“Um.” Benjamin rubbed his chin. “I remember the details now, and I can see some problems with it now that I look back at it. That predated the Constitution by over two hundred years, and it was pretty obviously an act of political expediency to avoid a war of succession. Still, I imagine we could make the precedent stand up if we asserted it with a straight face. And if we get Reverend Sullivan to sign off on it. But this all assumes Lady Harrington’s parents would be willing to cooperate with our plans. Would they?”

“I believe so,” Clinkscales said with an edge of caution. “There’s no physical reason why they couldn’t, and Dr. Harrington—the Steadholder’s mother, I mean—has discussed the possibility with my wives in a theoretical sense, at least. And if it would be inconvenient for them to do it, ah, the natural way, they could always tube a child. That wouldn’t be a clone of Lady Harrington, so I don’t see where it would be a problem.”

“We’d still be on slippery ground if either of them were dead,” Benjamin said thoughtfully, “but let’s not go there. They’re both alive, both physically able to conceive and bear children, and both on Grayson.” He thought a moment longer, then nodded decisively. “I think this could be an excellent idea, Howard. If they agree, the child would be a Grayson citizen from birth because he was born here. Would you stay on as Regent in that case?”

“You mean as a caretaker until the child’s birth if they agree?”

“Well, yes. And also as Regent for the child after he was born, as well.”

“Assuming I last that long, yes, I suppose,” Clinkscales said after a few seconds of consideration. “I doubt I’d make it to the child’s majority even with Manty medical support, though.”

He said it calmly, with the serenity of a man who’d lived a life fuller than the vast majority of other people’s. Benjamin looked at him and wondered if he would feel as calm as Clinkscales when it was his turn. Or would the fact that people no more than five or six years younger than he could expect to live two or three centuries longer make him bitter and envious? He hoped it wouldn’t, but—

He shook the thought off and nodded.

“All right, gentlemen, I think we have a plan here. There’s just one little point about it which still bothers me.”

“There is, Your Grace?” Prestwick furrowed his brow. “I confess that I don’t see one. It seems to me that Howard has solved most of our problems quite neatly.”

“Oh, he has!” Benjamin agreed. “But in the process, he’s created a fresh one.”

“Indeed, Your Grace?”

“Oh, yes indeed!” Both of Benjamin’s advisors looked at him blankly, and he grinned wickedly. “Well, I’m not going to be the one to discuss the birds and the bees with Lady Harrington’s mother, gentlemen!”

Chapter Five

“YOU want me to what?”

Allison Harrington shoved herself back in her chair, astonished almondine eyes wide, and Howard Clinkscales blushed as he had not in years. It was the first time since the INS broadcast of the execution that something had driven the quiet, lingering edge of sorrow fully out of Dr. Harrington’s eyes, but he would have felt much better about that if he’d been even a little bit less embarrassed. This wasn’t the sort of thing a properly raised Grayson male discussed with someone else’s wife, and he’d done his best to evade the responsibility. But Benjamin had insisted that he’d thought it up, so it was up to him to enlist the Harringtons’ cooperation.