Should Monarchs Stumble (Bonnie Isles #3)

Two

Edward watched his sister pace across his sitting chamber, not knowing if he should be angry, or laugh. Motherhood had not changed Aslynn in the slightest. Well, he amended, she was not now so slim as she had been. But she was still the overbearing busybody she had always been. Even though he had been king of the Bonnie Isles for just over three years, she still treated him like a little boy.

"I can't believe you, Edward. What have you been doing since Sebastian left? The reconstruction in the village should have been done by now. The guardsmen should be assembling for spring training, as well as the craftsmen for the spring fair. The village streets should be teeming with people, but it looks like a ruin out there. I couldn't believe my eyes when I rode up. It looks almost the same as at my visit last year."

Edward seized that moment to attempt a subject change. "And how is my nephew, young Isaiah? Did you bring him?"

Aslynn's face softened for a moment, and Edward wondered what it was about children that affected people so.

"He is well. A lusty, healthy, happy child. I'm sorry I could not bring him with me. The weather is still too intemperate for a baby to travel in." Aslynn's frown returned. "But I had to come and see for myself that what these refugees are saying is true."

"What refugees?" It was Edward's turn to frown.

"The people who come to Greyloch in search of shelter, food, work. What has been going on here?"

Edward felt his defenses kick in, and he stood up from his chair so she could no longer look down on him. "First of all, I don't believe I owe you an accounting. You no longer have any authority in Fair Haven."

Aslynn waved his protest off. "Don't throw that old rag in my face. This is serious, Edward."

"Very well. Let me sum up the disasters that have befallen. Some equipment broke at the quarry where we get our building stone, and we had to send to England for the part. The supply ship never arrived--we don't know what happened. There hasn't been time for the second request to come back. In the meantime the guardsmen were not doing anything, so I sent them home--"

"You what?"

"I sent them home. They were here, not working, and eating up our winter stores."

"And these parties I keep hearing about? How do they conserve your food supply?"

"I cannot rebuild my city, must I sit by idle, too? I am king, yet I am unmarried. How else can I find a bride and produce an heir, if I do not entertain?"

"Oh," Aslynn said, her voice heavy with sarcasm. "So this is about wife hunting. I thought you had settled on Rochelle of Dewbury. Or was it Jessica of Appleton?"

"Do not mock me, Aslynn. You have your husband, and now your son. You have love and happiness. Do not deny me my search."

Aslynn sighed, and finally dropped into a chair by the fireplace. "Oh, Edward. Parties are not the way to find love. At least not these opulent feasts and balls you host."

Edward remained standing, though he felt himself relax now that she was no longer pacing and accusing him. "That's easy for you to say. Your true love came to you. You didn't have to seek him out. I waited nearly two years after I became king and no love came out of the woodwork to requite me, so I have had to resort to searching. I am not a patient man, Aslynn. You know this."

She chuckled. "Yes, I know. I hate to be the one to break this to you, Edward, but if true love is what you seek, it will come when you least expect it, and from an unexpected quarter."

"I'm twenty years old, Aslynn. I hope it doesn't wait too long to find me."

"Love will find you, Edward. In the meantime, focus your energy on being productive. Get the affairs of the kingdom in order...."