Prince of the Blood by Raymond Feist Page B

profound that nothing can change you back once you’ve known it.” His eyes again sought distant horizons as he said, “I’m so old I have to work to remember last night’s dreams. Yet there are times boyhood recollections come to me as if they were but moments ago.” He looked at Borric, as if searching for something familiar in his young face. After a quiet moment, he said, “Your grandfather was a passionate man, and your uncle is, as well. So’s your father, though you’d not know it to look at him—he was trapped by your mother almost from the moment they met, though he was too thick to know it. He was incredibly fortunate that he fell in love with a woman to whom marriage was advantageous to the nation. If not for that, your mother might have been a minor Princess from Roldem or the daughter of some eastern Duke.
    “Your aunt Carline was set upon marrying your uncle Laurie within days of meeting him. And do you know what a fuss that caused? She was the King’s sister, and it could have been vital for Lyam to marry her off to a Prince of Kesh or Roldem, or the Duke of Olasko, or an eastern noble to strengthen his rule, but she would have none of it. She made him name a commoner Duke of Salador so she could marry nobility, but your aunt would have run off with him had he stayed a lowly minstrel.” He chuckled. “Fortunately for everyone, your uncle Laurie turned out to be a competent enough ruler.
    “The point is that you will feel needs as you get older, needs that carousing through alehouses with netmenders’ daughters will not satisfy, no matter how rosy their cheeks, sweet their laughter, or soft their arms may be. And the bedsilks of nobility’s daughters will lose their luster as well.”
    Both Borric and Erland exchanged glances, and Erland said, “That will be some time to come, I think.”
    Kulgan silenced him with another smack to his shins. “Don’t interrupt. I don’t care if you are a Prince. I’ve whacked better men than you and of higher rank. Your uncle, the King, was a poor student and saw the flat of my hand more than once.” He sighed. “Now, where was I? Oh, yes, true love. You’ll find as you get older that passion fades, but the need for a true mate deepens. Your father found it, Carline found it, your uncle Martin found it. The King did not.”
    Borric said, “He loves the Queen, I’m certain.”
    “Oh, in his way, certainly. She’s a fine woman and I’ll not hear any man say otherwise, but there’s love and there’s what your young Baron James has discovered. He’s a changed man, no doubt about it. You watch and learn. If you’re fortunate, you might see what you will likely not know.”
    Borric sighed and looked at the ground. “Because I am to be King?”
    Kulgan nodded. “Precisely. You’re not as thick as I took you to be. You will marry for the good of the nation. Oh, you’ll have plenty of opportunity to satisfy itches with willing ladies of many ranks, no doubt. I know your uncle has given you at least a half dozen cousins born on the wrong side of the blanket. Several of them will no doubt be rising in the ranks of the nobility by the time it’s over with and done. But that’s not the same thing.
    “The King is very fond of the Queen, and from what I hear, she is an able confidante and wise counselor, but sheis still no more than a friend. Your uncle has to live every day of his life without that one special thing that your father, your aunt, and your uncle Martin were blessed with.
    “James has found that person whom the gods placed here to make his life complete. Don’t doubt for a moment that it was fated, and don’t think for a moment that he was taken unawares. What seems to you to be a hasty act of rash thoughtlessness is in fact a recognition of something so profound that only one who has known it can understand. The mind and logic have nothing to do with this; it is a thing of the heart and intuition. So, do you understand now?”
    “We