Elvenborn Read Free

value; an acid wit and a reputation for depravity gave her all the fascination of a captivating serpent, and people enjoyed seeing what she would
     
    say or do next. Any time Aelmarkin invited her to one of his en¬tertainments, he knew he would have full participation, and her own parties continued to be extremely popular among the younger sons, those who did not possess great power, and those who did not have a Council seat.
    Aelmarkin was by no means as certain as the Great Lords that Triana would remain out of power for the foreseeable future. She was clever, resourceful, and learned from her mistakes. The Wizard Wars and the Rebellion were changing everything; it was always possible that Triana would prove to be a potent ally at some point. It was even possible that she would somehow claw her way to power entirely on her own. The extent of her boldness was demonstrated in her dress tonight; gowned in transparent silks like a concubine, she knew very well that how¬ever tempting she might be, there was no one here with suffi¬cient power to dare touch her without her consent—and so she taunted them with her very appearance.
    Besides, she had no scruples to speak of; he liked that in a woman—provided he didn't have to marry her.
    "Have you heard anything more from the Council about your petition?" Triana called to him from across the room with a half smile. Her gladiator offered her a choice tidbit with a servile gesture; she allowed him to feed it to her, nibbling at it with white, sharp teeth. He was new to Aelmarkin, but that was hardly surprising; Triana went through male slaves at an aston¬ishing rate.
    He concealed a wince; Triana had a vested interest in the out¬come of that petition, and it was one quite opposite to his. She would bring up the subject; he'd cherished the notion, when he'd scheduled this entertainment, that it might be a victory cel¬ebration. Since it wasn't, he had hoped no one would bring up the subject.
    "They denied it," he said, trying to sound as if he didn't care about the outcome, even though his defeat ate at him.
    Triana made a little pout of sympathy, and Tennith turned his head to gaze at Aelmarkin with astonishment. "No, really? I should have thought that your cousin had proved himself men¬tally unbalanced a hundred times over by now!"
     
    About half of the guests looked puzzled; they didn't know who Aelmarkin's cousin was and he really didn't wish to en¬lighten them.
    "Really!" chimed in another, sending away a server with a flick of an impatient hand, "Your cousin is quite a piece of work, Aelmarkin. Playing soldier with human slaves as if he was still an infant playing with toys! It's ridiculous! If he was going to have an obsession, it at least ought to be a dignified obsession!"
    "Oh, I don't know," purred Triana, running her finger along the arm of her gladiator. "Some of us like to play with soldiers." The slave blushed from the top of his head to well past his waist.
    "On what grounds did they deny you?" Tennith asked, and Aelmarkin wondered if he detected a certain malicious enjoy¬ment in Tennith's tone. Tennith might not be a lord in his own right, but he outranked Aelmarkin, and he wasn't above flaunt¬ing that fact and embarrassing Aelmarkin at the same time.
    But Tennith would find out for himself what the Council had said if he simply bothered to ask his father. Aelmarkin's best protection lay in pretending the decision meant very little to him. "They did a very tiresome thing; they had the production records from the estate for the last fifty years brought out, and nothing there shows that cousin Kyrtian is neglecting his estate or his duties. They decided that he isn't unbalanced, merely ec¬centric, and that eccentricity is hardly grounds for taking his in¬heritance and giving it to the next male heir."
    "Next male heir?" Triana asked significantly, with a little frown. "Isn't his mother still alive? Wouldn't she be the appro¬priate heir even if he was