Over the next two hands of days, Arcolin met still more women recommended to him. Besides the young and inexperienced, this one was a vicious gossip, that one presented a list of her luxurious requirements, yet another—though smiling with him—he overheard sneer at his age behind his back. Rahel, from near Marrakai’s domain, had a pleasant voice and sweet temperament but proved to have no head at all for numbers, and he wanted a wife who could at least keep simple accounts. Liris was simply too stupid; Marda was afraid of gnomes and shuddered at the thought of meeting them; tiny Virian, scarcely sixteen winters, could surely not bear a child safely any time soon. Calla, a wealthy merchant’s daughter and a widow with a young child, appealed more: she also had a pleasant voice and keen intelligence, but she seemed quietly content as she was, living with her parents in their large house. Would she really be willing to leave that comfort for the north? Would any of them?

Finally, one crisp autumn day, the king invited a crowd to picnic on Mahieran lands, including the women Arcolin mentioned as still under consideration. Arcolin rode beside Dorrin, behind the other dukes, as they left the city.

“How’s the wife hunt going?” she asked.

“Not well. Either I am too critical or they are.”

“Mmm. Well, I can make no suggestion. Though as I told Beclan, Lyonya has many pretty girls.”

“I don’t want a girl,” Arcolin said. “But surely there’s some woman in this realm who is mature enough to be a true helpmate and young enough to bear.”

“You could adopt an heir, if you found a widow with a likely child.”

“How do you feel about Beclan as your heir?”

“He’s going to make a good duke someday,” Dorrin said. “But of course, he grew up in a ducal household far healthier than mine was.”

“I would still rather sire one,” Arcolin said. “But if I don’t live to see one grown—”

“You’re not that old,” Dorrin said.

“Old enough to feel it on cold mornings,” Arcolin said. “And your idea of adoption may be sensible. If I can find the right woman.”

“Jandelir … are you truly over M’dierra?”

He felt heat rise to his face. “You knew?”

“Of course,” she said. She did not say what he could see in her gaze, that Kieri and the other captains had known as well.

And probably, he thought gloomily, half the Company. Too late now to be embarrassed. “Then yes, I am. I am not comparing these women to her, if that’s what you were thinking.”