Forest Kingdom Trilogy 2 - Blood and Honor

public. He's the quiet, thoughtful one of the family, and has an unhealthy interest in sorcery. He's had many teachers, and is rumoured to be something of an adept, though again he's shown little sign of this in public. Dominic has always been a very private person. He is also somewhat. . . strange.'
    Sir Gawaine laughed shortly. 'That's one Way of putting it.'
    'How would you put it?' said Jordan.
    'He's barking mad,' said Gawaine flatly. 'And dangerous with it.'
    'Like his brother Lewis, Dominic also has a following at Court,' said Roderik, continuing calmly as though Gawaine hadn't spoken. 'Dominic is married to the Lady Elizabeth, a very ambitious woman. She helped to build Dominic's following through a series of well-thought-out political deals. Many of us believe Dominic and Elizabeth to be the prime suspects in your father's murder, though it must be said that so far no proof has been found to lay at their door.'
    'How do I feel about my brothers?' said Jordan thoughtfully. 'Are we close?'
    'Hardly. In Redhart, inheritance of the throne is rather a complicated matter. In most countries the crown goes to the eldest son, and any other sons get nothing, but here the King chooses which of his sons he considers to be most fit, and that son inherits the crown. This is a throwback to the days of inbreeding, when many eldest sons simply weren't . . . suitable. The dangers of that time are mostly past now, but the law and custom remain. However, if your father had made a choice, it remains unknown. The will has vanished without trace. Since Lewis is no longer the favoured son, all three of you now have an equally valid claim to the throne.
    'Neither you nor Dominic care much for Lewis. He is arrogant and brash, and has always used his position as favourite to lord it over both of you. He in turn despises Dominic as a weakling, for spending most of his time as a scholar rather than a warrior, and considers you a fool for letting your emotions get the better of you. You detest Dominic, not least because of his choice of wife. The Lady Elizabeth was once . . . close to you, until Dominic won her away.'
    'Tricky,' said Jordan. 'Do I have any friends at Court?'
    'Not really,' said Roderik. 'Most of your followers were sent with you into internal exile, and for the most part they've chosen to remain there until the succession is decided. But Dominic and Lewis are also finding themselves more isolated than usual, for the same reason. No one wants to be remembered as having backed the losing side . . .'
    Jordan rode for a while in silence, sorting out the new information as best he could. It was fine, as far as it went, but it wasn't what he needed. If he was going to pass off this impersonation successfully, he was going to have to know not just the facts of Prince Viktor's background, but also the secrets and motivations that underlay those facts. And interesting though Viktor's family background was, there was still a great deal he wasn't being told.
    'Viktor's been in internal exile for four years,' he said finally. 'What exactly did he do that warranted such extreme punish-ment? I mean, you've already told me that Lewis once strangled a young woman of the nobility and got away with it.'
    Argent and Roderik looked at each other. Sir Gawaine stared at the road ahead. Finally Roderik sighed, and looked at Jordan.
    'Forgive me, Jordan, of course you need to know. It's just not something we normally talk about. In fact, we seem to have spent most of the last four years using every bit of influence we have to keep the truth of what really happened from ever coming out. Prince Viktor . . . has always been one for the ladies.
    However, unlike Lewis, Viktor was normally sensible enough to limit his wandering eye to the servant classes. Such assignations may be deplorable, but they're of no real importance. But, as I said earlier, Prince Viktor somehow became involved with the Lady Elizabeth, at a time when she was officially betrothed to Prince Dominic. How they kept it a secret for so long in a Court noted for its love of gossip is beyond me, but of course it couldn't last, and eventually Dominic found out. And that was when the tempers really began to fly. The Lady Elizabeth is a charming, beautiful young woman from an impeccable family background. Unfortunately, she is also a cold, calculating bitch. She delighted in playing the two brothers off against each other, possibly to determine which would make the better husband,
    but