Page 52 (1/2)

"Nonsense," Garion snapped

"There's a lot of nonsense in any religion, Belgarion The point remains, however, that Ce'Nedra has few friends in any part of Alorn society Even those who are friendly to you aren't very fond of her Both your enemies and your friends would like to see you divorce her They all kno fond of her you are, so they'll probably never approach you with the idea They're likely to take more direct action instead"

"Such as?"

"Since they know that you can't be persuaded to divorce her, someone may try to remove her permanently"

"They wouldn't dare!"

"Alorns are alarion -and so and Cho-Hag both urged me to warn you about this possibility, and Porenn has put whole platoons of her spies to work on it so that we'll at least have soainst the queen"

"And just where do you stand in this, Brand?" Garion asked quietly

"Belgarion," the big man said firmly, "I love you as if you were hter I never had Nothing in this world would make me happier than to see the floor of that nursery next to your bedrooht years Things have reached the point where we-if for no other reason, then to protect that tiny, brave girl we both love"

"What can we do?" Garion asked helplessly

"You and I are only men, Garion How can we knohy a woman does or does not have children? And that's the crux of the whole situation I iara We need her advice and help -and we need it now"

After the Warder had quietly left, Garion sat for a long while staring out at the rain All in all, he decided that it ht be wiser not to tell Ce'Nedra about the conversation He did not want to frighten her with talk of assassins lurking in the diht compel consideration of divorce would not be well received After careful thought, he concluded that the best course would be just to keep his otten so rather important When he entered the cheery, candlelit royal apartned to indicate that nothing untoward had happened during the day

The frosty silence which greeted hin, he certainly should have noticed the scars on the door casing and the broken shards of several vases and assorted porcelain figurines that lay in the corners where they had beenan explosion of sohtly unobservant "Good evening, dear"' he greeted his icy little wife in a cheerful voice

"Really?"

"How did your day go?"

She turned to regard hiers "How can you possibly have the nerve to ask that?"

Garion blinked

"Tell me," she said, "just when is it that I am to be put aside so thatto replace me in my Lord's bed and fill the entire Citadel with litters of runny-nosed Alorn brats?"

"How-?"

"My Lord appears to have forgotten the gift he chained about my neck ere betrothed," she said "My Lord also appears to have forgotten just exactly what Beldaran's a "Oh, my"

"Unfortunately, the aly "You won't be able to give it to your next wife -unless you plan to have my head cut off so that you can reclaim it"

"Will you stop that?"