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Chapter 3: The King's Choice

The council had gathered once again. Uther felt a sense of reluctance as he called the meeting to a start. Just get it over with, he told himself. Preferably before they started nagging again.

"I have given the advice this council has given me in the last several meetings some thought," he began. They didn't need to know that he had only allowed himself to truly consider the idea after his conversation with Gorlois a few days ago, "And… I have decided to take your advice. Perhaps it is time for me to marry again." Though the idea still turned his stomach.

He could almost feel the atmosphere change as the council took in his words. It was Lord Caerwyn, who had been the spokesman when the council first ventured the idea that Uther should have another child, who spoke up first, "A very wise decision, my lord."

Uther resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Naturally they thought his decisions were wise, now that he was agreeing with their suggestions.

Another council member spoke up, "Have you given thought as to who you might take as a wife, my lord?"

"No, not yet," Uther hadn't been able to bring himself to think that far ahead. It made the idea too real, "But I am sure the council has their own thoughts on the matter." They'd probably been drawing up a list of potential candidates since before they had even broached the idea to him.

"We did have some ideas of potential candidates, my lord," the council member replied, "though of course, the final choice is the king's decision."

How generous, Uther thought sarcastically, but aloud he merely said, "Continue."

It was another member of the council who spoke this time, "The first matter to decide, my lord, is whether you wish to marry a noblewoman from within our own kingdom, or to seek out an alliance by marrying someone from one of the other royal families."

Uther was suddenly taken back to a council meeting over a decade prior. The same question had been posed then, before he had chosen Ygraine as his wife. At the time, his position as king was still new and tentative, and he had decided that reinforcing alliances within his own kingdom was a more pressing matter than building outside ones.

It had been an entirely practical decision, and then he had met Ygraine and it had turned into so much more.

"Sire?" the voice pulled him back to the present.

He shook his head, as if that would help him clear his mind, "I think looking outside the kingdom would be prudent. This is an opportunity for us to strengthen or create an alliance, along with ensuring the continuance of my lineage." And if his motivation in the decision also included a desire to distance this from his memories of his courtship with Ygraine… well that reasoning would remain private. This was the most practical decision. Things had changed since his first marriage.

He could see several members of the council nodding in agreement.

"I concur with your reasons my lord," the council member who had spoken before responded, "Though that does somewhat narrow the list of potential matches."

"Doesn't Rodor have a daughter?" another member of the council ventured.

Uther shook his head, "Well, yes, but she's Arthur's age. I have no intentions of marrying a child."

The council member looked slightly embarrassed, "No, of course not, my lord."

"Olaf's daughter and Godwin's are both very young as well," someone else spoke up, "And Odin only has a son."

"Perhaps we should look into the extended families of the other monarchs," Geoffrey, the court historian, spoke up, "Perhaps a niece or a cousin that is suitable could be found."

"The princess of Essetir is a suitable age," another council member pointed out, "And I believe she is unmarried."

There was a murmur of disapproval from some of the council members.

"Surely her past dalliances make her unsuitable," one spoke up with a frown.

Uther called up what he knew of Essetir's princess. A few years before, she had given birth to a son, and the scandal of it had reached even Camelot, as the princess had been unmarried, and the boy's father nowhere to be found.

But was he really in a position to judge? He had some past "dalliances" of his own, including one that had resulted in a child…

"But there isn't exactly an abundance of eligible princesses," the council member who had first brought up Essetir's princess argued, and Uther heard a couple rumbles of agreement, "And an alliance with Essetir could strengthen Camelot."

"Then we will do as Geoffrey suggested and look to extended families," Lord Marek, who had protested the idea before, was a little red in the face now, "Surely we can make an alliance that will strengthen Camelot without the king lowering himself to such standards. From what I hear, her little bastard isn't even the child of a nobleman, just some peasant the princess got herself involved with."

At this the council erupted into arguments. Uther couldn't have picked one voice out from the others if he had tried, though it seemed the majority of the council agreed with Lord Marek that a marriage to Essetir's princess would be entirely unsuitable.

