‘The Golden Bull’ by JM Landels

Saoira looks her son up and down, hands on hips. At eighteen summers old, Lennis has exceeded both his parents’ height. His bronze curls and burnished skin, over the muscles of a farmhand, make him look like a statue from the Imperial Age, fit to grace the Duchess’s hall in Rillonna. But it is a different duchy he is going to. 

Saoira never told Allenis Andreg, Duke of Teillai, that he fathered a son the last time he visited her. Their correspondence has continued since Allenis’s marriage, and Saoira has indeed mentioned her son.

But though she has made no mention of a husband or another lover, Allenis has never inquired. He must at least suspect the boy is his, which may be why he continues to overpay for his thrice-yearly order of cheese. His daughters and his other sons have grown up on Little Water Ash, just as Lennis has.

“Why Teillai?” she demands. “Rillonna is closer, as is Doniver.”

“Teillai has the finest master of arms in all Aerach. I want to learn from the best.”

Saoira shakes her head. He’s never been able to lie to her, though not for lack of trying. “I know why you’re going, love. I just want to hear you say it.”

“Is it so wrong to want to see the face of my father?”

“And can you see his without him seeing yours? Without him learning your name?”

“I’ll be a nameless, faceless guard in his garrison.”

She knows he will be neither nameless nor faceless for long. His stunning looks and easy manner attract the attention of everyone he meets. She’s no Leisanmira seer, but she can predict he’ll rise through the ranks like cream to the top of jug. She doesn’t say this.