A House Divided

Chapter 5

I will find a suitable position for you.

Cianne rubbed her aching head, permitting her lids to close for a brief moment. Grains of sand seemed to scrape over her eyes, and she winced as she passed her hand over them before forcing them open again. She had hardly slept since her father's ultimatum a few nights earlier. No amount of training could quiet the worries in her mind, no matter how hard she pushed herself.

Lach seemed oblivious to her plight, which both pleased and saddened her. While the confirmation that she was successful at managing to conceal her distress and exhaustion was reassuring, knowing that Lach didn't notice drove home for her how ill-conceived a union between them would be.

Daerwyn didn't appear to be so easily deceived, however. Whenever she chanced to pass her father, his penetrating gaze homed in on her with merciless insistence.

Yet as much as she chafed against the restrictions he'd placed on her, she had to acknowledge that he wasn't being entirely unreasonable. If she didn't make a decision about her life soon, her behavior would cease to be considered an oddity amongst the Council of Elders and would begin to become a concern. Every member of the House was meant to function like a well-oiled cog, and Cianne had long been the catch in the gears. As a child she had routinely skipped her lessons, even though it drove her father to distraction and even caused her mother to frown at her in disapproval, but thanks to the esteem of her father's position, she hadn't suffered the way other young members of the House might have. It was characteristic that, even as she chafed against the bonds placed on her by her father's prominent position, she also saw fit to use it to her advantage when it suited her.

Her unwillingness to study had not been due to her having lacked the drive to learn, it had been due to her utter lack of interest in what they had wanted to teach her. House Staerleigh education focused primarily on the areas of interest to the House: their storied history; economics and how to negotiate with the Coin Masters; religious instruction on all five gods, but with a particular focus on Cearus; vessel design and construction; and aquatic sciences. All of these topics were of critical importance to the House, and Cianne had often chided herself that if she'd had more foresight when she was younger, she might have understood that her studies could have offered her an alternate avenue. House Staerleigh didn't build their own ships, of course; that task was entrusted to the Building Masters, Ore Masters, and other Adepts who could shape materials to their will. However, the shipbuilders worked under the oversight of a House representative, and Adept skills weren't required for the position, though a good working knowledge of how to manipulate the sea helped. Still, considering her father's position, it would have been a simple matter for her to secure a position with the shipbuilders.

The truth of the matter, though, the truth that she wouldn't let herself think about let alone accept, was that she didn't want to have much of anything to do with the House. Some of that was born of pure spite. She had never fit in, and she doubted most members of the House would lift a finger to help her. Why should she help them? She had no illusions about what would become of her if something were to happen to her father. She would hold the rights to his property, but she'd be a House member in name only. The others would exclude her, and she would end up living a life of hostile seclusion in the enclave.

Were she the romantically mercenary sort, she still couldn't hope to escape House Staerleigh through an outside marriage. Marriages between members of different trade Houses were rare, and unions between Adepts were prohibited, no matter how weak their skills. The other Adept clans weren't as picky, but the trade Houses jealously hoarded their Adept members, refusing to allow the possibility that another House might benefit from their Adepts' skills.