However, Uther's thoughts had taken him in a different direction.

"So she has a child," he spoke up, raising his voice to make himself heard over the arguing. The council quickly quieted when they realized he was speaking, "Good. That means there will be no concerns about whether she is capable of producing one."

He would never regret marrying Ygraine. She had been the love of his life. But this marriage was for practical purposes only. He had no intentions of falling in love. And he didn't want to go through with a marriage only to later discover that the woman he married was incapable of bearing children. Not when he was so reluctant to go through with it in the first place.

"But-" Lord Marek began and Uther leveled him with a look.

"The main goal of this marriage, the entire reason the council has been promoting the idea for the past several weeks, is for me to secure a secondary heir, is it not?"

A frown crossed Lord Marek's face, "Well, yes, but…"

"So then would it not be more prudent for me to choose a wife who I know for a fact will be capable of producing said heir?"

Lord Marek looked like he had tasted something bitter, "I cannot fault your logic my lord, but still… surely there is a less… scandalous choice." His face lit up suddenly as if he had landed on an idea, "Perhaps you could find a widow. Certainly a woman who had lost her husband would be a more suitable match, sharing your circumstances as she would, it would form a certain bond…"

"I don't need anyone to share my circumstances," Uther snapped, "And I don't need to form a bond. This is a purely practical matter. As for the rest of your suggestion, why should we waste time searching in the hopes that a woman of suitable rank who happens to be widowed and have a child might materialize, when there is already a perfectly valid option right in front of us?"

More than one council member leaned forward, as if to argue, but Uther raised a hand, "No. I have acquiesced to your wishes for me to find a wife. Now it's time you respected my decision and this is it. I will have a message sent to Essetir to see if the princess would be amenable to a match."

Lord Marek made a scoffing noise under his breath, "As if she could refuse. I don't imagine someone like her can afford to be picky about suitors."

Uther raised his eyebrows and Lord Marek's face went red, "Not… not that I'm saying you're, a… er… a poor match my lord, I simply meant the princess should consider herself lucky to receive any suit, let alone one as worthwhile as yours."

If Gorlois was here, he no doubt would have found the lord's stammering attempt to recover from the implications of his statement hilarious. Uther merely turned away to address the council at large, "I trust we can consider this matter closed then?"

There was a moment of quiet, and then one of the other council members spoke up, "There is one other matter we should give thought to, my lord. What of the princess'... child?" Uther had a feeling he had been thinking of a rather less polite word than child.

"What of him?" Uther answered, frowning slightly.

"Well… if the princess accepts your suit, will the boy be coming to live in Camelot as well?"

Uther hadn't stopped to consider this, "I suppose that will be up to his mother. But I do not imagine she would want to leave her son behind. He must be what… four years old? Five?"

The lord frowned, "And you are…. comfortable with bringing the product of her… previous lack of discretion into your… family, as it were?"

Uther waved a hand as if to dismiss the matter, "I'm not going to claim the child as an heir, if that's your concern, but I can hardly expect the princess to accept my suit while demanding she leave her young son behind. No matter how few suitors she had, what mother would accept such a proposal?" Vivienne would, his mind supplied grimly, and he pushed the thought away.

As to bringing the boy into his family… well, Uther didn't know about all that. His arrangement with Princess Hunith was a political alliance that would benefit them both. It didn't mean she would expect him to be a father to her son. Not that Uther would mistreat the boy, but there was no need to make more of the situation than it was.

Who knew, perhaps it might do Arthur some good to have another boy around his own age in the castle. Though Uther wasn't sure a boy whose father was unknown was quite suitable company for his son. Then again, the boy's mother was a princess and at least he would have been raised properly as a noble.

But Uther was getting ahead of himself, the princess hadn't even received his suit yet, let alone accepted it. Though Uther couldn't help but think that Lord Marek's assessment of her prospects, if rather impolite, likely hadn't been wrong.