“I am honestly quite surprised you are even here, Earl Fiton.” Duke Burn took the conversation in a different direction, not very interested in Braydon showing off about the gifts he had given his daughter.
“What makes you say that? I doubt there are many events more important than the marriage of the King.” Braydon had to raise an eyebrow. The King had decided to respect Braydon’s wishes and not openly talk about what he was doing in Shuluk but that did not mean Duke Burn had the same predilections for Braydon.
“Well, I had the impression that you were more interested in becoming a part of the court in Narabun.”
“I have visited Narabun a couple of times but I have not exactly spent that much time there.”
“We both know that is not the only way to become a member of a kingdom’s nobility, or have you not looked around the hall recently. I doubt more than half of the men in this room had set foot in the palace before their ennoblement.” He was right on the money there, services toward the crown were the foremost way for somebody to rise to nobility if they were not marrying in. Few married in, fewer still that were men.
“I can say in full confidence that I still intend to be a part of the court in Boshil.” Braydon decided that responding to that directly was probably what the Duke was angling for him to do.
“Well that is good to know. You are an ambitious one, I will give you that.” Whilst his unasked question had gone unanswered, Duke Burn was still more than happy with the information Braydon had just given him.
“I do not think that anyone alive could dare say they are more ambitious than yourself.” Braydon paid that compliment back in full. Duke Ryder might have been considered more ambitious but then he was not amongst the living anymore.
“That is true, if they were more ambitious they would have gotten themselves killed by now.” The Duke agreed as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Then my being amongst the living is a good sign for me.” Braydon decided to go along with what Burn was saying for now lest he get himself tied in knots by the Duke getting him to say something he regretted.
“I pray for your sake that it continues to be as such.” He got the distinct impression that the well wishes were insincere at best.
“At least in the foreseeable future I do not plan on putting myself in a position to get killed. Not any more than usual at least.” Braydon could not guarantee that he would end up annoying Gerald or Nela so much that they had a go.
“If most knew the things that you got up to when not in Boshil I believe they would be inclined to disagree with you.” Burn gave him a pointed look. It was not the first time that Braydon had gotten into a conflict with his neighbours when he was away from the capital, there had been the three Barons first and this time it was half of Shuluk that he had decided to be his next target. He could hardly be described as somebody that was peace loving and careful.
“I feel like my knights might agree with you.”
“You are well advised at least.” Burn looked across the room to where the majority of the women were gathered. There was no illusions to who he was referring to.
“She is indeed well educated on the matter of running a fief and dealing with social responsibilities. More so than my father would even have considered educating me.”
“I have no doubt that you approached me with intentions other than to talk about the people that you choose to surround yourself with.” Burn finally took the conversation where Braydon had been waiting for him to take it. It had been painful with how little the Duke had been speaking to wait for him to broach the subject.
“Other than to greet you, I was wondering if you would perhaps be interested in talking about trade.”
“If it is your iron, then I would not mind talking about it.”
There was hardly anything else that it would be about. It was the only commodity worth exporting that was produced in Braydon’s land. Cliforge was a lot of things but fertile it was not. It could mostly feed the people living there but even then they needed to import food from further west to fuel the now much larger population that his mine had invited. And the population that had been more uninvited with the conflict on the other side of the border.
“That is most of it, yes.” Braydon could think of a few things that he wanted to sort out so that he did not need to come to blows with the Duke before he was able to defend himself. Most of them, however, would be contingent on the trade of iron between the two.
“Then we should set up a time to talk about that in more privacy.”
“Unless something goes awry, I plan to be in the capital for the full length of the festivities.”
“You mean when something goes awry you will leave immediately.” It was good to see that the Duke had a vote of confidence in his men’s ability to handle themselves when he was away.
“I have faith in Sir Harvey and Sir Kelly to do their jobs whilst I am not around.” Braydon was not going to stand there as his retainers were insulted like that.
“And I have faith that no plan survives contact with the enemy.” Braydon opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. It was clear that the Duke was speaking from very recent experience.
