Trini will be Jerin's favourite wife, eventually.
Let's have a look at the competition:- Ren: Seduced Jerin with questionable consent on his side.
- Odelia: Intended to steal a kiss from Jerin.
- Lylia: Talked Jerin into kissing her, against his better judgement.
- Halley: Kissed Jerin when he didn't even know who she was, and tried to seduce him repeatedly, despite his reluctance.
Let's disregard the children, they're way too young. So, what we have here is that Trini is the only one who never tried nor intended to force Jerin into doing something he doesn't want to do. She is shown to care about poor people in an offhand comment where she estimates how valuable their deceased father's clothes would be to a poor family.
There is also the matter of food:
- Ren: Distracted Jerin from the fact that he was hungry and wanted to eat. He went to bed without having eaten, despite telling Ren that he's hungry.
- Trini: Brought Jerin a tray of food unasked.
Rescuing Jerin from unwelcome company:
- Ren: Gets Jerin out of the company of adult women, whom she may view as competitors for his affection.
- Trini: Gets her little sisters to leave Jerin alone when they're all tugging at him, like little children do.
It almost seems as if the author wants us to ship Jerin with Trini. Her affection was hard-earned by Defrosting Ice Queen, the other sisters just fell for his looks.
- Well, no, not just his looks. Wen carefully establishes at least one trait of his that attracts each sister, and it's even a trait that perfectly counterbalances that sister's own traits.
- Ren is feeling the pressure of being pushed into the role of Eldest. She admires Jerin's strength, and his willingness to sacrifice for his family's good.
- Odelia is described as thoughtless and sometimes bitchy. She appreciates Jerin's kindness.
- Lylia is idealistic, but not great at thinking things through and appreciating how they work. She admires Jerin's intellect.
- Halley is a little different: she loves his tenacity, which she's clearly showed plenty of herself. He also sees her as attractive, when she sees herself as ugly.
The Fall of the House of Wakecliffe
Over the year before the start of the book, the 60+ strong noble family of Wakecliff has somehow managed to all get killed off in a series of random mishaps. This baffling tragedy is remarked on, but is never discussed as more than a series of bizarre accidents.
Yeah, I doubt it. I submit that they were systematically murdered, by the Porters.
Let's start with means and opportunity. How did the Wakecliffes die again?
- Most of them - including the children and the new husband - were killed by a fire at the family mansion. The Porters killed half the Royal sisters (and plenty of others) with a bomb at the theatre.
- Others were killed when their merchant ship sank... no explanation. It's established at one point that all the noble families have shipping concerns, including the Porters. They could've engaged in a little piracy... or even another bomb.
- Some others were killed in a coach crash. Um, what? How fast do coaches go, to kill everyone on board? Nope. This was no coaching accident. Someone arranged it.
- Another died in childbirth. Could be natural, grief-induced, or helped along.
- The last one died when she learned of the other tragedies and embarked on a drinking binge. Alcohol poisoning, or the regular kind, like the old Prince Consort?
So, the Porters certainly could have done it. But why? Onto motive.
- Remember the piece of land Ren carefully singled out during the court case to determine Wakecliffe's heirs? Tuck Landing was famously stolen from the Royal family; there's even a nursery rhyme about it.
- The time of the court case was changed illegally, so Ren and Odelia nearly miss it. Ren thinks this is the reason, as the other sisters likely wouldn't have noticed Tuck Landing in the list of assets and it would've been handed out to the heirs with the rest.
- It's mentioned that, the Wakecliff estate being so extensive, the heirs will need help dealing with it from their sisters-in-law. Remember who Kij was thinking of taking as the new Porter husband? Oh, yeah: "the Dunwood boy," i.e. the brother of the most likely heirs.
- So, the Porters killed off the Wakecliffes, thinking the Dunwoods would inherit Tuck Landing and they could argue their way into running Tuck Landing, publically "taking back" the property Ren's ancestors so famously lost and giving some legitimacy to the Porters' coup. Notice how Kij hadn't made an offer before the court case; she wanted to see how that went before committing.
- Of course, Ren reached the court in time to notice and take Tuck Landing back herself. But just as that's taken off the table, along comes Jerin. An eligible young man with Royal blood, the one thing the Porters were missing. Kij must've thought it was a sign from the gods.
Convoluted? Maybe, and all pretty circumstantial. One thing stands out, though; remember the point above about sisters-in-law? Just about every noble family was present in that courtroom for that reason. One family, however, was conspicuously absent. Guess which one?
