The Dragon Kings' Forbidden Witch

The offers kept coming, each one designed to appeal to a different aspect of Morgana’s needs or desires.

”My family has lands,” another girl said. ”Productive lands. We could ensure that the income from those lands goes to your mother’s care. Indefinitely. For as long as she lives.”

The final offer was spoken by Lady Margot herself, and it was the most direct.

”What we are saying, Morgana, is that we could make your mother’s life very comfortable. We could ensure that her final years....because we all understand that her illness is progressing, that time is limited, are spent in comfort, in peace, surrounded by beauty and attended to by the finest physicians money can procure.”

She paused, letting the weight of that statement settle.

”All we ask is that you remember that we were kind to you when you had so little. That you remember your friends when you are in a position of influence.”

***

Morgana listened to every offer without interrupting.

She listened to the desperation beneath the civility, the manipulation wrapped in the language of kindness, the trap disguised as generosity. And when all the offers had been made, when all the noble daughters had said what they came to say, Morgana set down her untouched tea and spoke.

”I appreciate your kindness,” she said, and there was no trace of anger in her voice. ”Truly, I do. But my mother’s care is the responsibility of those who love her, not those who trade favors.”

She let that statement settle for a moment.

”The kings have been generous in allowing me to maintain my connections to my old life. I do not need intermediaries to provide for my mother. I have the means to do so myself, should she need anything.”

The statement was firm but not unkind. It was a refusal, but it was delivered with grace.

”As for your other offers...the villas, the lands, the security you are promising, I cannot accept them. Not because they are not generous, but because accepting them would mean I owed you something in return. And I cannot owe allegiance to people based on bribes. That would make me corrupt, and I have no intention of becoming that.”

She stood, and the gesture was subtle but absolute. The meeting was ending.

”The Selection will continue or it will not, based on the kings’ decisions. That is their choice to make, not mine. And even if I had influence over them...which I do not, I would not use that influence to serve your interests ahead of what they have determined is best for the kingdom.”

She looked at each of the noble daughters in turn, making eye contact, making sure they understood that she was serious.

”I wish you well in the Selection,” she said. ”Truly. But not because you have offered me gifts. But because I believe that may the best of you find happiness with the kings, or find it elsewhere if the Selection does not serve your purposes.”

Lady Margot’s expression had not changed during this speech, but Morgana could see the calculation shifting behind her eyes. The noble daughters were realizing that she could not be swayed by offers of her mother’s welfare. That appealing to her love for her mother had not worked. That they were dealing with someone more intelligent than they had anticipated.

***

But Lady Margot was not finished.

She had come to this meeting with multiple approaches prepared, and when the first had failed, she moved smoothly to the second.

”Very well,” she said, her voice suggesting acceptance while her eyes suggested something else. ”We respect your loyalty to your family. It is admirable, truly.”

Morgana remained standing, but she did not move toward the door.

”However,” Margot continued, ”we wonder if you have considered your own future.”

The question was posed casually, but Morgana understood it was designed to unsettle her, to make her think about things she had not yet considered.

”When the kings’ interest in you fades....and Morgana, even the kings’ attention does eventually fade, what will you have? What will you return to?”

It was a cruel question, because it was premised on a truth that Morgana had already begun to think about herself.

”You came from nothing,” Lady Margot said, not unkindly. ”You were a servant. Even after your elevation, even after your ward status, you are still without family connections, without land, without the kind of security that those of us born to privilege have always had. What happens when the kings’ attention moves elsewhere? When you are no longer fashionable, no longer interesting?”

Morgana felt the weight of those words, but she did not let it show on her face.

Lady Margot gestured, and another of the noble daughters produced documents. Papers, actually...legal documents, written carefully and bearing the seals of noble houses.

”These are land deeds,” Margot said, holding them out. ”Properties. Productive holdings. These could be yours. Legitimately. Signed by my family, by the families of my companions here. Yours to keep regardless of what happens with the kings. Yours to keep if your situation changes, if you are no longer elevated, if you need security and have nowhere else to turn.”

She paused, and her voice became almost gentle.

”We are offering you what no one else can offer, Morgana. We are offering you a place to land when...if, you fall. We are offering you security that is not dependent on the kings’ favor. We are offering you property and income and a future that belongs to you alone.”

She set the documents on the table between them.

”These are gifts. No strings attached. You do not have to do anything for us in return. We are simply offering them because we understand what it is to be without security, to be vulnerable, to know that everything can be taken away in a moment.”

The appeal to Morgana’s understanding of instability, of precariousness, of the danger of having nothing to fall back on, it was sophisticated manipulation.

And Morgana understood it as such.