A Brother's Price

you?”
    “Oh, yes. See?” He overturned all the cups. “The marble isn’t under any of them. There’s no way you can win.”
    “How did you do that?” Zelie asked, chewing on one long lock of hair. “We saw you put it under one of them.”
    So he showed how he could palm the marble, using misdirection and sleight of hand. “The point is, you could have lost all your money, because you thought I was being honest, and you were playing fair. The more you know how people can cheat you, the less likely you’ll be cheated.”
    “So it’s all right to cheat?” Mira asked slowly, obviously struggling with the concept.
    He shook his head. “Lying and cheating is like playing with guns. When it’s real, it’s very dangerous. You have to be very careful, but we Whistlers always thought it was a good thing to know how to do it well, and more importantly, how to tell when someone else is doing it.”
    Jerin realized that someone else was in the room. He glanced up to meet the gaze of a young woman leaning against the door, watching them. Judging by her auburn hair, fair skin, and delicate features, she could be none other than the mysterious Princess Trini. Her look was a mix of amusement and dismay.
    Lylia wandered back into the room. “Trini, there you are! You haven’t met the Whistlers yet. This is Jerin.”
    Princess Trini straightened up with a scowl at her younger sister. “Well met. Master Whistler, but if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do than to play with toy soldiers.”
     
    The others, minus Eldest Whistler, returned to the playroom. Barnes, they said, had fetched Eldest to meet with a visitor. The Whistlers showed off their skills at sleight of hand for the youngest princesses, making coins and balls disappear and reappear. The children and Cul-len picked up most of the basic moves, but Lylia, laughing at her own fumble-fingeredness, couldn’t get it.
    “Finally,” Cullen gloated, “something I can do that you can’t!”
    The young princesses’ tutor arrived, announced playtime was over, and shooed the visitors away. The group decided to troop back to the Whistler suite for tea. They reversed their normal marching order, with Lylia and Jerin leading, while Summer and Corelle, flanking Cullen, trailed behind.
    Reaching the suite first, Lylia opened the door and halted.
    Eldest Whistler and Kij Porter stood in the room, the tension almost visible between them. If Kij and Eldest Whistler had been armed, surely both would have hands resting on their weapons. Seeing them standing thus, it struck Jerin for the first time that the Porters were built much like his sisters—tall, lean, and broad in the shoulders.
    “You’ll have to give us time to decide.” Eldest’s voice was carefully flat, void of any emotion. “I won’t be pressured into a snap decision.”
    “I don’t see what there is to decide,‘’ Kij said lightly.
    though her eyes were narrowed in something that might be anger. “We’re willing to offer twice the amount you’d get from commoners. We’re a powerful family with ancient noble lines. There isn’t a family greater than ours in all of Queensland.”
    Jerin’s heart quaked in his chest. Offer? The Porters?
    The two women realized that he stood in the doorway. They turned toward him, Eldest with a flash of irritation, Kij Porter with a look close to greed.
    “We’ll talk about this later,” Eldest stated firmly; it was unclear if she spoke to Kij or Jerin.
    “Jerin!” Kij came to claim his hands, squeezing them possessively. “You’re more beautiful every time I see you.”
    “It’s the clothes,” he murmured, ducking his head shyly, but then glancing up to study her. Did he want Kij as a wife? Kij and her sisters were handsome women— stronger in features than the delicate royal princesses, which some would say was a bonus. Certainly they did not tend toward freckling like Lylia. Kij’s eyes were the hard blue of sapphires.
    Jerin could not find a single spark of warmth for Kij. Was it because he had given his heart totally to Ren already? Was it just a lack of knowing Kij?
    She leaned toward him. A month ago, he would have missed the warning signs. Thanks to his experience with the royal princesses, however, he realized she was going to try to kiss him. He stepped backward with no conscious thought in the action, not even aware he’d avoided her until she straightened with a slight frown.
    “Come, what’s the harm in a simple kiss? A