swore by their
efficacy. Maybe he ought to have her bless a couple of cases of them,
make them standard issue . . .

Back to the subject, he thought, leaning back. The idea of polygamy
had seemed obscene when Edward first mentioned it, but the longer he
thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed to become. As a matter
of morality, her argument that monogamy at this point was tantamount to
racial suicide had a certain validity, and suicide was a sin. And her
argument that marriage laws could be changed was also valid; the Modern
Saints had been branded heretics not because of their polygamy but
because they had claimed Shayan to be Jeshua's brother. And the
theologians were still arguing about that . . .

Then there was his responsibility, as Sovereign, for his subjects'
welfare, which tied in with his personal desire to leave his
descendants a prosperous, expanding group of Systems . . . which he
wouldn't be able to do without some fairly drastic action. If he
didn't, in a few generations there would be no Kingdom Systems--a fact
he'd known for some time, but had avoided thinking about because there
seemed to be no solution.

Now, though, he'd been handed a chance, if he could arrange to
implement it. Keep Cortin the focus of whatever happened as a result,
of course; even the best Inquisitor was more expendable than royalty.
From Edward's report on the airborne conference, Bishop-Colonel
Bradford ought to be willing to help get Church approval for
Enforcement to formalize the informal group marriages it was rumored
they had in some of the more remote areas.

Remote areas? The High King smiled as an idea took form. He'd have to
discuss it with his lesser monarchs, because of their agreement that
all Royal Inquisitors hold the same rank--but it promised a place for
Cortin to offer anyone who wanted a group marriage but didn't want the
notoriety that would inevitbly accompany the first ones. It would
also--a not inconsiderable benefit--silence My Lord of New Colorado's
complaints about having to administer territories that cost his Dukedom
more than the revenues they generated. Those complaints were
justified, the King admitted--but he was incredibly tired of hearing
them!

That would have to wait, though. The King switched on his intercom,
spoke to his secretary. "Peter, get hold of Bishop-Colonel Bradford.
I want to see him as soon as he can get here."

* * * * *

Co