"My Lady." Caerwyn easily stepped into what little space separated her and the duke, shouldering him out. "The documents you requested."
"Thank you, Sir Caerwyn."
Rhosyn took the leather bound papers and small pouch, rounding the table again, Edrien already closing the distance and wrapping an arm around her in a half hug.
"What are you doing, Rhos?" he whispered close to her ear, but he didn't drop his voice enough to be private, eyeing the duke suspiciously.
Edrien must've spotted Caerwyn by himself and worried about her. She'd rather commence this business deal without him here, but there was nothing for it now. He would not leave—not now.
"Crown Prince Edrien," Caerwyn said with a bow. "You'll keep Lady Valewyn?"
He was overriding her again, the situation deemed to be too dangerous and her will dismissed.
"Of course," Edrien replied, both speaking about her as if she were a doll rather than a woman capable of handling the harshest of situations. Or have they forgotten?
Karsyn watched it all play out as if simply a curious bystander. Eyes flickering to Edrien's hand at her waist, then to Caerwyn's hand tapping his guard and finally to her, watching the sour look of annoyance twist there.
"I'll be on the other side of the door," Caerwyn addressed her now. "If I hear anything I don't like…" the intention was clear and didn't need to be said.
Only when the knight had closed the door behind him did Rhosyn decide to reset the room. A deal was hard enough to strike, even when you had the right price. But the environment that she'd tried setting up for herself had just been dismantled by not only Caerwyn, but Edrien as well.
"Ed," Rhosyn hushed, gently pushing out of his hold with a hand pressed against his middle and he reluctantly let her.
Though silence stilled the room, except for the ticking of a clock tracking the breathing of three bodies, echoes of their words already etched into the air around them. There was no other way, than to just push through. She took a step closer to the divider of the room—the table—feeling Edrien shadow her.
"So, what is it you want, Lady Valewyn?" Karsyn offered a clean slate.
She was aware of Edrien watching closely and decided to ignore his presence.
"A vow," she explained, earning Karsyn's raised brow. "Of loyalty to Crown Prince Edrien."
A Vow of Loyalty was an old kingdom tradition originating in the north, a binding that tied one's own fate to another. After officially declaring a Vow of Loyalty to another, the oath bearer is bound to protect their charge, no matter what. They can't act against their charge in any way that'd cause them harm and if they know anything that can put their charge in danger, they must deal with the threat. It was almost that of a knight's oath, but stronger, as it gave the bearer the power to act how they may to ensure their charge's safety. But ensure their charge's safety, they must.
It was the vow that Sir Caerwyn gave Rhosyn.
The duke studied Edrien over her shoulder, his thoughts locked behind a façade that she hadn't found a way to decipher yet. He was still—contemplating—but none of it showed.
She needed to tie him somehow—to make sure he wouldn't be a threat to Edrien, because he would be his biggest threat if so.
"Vows of Loyalty are not a small ask, Lady Valewyn," he replied, his words slow and deliberate. "What do you have to offer?"
There. His gaze intensified slightly, the faintest narrowing of his eyes. He just wanted to know what she would barter—what she was worth.
Rhosyn dipped her fingers into the pouch, pulling out a key and tossing it onto the table. The shining silver thing skittering to a stop in front of him.
"The key to my late uncle's safe—opened only by him," she explained.
Edrien's breath caught in his throat in shock and the only indication the duke gave was the quickest glance at the key, before his hand stare crashed back into hers.
"And how can I be sure of that, let alone know if it'll hold anything of value for me?" Karsyn replied, voice level. But she saw the way his gaze lingered a moment too long on the key.
They both knew that Halvar Valewyn was close to the king, his closest advisor and the previous king's good friend. He'd earned his favour through loyalty. If anyone was to have secrets of the kingdom, its lords and lands, it was her uncle.
The information in that safe could very well be used to raze the kingdom to the ground. It would be exactly what the duke would need, not only to push his campaign forward, but to investigate the injustice of his family's massacre—not that it was seen as such, legally.
"That's what I'm promising—its authenticity," she explained. "And the means to open it."
But he played the move Rhosyn expected, and so she played her insurance.
"But..."
With a heavy thud, she threw the leather bound papers on the table. Karsyn eyed it for a brief moment, cautiously intrigued. He picked up the document, slowly and deliberately opening it and leafing through. His expression was as unreadable as usual, eyes traveling up and down pages in silence—then.
"This is your dowry," he stated, the hint of question in his voice and confusion shaping his eyes. Then understanding registered. "I told you marriage can't solve all issues."
"I told you I disagree," she countered.
Movement erupted behind her, and for a moment, she'd forgotten Edrien was there.
"No," he declared firmly, his hand snatching hers and turning her to him. "I won't allow it."
She hushed him, but he didn't relent. Karsyn was just as intense; though in a different way. He watched her carefully, with hardened features. Clearly he didn't expect this move, which only benefited Rhosyn—good.
But while he was distracted, she needed to reassure Edrien.
"Come here," she ground out, leading Edrien by the hand closer to the door; and a little out of earshot. "Ed, listen to me—"
"No, Rhos. I won't let you marry him—not him."
Edrien was blinded by distrust and deafened by hate. He couldn't see that the only way they could protect him and thus the crown, they had to make a deal with the only man that could rise against him.
Rhosyn's face stiffened to a stonewall and then she let it melt away. "This can help resolve things with the northern lords and stabilise the land," she tried again, "with me there, I can prevent him from outmanoeuvering our allies and with the vow, you're safe at the very least."
His hands curled around her elbows and he stepped closer to her. "But what if he learns that your uncle ordered his family's death?" he whispered close to her ear. She heard the fear in his tone, it doubled in the grip from his hands.
