Careena angrily slammed the book she was reading closed. It was a treatise on magic that she had borrowed from her brother's library. Unfortunately, the author was so long winded in his explanations that by the time she reached one of his conclusions, she forgot what question he had originally posed. She was forced to reread everything several times to understand every single point.
That was not her only frustration with the book. While it was very comprehensive on nearly all magical concepts, she had learned nothing to help her overcome whatever was blocking her from her power. She had been reading it for days and was no closer to solving her problem than she had been before.
At least she was no longer plagued by those overpowering sexual urges. She looked appreciatively at handsome men, and now women since her experience with Trian, but she was able to look without having to act.
She let her mind wander back to the previous night with her husband and the pleasures they had enjoyed. He had provided more than enough satisfaction for her every night since she had returned from her trip to Lesquia. If she didn't know any better she would have thought he was trying to get her pregnant. The thought of children made her smile, but they had decided to wait until their city was under control before they started a family.
Kalas had spent the past few months planning the construction of a paladin temple. The foundation was just getting started and would help stability in Genoise in a couple of ways: it would draw paladins to the city, and the construction was providing work for the impoverished citizenry. The duke and duchess were also trying to promote business owners to remodel or replace some of the older buildings and storefronts in the city.
There was one matter upon which the young couple disagreed on however. Now that much of the lawlessness had come under control, Kalas had wanted to turn their efforts towards eliminating prostitution. Careena wasn't as sensitive to prostitution as her husband was, and she knew that it was one of the reasons Genoise had been a popular vacation spot in the past. It was illegal in most of the Trikingdoms but traditionally had been welcomed in their city.
The problem with prostitution lately had been the lack of oversight and the lack of money flowing into the city. The flesh peddlers were always looking to find ways around the regulations that had been in place, and often cheated the girls who worked for them. They needed to get travelers to come back to the city again, and in order to do that they needed to restore its reputation, not outlaw prostitution.
Lately she had sensed that her arguments were beginning to sway Kalas. He seemed less adamant each time they discussed the problem. She believed that if a woman wanted to offer a man the use of her body for some coin, then that was her choice. Who were they to tell her that she couldn't? And was it any different than some of the things they had done recently to secure the new marriage arrangements?
Her musings were interrupted as her husband burst into the room panting. "My brother is on his way here!" the Duke cried as he ran to change out of the muddy clothes he had been wearing.
"Now?!" she asked in confusion. "Why didn't we have any warning?"
"I don't know," he responded, "but a rider was sent ahead of his retinue to announce his approach. He must have left on short notice."
That was the most likely conclusion she could come up with as well. The crown prince of Galin didn't just wander about and happen to visit. He must have a very urgent matter to discuss with them. "Is my sister with him?" she asked hopefully.
"The rider didn't say, only to expect the prince," he responded as he pulled on a clean pair of boots.
Careena frowned. Her sister most likely had not come if no mention of her had been made. She watched her husband stand and straighten his garments and then followed him out to greet the prince. They made it outside just in time to see the prince arrive on horseback and not in a wagon. It alarmed Careena at first, but she quickly realized he was not wearing his armor which meant his business was urgent, but that they were not at war.
Prince Duran leapt off his horse and handed the reins to a retainer before climbing the steps up to the Duke and Duchess two at a time. He embraced his brother jovially and Careena relaxed at the prince's attitude. He embraced her next and kissed her lightly on each cheek. "Seline sends her greetings, and regrets not being able to come herself," the prince said, "but there was no time."
"What is this all about Duran?" Kalas asked.
"Let us go somewhere where we can talk more privately and I will explain, little brother," Duran replied.
The three of them went to Duke Kalas's study and had some refreshments brought. Once that was done all the servants were excused and ordered not to disturb them.
"Now, what brings you all the way out here?" Kalas asked again with a smile.
"An emissary, from Remar, arrived in Coderra two weeks ago," the prince began, "and was quickly sent to father. He's asking us to send an ambassador back to Remar to negotiate terms of an arrangement. They have asked for you, Kalas."
"What kind of an arrangement?" Kalas asked, shocked.
"They are asking for aid to protect their city. They have lately seen an unprecedented amount of pirate raids in their harbor and a short time ago what appeared at first to be a coordinated pirated attack nearly crippled their docks," the prince explained. "But it soon became apparent that the ships weren't manned by pirates."
"Does it matter who attacked them?!" Careena exclaimed. "We can't seriously be contemplating negotiating with them. They're slavers!"
"What the Remarians do inside their own borders isn't our concern. They have wealth and are willing to exchange some of it for help protecting their city," the prince said calmly.
"Wealth earned off the backs of their women," she proclaimed. Remarian females were enslaved at birth and raised to serve men. Their culture had evolved this way over centuries. Women were treated as any other resource or animal; bought and sold in markets, and used in any way their owner saw fit.
"Nevertheless, we will treat with them, or rather you will, little brother," the prince said.
"Why me?" Kalas asked, perplexed. He felt much the same as his wife about Remar.
"The two of you have suddenly become known as capable negotiators, and despite your moral objections to their way of life, Father knows that as a paladin you will not interfere with their laws, and at the same time do what is best for the Trikingdoms," his brother explained.
Kalas nodded in understanding. He would follow the laws of the land he was in, no matter how distasteful he found them.
"If you're going, then I'm going," the Duchess proclaimed.
