Page 180 of Swordheart
Halla rubbed her forehead. “What if her husband can’t meet her price?”
“Then they do not wed.”
“What?Seriously?”
He looked uncomfortable. “Well… she can agree to be raided away. It causes a great deal of upheaval, but if two people are obviously in love, sometimes their families will turn a blind eye, or… ah… pursuit will be symbolic. But she still has her price, you understand. Everyone knows her status. That is notlost. And her children cannot then inherit her husband’s wealth, because she is still a member of her parent’s household, in absentia. Her children are fatherless, to all intents and purposes, though they may know their fathers well.”
Halla rubbed her temples. “What if two men or two women wed?”
“Whichever one is being taken from their household must be paid for. If they are both leaving a house, then they will each set a price and their families will negotiate. Between two women of high standing, for example, particularly if one or more has proven that they can bear children, negotiations can stretch on for months. Frequently both families will cede land, or one will cede land and the other build a house on it, and feel that both have gotten off lightly.”
“So how do we figure out my price?” she said, “I run my own household now, so do I get to name my own?”
“Absolutely not,” said Sarkis. “No one names their own price. You can’t determine what you’re worth to other people.” For the first time since bringing up the price, his scarred face cracked into a smile. “Besides, I know you. You’ll undervalue yourself terribly.”
Halla didn’t know whether to be flattered or annoyed by the accuracy of this observation. “Well, my family’s dead.”
“Only the first family is blood. The rest are made by time or love or battle.” He frowned, tapping a nail against his teeth. “Zale. Do you value Zale?”
“I’d jump in front of a charging horse for them,” admitted Halla.
“Then they will set your price.” He nodded firmly. “They are a crafty negotiator. They will drive a hard bargain.”
“But you said you can’t pay it!”
He leaned his forehead against the bedpost. “There’s that. Perhaps I could work as a mercenary for a time, or…”
“Oh no!” Halla glared at him. “I just got you back! I’m not losing you again! And anyway, maybe you don’t age, but I don’t want to waste any more of the years I’ve got left.”
Sarkis sat down on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. “Are you certain you wish to marry me at all? You’ll grow old, and I will not. Will you hate me in time?”
She gave a very loud and unladylike snort. “I spent the last decade tending an old man,” she said. “The fact I won’t have to do that again is not a hardship.” She tilted her chin up to look at him. “Will it be too hard for you, watching me age?”
“It will gut me,” he said calmly. “But everyone watches the one they love age. At least I can know that you will not be alone. And I would rather be here, for as long as you live, than out in the world, worrying about you.” He smiled abruptly. “Besides, I know you. You’ll still need someone to pull you out of trouble when you’re ninety.”
Halla let this bit pass because he had just said something unexpected.
Everyone watches the one they love age.
The one they love.
“Love?” she said.
“Yes?”
His tone of polite inquiry was so at odds with what Halla expected that it took her a minute to sort out the reason.He thinks that was an endearment. Is the magic in his head translating things strangely?
“Sarkis, this is important. I don’t know if the words are coming out right. You said… well, implied, I guess… that you love me.”
“Oh. Did I?” He pulled back so that he could look her in the face. “Is that a problem?”
“No, but… I…” She rubbed her forehead and decided that all this hedging around was making her head hurt.And what’sthe point anyway? To not be the first person to admit you’re in love so that you don’t feel like you’re pathetic if the other person doesn’t love you back?
“Sarkis, I love you. Or I’m in love with you. Or both. Both seems likely?”
“Thatdoesexplain why you want to marry me, given my obvious flaws.”
“Flaws? What flaws?”
