Corpus Tamrielicum - The Imperial Library

[30.2] KING EDWARD II
"Moraelyn! Don't!" Aliera interrupted, but the Elf held up his hand to quiet her.
"I'm not so sure." Edward flashed.
"Why do you say that?"
"I don't know...Roane says...things...and I'm not at all like him. Everyone remarks on it. And
then stops talking."
"What things? Speak, boy!"
"About how fond Mother was of her brother when they were young. How sad and angry he
was when she was carried off. More like a lover, she said, than a brother. She says it very
sweetly, but like she means something by it. Something too dirty to say. Other times she talks
about how elfin I look. And how quickly after marriage I came. Not as quickly as her first
son, though."
Moraelyn leaped up. "By the Avenger, I will go back and wring the vixen's neck! The
human", he bit off the insult, but his red eyes flamed rage; his muscles swelled and his hair
stood on end. "You do not look half-elven. I never met your mother until four years after your
conception. Roane, it seems, cannot decide which lie she wishes to use. But incest! May Kel
strike her down if I may not." The tall elf paced furiously about the room, lithe as a Khajiit,
hand fondling his sword hilt. The platform swayed and dipped.
"She's ambitious for her sons, at Edward's expense. The question is, how many will believe
her. Not enough if she was planning to have him killed instead." Aliera's smooth brow
wrinkled a bit.
"I never disliked her, you know. Nor she me. She wanted my place and I was glad enough to
let her have it save for Edward."
"You want me to be king so I'll let you have the ebon mines." Edward had just worked out the
puzzle.
"Oh, devil take the ebon, which he probably will. I've a better chance of getting co-operation
from Roane's boys once your father's dead. They'd have reason for gratitude and the bargain's
a good one. Although the chances they could keep a civil tongue long enough to sign a
contract seem poor, given their parentage."
"Then why? You don't even like me."
"Mara, help me! 'Liking' a person is a human concept. One day they like you, the next day
they don't. On Tirdas they're back to liking you again. My own wife does this to me, but
claims to love me even when she doesn't like me. Except of course on the days when she
doesn't do either, and talks about joining the Order of Riana. Fortunately that only happens
once a year or so. I go hunting until she comes to her senses."
"You exaggerate; that only happened once, and well you know it."
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