Tumgik
#elliania rocks
Text
I found my voice. "I'm going to—"
Riddle crossed his arms on his chest. His nostrils flared and he exclaimed defiantly, "I don't care what you do. Understand that. Do whatever you wish, but it won't change anything."
"—be a grandfather." I choked on the word. Incredulity melted his face and he stared. It gave me the moment I needed to organize my thoughts. Words tumbled from my lips. "I have money saved. You can have it all. You must leave soon, before travel is too difficult for her. And I think you must flee the Six Duchies entirely. She is the Skillmistress; she is too well known for you to..."
"We are not leaving!" Anger tightened his slack face. "We refuse. We were lawfully wed—"
Impossible. "The king forbade it."
"The king can forbid whatever he likes, but if a man and a woman make their vows before the Witness Stones, with at least two witnesses—"
"Only if one is a minstrel!" I interrupted him. "And the witness must know both parties."
"I wager the Queen of the Six Duchies knows us both," he said quietly.
"Kettricken? I thought Kettricken was a party to forbidding the marriage."
"Kettricken is not the Queen of the Six Duchies. Elliania is. And she comes from a place where a woman can marry whomever she wishes."
It all fit together as tightly as the blocks that make up an arch. Almost. "But your other witness had to be a minstrel…" My words trickled away. I knew who their minstrel had been.
"Hap Gladheart." Riddle confirmed it quietly. A smile almost twisted his face. "Perhaps you've heard of him?"
Fool's Quest, by Robin Hobb (Fitz and the Fool Trilogy #2)
27 notes · View notes