of laughter escaped Hector. “Your humor never ceases to amaze me, Rose. No, there’s nothing wrong with your fiancé. I met him this afternoon, and he’s a handsome enough lad. He seems intelligent, too.” He practically gritted out the last sentence, as if Hector were loath to see his niece wed to a smart man. “Frankly, Rose, we’re sending you because they asked for you, not Luanna.”
Rose didn’t miss the disappointment in her uncle’s voice, even as she tried to process the jolt of surprise that went straight to her heart. The Sharps had asked for her? Perhaps meeting Ava at the partyhadbeen a setup. She couldn’t stop the nagging voice that said she was still missing an essential piece of thepuzzle.
