“Nothing good will come of leaving her where she was. Best she make a new start, if she can.”
“That’s all? Is she pretty? Is she meant to tempt me, or some other man? Is she your by-blow, meant to twist my daughter’s heart and loyalty if she grows up beside her?”
“None of these things. A tree will grow twisted if the wind rakes it incessantly. Better she grow true, if she can. I hope it may be possible for her to do so here at Lavas, away from an otherwise good family that does not like her. That is all.”
“You always had a care for the unfortunate!”
“Do not mock the unfortunate, Lord Geoffrey. They suffer more than the rest of us do.”
“For their sins!”
“Do you think so? Rather they suffer for our sins. Is it not a sin to look the other way when you might extend a hand to one who is drowning? Is it not a sin to eat two loaves of bread when you might share one with those who are starving? Suffering is the task God set us. We choose whether to take action or turn away. Thus are we judged.”
Geoffrey broke down and wept. “It is all gone wrong! My daughter—lamed in a fall from her pony! My dear wife dead in childbirth days after the terrible storm. Our sons held as hostages in Autun. Bandits afflict the forest and prey on the farmers. Plague eats at our borders. Hoof rot strikes down our sheep and cattle. All the birds are fled as if we live in a desert. And more besides. Far more! Too much to tell! How have I offended God?”
“You know that answer better than I do, Lord Geoffrey. Better to ask what you can do to set things right. Do you believe that your daughter is the rightful heir to Lavas County?”
“There is no other that I know of.”
“If one such should appear, would you offer your loyalty to that one?”
“There cannot be another claimant! Count Lavastina had but two sons, Charles and, eighteen years later, my grandfather, the first Geoffrey. There my cousin lies.” He pointed at the bier. “He is the last of the elder lineage. I am the only surviving descendant of the younger. Who else could there be?”
“Have you never wondered how the elder Charles acquired his fearsome hounds?”
Geoffrey shrugged.
“I do not know the answer,” continued Alain, “but I wonder. Fear left me to seek another. And there was one person the hounds feared. Is there a connection between them?”
“You speak in riddles to torment me!”
“I pray you, forgive me. Something was set wrong long ago, in Lavas County. If we set it right, then it may be like a rock thrown into a still pool. Its ripples may spread to wash over the entire pond.”
“These are mysteries! Conjecture! If you do not claim Lavas County, then what matters it to you who does?”
“Justice matters.”
Geoffrey shrugged impatiently. “There is something more to this! Who is your father?”
Alain shook his head, distracted from his thoughts and, in truth, a little annoyed, but he let the irritation go. “My father? Henri of Osna is my father. As is Count Lavastine. As might be the shade of the lost prince in the ruins up on the hill. As might be the man who was also my grandfather, if he shared his own daughter. Or another man never named and never known. This is the truth.” He lifted his hand from Lavastine’s arm and stepped forward to stand between the hounds, so close to Geoffrey that he might reach out to touch him. “My path was marked the day the Lady of Battles challenged me. I know to whom I owe a son’s love. Beyond that, I care not because it matters not.”
“It makes no sense to me. You say you do not wish to contest my authority as regent for my daughter, or her claim, unless one comes who has a better claim than ours to the county of Lavas. You say that, knowing there are no other surviving descendants of the elder Charles and the first Geoffrey.”
“I have no reason to suppose there are descendants of those men, besides yourself and your daughter and young sons.”
“Then how—? What—? You are saying you believe there is another surviving descendant of my great great grandmother, Count Lavastina. She had no surviving siblings, no nieces or nephews to contest the elder Charles’ portion. The family lineage is written carefully by the Lavas clerics, but there is no record of it!” He grinned, the gesture more rictus than smile.
“If it could be proved that a rightful claimant existed, would you step aside?”
“My daughter inherits nothing except Lavas County.”
“If it could be proved that there exists a person whose claim supersedes hers, would you withdraw her claim?”