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Maia's headache had been tapping at the edge of his senses all morning. Count Duchenel had apparently been influenced by his daughter and was now quite belatedly angry at how she had been passed over as his empress.
The letter in the morning's correspondence had been nearly smoking with polite invectives written in a neat secretarial hand. Apparently after paying her such scant courtesies at Nurevis's parties and then putting her over for Dach'osmin Ceredin, Maia had somehow besmirched the young lady's honor. No matter that all of this was coming out of nowhere since it was now nearly six months since his actual marriage to Dach'osmin Ceredin, now Csethiro Zhasan.
Thus, Maia's temple seemed intent on telling him how fast his heart was currently beating.
Even Csevet seemed at a loss as to how to handle the Count. "Serenity, we are not sure what could be done except to encourage the Count to find another suitor for his daughter so her honor is no longer in question."
Maia let his eyes close as he rolled them, safe in the knowledge that neither Csevet nor his First Nohecharei would think ill of him for the gesture of annoyance. "He seems to insist we play matchmaker with matches we do not see. Have we any cousins of whom we are not aware that could be thrown in the direction of the Duchenada?"
Csevet snorted softly. "We do not believe so, Serenity. All your Drazhadeise kin are either married or women."
They stared at each other for several moments and then, nearly at the same time, their eyes widened with realization. Maia grinned outright and Csevet's eyes sparkled. The Drazhada were not his only kin.
"We do not know how many noble cousins we might have from the Great Avar's line, do we Csevet? Perhaps we should write to our grandfather and beg a husband for Osmin Duchenin?" Maia could not keep the mirth from his voice.
Csevet's chest huffed two little chuckles and his voice could not hide his amusement, either. "As there seems to be no other way to take the Count's meaning, we believe that could be your Serenity's most benevolent method of handling Count Duchenel's complaint. Shall we draft a letter in response to the Count, or directly to the Corat' Dav Arhos?"
Maia froze in a half second of fear at whether Csevet was actually serious, then Csevet winked and they both fell into peals of laughter. Of course they couldn't ask the Great Avar for a husband for one of their courtiers! But, Count Duchenel didn't need to know that.
For the rest of the day, Maia's head was clear, the joy of having a joke with Csevet relaxing his whole being. And, for years to come, whenever they had a hard decision to make, all either needed to say to lighten the mood was "The Count, or Corat' Dav Arhos?"