A Brother's Price

6

     
    “Rider! There’s a rider coming in!”
    The call echoed over the farm. Jerin came to the kitchen door to see the solitary rider coming up the lane. His youngest sisters and little brothers stopped their game of “recon” to stare out toward the road. Middle and elder sisters came drifting out of the barns and outbuildings. Before the rider had reached the bottom of the hill, Heria picked up Kai, took Liam by the hand, and started toward Jerin. Doric followed reluctantly, throwing curious glances over his shoulder. Eldest went into the house via the front door and came back out wearing her pistols.
    Princess Ren’s captain of the guard. Raven Tern, cantered her horse up to the beaten dirt of the barnyard. She pulled her horse to a halt before Eldest. “Eldest Whistler, greetings to you.”
    “Greetings to you. Captain.”
    “I carry a message to you and your sisters from the Queens.”
    Eldest took the message with a trembling hand, broke the seal, and read it. When she reached the end, she took a deep breath, and tension went from her. “I’ll have to talk to my sisters about this. Birdie will help you stable your horse. You’re welcome to dinner and to spend the night.”
    “Thank you. I’d like that.” Captain Tern dismounted. “If you decide to accept, I’m to provide escort.”
    Eldest looked surprised, then schooled her emotion. “That would be an honor.” Eldest signaled to Corelle. “Show her where she can put her things, and get washed up for dinner.”
    Corelle led Captain Tern off, clearly annoyed that she’d be the last to learn what the Queens’ letter had to say. No sooner than Captain Tern was out of sight did the rest of the family gather around Eldest.
    “What does it say? What does it say? Are we getting knighted?” The youngest bounced in place from excitement.
    Jerin clasped his hands together hard in order not to tear the letter from Eldest. The letter was good news— that much was clear from Eldest’s relief—and Captain Tern was going to act as an escort, so someone was going to Mayfair. Suddenly his heart was like a caged wild bird, beating madly against his ribs, crying, “Ren! Ren! Ren!”
    Eldest held up her hand, signaling for silence. “The Queens send thanks for saving the princess Odelia’s life,” she started, once her gathered family fell quiet, “and as a token of their thanks, they’ve invited us to bring Jerin out at the capital. Jerin and I, and one or two others, would stay at the palace and be sponsored by the Queens.” Eldest was shouting now to be heard. “It would allow us to meet the most influential families in Queensland, and thus make the best possible trade of brothers.”
    As his sisters whooped and hollered, Jerin stood, stunned silent, hands clasped so tight they were white.
    Eldest caught sight of him, and sobered. “Get ready for dinner,” she told everyone. “Remember we’ve got company. Go on!” As she spoke, she caught Jerin’s shoulder and guided him away. “Are you all right?”
    “I don’t know.” Jerin felt a strange hollowness in his chest, as if that wild bird of his heart had burst out, leaving nothing behind. “For a minute there, I thought that maybe Princess Ren was sending for me.”
    Eldest cursed softly. “Oh, Jerin.” She looked down at the letter still in her hand. “This is a shining coin, Jerin. You’d be presented as an equal to all the nobles in the land. We could never match this again. If we refuse this, we only have common country bumpkins, the likes of the Brindles, to choose from.”
    “Holy Mothers, no!” Then, fearing she misunderstood, he caught her wrist and said as clearly as possible, “I do not want to marry the Brindles! I hate them! They’re like rabid dogs!”
    “I wouldn’t give you up to someone who would hurt you.”
    “They might not turn on me, but it’s nearly a sure thing that I’d have to watch my children grow up to be just as mean. People are saying Balin tumbled his mothers to father his sisters. It’s not like the Brindles would tell us, if it was the truth; we’d have to wait until after the marriages to know for sure, and then it would be too late, at least for me. Besides, they say apples only come from apple trees; the family might have practiced incest for generations now. They all could be inbred monsters.”
    A smile quirked onto Eldest’s mouth. “Well, it would explain why they’re all so gods-awful ugly.”
    “Eldest, please, please,