“Do you know that my Lady of the Stars and I are married? No — only a very few know. Grogor knows. We married permanently. Not in the rites of Grodno—” He picked up his glass and spilled most of it. He barely noticed.
“Then the king would honor a legal and sanctified marriage.”
“Fambly! He has the yrium. And the rites were not the rites of Grodno.” He chuckled. “Even though there were two ceremonies, neither was that of Grodno.” And he drank and let the glass slip through his fingers.
I felt a prod might bring him back to reason. For so strong and powerful a personality he was letting go of his will, was allowing this matter that tormented him to undermine all the strength he possessed, and so I knew this was no ordinary matter that so obsessed him. I spoke carefully.
“If the king succ
