Free King’s Wrath by Fiona McIntosh Page A

satisfaction is knowing that I am right. I don’t torture for the sake of it.’
    ‘You just leave that to your brother,’ she finished dryly.
    ‘My
half-brother
can be useful if he’s channelled the right way. Until now my mother and I have been the only people who can really exert control over him. Her death changes everything — from the way he views me to his believing he answers to no one any longer. And that’s dangerous. He’s happiest when there’s chaos, bloodshed, disruption.’
    ‘And people he can hurt,’ she remarked.
    ‘Indeed.’
    ‘From what I hear, you seemed pretty happy with yourself during the overthrow.’
    His brow furrowed. ‘War is different, Elka. War is not polite or pretty. But there should always be a decency to it, for want of a better word. If people surrender, it should be accepted without further death. I only ever held the royals of each realm responsible. Their heads were all I was after. The Set kingdoms were so smug and impressed with themselves. We got word that they were laughing at the thought of a Steppes invasion. Not oneof the kings ever for a moment thought a horde of tribal warriors from the plains was a match for even one of their fighting units. So we had to desecrate the armies, completely crush their sense of superiority. That was the only way to force quick surrenders before the civilians began to suffer.’
    ‘Spoken like a true king,’ Elka said lightly.
    ‘I am Valisar,’ Loethar replied. ‘Even if my father refused to acknowledge me.’ He gave a harsh laugh. ‘You know, my mother was just a night of diversion. A warm and willing body to forget about the minute he mounted his horse the next morning. But she never forgot him; I suspect she loved him more than she cared to admit.’ At Elka’s look of wonder, he shrugged. ‘She was young, impressionable and no doubt vulnerable. An older, very important man wanted her. Why wouldn’t she fall for him?’
    ‘Forgive me, but can I ask how it comes about that a woman with a child, already married, is able to lie down with a stranger … a foreigner?’
    Loethar sighed. ‘I know it seems hard to imagine in this day and age but nearly forty anni ago there were strange customs. The Steppes people were quite used to seeing trade caravans going into or out of the Set. I think my mother and Stracker’s father were having difficulties. I don’t really know what occurred — she refused to talk about it with me — but whether she spent that time with the Valisar royal simply to spite him or there were other circumstances, I’ll never know. The fact is Stracker’s father treated me as his own son. I will always respect and admire him for that. He was a good man.’
    Elka shook her head in quiet disbelief. ‘Did your mother know her lover was the king at the time?’
    ‘I honestly don’t know. Perhaps.’
    ‘But his scorn hurt her,’ Elka mused.
    ‘That’s right. When he didn’t come back for her or show the slightest care about the child she was carrying she wanted to make him pay for using her. And by then she did know hisposition and I suspect it offended her to realise she was carrying a royal child in her belly that no one wanted to acknowledge.’
    ‘How was he supposed to know she was pregnant?’
    ‘I gather she sent word somehow.’
    ‘Did she really believe he would look after her?’
    He nodded. ‘I think she did,’ he said softly. ‘She was a beautiful woman in her youth and she came from an old, very proud line. I imagine she convinced herself that a marriage between a Steppes woman and a Valisar king could work.’
    Elka shook her head. ‘And you?’
    ‘Me?’
    ‘Do you think marriages between different cultures can work?’
    ‘I do. I’m proving it. We have mixed marriages all over the empire. It’s just a matter of breaking down old attitudes.’
    ‘So in your eyes, Gavriel and I aren’t such a ridiculous match?’
    She said it lightly, but Loethar took her seriously. ‘You