I intend to witness the act for myself

"It is customary to adopt a blood relative," Aunt Mariana pointed out.

"Customary; not compulsory," Raina's mother said.

"Why did father overlook me?" Raina asked.

"Why did you lie to us?" Carla asked instead. "All your letters said you were happy as clams. You had me thinking you were going to get pregnant at any moment. Now I hear rumors that you don't even see eye to eye. If you had spent the last year producing a son instead of sulking, we wouldn't be in this mess. That was your one duty."

"But mother—"

"No buts," Carla Lamanbhurg hissed. "This is a mess of your own making. You are a woman. Our bannermen will not follow you. Your father wanted them to swear to you as his heir and half of them refused to follow a girl. That's why he betrothed you to that Robyr. Too bad he died."

"Why did father adopt Willy when he could have passed the titles to me? Willy would still be married to me. His position would still be secure."

"Willy recaptured all the lands your father lost and then some. He doubled our territories and incomes in a single year. Only Lamania was left but it's your grandfather who lost that one so it's not a stain on Nylarn's honor. Nylarn was dying and wanted to reward him. Half our lands are technically Willy's anyway. Conquered by his men, maintained by his men, and held in vassalage to your father. If you two have a falling out, nothing would stop him from keeping everything south and west of First Fork for himself and passing it to his blood relatives.

"Nylarn felt that adoption was the best way to bind him and those lands permanently to us. As long as he's a Karkbhurg, his brothers are his heirs until he fathers a son on you. If we make him a Lamanbhurg, you become his heir and no Karkbhurg can lay claim to any of the lands Willy has conquered for us. You told me you were in love. I thought you would be happy about this."

"Can't we talk him into renouncing his adoption and abdicating his claim in favor of Raina?" Aunt Mariana asked.

"It's too late," Lady Carla said. "If he renounces now, they will call him a weakling. They'll say his wife dominates him and flock over to Laman. We lose anyway. If Willy remains heir as Nylarn wished, they will have no excuse to switch sides. There won't even be a war."

"But Raina. What happens to her?"

"Nothing. He can't leave the daughter of a man who just made him his son and heir even if he wanted to," Lady Carla said.

Then she turned to Raina. "You will stop sulking and be a proper wife for once. You will make that man yours. That's how you retain any semblance of power. He's your husband already. How hard could it be? All you have to do is stop hating him over a stupid thing."

"She does have a valid reason to hate him, Carla," Aunt Mariana argued.

Lady Carla shook her head. "She doesn't. That Robyr was an impetuous fool. I knew it, you knew it, everyone knew it. But Nylarn needed the Malbhurgs to sway the others so he betrothed them. The only gift Robyr had was his name. Zero martial skills."

"Robyr was a great warrior," Raina protested.

Carla laughed. "Great? His father's knights let him win whenever they sparred with him. He swung a sword like a drunken epileptic. But I suppose you were too blinded by lust to see it. That boy had no business on a battlefield, picking a fight with the likes of your husband. If Willy hadn't killed him, someone else would have."

"You don't think it's an injustice that your daughter's birthright has been given to a stranger?" Aunt Mariana asked.

"He's not a stranger. He's her husband. And this binds him to us. As Nylarn's son, he is obligated to take care of us. All of us. Keep us in the style we were accustomed to when Nylarn was alive. That's a lot better than what we could ever get from Laman. Willy prefers fighting and hunting to ruling anyway. Raina will rule and he will fight whoever stands against her. It doesn't matter who holds the title," Lady Carla argued.

"It's still an injustice," Aunt Mariana insisted.

"Would it have been justice for Nylarn to give Raina the title only for her to lose it to Laman when our vassals turn on her?" Lady Carla asked.

"She would still have him and the Karkbhurg army. They wouldn't turn," Mariana said.

"They wouldn't turn, yes. But the adoption has been announced already. There's nothing we can do about it. You heard the girl, Mariana. They didn't even consummate the marriage. It's not valid. He could annul it at any time. Why give him an excuse? Do you think the Karkbhurgs will continue backing us after we reverse ourselves on the adoption?"

Aunt Mariana's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Then perhaps Nylarn shouldn't have made the adoption."

"He shouldn't have," Lady Carla agreed. "But it's too late now. He is dead."

Then she turned to Raina. "This is all your fault, girl. If you hadn't lied to me about the state of your marriage I would have told your father not to make the adoption. But he was dying and we decided this was the best course for the future of our house. Does your husband love you as much as you claimed to love him or is that another one of your lies?"

"I don't know," Raina whispered.

"You don't?" an incredulous Carla asked.

Raina remembered Willy's outburst when she threatened to find herself a paramour but knew it was probably just male pride, not love. "He used to but now…" she said. "I don't know. He has been seeing another woman. I don't know if he's still interested in me."

"Then we will get rid of the whore," Carla said matter-of-factly. "And you will stop sulking. That Robyr has been dead for nearly two years now. You will forget him and you will focus on your husband."

"I can't just forget Robyr, mother," Raina sobbed. "I loved him. I still do."

"A boy fondles you twice and you think you're in love?" Lady Carla asked.

"We loved each other," Raina insisted.

"And what gave you that idea?"

"He was good to me."

"You were the richest bride in the whole kingdom. Do you think anybody seeking your father's approval to wed you would be terrible to you? People will be nice to you whenever they want something from you. Once they have it, they will show their true colors. Didn't I teach you that?"

"You did," Raina whispered.

"Personally, I never liked that boy. Too clean a reputation. Almost like somebody went to great lengths to sanitize it."

"Don't say that mother," Raina begged.

"What?" Lady Carla asked. "You only saw Robyr once a month at best. Who knows what he was doing on the other 29 days? Him being nice to you is too low a standard. At least with Willy, we know exactly what he is. You will stand by him, you will be a proper wife, and you will consummate your marriage."

"Mother—"

"That's an order, Raina. Your father was right. We were too soft on you. Peasant girls get married off to bent-backed old men all the time and they don't sulk as much as you. You will go to your husband and you will do your duty."

"Now?"

"There is the ceremony. After that, you will do it. This time, I intend to witness the act for myself. You will not fool me twice."

"Mother, you can't—"

"I can and I will. That's how it was done in the old days. Everyone witnessed it. It's how Nylarn and I consummated our marriage. My whole family stood there and watched him make me a woman. I don't know when this nonsense of locked doors and fake noises started."