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“So unite nobles?”

“No, I wantyouto marry someone from Kaloma.” She stopped and searched his face. “I can see the idea is as pleasing as eating sour grapes. Is that why you spurned Freida Truisante?”

“You know–” he started but then recalled the spies. “Is that why you have a harem? Just to piss off your theocratic cabinet?”

Keyanna laughed. “No. I have a harem because I enjoy having a harem. And your deflection was rather elementary, Lachlan.”

He crossed his arms. “Why?”

“Why do I like my harem?”

He couldn’t remain irritated at that and chuckled. “No. Why a marriage?”

“Think of it this way: marriage ties our kingdoms today–”

“Our kingdoms are already joined in marriage,” Lachlan reminded her. It hadn’t been a happy alliance, but it was still true. “We are family.”

She made a short noise through her throat and relaxed back against the pillows. “You know that isn’t the same. It also ignited a war resulting in the current closed borders.” She shook her head. “We need something new, a new union to showcase our alliance. Something for the people of Kaloma to celebrate. My people need to see Jast not as the enemy bent on our destruction, but to change the narrative that we are family. What better way for that to happen than through marriage? Then Jast’s influence in my cabinet wouldn’t be secret or a cause for war.”

She wasn’t wrong.

He turned and looked out the window, the milky pane revealing nothing more than darkness as he pondered her proposition. What would his father think? It seemed a stronger position for Jast overall. But to marry for it?

Ollie’s words stabbed at him:People in your position rarely get a choice.

It wasn’t the idea of marrying for Jast that Lachlan hadn’t wanted. It was that his father hadn’t given him a say in the matter. This, however, was his decision, and he recognized it was all he needed to prove to his father he did have what it took to be a leader, to make a selfless choice for his kingdom.

“Is it the thought of marrying that has you unsettled?” Keyanna asked. “You will need an heir.”

“As will you.”

“Yes. Someday. Or my sister will accommodate that in my stead.”

“It isn’t marriage.”

A knock interrupted.

“Rose?” Tarley reappeared through the doorway, holding Keyanna’s requested paper and ink.

“What is it, then?” Keyanna asked him.

Lachlan glanced at Tarley, then forced his gaze away from her, because he couldn’t seem to keep from seeking her out when she was near and found Keyanna watching him. He hated the idea of marrying a noble woman Keyanna chose, but he could feel the walls closing in on him, knowing he had to decide this for Jast. He sought Tarley again, following her movement with his gaze, wishing he could have just remained Ollie a bit longer. Then he looked away and shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

Keyanna turned to Tarley. “I think I would like the medicine for my pain now.”

“I’ll get my mother.” Tarley disappeared again through the doorway.

Keyanna waited until the door was shut. “A Kaloma commoner.”

“What?”

“Marriage.”

“I don’t think–”

“Don’t think like a royal, Lachlan. Think like the people. What better way than to secure the love and support of the people than to choose a new queen from among them? A romantic story they can write poems and songs about.”

“As the queen of Jast,” he said. “How do you think that would go over in Jast?”