17.6

"I want to eliminate Dagonia's tax burden. It's oppressive," Zyrdicia announced crossly. She sat in Dirk's chambers in a large wingback chair near the fire - his chair. Dirk permitted it only because he knew she was trying to irritate him. Her grim mood had returned. She had been sullen and annoyed ever since the ascension ratification. He refused to humor her. She would only use an argument as an excuse to disappear to some distant corner of the cosmos moments prior to his coronation.

His entire life had been leading up to this moment - the moment the Crown finally became his. He was determined not to let her penchant for petulance create any obstacles. To that end, he insisted she remain in his line of sight all evening. Her clothes for the coronation had already been brought from her quarters. He intended to call for her servants in a few hours, when it came time for her to dress. He would personally watch her the whole time. In such a mood she was far too unpredictable to leave to her own devices.

Dirk sat at a writing table reviewing their marriage contract. Until this moment, she had been remarkably disinterested in its terms. Given her obsessive concern with every word in the decree granting her Dagonia, he was surprised. He looked up from the document and stared hard at her. This sort of demand was more what he had expected from her.

She glared back defiantly, daring him to argue. She knew how vital the arcanium revenue was to him. He smiled. There were other things she as yet failed to understand, though. "As you wish, my dear," he agreed evenly. "I will eliminate the tax entirely."

He watched her eyes narrow suspiciously, then he pretended to go back to reading the document.

"Write it into the marriage contract, or I won't sign!"

"Of course," Dirk replied congenially. A long silence followed. He felt her watching him. He looked up again. She was frowning. "Now what?"

"How many arcanium mines lie outside of Dagonia?"

"Ildwynd owns three. There are four more inactive mines I control in the Land of Storms."

"Then I also want the deed to the rest of the mines you control."

"You aren't even mining all of those already in your possession!"

"Give them to me or I won't sign it," she snapped, her tone surly.

He knew they meant nothing to her. She was testing him. He smiled, "An appropriate wedding gift. Fine."

"With no tax levied on them!"

"I already agreed to that," he replied calmly, his eyes returning to the document without reading a word of it.

She said nothing. When he looked up, her expression was utterly distressed. He very nearly burst out laughing then. He had rarely found toying with her so pleasant. Her experience with the demons must have rattled her brain for her to make it this easy, he thought, amused. "I'm being remarkably generous. The least you could do is smile and thank me for it."

"I don't get it."

"Oh, do enjoy it! It isn't often I will give you what you want like this."

"What's going on?"

"Must I have an ulterior motive? Perhaps I'm merely pleased with my impending coronation. Or perhaps I want to dispel this unbearable ill humor that has held sway over you recently."

"Obviously. It would be so typical for you to do something purely to make me happy," Zyrdicia commented sarcastically.

"We are to be married tonight, after all."

"That's your assumption. I'm not signing it."

"Of course you will.'

"No. Something is up. If you are giving away that much that easily, the game has changed and until I know why, I'm not going to play."

"You will because you have to. You know the terms of our agreement."

"Knowing them and abiding by them are different things."

Dirk set the document down. "Come here!"

"No."

He forced himself to quash his irritation. That was precisely what she wanted. She was doing everything she could to provoke a fight, short of demanding one. If she read the contract, she would understand how little he was giving away in granting her petty wishes. Relieving the Dagonian tax burden would not cost him a single kolna.

He had played with her as long as he dared - any longer and she might well disappear. He stood up. He moved across the room in just a few strides and stood, towering over her seat in the chair. She rolled her eyes, affecting an expression both bored and unimpressed.

"I can comfortably forgo my share of the arcanium revenue for one reason - and one reason only," he whispered menacingly.

"So it's not to make me happy?" she mocked, "Oh, I'm crushed."

"When we are wed, under Northern law, every kolna your land holdings generate belongs to our joint estate. Since all of the profits from Dagonia's mines will be under my exclusive oversight, there is no need to levy 'oppressive' taxes upon you."

Her eyes widened and her jaw opened slightly. She had not anticipated the legal consequences of their betrothal. "Yeah, try and get the money," she scoffed.

"I won't have to. You will give it to me."

"I'm going to just hand you tens of millions of plats for the hell of it? Wrong."

"Zyrdicia, come now. We both know you neither care about the money nor even know where most of it is at any given moment."

"True," she admitted. "It's mine to throw away. So?"

"You are only inspired by its acquisition."

Her lips twisted as a reluctant smile struggled to escape. A patch of sunlight seemed to burn through the grim clouds of her mood. "As you are by possession."

"Precisely. We'll both get what we want - as usual," he crooned.

Her brow furrowed as she pondered it.

He moved his hand around her neck and pulled her shoulders forward so that she leaned against the muscles of his stomach. Her lack of resistance told him she was ready to surrender. His hands encircled her throat seductively, then began to probe the sensitive nerve endings below the base of her skull. He knew the back of her neck contained thousands of pain receptors which could quickly turn the sigh of a pleasant massage into a gasp of agony. He manipulated them expertly. She was deadly still as she reveled in the peculiar touch she had not known in several weeks.

He let her enjoy it a moment, then stopped so that she would listen to his words. He coaxed in his most silken tone, "It will be more convenient to have the funds here, given your imminent inability to transport yourself by magic to any other place they might be held."

"Imminent?" she repeated hopefully.

Dirk held her gaze and said, "If you continue to abide by our agreement and do as I tell you to. Obedience to me has considerable rewards." He knew she was hooked. Now it was just a matter of reeling her in. She would sign the contract, she would fulfil their bargain and she would relinquish all of the arcanium revenue to him.

He understood precisely how to ensure her docility. His skill wielding this particular weapon had grown tremendously over the past half year. The contract could wait a little while. They still had several hours before midnight.