What was she going to do about Douglas?  If he truly were as he seemed…she might well marry him, only to find that after his father’s death, he was not chosen as Roth after all. 

Her eyes narrowed, no longer seeing the shift, although her hands continued embroidering.  It was not impossible.  Or even unlikely, if Douglas behaved in Rothbury as he had in Garland.  The Roth would have assured her parents that his eldest son would be his successor, but that was not guaranteed.  The Roth was not a king but a first lord, chosen by other nobles from among their number to lead them during the course of his life.  They often chose the eldest son.  But they need not, and, at times, had not.  Particularly if better men were available.    

The needle slipped, scraping along her knuckle, but Elsbeth scarcely noticed.  She was remembering now, with new urgency, what she had heard about Douglas’ younger brother.  Edwy of Rothbury was just fourteen years old, but after last year’s skirmish with Logan, whispers had begun that he would surely prove the greatest martial mind of their generation.  That seemed like an overblown estimation, particularly on the basis of one conflict, but if it were true, Douglas could very easily be passed over in his favor. 

Had her father known of these reports before arranging her betrothal?

With growing excitement Elsbeth considered the ramifications.  Like all noblemen, her father wanted to use his daughter’s marriage to increase his stature, to strengthen his ties, sometimes even to create an alliance where none had existed.  A betrothal to Douglas would be considerably less valuable to him if it the proper son did not follow his father as Roth. 

Nor was a betrothal entirely binding.  They could be broken.  Not often, not without difficulty, and not without cause.  And of course, justifiable reason to break a betrothal depended upon one’s perspective.  If Douglas were found to be already secretly married — particularly to someone unsuitable, like a servant or a boat-slave’s daughter — both sides would agree that cause existed and break the engagement uncontested.  If he were found to have seven or eight mistresses and a dozen bastard children, Lord Garland would surely object, but the Roth might not accept that as sufficient cause.  Especially if many of the children were boys.  Or…

Elsbeth indulged herself a few minutes longer in imagining scandals that might be discovered about Douglas that would allow her to break the engagement uncontested by either her father or his before returning to the central issue:  a betrothal was binding, but it might, sometimes, be broken.  So could she persuade her father to break hers, and consider Murrow instead? 

It was unlikely.  But it was possible. 

The rumors about Edwy’s prowess as a leader of war and her own concerns about Douglas were thin strands to hang her hopes from.  But they were something.