His attempts to take the anguish from her eyes a failure, he said soberly, “Then you’ll be important to a lot of people as well as to me.”

“Not just important. Valuable. I’ve been valuable all these years as a pledge for my father’s good behavior toward King Hadros. Now I’m the heiress to my father’s kingdom. That makes me doubly valuable. A marriage would unite the kingdoms, ensure that war would never break out again between them.”

“And as a future queen you couldn’t refuse,” said Roric grimly. “You’d marry Valmar, of course, because he’s the oldest son.”

“I could do worse than Valmar,” she said, her eyes distant.

“Now don’t you joke!” he cried, pinning her arms.

She focused on him again and shook her head. “I only meant that I would prefer to marry Valmar than to marry his father.”

“But you can’t marry Hadros!” Roric cried. “He’s old enough to be your father! He almost is your father!”

“Older men marry young heiresses every day.”

He clenched his teeth in silence for a moment, then thrust a fist into the straw. “I wish he was in Hel! Why is he doing this? Hadros is my sworn lord, and I used to love him like a father myself.”

“Until last week,” said Karin.

“You knew we quarreled?” he asked, turning around.

“Everyone in the castle knows it. Both of you have good voices for calling the hounds in the hunt-or for hurling insults.”

For a second he thought he saw a smile on her face. Encouraged, he took both her hands. “Then let’s run away, Karin, you and me. Neither Hadros or I will have to break our sworn word by killing each other, and you won’t have to marry anyone but me.”

She pulled her hands free and stared icily over his head. “Sometimes you’re as dense as Valmar. If I go, King Hadros will invade my father’s kingdom, while the whole court is in mourning and no one expects it. I’m going to be a sovereign queen some day. I cannot run away.”