"Then, protect me," she whispered back, feeling her fondness of him warm in her chest.
She knew him well enough to know that doing nothing frightened him more. If believing he could still protect her steadied him, she could give him that.
She just needed time.
His gaze wavered, unsure and his hands didn't want to let her go. But he softened for the smile in her eyes and the reassurance in her touch. After one more heartbeat, Rhosyn returned to the table where Karsyn was waiting patiently.
"So, Vow of Loyalty to the future king, for a Royalist's secrets and a Royalist bride?" he asked; more a statement for clarity.
"If you don't want it, Your Grace, we can just call it a day," Rhosyn bluffed.
"I'm just wondering: why marriage?" Karsyn asked. "Why us?"
He was poking too close to Rhosyn's ploy. She didn't plan on letting the marriage stand, she only needed to bide her time until she could find a solution to the Continuance Law. But she still needed to dress it up.
"A union between Harrowfen and Ravelocke would make war costly to both sides. It would give the North a recognised tie to the South and the Crown a reason to negotiate rather than march," Rhosyn ran off her practiced speech; and it was all true. "It would strengthen our Houses, our lands and the kingdom."
Marriage could be the solution and provide massive benefits, if that was what she wanted—which it wasn't.
"Fair," he hummed. "So. If either of us withdraws, the withdrawing party pays the customary breaking tithe."
"Exactly."
"And if your guardian—the king—refuses his assent?"
"Then neither of us withdrew," Rhosyn replied.
Karsyn went quiet.
"No."
"No?" She echoed.
"You offered the marriage, Lady Valewyn. Whether your house can deliver it is not my risk to carry. The king's assent belongs to your side of the bargain."
"That's absurd."
"Then reverse it. If I offered you something dependent upon an assent I had not secured, and that assent was refused, would you accept that I'd fulfilled my end?"
She opened her mouth.
Nothing came.
His smile sharpened.
"Why, Lady Valewyn? Were you planning not to?"
The clock-ticks counted the silence and Rhosyn forced herself to smile, despite the annoyance she got from his cocky grin.
"Of course," she almost grumbled. "So, is that all?"
He had closed the loophole she'd built the entire scheme around. Alestan's refusal would no longer free her. Fine. Then she'd make the marriage such a miserable bargain that Karsyn would release her himself.
"Almost." Karsyn leaned forward and he almost looked like he was enjoying himself. "To summarise, the deal is: my Vow of Loyalty to Prince Edrien for Halvar Valewyn's entire safe contents—untampered—and a marriage between us, that is to benefit all parties, including the kingdom as a whole. Is that about right?"
"Yes," she replied simply.
"If you fail to deliver Halvar's safe as promised, my obligations to both the Vow and marriage lapse."
"And if you fail to swear the Vow, you receive neither the safe nor my hand." Rhosyn stated. "And if you break the Vow once it's sworn?" she asked, dubiously.
"Then I imperil my soul in the eyes of God…" Karsyn easily explained. "... But if that won't suffice you; then I'd answer under the Law of Vows. Unless you think your kingdom's laws aren't worth trusting?"
Honestly, Rhosyn didn't know the laws very well; just that there was an extensive document dedicated to it. What she did understand was that men took vows as solemnly and sacred as the saintsmen. Even the undevout would think twice about breaking a vow. Risking God's wrath—and one's hope of salvation after death—was eternally foolish.
She chose to ignore his comment. He was trying to get a rise from her.
"Very well, all sounds about right," Rhosyn said, trying to see where Karsyn was going with this—if anywhere at all.
"If the king refuses our marriage, you have to pay the breaking tithe, which…" He casually turned a page in her dowry, eyeing up the contents of her wealth. "Seems like a sizable sum."
His gaze locked with hers and she instantly regretted letting him rile her up. She could see the satisfaction on his face before realising how her jaw clenched.
"And," she emphasised. "If the Crown alters the settlement so substantially that you are no longer receiving what you agreed to, I would waive your breaking tithe."
Something eager twinkled in his eye; a thought or an idea. "Oh, I don't think that'd be necessary, Lady Valewyn." The duke loomed over the table, the barrier, a pleased breath rolled over her cheeks. "For prosperity."
Rhosyn felt her whole demeanour sour, but she cut the displeasure from her face. He was testing her, all the while, poking and hoping to find a soft spot. She'd give him none.
"Rhos?" Edrien called from behind her, his voice weak and it only reinforced the reason why she decided to do this—for him.
"For peace." She held out a hand to seal their words. "Deal?"
Karsyn's hand slid into her own, large and surprisingly gentle as he wrapped his fingers around hers and she became painfully aware that it's the first time they've touched.
"Deal," he drawled, looking far too entertained.
"Perfect," she interjected, stealing the breath from the room. "I'll write up the contract, we'll announce the engagement at Crown Prince Edrien's gala next week and—"
"The exchange of both my Vow of Loyalty and Halvar Valewyn's safe will take place on our wedding day." He smirked, leaning ever so closer.
"Or upon dissolution of the betrothal, your Vow of Loyalty and my Uncle's safe would be exchanged and any Breaking Tithe owed would be settled separately," Rhosyn said, voice steady, though her freehand fisted and her glare scorched into his easy-going stare.
"Perfect," he hummed, pleased. "Pleasure doing business with you, Lady Valewyn, and I look forward to my invite Crown Prince."
The duke knew how to rile up and vex her, but it seemed she wasn't the only one. Edrien's chest brushed against her back and she could feel the hostility bleeding from him.
"Until then."
Karsyn released her hand finally, its absence strangely lingering, a ghosting memory. Then he bowed to Edrien, before heading for the door. It opened for him, Caerwyn gripping the handle and the duke disappeared through it, leaving her with Edrien shadowing her frame.