Tanric

Prince Tanric was annoyed. It was more than his usual peevishness today, his father King Tannon had sent for the soldier and his daughter. His sister had been taken with the scarred commoner and his stories, and she had chosen to leave the Court to play wife in a backwater border province to the far north. It had not lasted long. Like their mother, Tanitra had died trying to give birth to twins. Tanric blamed the soldier for it as much as he blamed his father for the death of his mother.

 

King Tannon, however, did not blame him but he had been eager to bring his Jewel’s daughter to the Court for some time and had grown weary of the Commander’s excuses. They had both been summoned so that the Commander could be made aware that Tanric was being given full command of the Draimenan armies and that Vaeri was expected to remain at her grandfather’s Court.

 

The transfer of command was the only thing about this visit that Tanric was looking forward to. His father was giving him the responsibility of ending the war, allowing him to begin shouldering the burdens of kingship. The highest Commanders had been summoned and there would be a council held. Tanric was certain that he could force the Meazyr into an untenable position, no one beat him at Fyra.

 

Tanric straightened himself and stalked to the audience room where his wife and children should already be waiting. His father would join them after the soldier and his daughter arrived. It would give them a few moments to … chat. He found himself smiling maliciously at the thought.

 

As he entered the chamber he found that he was slightly late. The soldier sat uncomfortably on the edge of a chair, his back sword straight. And Vaeri, the image of her mother, was sitting next to Tannos trying to get him to let her handle the dagger he had been wearing prominently since he had begun his military training. Tanric smirked at the baffled look on his second son’s face, like Tanitra, Vaeri was obviously accustomed to getting her way and the refusals of a prince’s son were simply something to be overridden.

 

“If I did not know better I would think my dead sister was sitting next to my second son.” He saw Commander Eshenesra bridle at his words and mocking tone. Vaeri, on the other hand, greeted him with a warm smile, standing to bob her gracious obeisance and then almost skipping over to embrace him. His eyes widened and he looked at the Commander aghast. His own wife and children looked shocked and appalled, no one behaved so familiarly to the Crown Prince of Draim.

 

The Commander spoke sharply, “Vaeri, your mother’s family is not like ours. Warmth is not something they welcome, apologize to your uncle and come sit with me.”

 

Prince Tanric smirked, realizing the girl’s value as a pawn. “How rude of you to suggest such a thing. Are we not Vaeri’s family as well?” He wrapped an arm around the girl’s waist and watched the Commander’s jaw clench. “Have you been introduced to your cousins, my dear Vaeri?”

 

“I have uncle, they seem very nice, but why are they so quiet?” He looked into her simple open face and tried not to sneer.

 

“Children are meant to be seen and not heard, my dear Vaeri.” He let his look to the Commander convey that she is exactly the kind of simpleton he expected someone of such low breeding to produce. A look she would likely be too stupid to notice.

 

“I see. It’s understandable, it wouldn’t do to have a child say something more clever than you, uncle.” She had her mother’s biting tone and at least some of her wit even if she lacked the sense to know when to wield it. She stepped away from him confidently and sat next to her father with an icy expression. The Commander, he noted, looked both proud and terrified.

 

“The image of her mother, though it’s a pity she lacks her good sense.” Tanric sneered as the girl started to open her mouth to speak again and her father tapped her lightly under her chin, causing her to clap her mouth shut and glare until her father tilted her face away.

 

The silence was deafening until the arrival of King Tannon.