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“Hidden passageway?”

“Yes, Papa,” I confirmed.

He made a sound in his throat that was neither disapproval nor approval. “My fault, I suppose, for showing it to you and your sisters.”

“Eavesdropping on matters that don’t concern you.” The lord regent tsked and looked to the king for agreement. “I’ve said it before, Your Majesty.” His tone softened, lyrical but also wheedling. “You indulge her. She takes too much liberty.”

“That is neither here nor there anymore,” the queen said brightly.

The lord regent released a long-suffering sigh but gave the barest incline of his head in agreement.

And that felt ominous.

I looked wildly at the three of them, wonderingwhyit was neither here nor there anymore.

The king turned to me. “I take it you know I’ve promised a daughter to Lord Dryhten.”

“Yes, and I cannot understand why, Papa.” This was my chance to talk him out of it. The perfect opportunity, here with the three people who made all the decisions. In my life. In my sisters’ lives. In the lives of everyone who lived in the City... in all of Penterra. Until this moment, I’d thought they were the three most powerful people in all the realm. Now I knew better. Now I knew that there was a beast with a power that rivaled theirs. A beast that had come to our door, and my family was prepared to give him whatever he wanted.

“It is not for you to understand the reasoning of your betters,” the lord regent snapped.

My mother approached, fondly stroking a hand down the thick braid of hair draped over my shoulder. “Oh, Tamsyn,” she chided. “Always so staunch in your beliefs. It is commendable.”

I relaxed a bit beneath the praise and sent a defiant look to the lord regent.

The king settled his hands upon my shoulders. “I know this is beyond you, my dear.” He stared into my eyes. “But diplomacy is necessary in the ruling of a kingdom.”

“I am sure it is challenging, but you cannot do this,” I dared to beseech him, ignoring the lord regent’s presence—knowing he was watching with displeasure at our familiarity, our closeness. Displeasure from him was nothing new, after all. “You cannot give one of my sisters to that man.”

“He can do whatever he likes. He. Is. The. King.” The lord regent punctuated each word with biting emphasis, and in his eyes was his usual contempt as he looked down his narrow nose. It gave him the appearance of being taller than me even though he was not.

I lowered my gaze. “Forgive me.” The words were reflexive, but I was not sorry. Not sorry at all. Not when it came to protecting my sisters.

“Oh, tell her,” my mother said with impatience.

My eyes snapped back up. Tell me...what? Which sister they were condemning to a bleak fate? Had they already decided? I swallowed against the giant lump forming in my throat.

“We are not giving him one of your sisters,” the lord regent finally said, almost as though he savored the admission. And that did not feel right. Nor did the hint of a smile cracking his harsh features.

“Y-you’re not?”

My father nodded. “That was never my intention.”

I rubbed at the center of my forehead, relieved but confused. “I don’t understand. I heard you agree to—”

“We had to agree. We could not refuse the dog of the Borderlands, unfortunately. We need his continued protection of our northern border.” The lord regent’s lips peeled back in a grimace of scorn. “Bloody barbarian. We will not taint the royal bloodlines with the likes of him.”

“So what will be done?” Something had to be done. They had promised him a Penterran princess. I had not misheard that.

The king squeezed my shoulders encouragingly. “We will give him a princess of Penterra. As promised.”

Frowning, I looked to each of their expectant faces and shook my head slowly. “But you said...”

“I know what I said,” the king acknowledged.

Then...

“We are giving him,” the lord regent finally clarified, “you.”