Childe Morgan by Katherine Kurtz

am even more pleased to present to you your future lord, Alaric Anthony Morgan,” he went on, as Alaric dutifully replaced the keys.
    The waiting knights saluted with bowed heads and fists to hearts, eyeing both father and son with obvious approval, before Sir Deinol wheeled around to fall in beside Kenneth.
    â€œCynfyn is ready to receive you, my lord—and my lady. Long have we awaited the return of Lendour’s heir.”
    Their reception into Cynfyn town and then through the gate to the lower ward was enthusiastic, with cheering townsfolk lining the street and casting flowers before them as they rode. Several of the women thrust bunches of posies into Alyce’s hands as she and Kenneth passed, and others looped flower garlands around the necks of their horses. One small boy darted out to offer Alaric a crudely carved figure of a horse, which gift elicited a delighted grin and an unprompted thank you.
    That night, at the banquet prepared for their welcome, Kenneth and Alyce made more formal presentation of their son to the assembled nobles, then received the renewed fealty of all the Lendour knights who had not sworn before. A little later, Kenneth announced the betrothal of his daughter Zoë to Sir Jovett Chandos, to a roar of approval that fairly shook the rafters of the hall.
    â€œMy wife and I thank you for this evidence of your welcome of this match,” Kenneth said, when the cheering had died down. “As the father of three daughters, only one of whom is wed, I must confess my delight that a second—and the eldest!—is now to be wed as well. I shall miss her, of course—as shall my wife, for the two are dearest friends as well as being related in…complicated ways.” He drew both women closer and laid an arm around each one’s shoulders, signing for Jovett to join them on Zoë’s other side.
    â€œThis brings us to a somewhat delicate matter, one that I know will have occurred to at least a few of you. Most of you will be aware that, but for cruel fortune, Zoë would have been your countess, by marriage to my dear wife’s late brother Ahern—and in fact, the two exchanged vows as Ahern lay on his deathbed.” He paused to draw his daughter closer and gently kiss the top of her head.
    â€œAhern’s untimely death was a tragedy for all of us, but life goes on. I am now your earl; and very happily, my daughter has come to care for your Jovett Chandos, whom she had known for some years as Alyce’s childhood friend as well as a young knight of rising prominence here in Lendour—and Jovett, likewise, has given his heart to her. So I count myself fortunate that I shall be acquiring a son known and respected by you all, and who can help to look after Lendour’s interests when I must be in Rhemuth with the king.
    â€œMeanwhile, I congratulate Sir Deinol and Sir Pedur and the rest of Lendour’s regents here in Cynfyn for training up such a fine cadre of young knights to carry Lendour’s interests forward. I am confident that Jovett will continue to be an asset to their numbers—and would, even if he were not to become my son-in-law, for he is a good and honorable man. And when my son is of an age to come into his inheritance—by which time I hope to retire to a quiet life in the country!—I know that he, too, will follow in the footsteps of his illustrious ancestors, and in the traditions that all of you have helped to uphold while you waited for him.”
    The response of Lendour’s nobility, both then and in the days to come, only underlined their approval, both of their new lord and his heir and also of this new alliance with one of Lendour’s premier families. Though tradition would have had Zoë marry from her father’s manor at Morganhall, among her Morgan kin, it was agreed that the wedding should take place in Cynfyn, among Jovett’s people, where Kenneth also was lord, since the pair would make